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Differences between U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron were on full display as NATO leaders gathered for a summit in London.In an almost 40-minute session with journalists the two leaders clashed on a number of issues including burden sharing within NATO, terrorism, Turkey’s incursion into northern Syria, and the U.S. withdrawal from an arms treaty with Russia.The two leaders met hours after Trump criticized Macron for his recent statement describing NATO as experiencing a “brain death,” due to diminished U.S. leadership.  Trump called it a “nasty statement.”  As the two sat down for talks, Trump warned member countries who do not meet NATO’s guideline of spending 2% of GDP on collective defense could be dealt with “from a trade standpoint” referring to tariffs on products including French wine.This prompted Macron, who is currently contributing 1.9% of France’s GDB towards NATO’s defense, to push back.“It’s not just about money,” Macron said. “What about peace in Europe?” he asked Trump.“It’s impossible just to say we have to put money, we have to put soldiers, without being clear on the fundamentals of what NATO should be,” Macron said.FILE – Flags wave in front of soldiers who take positions with their army vehicles during the NATO exercises near Swietoszow Zagan, Poland, June 18, 2015.Macron said he supports a stronger European component in NATO but points out that after the end of the INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) Treaty, European countries are faced with the new threat of Russian missiles.The Trump administration withdrew from the 1987 arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union in August after what it says were Moscow’s repeated violations of the agreement.Islamic State threatTrump and Macron argued about how to deal with Islamic State after the October withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria, a move Trump made without consulting the alliance. The withdrawal paved the way for Turkey to launch an offensive against the U.S.-allied Kurdish militia in northern Syria and triggered fear among allies of a potential IS resurgence.In response to a question on whether France should do more to take Islamic State fighters captured in the Middle East, Trump asked Macron if he would like “some nice ISIS fighters”.FILE – Men suspected of being affiliated with the Islamic State group are seen in a prison cell in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh, Oct. 26, 2019.Macron countered that the main problem is IS fighters in the region. Referring to the abrupt U.S. withdrawal from northern Syria, Macron said “you have more and more of these fighters due to the situation today”.Macron is “more on the side of those who wants to actually face up to the crisis and talk about it,” said Hans Kundnani of Chatham House. He is the sort of “disruptive factor” compared to other leaders who may choose to paper over disagreements, Kundnani said.Earlier Tuesday, as Trump met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the U.S. president said Macron’s “brain death” comments regarding NATO were “insulting” to other members.In the past Trump has repeatedly criticized the alliance as “obsolete” and expressed his desire to leave it. But the president seemed to have changed his tune, saying that NATO “serves a great purpose”.The French leader warned in a recent interview with The Economist that European countries can no longer rely on the United States to defend NATO allies and need to start taking care of their own security.”As Emmanuel Macron considers complacency as the most pressing danger facing Europe and European security, he is likely to reaffirm his comments and continue to push for all allies to clarify their position in this debate,” said Martin Quencez, Deputy Director of the Paris Office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg gestures during his meeting with President Donald Trump at Winfield House, in London, Dec. 3, 2019.“It is also France’s role to show that the president’s disruptive method can foster constructive reforms, and that his harsh criticisms can be followed by a more positive agenda for the transatlantic partnership,” said Quencez.Burden-sharingThe dispute between two leaders was precisely the kind of flare-up that summit organizers have desperately tried to avoid, as it overshadowed discussions of substance in the summit, including the idea of a more equitable burden-sharing touted by Trump.Stoltenberg praised Trump on Tuesday, saying his leadership on the issue is “having a real impact.”  He cited a $130 billion increase in defense budgets among the non-U.S. NATO members and said that would go to $400 billion by 2024.Only 9 out of 29 member countries currently meet NATO’s guideline of spending 2% of their GDP on collective defense.Source – nato.orgIn addition to budget discussions, NATO’s secretary general said leaders would be talking about counterterrorism efforts, arms control, relations with Russia and the rise of China.Stoltenberg also rejected the suggestion that NATO is “brain-dead” saying that the alliance is active, agile and adapting. “We have just implemented the largest reinforcements of collective defense since the end of the Cold War,” he added.The issue of member countries being delinquent was brought up again in Trump’s meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.When asked about whether he would defend a country that does not meet its defense spending target, Trump appeared non-committal.“I would look at it as a group, but I think it’s very unfair when a country doesn’t pay,” Trump said.The principle of collective defense is enshrined in NATO’s Article 5, that an attack on one member is an attack on all of its members. The alliance has only invoked the article once in its history—in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 on the U.S.Cloud of impeachmentThe summit comes as Trump faces an impeachment investigation back home.  He repeated his criticism Tuesday of Democrats who control the House of Representatives, saying it is unfair to hold hearings while he is attending the summit.Trump is not the first U.S. president to attend a NATO summit under the cloud of impeachment. In 1974 Richard Nixon went to NATO’s 25th anniversary meeting in Brussels while the U.S. House of Representatives was concluding its impeachment inquiry. Nixon stepped down a few weeks later. 
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France is threatening a “strong European riposte” if the Trump administration follows through on a proposal to hit French cheese, Champagne, handbags and other products with tariffs of up to 100%.
                   
The U.S. Trade Representative proposed the tariffs on $2.4 billion in goods Monday in retaliation for a French tax on global tech giants including Google, Amazon and Facebook.
                   
“I’m not in love with those (tech) companies, but they’re our companies,” Trump said Tuesday ahead of a sure-to-be-tense meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in London.
                   
The move is likely to increase trade tensions between the U.S. and Europe. Trump said the European Union should “shape up, otherwise things are going to get very tough.”
                   
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the U.S. tariff threat is “simply unacceptable. It’s not the behavior we expect from the United States toward one of its main allies.”
                   
Le Maire said the French tech tax is aimed at “establishing tax justice.” France wants digital companies to pay their fair share of taxes in countries where they make money instead of using tax havens, and is pushing for an international agreement on the issue.
                   
“If (the world) wants solid tax revenue in the 21stcentury, we have to be able to tax the digital economy,” he said. “This French taxation is not directed at any country, or against any company.”
                   
He also noted that France will reimburse the tax if the U.S. agrees to the international tax plan.
                   
Le Maire said France talked this week with the European Commission about EU-wide retaliatory measures if Washington follows through with the tariffs next month.
                   
EU Commission spokesman Daniel Rosario said the EU will seek “immediate discussions with the U.S. on how to solve this issue amicably.”
                   
The U.S tariffs could double the price American consumers pay for French imports and would come on top of a 25% tax on French wine imposed last month over a separate dispute over subsidies to Airbus and Boeing.
                   
French cheese producers expressed concern that the threatened new tariffs would hit small businesses hardest. It would also further squeeze exporters hit by a Russian embargo on European foods.
                   
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative charges that France’s new digital services tax discriminates against U.S. companies.
                   
Le Maire disputes that, saying it targets European and Chinese businesses, too. The tax imposes a 3% annual levy on French revenues of any digital company with yearly global sales worth more than 750 million euros ($830 million) and French revenue exceeding 25 million euros.
                   
“What we want is a plan for international tax that is on the table” at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Le Maire said.
                   
The U.S. investigated the French tax under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, the same provision the Trump administration used last year to probe China’s technology policies, leading to tariffs on more than $360 billion worth of Chinese imports in the biggest trade war since the 1930s.
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A top European human rights official has demanded immediate closure of a migrant camp in Bosnia where hundreds of people have refused food and water to protest a lack of protection in snowy and cold weather.The Vucjak camp near the northwestern town of Bihac has almost no facilities. International aid organizations have said it is unfit for migrants because it is located on a former landfill and close to a mine field from the 1992-95 war.
                   
Already poor conditions in the camp have worsened further after snow fell on Monday.
                   
Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, on Tuesday visited Vucjak where migrants had spent the night in tents braving freezing temperatures. Mijatovic says migrants must be moved to a warm and safe location.
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U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper urged Turkey on Monday to stop holding up support for a NATO defense plan for the Baltics and Poland, as Ankara presses the alliance to support its fight against U.S.-backed Kurdish YPG militia in Syria.In an interview with Reuters ahead of the NATO summit, Esper warned Ankara that “not everybody sees the threats that they see” and added he would not support labeling the YPG as terrorists to break the impasse.He called on Ankara to focus on the larger challenges facing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.”The message to Turkey … is we need to move forward on these response plans and it can’t be held up by their own particular concerns,” Esper said as he flew to London.”Alliance unity, alliance readiness, means that you focus on the bigger issues — the bigger issue being the readiness of the (NATO) alliance. And not everybody’s willing to sign up to their agenda. Not everybody sees the threats that they see.”NATO envoys need formal approval by all 29 members for the plan to improve the defense of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia against any threat from neighboring Russia.The dispute, as NATO prepares to hold its 70th anniversary summit, is a sign of deep divisions between Ankara and Washington over everything from the war in Syria to Turkey’s growing defense relationship with Russia.Turkey wants NATO to formally recognize the YPG militia, the main component of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as terrorists and is infuriated that its allies have given the militia support.Ankara has blamed Washington for the current impasse, saying it was caused by the U.S. withdrawal of support from a separate defense plan for Turkey, covering any possible attack from the south where it borders Syria.Asked whether Washington might agree to branding the YPG as terrorists in order to break the deadlock, Esper said: “I wouldn’t support that.””We’re going to stick to our positions, and I think NATO will as well,” Esper said.The issue is the latest source of friction between the NATO allies, which have also been at loggerheads over Turkey’s purchase of advanced Russian air defenses, which Washington says are incompatible with NATO defenses and pose a threat to Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth fighter jets.Washington said in July it was removing Turkey from the F-35 program and has warned of possible U.S. sanctions.Two U.S. senators pressed the Trump administration on Monday to impose sanctions on Turkey over its purchase of the Russian missile defense system and said the failure to do so sent a “terrible signal.” 
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Russia is to set up a new online site for its national encyclopedia after President Vladimir Putin said Wikipedia was unreliable and should be replaced.The move will ensure people can find “reliable information that is constantly updated on the basis of scientifically verified sources of knowledge,” a government resolution said.Putin last month proposed replacing the crowd-sourced online encyclopedia Wikipedia with an electronic version of the Great Russian Encyclopedia – the successor to the Soviet Union’s main encyclopedia.”This, at any rate, would be reliable information offered in a modern form,” Putin said then.In 2015, Russia briefly blocked the Russian-language version of Wikipedia for an article containing information on cannabis under legislation banning sites with drug-related material.Moscow has also introduced tougher online controls over the Russian segment of the internet so that it can keep on functioning even if cut off from foreign infrastructure.The Great Russian Encyclopedia is already available in a basic electronic format.The new online portal will cost about 2 billion rubles ($31 million), Sergei Kravets, an editor for the Great Russian Encyclopedia was quoted as saying on Nov. 21 by TASS news agency.The government will also set up a national research and education center for the Great Russian Encyclopedia, the resolution, signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, said. 
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview Monday that he didn’t speak with President Donald Trump “from the position of a quid pro quo” last summer. Zelenskiy says, “That’s not my thing. . I don’t want us to look like beggars.”Trump later claimed Zelenskiy had said Trump had done nothing wrong. But Zelenskiy didn’t go that far.The Ukrainian leader spoke to Time ahead of the first round of expected peace talks with Russia Dec. 9 in Paris — the two countries have been embroiled in war along the Ukraine border for the past five years.Zelenskiy, a former comedian turned politician, has been in office for barely six months and his conversations with Trump are the topic of intense scrutiny in the U.S., with their July 25 phone call at the center of the House impeachment inquiry into President Trump.Zelenskiy was asked whether there was a connection between Trump’s decision to block military assistance to Ukraine and the two investigations he asked Zelenskiy to do. One was on possible meddling by Ukraine in the 2016 elections, the other was about the family of Democratic rival, Joe Biden.FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a bilateral meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the sidelines of the 74th session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Sept. 25, 2019.“Look I never talked to the president from the position of a quid pro quo,” Zelenskiy said. “But you have to understand. We’re at war. If you’re our strategic partner, then you can’t go blocking anything for us. I think that’s just about fairness. It’s not about a quid pro quo.”Trump later told reporters as he departed Monday for London for the NATO summit that Zelenskiy’s comments should be “case closed,” mischaracterizing the interview by saying that Zelenskiy had come out and said “very strongly that President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong.”Zelenskiy also said when leaders like Trump call his country corrupt, it sends a concerning message.“Everyone hears that signal,” he said. “Investments, banks, stakeholders, companies, American, European, companies that have international capital in Ukraine, it’s a signal to them that says, Be careful, don't invest.' Or,Get out of there.”’When asked whether he had any trust in Russian President Vladimir Putin going into the peace talks next week, he said: “I don’t trust anyone at all.”“Politics is not an exact science,” Zelenskiy said.
 
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 U.S. President Donald Trump is in London this week to attend the NATO summit as his impeachment fight back home enters a new phase.  “It will never end, because they want to do what they want to do,” Trump said to reporters as he left the White House, referring to Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.With Democrats beginning hearings on drafting the articles of impeachment Wednesday, many leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are well aware of the pressures Trump is facing at home.Impeachment hearings “eat up a considerable amount of time” for the president and his closest advisers, said Gary Schmitt, resident scholar in strategic studies and American institutions at the American Enterprise Institute. “You’ll see a very distracted president for sure,” Schmitt said.President Donald Trump walks to board Air Force One for a trip to London to attend the NATO summit, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Dec. 2, 2019.However, Trump’s impeachment will not likely impact discussions among NATO member countries whose leaders “probably anticipate that the president will be impeached but won’t be removed from office,” said Schmitt.”They know that at least for the next year they’ll be dealing with President Trump and his administration so they’ll plan accordingly,” he said.This is not the first time Trump will be facing world leaders under the threat of impeachment. Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the formal House impeachment inquiry against the president on Sept. 24, the same day Trump gave a speech in front of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.Echoes of NixonTrump is not the first U.S. president to attend a NATO meeting as his impeachment looms. In June 1974, Richard Nixon was in Brussels attending a summit commemorating NATO’s 25th anniversary as the House Judiciary Committee was concluding its impeachment inquiry. Nixon stepped down a few weeks later.FILE – President Richard Nixon waves goodbye from the steps of his helicopter outside the White House after he gave a farewell address to members of the White House staff, Aug. 9, 1974.When Trump meets leaders at NATO’s gathering to celebrate its 70th year, he will do so “with the confidence he will likely survive Nixon’s fate,” said Derek Chollet, Executive Vice President for Security and Defense Policy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.Chollet added that as Nixon did in 1974, Trump will strive to project a sense of normalcy in the summit. “As Congress debates his future, Trump will still have extra incentive to show that he’s in command,” he said.The parallel between Trump and Nixon doesn’t end with impeachment.The 1974 summit was also a period in which the Europeans worried about the United States withdrawing from Europe, said Hans Kundnani, senior research fellow in the Europe Program at Chatham House.Kundnani added that Europeans in general are hoping that Trump won’t stay in office, but they are aware enough of the process to know that Republicans are unlikely to convict in the Senate.”The hope is more that Trump won’t be re-elected, rather than that he will be convicted and removed from office before the election,” Kundnani said. “I don’t think it will particularly affect the way that the NATO summit functions.”Bilateral meetingsOn the sidelines of the summit, Trump is expected to hold bilateral meetings, including with French President Emmanuel Macron who has been advocating “strategic autonomy” for NATO members, stressing that amidst concerns of U.S. commitment to the alliance, Europeans must not rely too much on American security guarantees.Macron sharply criticized Trump after he withdrew American forces from northeastern Syria in October without consulting NATO allies, saying that the decision represents the “brain-death of NATO.”
 
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed legislation requiring all smartphones, computers and smart TV sets sold in the country to come pre-installed with Russian software.The law, which will come into force on July 1 next year, has been met with resistance by some electronics retailers, who say the legislation was adopted without consulting them.The law has been presented as a way to help Russian IT firms compete with foreign companies and spare consumers from having to download software upon purchasing a new device.The country’s mobile phone market is dominated by foreign companies including Apple, Samsung and Huawei. The legislation signed by Putin said the government would come up with a list of Russian applications that would need to be installed on the different devices.Russia has introduced tougher internet laws in recent years, requiring search engines to delete some search results, messaging services to share encryption keys with security services and social networks to store user data on servers in the country.
 
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The jailed ex-leader of a Kurdish party in Turkey has been sent to hospital for examinations, authorities said Monday, shortly after the politician’s lawyer said he suffered chest pains and lost consciousness in prison last week.
Selahattin Demirtas, 46, has been in prison for more than three years, facing terror charges.
Lawyer Aygul Demirtas – who is also the politician’s sister – tweeted Monday that Demirtas lost consciousness for some time. He received an electrocardiogram but had still not been sent to a fully equipped hospital despite the prison doctor’s recommendation, she said.
The prosecutor’s office later said in a statement that Demirtas was examined by doctors who arrived after the prison called emergency services and did not identify any health problems. The statement said he was dispatched to a hospital Monday for a more detailed examination.
The politician’s Peoples’ Democratic Party, Turkey’s second-largest opposition party, called on the government to explain and demanded he be taken to the hospital.
The Turkish government accuses the party of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has waged a decades-long insurgency. It has cracked down on the party, arresting lawmakers and party members.
Demirtas faces up to 142 years in jail with several cases against him. He denies the charges.  
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In its biggest military funeral in decades, France is honoring 13 soldiers killed when their helicopters collided over Mali while on a mission fighting extremists affiliated with the Islamic State group.
                   
A few thousand people, veterans, uniformed military units and ordinary residents,  lined the Alexander II Bridge and the esplanade leading toward the gold-domed Invalides monument in Paris on Monday to pay their respects, as 13 hearses drove slowly past.
                   
French President Emmanuel Macron and Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita will preside over the funeral ceremony at the Invalides, a former military hospital that houses Napoleon’s tomb.
                   
The 13 coffins, draped in the French tricolor, arrived in France over the weekend.
                   
Tuesday’s crash was France’s highest military death toll since 1983. The French military says it was the result of complex coordination during a combat operation and has dismissed a claim of responsibility by an IS-linked group. The flight recorders were recovered and an investigation has begun.
                   
The deaths draw new attention to a worrying front in the global fight against extremism, one in which France and local countries have pleaded for more support. In a surge of violence this month, attackers often linked to IS have killed scores of troops in West Africa’s arid Sahel region.
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London Bridge reopened to cars and pedestrians Monday, three days after a man previously convicted of terrorism offenses stabbed two people to death and injured three others before being shot dead by police.
                   
Political leaders including Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who have traded blame for the security failures that allowed the attack ,attended a vigil at Guildhall Yard in the medieval heart of London to remember the victims and honor members of the emergency services and bystanders who fought the attacker with fists, fire extinguishers and even a narwhal tusk.
                   
The dignitaries, city officials and members of the public observed two minutes of silence in honor of former University of Cambridge students Saskia Jones, 23, and Jack Merritt, 25. They were fatally stabbed by 28-year-old convicted terrorist Usman Khan during an event designed to connect graduate students with prisoners. Both victims worked for the Cambridge-based prisoner rehabilitation program Learning Together.
                   
Two of the three injured people remained in hospital Monday. The third was discharged.
                   
The attacker was attending the event at Fishmongers’ Hall, beside the bridge, and had returned for the afternoon session when he started stabbing people. Police believe he acted alone.
                   
He was pursued onto London Bridge and restrained by staff from the venue and others attending the conference. Police opened fire after he flashed what looked like a suicide vest. It was a fake device.
                   
Toby Williamson, chief executive of Fishmongers’ Hall, paid tribute to staff at the venue who tried to help the injured and fight off the attacker. Williamson said one staffer, whom he identified as Lukasz, pulled a 5-foot (1.5 meter) narwhal tusk from the wall and charged at Khan, allowing others to escape. Williamson told the BBC that Lukasz suffered cuts in a minute of “one-on-one straight combat” with the knifeman.
                   
London Mayor Sadiq Khan told Monday’s vigil that, in the face of tragedy, people should “take hope from the heroism of ordinary Londoners and emergency services who ran toward danger, risking their lives to help people they didn’t even know.”
                   
The attack has pushed security to the top of the agenda in campaigning for the U.K.’s Dec. 12 election.
                   
Johnson, a Conservative, has blamed legal changes made by a previous Labour government for the fact that Khan was freed from prison a year ago after serving half of a 16-year sentence for terrorist offenses, without parole officers assessing whether he still posed a risk.
                   
That rule was changed in 2012 by a Conservative-led government, and Johnson has vowed to end the early release of violent offenders altogether.
                   
Opposition parties blamed years of cuts to the prison and probation services by the Conservatives, who have been in power since 2010. Khan was on probation, subject to restrictions on his movement and wearing an electronic tag when he launched his attack.
                   
“There are enormous questions to be learned from this terrible event that happened last week and that is, what happened in the prison with this particular individual, what assessment was made of his psychological condition before he was released and also what supervision and monitoring he was under after coming out?” said Corbyn.
                   
The family of Merritt also cautioned against knee-jerk responses. They said he “would not want this terrible, isolated incident to be used as a pretext by the government for introducing even more draconian sentences on prisoners, or for detaining people in prison for longer than necessary.”
                   
In the wake of the attack, authorities are urgently reviewing the release of more than 70 other former terrorist prisoners.
                   
As part of that work, a 34-year-old man was arrested Saturday in Stoke-on-Trent, central England, on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts. Police said Monday he had been returned to prison for breaching his release conditions.
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