The Boston Globe - 11.03.2020

A4 The Boston Globe WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2020

The World

NEW DELHI — Hindus

threw colored powder and

sprayed water in massive cele-

brations of the festival of Holi

in India on Tuesday, but the en-

thusiasm was subdued com-

pared to previous years be-

cause of fears of the new virus.

Brightly colored powder

filled the air in most parts of

North India. But in the capital,

New Delhi, many events were

canceled as the number of con-

firmed cases of COVID-19 in

the country rose to 47.

Holi, which marks the ad-

vent of spring, is widely cele-

brated in India, Nepal, and oth-

er South Asian countries.

Most years, millions of peo-

ple from toddlers to the elderly

throw powder at each other

and play with water balloons

and squirt guns.

But this year Prime Minister

Narendra Modi tweeted that he

would not participate in public

Holi celebrations because of

the virus outbreak.

“Yes, it’s coronavirus that

made us cancel our programs,”

said Anshuman Ghulati, festi-

valdirectorofHoliMoo,oneof

the biggest Holi events in New

Delhi which last year drew

some 7,000 people from

around the world.

“People are scared this year,

we have canceled our event,” he

said.

Other groups in New Delhi

also canceled their plans.

Atul Goyal, president of

United Residents Joint Action,

said there would be no gala

lunches or water dance events.

‘‘Considering the coronavi-

rus outbreak, you are advised

to cancel Holi gatherings, in

particular playing with water

and touching of nose, eyes and

lips, and shaking hands,’’ the

group said in an advisory.

But many defied the recom-

mendations in other parts of

the country.

People danced and smeared

each other with colors in the

northern state of Uttarakhand.

Still, “there has been some ef-

fect from the coronavirus on

celebrations,’’ said Neeraj Ku-

mar, a resident of the state.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Annual spring Holi festival subdued in India over coronavirus concerns

BOGOR, Indonesia — King

Willem-Alexander of the Neth-

erlands apologized Tuesday for

his country’s aggression dur-

ing its colonial rule of Indone-

sia and formally recognized

the Southeast Asian country’s

independence date, in his first

state visit to the former Dutch

colony.

The king’s apology was con-

veyed after he and Queen Max-

ima were hosted by Indone-

sian President Joko Widodo

and his wife, Iriana, at an offi-

cial ceremony in the presiden-

tial palace in Bogor, just out-

side the capital, Jakarta.

The Netherlands did not

initially apologize for its 350

years of colonial rule and ag-

gression until 2013, when the

Dutch ambassador expressed

remorse for massacres carried

out by the military.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dutch king apologizes for colonial killings

SCHIPHOL, Netherlands —

A Dutch prosecutor said Tues-

day that there are “strong indi-

cations” Russia wants to un-

dermine investigations into

the downing of Malaysia Flight

17 and told judges at the trial

of four suspects that many wit-

nesses fear for their safety.

Prosecutor Thijs Berger

made the statement on the

second day of the trial of three

Russians and a Ukrainian

charged with the murder of all

298 passengers and crew

killed when a missile shot

down the Amsterdam-to-Kua-

la Lumpur flight on July 17,

2014. The suspects weren’t
      present.
      Prosecutors allege that a
      Russian Buk missile shot
      down the flight from an agri-
      cultural field in a region of
      eastern Ukraine controlled by
      pro-Moscow rebel forces. Rus-
      sia denies any involvement.
      ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dutch: Russia thwarting MH17 probe

JERUSALEM — An Israeli

court on Tuesday rejected

Prime Minister Benjamin Ne-

tanyahu’s request to delay the

start of his corruption trial,

clearing the way for proceed-

ings to begin as planned next

week.

Netanyahu’s lawyers had

appealed for a delay, saying

they needed more time to re-

view evidence. State prosecu-

tors responded that they op-

pose any delays and the court

accepted their position.

In overruling the request

the presiding judge wrote that

the first session on March 17

was a procedural reading of

the charges only and the de-

fendant’s response was not

needed, therefore there was

no justification for a delay.

Netanyahu has been

charged with fraud, breach of

trust, and accepting bribes in

connection to a series of scan-

dals that include accepting ex-

pensive gifts from wealthy

friends and offering to ex-

change favors with powerful

media moguls. The long-rul-

ing Israeli leader denies any

wrongdoing and says he is the

victim of a media-orchestrated

witch hunt.

His legal troubles stood at

the center of last week’s na-

tional election, Israel’s third in

less than a year. Like elections

last April and September, this

one ended inconclusively.

Netanyahu’s opponent,

Benny Gantz, refused to sit

with him in government and

appears poised to push for leg-

islation in the incoming par-

liament that would bar any-

one indicted for a crime being

able to lead a government —

in effect disqualifying Netan-

yahu from leading the coun-

try.

The most straightforward

way out of the political dead-

lock in each of the previous

rounds was a unity govern-

ment but the sides have grown

increasingly acrimonious to-

ward each other with each

campaign.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Netanyahu bid to delay trial rejected

Daily Briefing

By Anton Troianovski
NEW YORK TIMES
MOSCOW — It looked as
though Vladimir Putin had
been gearing up to push
through obscure constitutional
changes as a surreptitious way
to remain Russia’s leader after
presidential term limits forced
him to step down in 2024. But
Tuesday, Putin endorsed a pro-
posal stunningly simpler and
more brazen: resetting the Con-
stitution’s term-limit clock to
zero.
The proposal, passed by the
lower house of Parliament just
hours after it had been intro-
duced, would allow him to run
for an additional two six-year
terms when his tenure expires.
The legislation must still be
approved by Russia’s Constitu-
tional Court and a nationwide
referendum in April. But in

Russia’s tightly controlled polit-

ical system, the choreographed

flurry of events Tuesday was the

clearest sign yet that after 20

years as president or prime

minister, Putin, the 67-year-old

former KGB spy and icon of

strongman rule, is intent on

staying in the Kremlin possibly

for the rest of his life or at least

until 2036.

In the past, Putin proceeded

cautiously, seeking to preserve

a veneer of legality. Confronting

term limits in 2008, Putin opt-

ed for a four-year hiatus as

prime minister while his proté-

gé, Dmitry Medvedev, became

the caretaker president.

In January he proposed

some murky constitutional

changes that analysts said

pointed to his intention to stay

beyond the end of his current

term.

But with his proposal Tues-

day, Putin seemed to prefer

something bolder, saying he

supported the legislation for

the good of the country. The

president is the guarantor “of

the security of our state, of its

internal stability — its internal,

evolutionary stability,” Putin

said. “And I mean evolutionary.

We’ve had enough revolutions.”

While momentous, the

events that unfolded Tuesday in

Parliament were hardly a sur-

prise. Under Russia’s current

constitution, Putin is obligated

to step down at the end of his

presidential term in 2024. But

few in Russia expected him to

relinquish power so soon, and

analysts and politicians have

long been speculating about

how the president would hold

on to the reins.

It became clear Tuesday that

a constitutional overhaul initi-

ated by Putin in January would

become the vehicle to do just

that.

Putin initially proposed

amendments to the constitu-

tion that covered the intricacies

of the authority of the president

andtheprimeminister,while

another proposed amendment

would ban gay marriage.

But Tuesday, as lawmakers

in the lower house of Parlia-

ment took up the amendments,

one added a new one to the

mix. Putin should be allowed to

run again in 2024, said cosmo-

naut-turned-politician Valenti-

na Tereshkova, who in 1963 be-

came the first woman in space.

“Given his enormous au-

thority, this would be a stabiliz-

ing factor for our society,”

Tereshkova said, referring to

Putin’s ability to run again.

What followed was a quick

cascade of developments that

seemed to be carefully planned

to carry a patina of spontaneity.

The speaker of the lower house,

the State Duma, said Putin

would personally appear in or-

der to give his own input on the

new proposal. While the law-

makers waited, members of the

pro-Putin United Russia party

said they would back it.

Soon after, Putin took the

podium to a standing ovation

and explained that he had tak-

en the rare step of making an

unscheduled visit to the Duma

because he wanted to address

lawmakers “without delay.”

He did not reveal whether

he actually planned to run

again, saying at the end of his

speech: “I’m sure that together,

we will do many more great

things, at least until 2024.

Then, we will see.”

Putin’s declaration in 2011

that he’d return to the presiden-

cy helped precipitate large-

scale street protests. But de-

spite a burst of anger online

Tuesday, it wasn’t clear whether

something similar would play

out this time.

Three opposition activists

quickly applied for a permit for

a Moscow rally March 21

against Putin’s move.

Putin endorses brazen move to extend his rule

Proposedstatute

wouldresetlimit

onhispresidency

ANUPAM NATH/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Indians smeared colored powder on each other during Holi festival celebrations in Gauhati, India, on Tuesday.

ALEXEI NIKOLSKY/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

President Vladimir Putin addressed the lower house of the

Russian Parliament in Moscow before it voted on Tuesday.

By Kathy Gannon
and Rahim Faiez
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KABUL — The United States
began withdrawing troops from
Afghanistan, the US military
said Tuesday, taking a step for-
ward on its peace deal with the
Taliban while also praising Af-
ghan President Ashraf Ghani’s
promise to start releasing Tali-
ban prisoners after he had de-
layed for over a week.
The US-Taliban deal signed
Feb. 29 was touted as Washing-
ton’s effort to end 18 years of
war in Afghanistan. The next
crucial step was to be intra-Af-
ghan talks in which all factions
including the Taliban would ne-
gotiate a road map for their
country’s future.
But Ghani and his main po-
litical rival, Abdullah Abdullah,

were each sworn in as president
in separate ceremonies Mon-
day. The dueling inaugurations
have thrown plans for talks
with the Taliban into chaos, al-
though Ghani said Tuesday that
he’d start putting together a ne-
gotiating team.
The disarray on the Afghan
government side is indicative of
the uphill task facing Washing-
ton’s peace envoy Zalmay Khal-
ilzad as he tries to get Afghani-
stan’s bickering leadership to
come together. In an early Tues-
day tweet, Khalilzad said he
hoped the two leaders can
“come to an agreement on an
inclusive and broadly accepted
government. We will continue
to assist.”
US military spokesman in
Afghanistan Sonny Leggett said
in a statement Tuesday the mili-
tary had begun its “conditions-
based reduction of forces to
8,600 over 135 days.”
Currently the United States
has about 13,000 soldiers in Af-
ghanistan — 8,000 of whom are
involved in training and advis-
ing Afghanistan’s National Se-
curity Forces, while about 5,
are involved in antiterror oper-
ations and militarily support-
ing the Afghan army when they

are requested.

Ghani had been dragging his

feet on releasing some 5,

Taliban prisoners, something

agreed to in the US-Taliban

deal. Ghani promised Monday

to announce a decree to free the

prisoners after the United

States and a number of foreign

dignitaries appeared to back his

claim to the presidency by

sending their representatives to

his inauguration.

Secretary of State Mike

Pompeo released a statement

Monday saying, “We also wel-

come President Ghani’s an-

nouncement that he will issue a

decree March 10 on Taliban

prisoner release.”

Taliban officials said late

Monday that a flurry of biomet-

ric identifications were being

conducted on Taliban prison-

ers, hinting at a mass release,

according to prisoners current-

ly in lockup. The Taliban offi-

cials spoke on condition of ano-

nymity because they weren’t

authorized to talk to the media.

Sohail Shaheen, the Tali-

ban’s spokesman in Doha

where the insurgent group

maintains an office, tweeted

Tuesday that the names of the

5,000 prisoners are with an

“American delegation and the

list cannot be manipulated,’’

without elaborating.

In his tweet, Shaheen said

any prisoners handed over will

be verified before being accept-

ed. The Associated Press con-

tacted a Taliban prisoner in Af-

ghanistan’s Pul-e-Charkhi Jail

on the outskirts of Kabul who

said four Taliban had been re-

leased Monday and another

three Tuesday. The seven had

completed their sentence, said

Maulvi Niaz Mohammad in a

telephone interview.

They were not part of the

5,000 on the Taliban prisoner

list, he said. Mohammad, who

had also been interviewed by

the AP in the prison in Decem-

ber, is in telephone contact with

the Taliban’s Prisoners Com-

mission, which is headed by

Maulvi Nooruddin Turani, a

former Taliban justice minister

and a violent enforcer of the

Taliban’s strict code of conduct.

Meanwhile, Pompeo said he

“strongly opposed” the estab-

lishment of a parallel govern-

ment in Kabul, despite early

signs of one emerging. Abdul-

lah had quickly sent his vice

presidents to occupy the official

offices Monday, ahead of

Ghani’s plan to send his vice

presidents there Tuesday.

Pompeo warned against

“any use of force to resolve po-

litical differences.” Both candi-

dates — but particularly Abdul-

lah — are backed by warlords

with heavily armed militias, un-

derscoring fears they could use

force to back their candidate.

US starts pullout

from Afghanistan,

seeks end to feud

Jostleforpower

stallspeacetalks

Thenextcrucial

stepwastobe

intra-Afghantalks

inwhichall

factionsincluding

theTalibanwould

negotiatearoad

mapfortheir

country’sfuture.