The Boston Globe - 08.08.2019

THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2019 The Boston Globe A

The World

MOSCOW — The city’s om-
budsman for children’s rights
and members of a presiden-
tial council have expressed
outrage over Russian prosecu-
tors trying to take a 1-year-old
boy from his parents because
they allegedly brought him to
an unauthorized protest.
The ombudsman, Yevgeny
Bunimovich, denounced the
custody removal request pros-
ecutors filed Tuesday as ‘‘po-
litical blackmail involving
children’’ and said he wrote
Moscow’s chief prosecutor to
urge dropping a criminal case
against the parents.
Prosecutors alleged in a
court petition seeking the
withdrawal of parental rights
that Olga and Dmitri Proka-
zov endangered their son by
taking him to a July 27 pro-
test rally and handing the

child to a man who is now be-

ing sought on charges of orga-

nizing mass riots.

Speaking Tuesday on

independent Dozhd TV, Dmi-

tri Prokazov said his family

was on a walk in central Mos-

cow at the time of the rally

but did not participate in the

protest.

Members of the presiden-

tial human rights council also

criticized the custody peti-

tion, which is part of a slew of

criminal cases launched in

the wake of protests challeng-

ing the Kremlin.

Police aggressively cracked

down on the July 27 rally pro-

testing the exclusion of oppo-

sition candidates from Mos-

cow’s city council election and

on another demonstration a

week later.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Russiancouplebackedincustodyfight

NAIROBI — A Kenyan law-

maker was kicked out of the

parliamentary chamber on

Wednesday for bringing her

infant daughter in with her, in

a move that drew outrage from

some fellow politicians and the

public.

The lawmaker, Zuleikha

Hassan, said she took her baby

with her to work at the Nation-

al Assembly in Nairobi, the

Kenyan capital, after an emer-

gency had left her without

child care.

“I said, ‘Why should I stay

at home and not go to work,

just because of the baby?’ ” she

said. “Why should they crimi-

nalize having a baby? So, I

said, ‘I’m going to Parliament

with a baby.’ ”

She also lamented the lack

of child care facilities at the

government buildings, and

said that with more young

women getting into the work-

force, “the spaces have to be

more sensitive, especially for

younger women who are in

childbearing age.”

In video from inside the

chamber, a baby’s soft bab-

bling can be heard in the back-

ground as the speaker of Par-

liament demands that Hassan

leave.

Those who demanded Has-

san’s removal cited a rule that

bans “strangers” — people oth-

er than elected members — in-

side the chamber, saying the

regulation applies to children.

NEW YORK TIMES

Lawmakerexpelledoverherchild

BEIJING — China said
Wednesday that it is banning
Chinese movies and actors
from participating in Taiwan’s
Golden Horse Awards, one of
the Asian film industry’s most
prestigious honors, as Beijing
ramps up economic and politi-
cal pressure on the island it
claims as its own territory.
The announcement on the
microblog of China Film News,
a newspaper affiliated with the
government film regulator,
gave no reason for the suspen-
sion, but it comes amid rising
tensions over Taiwan’s refusal
to recognize being part of Chi-
nese territory to eventually be

brought under Beijing’s rule.

Even without the ban, Chi-

nese artists might have found

it difficult to make it to the

Nov. 23 ceremony. Beijing re-

cently issued a ban on solo

travel to the island beginning

Sept. 1 as part of measures to

inflict an economic cost.

Chinese participation was

already in doubt following last

year’s ceremony, which was

marked by Chinese displea-

sure over remarks in an accep-

tance speech by documentary

director Fu Yue calling on the

world to recognize Taiwan as

an independent country.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ChinaoutofTaiwanfilmawards

ROME — Gregory Peck and

Audrey Hepburn perched

there without a care in the

1953 film ‘‘Roman Holiday.’’

But the Spanish Steps in

Rome are no longer a place

for sitting.

Enforcing an ordinance

that took effect last month,

police officers patrolled the

famed stone staircase

Wednesday to tell locals and

visitors ‘‘please, no sitting’’ on

one of the Eternal City’s

most recognizable land-

marks.

The 137 steps built in the

1720s have long been a popu-

lar spot to people-watch, hang

out, and pause for a breath.

Rome’s official tourism web-

site describes the steps as a

passageway ‘‘but even more so

a place for meeting and a

pleasant rest.’’

But as of July 8, sitting,

eating, and drinking on them

is illegal and can result in a

fine of up to $450.

The ordinance also applies

to other photogenic sites

in Rome, like the Trevi Foun-

tain.

Watching officers motion

for seated visitors to get up,

Italian tourist Tommaso Gal-

letta said he disagreed with

the sitting ban.

‘‘This monument is so

beautiful. There was a child

sitting who was tired, sitting

down with his father a few

minutes ago, and the traffic

officer asked them to stand

up,’’ Galletta said.

Others took no issue with

the ban.

‘‘If we have to follow the

regulation, we have to follow

it,’’ said Jurgen Meier, a Ger-

man tourist.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

StayofftheSpanishSteps,policewarn

PARIS — Health officials in

Paris said Wednesday that a

young boy needs medical moni-

toring because tests conducted

after the Notre Dame Cathedral

fire showed that he was at risk

of lead poisoning.

The child doesn’t need treat-

ment yet, the Regional Health

Authority said in a statement

Tuesday. Checks are being con-

ducted to determine whether

the lead came from the April 15

fire or another source.

The child’s school, near the

cathedral, was closed in July

due to high lead levels found on

its grounds.

A total of 162 children have

been tested for lead in Paris af-

ter hundreds of tons of lead in

Notre Dame’s spire and roof

melted in the blaze. Sixteen of

those were deemed to be just

short of being ‘‘at risk.’’.

The results ‘‘show, on the

one hand, the need to keep

cleaning to limit the risk of ex-

posure of the children to lead

and, on the other hand, the im-

portance of extending blood

tests,’’ the health authority said.

Authorities in June recom-

mended blood tests for chil-

dren under 7 and pregnant

women who live near Notre

Dame.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Leadpoisoning

fearedafterfire

Daily Briefing

The Canadian police said

Wednesday that they believe

they have located the bodies of

two teenagers suspected of

killing three people in an iso-

lated stretch of British Colum-

bia.

Kam McLeod, 19, and Bry-

er Schmegelsky, 18, had been

the subject of an intense two-

week manhunt that riveted the

country. An autopsy was un-

derway to confirm their identi-

ties, Assistant Commissioner

Jane MacLatchy, the com-

manding officer of the Manito-

ba Royal Canadian Mounted

Police, said at a news confer-

ence. But she said the police

were confident the bodies

were the teenagers.

The bodies were found in

northern Manitoba, the police

said. MacLatchy said the in-

vestigation had a break-

through Friday after police of-

ficers discovered personal

items belonging to the sus-

pects on the shorelines of the

Nelson River.

The discovery of the per-

sonal items led the police into

a dense area of brush, where

they found the bodies, the as-

sistant commissioner said.

The teenagers were sus-

pects in the deaths of Leonard

Dyck, a 64-year-old University

of British Columbia lecturer,

and a young couple: Lucas

Fowler, 23, an Australian, and

Chynna Deese, 24, an Ameri-

can.

NEW YORK TIMES

Teenmurdersuspectsfounddead

By Fahim Abed, Fatima
Faizi, and Mujib Mashal
NEW YORK TIMES
KABUL — A powerful Tali-
ban truck bomb exploded
Wednesday outside a police sta-
tion in Kabul, the Afghan capi-
tal, killing 14 people and injur-
ing at least 145 others as peace
negotiations between the mili-
tants and US diplomats were
underway.
The explosion, following re-
peated warnings from the Unit-
ed Nations about rising civilian
casualties, was the latest to
strike a heavily populated area
during the morning rush hour.
The blast sent plumes of thick
smoke into the sky, wrecked the

police station and a nearby ar-

my recruitment center, and

shattered windows within a ra-

dius of about a mile.

Violence has intensified in

recent months across Afghani-

stan as the opposing sides in

the peace talks try to turn bat-

tlefield blows into gains in ne-

gotiations over the country’s

political future. Often, even

heavily populated urban cen-

ters like Kabul feel like battle-

grounds in a war that lost clear

front lines long ago.

An agreement between the

Taliban and the United States is

expected to be finalized soon

and result in a schedule for the

conditional withdrawal of the

remaining 14,000 US troops

and their NATO partners from

Afghanistan. In return, the Tali-

ban have pledged to prevent

terrorist attacks against the

United States and its allies from

Afghan soil.

But as the talks continue,

the violence worsens. The Unit-

ed Nations said July was the

deadliest month in Afghanistan

in the last few years, with 1,

civilians killed or wounded.

While theUnited Nations

blamed last month’s increase

on large Taliban explosions, it

said in an earlier report that Af-

ghan forces and their US allies

were responsible for more civil-

ian deaths than the Taliban

during the first six months of

the year.

In a sign of how widespread

the violence is, Afghan security

forces conducted nearly 100

large military operations, small

commando raids, and airstrikes

across about a dozen of the

country’s 34 provinces in the

last 24 hours, the defense min-

istry said, adding that it had

killed at least 84 Taliban fight-

ers and wounded dozens of oth-

ers.

Both sides often exaggerate

casualty tolls, which are diffi-

cult to verify independently.

Most of the operations by Af-

ghan forces, which are heavily

reliant on US air power, happen

in the countryside. On a daily

basis, Afghan and American

planes strike Taliban targets,

which are often mixed in with

civilians.

The Taliban use a different

deadly tactic: truck bombs and

suicide attacks, often in urban

centers.

In a city like Kabul, which

has ballooned into a metropolis

of about 5 million people, even

a truck bomb rammed into a

military target often leaves

enormous civilian casualties.

Afghan officials said civilians

accounted for more than two-

thirds of the casualties in

Wednesday’s attack.

It was the second time over

the past two years that the same

area in western Kabul — home

to a police station and a recruit-

ment center for the Afghan ar-

my — has been targeted in huge

bombings. The offices, as well

as the civilian areas around

them, had only recently been

rebuilt after the prior bombing.

The attack came after a

tense night across Kabul, with

explosions heard in several

parts of the city past midnight.

The Afghan intelligence agency

said Wednesday morning in a

statement that it had raided

three cells of the Islamic State

group in different parts of the

city,resultinginclasheswith

suspected bomb-makers.

Although the Taliban are re-

sponsible for much of the war’s

insurgent violence, a small affil-

iate of the Islamic State has

gained a stubborn foothold in

the country’s east and has as-

serted that it carried out repeat-

ed suicide attacks in urban cen-

ters.

The violence is intensifying

as US diplomats are working

out the final details of a prelimi-

nary agreement with the Tali-

ban in the Qatari capital, Doha.

A deal would pave the way for

immediate direct negotiations

between the Taliban and other

Afghans over the political fu-

ture of the country.

While the United States

seems to have assured that ele-

ment of its peace plan — direct

negotiations between the Tali-

ban and other Afghans, includ-

ing the government, after the

announcement of a schedule

for troop withdrawals — there

is little clarity on the US de-

mand for a comprehensive

cease-fire.

Taliban suicide blast in Kabul kills 14, hurts 145

Attack occurs as

militants sit with

US to talk peace

ABDEL GHANI BASHIR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

READY FOR THE HAJJ —Muslim pilgrims prayed on Wednesday around the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in Saudi

Arabia’s holy city of Mecca before the start of the annual pilgrimage. More than 1.8 million Muslims are taking part.

GREGORIO BORGIA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Police kept people on their toes Wednesday on Rome’s

Spanish Steps. The city says it’s protecting its history.