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Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Sunday that Turkey will retaliate in the “harshest ways” and “respond in kind to this unacceptable behavior” after the Netherlands refused to allow a Turkish minister into the country and expelled another one. In addition, Turkish officials have sealed off the Dutch embassy in Ankara and have said the Dutch ambassador is not welcome in the country. Earlier Sunday, Dutch riot police on horseback clashed with hundreds of Turkish government supporters in Rotterdam who were protesting the moves against the Turkish ministers. Before clashes broke out, about 2,000 protesters had gathered outside the Turkish …

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Several hundred people have staged a protest in the southwestern Belarusian city of Pinsk, calling for the scrapping of a law imposing a tax on jobless people. The protest Saturday was the latest in series of demonstrations against the law, despite authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka announcing that he was suspending its application for one year in order to “correct” it and carry it out next year. Lukashenka said the law, which is reminiscent of Soviet-era legislation, was needed to fight what he has called “social parasitism.” The legislation has sparked protests across the nation of 10 million. It imposes a …

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Russia has hinted at involving the United States in a newly-launched regional dialogue Moscow says is aimed at seeking a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Afghanistan. The move comes as Afghanistan’s national security adviser is due to visit Moscow to discuss the prospects for promoting reconciliation with armed opposition in his country. Moscow’s stepped up Afghan diplomacy stems from its concerns that a protracted conflict is encouraging Islamic State militants to establish a foothold in the war-torn country and export terrorism to neighboring Central Asian states that ultimately could threaten Russian security. In December, the Russian government hosted senior …

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The Netherlands barred Turkey’s foreign minister from landing in Rotterdam on Saturday in a row over Ankara’s political campaigning among Turkish emigres, leading President Tayyip Erdogan to brand its fellow NATO member a “Nazi remnant.” The dispute escalated in the evening as Turkey’s family minister was prevented by police from entering the Turkish consulate in the Rotterdam while hundreds of protesters waving Turkish flags gathered outside demanding to see the minister. Turkey’s foreign ministry said it did not want the Dutch ambassador to Ankara to return from leave “for some time.’ Turkish authorities sealed off the Dutch embassy in Ankara …

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Three families who helped shelter former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden in Hong Kong in 2013 after his mass leak of information about surveillance programs have asked Canada for asylum, their lawyer said Friday. The families — three Sri Lankan adults, a Filipina, and three stateless children — have long-pending asylum claims in Hong Kong that they fear may soon be rejected, lawyer Marc-Andre Seguin said in a phone interview from Hong Kong. Seguin said the families had been thrust into the spotlight after the September release of the Oliver Stone film Snowden, which referred to their role …

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President Donald Trump has asked former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Russia. It’s a job likely to come with heavy scrutiny amid questions about the Trump campaign’s possible ties with Russia. Huntsman would bring extensive diplomatic and bipartisan experience to the high-profile ambassador post. VOA’s Elizabeth Cherneff reports. …

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Relations between Turkey and Europe took a nosedive this week after many EU countries objected to visits by Turkish ministers campaigning ahead of a Turkish referendum on constitutional change. Ankara wants to drum up support among the millions of Turks living in Europe to give President Recep Tayyip Erdogan more powers, which could see him remain in office until 2029. Henry Ridgwell reports from London. …

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Iraq is assessing what help it might need to collect and preserve evidence of Islamic State crimes, but has not yet decided whether it needs United Nations assistance, the country’s U.N. Ambassador, Mohamed Ali Alhakim, said Friday. Britain is drafting a U.N. Security Council resolution to establish a U.N. investigation to collect and preserve evidence for future prosecution, but would like Iraq to approve such a move by sending a letter formally requesting council action. International human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and Nadia Murad, a young Yazidi woman who was enslaved and raped by Islamic State fighters in Mosul, pushed …

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A boyish 30-year-old who looks like Justin Trudeau and sounds like Barack Obama has emerged as a potential kingmaker in Dutch politics, riding a rare message of tolerance ahead of an election dominated by anti-immigrant rhetoric. Jesse Klaver, son of a Moroccan father and part Indonesian mother, is expected to turn his tiny Green Left party into one of the main groups in the Dutch parliament in a vote next week that has mostly made headlines because of a far-right surge. The election is mainly billed as a challenge by flamboyant anti-Islam nationalist Geert Wilders to conservative Prime Minister Mark …

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Kosovo’s president said on Friday he would resign and force a parliamentary election if lawmakers do not approve changes that would effectively create a national army under a plan opposed by the country’s ethnic Serb minority and its NATO and U.S. allies. The Kosovo government ordered the creation of a national army three years ago, but Serbian deputies said they would block the required changes to the constitution. On Wednesday, parliament indicated it would bypass that opposition by preparing amendments to an existing law that would allow the Kosovo Security Forces (KSF) to buy heavy weapons and recruit more soldiers, …

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