France Public Transport Reopens With Precautions in Place

Public transport reopened Monday in France, with still some restrictions in place, especially for travel. Although a number of lockdown measures, enforced since March 17, were lifted, the situation is going to be is reassessed in early June. Meanwhile, people are required to wear masks on public transport and operators must ensure social distancing is observed. However, residents no longer need to fill out special permission slips to leave the house. Some small businesses were also allowed to resume activity on Monday, such as shops, hair salons and some others. According to data collected by John Hopkins University in the United States, France has recorded over 177,000 cases of infection with the coronavirus and more than 26,000 deaths. 

Britain Enters Post-coronavirus Period Monday

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson emphasized that Britain is not ending the lockdown but only modifying tough measures that had been imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.   In a televised address Sunday from his official London residence, Johnson announced three tentative steps toward reopening of the country. In Step 1, which starts Monday, people who cannot work from home, like construction workers or manufacturers, should be actively encouraged to go to work, but in a safe manner. That means, he said, that people should avoid public transportation and go to work by car, by bicycle or on foot.Johnson said the government has issued guidance to employers on how to make workplaces secure, including for public transport workers. Those measures will limit the capacity of the public transport.As of Wednesday, Johnson said people will be encouraged to go out and sit in the sun or exercise. They can drive out of town and even play group sports, but only with members of their own family.“You must obey the rules on social distancing and to enforce those rules we will increase the fines for the small minority who break them,” he said.People cycle through Westminster area of London, Sunday, May 10, 2020 during the nation-wide coronavirus lockdown.Johnson is the only world leader to have been hospitalized and treated for COVID, including having to spend a few days in intensive care.  Late Sunday, Bloomberg News reported that U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is self-isolating after one of his aides was diagnosed with the coronavirus. So far, the vice president has tested negative for the virus.An increase in infectionsSome countries that have relaxed their coronavirus measures, such as Germany and South Korea, have seen an increase in new infections after reopening.The British prime minister said the government will be monitoring the number of new infections and the progress made in containing the virus.He said if the conditions the government has set out are fulfilled, then in the next few weeks or months the country may be able to move to Step 2 on or around June 1.“We believe we may be in a position to begin the phased reopening of shops and to get primary pupils back into schools in stages, beginning with reception, Year 1 and Year 6.”   A man looks at the menu of a closed Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, in London, May 9, 2020.Johnson said the goal is to get the secondary school students facing exams next year to have at least some time with their teachers before the holidays. He said a detailed guidance for this phase is upcoming.Step 3 of Johnson’s blueprint is planned for July at the earliest and is subject to the fulfillment of the conditions from the first two steps, as well as scientific recommendations. The British leader said in that phase some of the hospitality industry and public places would reopen “if and only if the numbers support it.” Social distancing and other protective measures will still apply, he stressed, in order to avoid a new wave of infections. Mixed reactionsJohnson’s decision to modify the “stay at home” message to “stay alert” message has met with approval as well as criticism, notably from trade unions and regional leaders of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, said the message on recreation is too vague and she ordered the Scottish people to refrain from sunbathing, picnicking or barbecuing in public spaces until further notice. But walking and outdoor exercising will be allowed more than once a day starting Monday.With more than 220,000 COVID-19 cases, Britain is the world’s third most affected country after the United States and Spain. Britain’s coronavirus-linked death toll is close to 32,000 and is second only to the United States, which has more than 80,000 deaths. Britain has reported nearly 4,000 new cases in the past 24 hours.

Poland to Announce New Election Date Within 2 Weeks

The head of Poland’s electoral commission said on Sunday that the parliament speaker had 14 days to declare the date of a new presidential election in place of a Sunday vote that while never officially canceled did not take place due to the coronavirus.The declaration appeared to draw a line under a tumultuous debate in recent weeks over when the vote should be held that has sown division within the ruling alliance and prompted the opposition to accuse the government of neglecting public health.The nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government had insisted the election take place as scheduled, but was forced to admit in the past week that it could not organize it during the pandemic.”In the … election scheduled for May 10, 2010, there was no possibility of voting for candidates,” the electoral commission said in a statement.Its chief, Sylwester Marciniak, told private broadcaster TVN24 that he expected a new election to be held within 60 days of the parliamentary speaker’s announcement of a new date. That would mean a vote would be held in late July at the latest.On Saturday, speculation was rife in the Polish media that PiS would seek to press ahead with a vote on May 23, turning its back on an agreement with junior coalition partner Accord, which had called for the vote to be delayed for a more substantial amount of time.Incumbent President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, is well ahead in opinion polls, but the party had been concerned that the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic could hurt his popularity and damage his chances of re-election if the vote was delayed.As of Sunday, Poland had reported 15,996 cases of the coronavirus and 800 deaths.

Colombian Airline Avianca Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in US

Avianca, the second-largest airline in Latin America, filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States on Sunday to reorganize its debt “due to the unpredictable impact” of the coronavirus pandemic.In a statement issued in Bogota, Avianca said that along with “some of its subsidiaries and affiliates,” it had asked to “voluntarily file for Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code” in a New York court.The process allows financially struggling companies to reorganize and restructure their debt.The airline’s operations “have been dramatically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,” as well as federal air travel restrictions.The company “continues to have high fixed costs,” the statement said.Avianca temporarily suspended all passenger operations in late March, following Colombian President Ivan Duque’s decision to close the country’s airspace as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose.The decision, which grounded 142 aircraft, “has reduced consolidated income by more than 80 percent and has put significant pressure on liquidity,” according to the statement.It added that 12,000 of the airline’s more than 20,000 employees would take unpaid leave.The company asked the New York court for “authorization to fulfill work commitments” prior to the bankruptcy protection request and “maintain the compensation scheme applicable to its employees.”The coronavirus pandemic has dealt a crushing blow to the global aviation industry, which has been directly affected by confinement measures and travel restrictions.According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Latin American airlines will lose $15 billion in revenue this year, the worst crisis in the industry’s history.Avianca, which had already filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US in 2003, recorded a net loss of $894 million in 2019, against a $1.1 million profit the year before.Avianca Holdings — which carried 30.5 million passengers in 2019 — is currently comprised of the Colombian airlines Avianca and Tampa Cargo, the Ecuadorian airline Aerogal and the companies of the Taca International Airline Group, which has offices in Central America and Peru.

Bundesliga Could Provide Blueprint for NFL

The National Football League has time on its side as the sports world prepares to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and will use some it to observe German soccer’s Bundesliga as a potential blueprint on how to deal with the outbreak.The NFL, which is due to kick off on Sept. 10 and has not yet seen its schedule affected by the novel coronavirus, is paying close attention to protocols other leagues, particularly the Bundesliga, are putting in place in a bid to restart play, according to a report in Newsday.The top-flight Bundesliga season will restart on May 16, making it the first European league to resume amid the pandemic that has infected more than 3.95 million people globally and killed more than 270,000.”We’ve been in contact with all domestic leagues, but also sports organizations around the world,” Brian McCarthy, the NFL’s vice president of communications, told Newsday.“We have a number of protocols, see what works, see what can translate into our sport.”We’re all in the sports business, but every sport has its own matters to attend to.”Germany’s top flight will resume under strict health protocols, with no fans allowed in stadiums.All teams have had to go into a seven-day training camp in complete isolation with players tested before their inclusion in the camps to reduce the risk of any infection.About 300 people, including players, staff and officials, will be in and around the stadiums during matchdays.The NFL unveiled its 2020 schedule on Thursday with the expectation of playing games with fans in the stadiums but is approaching the season with some caution.League commissioner Roger Goodell has informed teams they will be required to have a ticket refund policy in place for canceled or disrupted games.McCarthy told Newsday: “We’re looking at what we can adopt, what we can modify that is working in other sports, sharing best practices.”

Kidnapped Italian Aid Worker Held in Somalia Returns Home 

A kidnapped Italian aid worker who had been held in an al-Shabab-controlled area of Somalia has been freed. Silvia Romano arrived in Rome on Sunday after being freed outside Mogadishu on Saturday. She spent overnight in a safe location in Mogadishu before being flown home. Security officials told VOA Somali that Romano was recovered from a forest near the town of Afgoye, 30 kilometers west of Mogadishu. The terms of her release are not known. 
 Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced the release in a tweet.Silvia Romano è stata liberata! Ringrazio le donne e gli uomini dei servizi di intelligence esterna. Silvia, ti aspettiamo in Italia!— Giuseppe Conte (@GiuseppeConteIT) May 9, 2020Romano, who was working for an Italian charity was abducted by gunmen in November 2018 in Kilifi County, Kenya. It’s not clear how the gunmen managed to transport her into Somalia. Somali security sources say they believe she was kidnapped by al-Shabab militants who previously abducted aid workers and demanded ransom. The abduction of two Spanish aid workers working for Doctors Without Borders in October 2011 was one of reasons Kenya government gave for its subsequent military intervention into Somalia that year. Al-Shabab also harbors bandits including pirates who abduct foreign sailors, and aid workers. Three Iranian sailors, two Cuban doctors, two Kenyans and a German nurse working for the ICRC are still being held in areas controlled by al-Shabab.     

South Korea Warns of Possible ‘Second Wave’ of COVID 

South Korea warned Sunday of the possibility of a second wave of COVID-19 infections. “It’s not over until it’s over,” President Moon Jae-in told the nation Sunday as it reported new coronavirus infections at a one-month high. The spike in cases comes as South Korea had begun easing some pandemic restrictions, including reopening bars and nightclubs. A man waring a face mask passes by the entrance of a temporary closed dance club in Seoul, South Korea, May 10, 2020.South Korea since shut down more than 2,100 bars and other establishments in Seoul after the new cases were linked to people who frequented nightclubs last weekend. Many of the infections were traced to a 29-year-old man who went to three nightclubs before testing positive.  Schools in South Korea were scheduled to begin reopening this week, but that may be delayed after the new outbreaks while officials say probes into the new cases would determine the next steps.   China also reported fourteen new cases Sunday — the first double digit rise in ten days. Germany, which began easing social restrictions last week, has seen some regional spikes in cases, particularly in nursing homes and slaughterhouses. Spain, France, and the United States are among the countries that are slowly reopening parts of their economies. Worldwide, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases has surpassed 4 million. The global death tally is nearly 280,000, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. The U.S. leads the world in the number of cases and deaths from the virus.  More than 1.3 million people in the U.S. have been infected and nearly 80,000 people have died. Former U.S. President Barack Obama says current U.S. President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been “an absolute chaotic disaster.”  In a conference call with former staff members, Obama said, “It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset of ‘what’s in it for me’  and ‘to heck with everybody else’ — when that mindset is operationalized in our government.”  

Five Players Test Positive for Coronavirus in Spain 

Five players in Spain’s top two divisions have tested positive for COVID-19 since clubs began testing players and staff members last week, organizing body La Liga said in a statement on Sunday.La Liga said the players would remain at their homes where they would continue individual training before being tested again “in the next few days” to determine whether they can return to their club’s training ground.Many clubs including champions Barcelona have returned to individual training as part of the second stage of La Liga’s four-phase protocol for getting back to activity after play was halted in early March due to the pandemic.Real Madrid are due to resume training for the first time in two months on Monday, while La Liga has said it hopes matches will resume, without spectators, by June. 

Radical Russian Imperial Movement Expanding Global Outreach

The Russian Imperial Movement (RIM), a white supremacist group based in St. Petersburg, is increasingly expanding its outreach beyond Russia through the establishment of transnational networks with like-minded neo-Nazis and white supremacist groups, experts on the group warn.RIM adheres to an ultranationalist ideology and aims to bring Russia’s tsarist rule back. The group is known for disseminating anti-Semitic and anti-LGBT rhetoric on its online networks.In April, the U.S. State Department listed three leaders of the group, Stanislav Anatolyevich Vorobyev, Denis Valliullovich Gariyev and Nikolay Nikolayevich Trushchalov, as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The move marked the first time the U.S. had labeled a white supremacist group as a terrorist organization.“The Russian Imperial Movement is an organization that has very likely thousands of members, an organization that trained two individuals who then later carried out terrorist attacks in Sweden,” said Jason Blazakis, the director of the Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California.Combat training in St. PetersburgOver the years, RIM has been able to persuade foreign white supremacists from various countries to visit the group’s camps in St. Petersburg for combat training, Blazakis told VOA. The group’s capacity and intent to carry out terrorist activities make it a major threat, he added.RIM was established in St. Petersburg by Vorobyev in 2002. The group reportedly has two training camps in St. Petersburg that are run by its paramilitary unit called Partisan. Neo-Nazis and white supremacists gain combat experience there before relocating to conflict zones.The group’s second paramilitary unit, the Imperial Legion, has been found fighting on the side of pro-Russia separatists in the war in eastern Ukraine. An April report by the Soufan Center concluded that the Imperial Legion has sent its fighters to other conflict areas, including Syria, Libya and the Central African Republic.“This group has innocent blood on its hands,” Nathan Sales, the coordinator for counterterrorism at the U.S. State Department, said during a teleconference following the U.S. ban on the group in early April.In 2016, two Swedish men, trained by RIM in St. Petersburg for 11 days, later that year conducted terrorist attacks in Gothenburg, Sweden, Sales said.Viktor Melin and Anton Thulin, identified as the two perpetrators of the Gothenburg bomb attacks, targeted asylum centers and seriously wounded a man. Swedish authorities said the men were members of the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), a neo-Nazi group aiming to create a pan-Nordic nation.RIM allegedly established contacts with NRM during a right-wing conference called the International Russian Conservative Forum in March 2015 in St. Petersburg. Rodina, a Russian political party, organized the conference.“At the conference, there was a resolution to try to coordinate Russian and European conservative elements,” Magnus Ranstorp, a research director at the Swedish Defense University, told VOA.“Later, Stanislav Anatolyevich Vorobyev, one of the leaders of the RIM, came to one of the social gatherings organized by the Nordic Resistance Movement called Nordic Days, and he spoke there. Also, he donated a sum of money to the Nordic Resistance Movement,” Ranstorp said.Visiting USSome observers of RIM claim the group has made similar moves elsewhere by sending its representatives to sympathetic foreign organizations. In 2017, RIM representative Stanislav Shevchuk reportedly visited Washington, D.C., and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to join a far-right rally.“It was the first time that we had a meeting on the U.S. soil of the American white nationalists and then the members of the Russian far right nationalist community,” Casey Michel, an investigative journalist who covered RIM’s American ties, told VOA.He said Shevchuk then met Matthew Heimbach, the head of the far-right Traditionalist Worker Party, in Washington. The two were seen in a photograph holding a Russian imperial flag in front of the White House.Contacted by VOA about the alleged ties between RIM and the Traditionalist Worker Party, Sales, of the State Department, said U.S. officials were aware of such reports, without providing more information.“Any group whose leaders or members have visited the United States or any group that has sought to recruit Americans into its twisted causes is a matter of grave concern,” Sales said.Russian officials have condemned the U.S. embargo on RIM, calling it a part of “the Russophobia of the U.S. establishment.”“Since Washington has not substantiated its decision with convincing and detailed information, we have the impression that it was made primarily for propaganda purposes and has little to do with cooperation in countering international terrorism,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a press briefing in April.Some experts said Russian intelligence units such as the Federal Security Service are likely aware of RIM activities but allow it to operate for short-term benefits.The “Kremlin knew what the Russian Imperial Movement was doing, and it never hid what they were doing,” Anton Shekhovtsov, a Vienna-based senior fellow at the Free Russia Foundation, told VOA.RIM’s recruitment efforts and pledge to send members to combat zones were “beneficial to the Kremlin in its aggression against Ukraine,” Shekhovtsov said. 

Hospitals Treating COVID-19 in Mexican Capital Quickly Filling Up

Coronavirus patients were being turned away from hospitals in the Mexican capital on Saturday, as both public and private medical facilities quickly fill up and the number of new infections continues to rise.Of the 64 public hospitals in the capital’s sprawling metro area designated to receive patients sick with COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory disease caused by the virus, 26 are completely full, according to city government data.A vinyl banner on the fence of the Ignacio Zaragosa public hospital in the city’s poor Iztapalapa district said it had no more beds for new coronavirus patients.”We thank you for your understanding,” it added.Doors paramedics entered with patients on stretchers last week were closed on Saturday at the public facility, with orange barrels set up to block access.Another 16 public clinics were nearly full, while 22 others did have space, the data showed.Five private hospitals in the capital contacted by Reuters said they had reached their capacity to treat coronavirus patients, including the Medica Sur hospital, Hospital Español, as well as two clinics belonging to Grupo Angeles.Available beds and intensive care units equipped with ventilators to treat COVID-19 patients at private hospitals in five states and Mexico City are already saturated, according to figures from the National Association of Private Hospitals.The states include Puebla, Tabasco, Quintana Roo, Baja California and Baja California Sur.”Right now we don’t have any space,” said an attendant at the private Centro Medico ABC hospital.The government has said this weekend could mark the peak of infections in the densely populated area in and around the capital, home to more than 20 million people, which is also where most confirmed cases have been documented.Public health officials have confirmed at least 31,522 infections and 3,160 deaths to date, although both figures almost certainly undercount the true extent of the outbreak in Mexico due to very limited testing.Citing modeling data from a few weeks ago, public health authorities have said there could be more than 104,000 COVID-19 cases.As recently as Thursday, the health ministry said the capital still had 38 percent availability of beds with ventilators to treat patients, while in the surrounding state of Mexico, 55 percent remained available.Nationwide, three-quarters of beds with ventilators were still available for new patients, the ministry said.  

Which Country Was Instrumental in Winning World War II?

Russia on Saturday marked the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, a day after its erstwhile Western allies in the fight against Nazi Germany.It was the continuation of a tradition dating to the era of Communist dictator Joseph Stalin, who dismissed the Nazi surrender to the Western allies signed in Reims, France, on May 8, 1945, insisting on another signing of the capitulation the next day in the German capital, Berlin, which had fallen to Soviet forces.That isn’t the only difference between how the wartime allies remember a conflict that remains, for some, a dominating, albeit shifting, cultural reference point in contemporary national identities.Subsequent politics and propaganda, reassessments and the emergence of new wartime facts, as well as changing cultural tastes and the immediate needs of political leaders and peoples of the day, have altered memory. They also have changed over time how the end of the devastating struggle is marked, as well as how it is remembered, say historians.The top photo shows people with portraits of relatives who fought in World War II, on the 74th anniversary of the victory in the war, in Red Square in Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2019; at bottom, a nearly empty Red Square on the 75th anniversary.Russia has celebrated victory in what it calls “the Great Patriotic War” every year since 1945, but commemoration has undergone a makeover. Parades were often staged without tanks and missiles rumbling across Red Square under the baleful eyes of septuagenarian and octogenarian Communist Party secretaries.Under the leadership of Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, Victory Day has become a bigger and more militaristic affair, one in which advanced military hardware has been showcased, and Stalin has been lauded in a recasting of patriotism.But this year, thanks to the coronavirus, the big Moscow celebration scheduled for the 75th anniversary of VE Day was canceled. It was much the same in the rest of Europe, which saw governments shelve plans for brass bands and packed crowds, military parades, concerts and street parties.Some things never change, though.In his book Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945, British military historian Max Hastings notes that each of the victorious nations “emerged from the Second World War confident in the belief that its own role had been decisive in procuring victory.”Who the key player was in the defeat of the Nazis in Europe remains an issue — canceled celebrations and the pandemic notwithstanding.While most see the United States as having played the crucial role in vanquishing Adolf Hitler, the British, according to polling data released this week, see themselves as having played the biggest part in the war effort — although they acknowledge that the Nazis would not have been overcome without the Soviet Union bleeding Germany’s Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front.US creditedIn contrast, Americans, Germans and the French believe the U.S. war effort ultimately was the most significant contribution in achieving victory in Europe, according to a survey conducted by British pollster YouGov. Recent polls conducted in Russia, however, show Russians are convinced they’re the ones deserving the main credit for Hitler’s defeat — a reflection, possibly, of the huge death toll the country suffered in the war.An estimated 25 million to 31 million Russians were killed in the conflict — 16 million of them civilians, and more than 8 million from the Red Army. Russians also point to the fact that Soviet forces killed more German soldiers than their Western counterparts, accounting for 76 percent of Germany’s military dead.Some military historians say death tolls and the number of casualties shouldn’t be seen as reflecting necessarily what was crucial in the defeat of the Nazis. The Allied victory was more complicated than the heroic sacrifice of Soviet soldiers. Historian Anthony Beevor told Britain’s The Times newspaper that Stalin was more callous than Western leaders, who tried to minimize casualties.Police help Vakhtang Adamashvili, 94, a WWII veteran with a portrait of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, attend a ceremony in Victory Park marking the 75th anniversary of the Nazi defeat in World War II, in Tbilisi, Georgia, May 9, 2020.“The Red Army dispatched militiamen into attacks without any weapons and basically expected them to stop Panzer divisions with their own bodies,” he said. “They were suffering a 42 percent fatal casualty rate. They just threw away a quarter of a million lives.” Others say Western attitudes toward the Soviet Union are colored by the fact that Stalin concluded a nonaggression pact with Hitler in 1939 that was instrumental in allowing the Nazi leader to unleash a world war, before turning his attention to Russia.The U.S. mobilized about the same number of troops as Russia but fought on more major front lines — not only in Europe but also in the Pacific and North Africa. American war production — its ability to churn out astounding numbers of bombers, tanks and warships — was possibly the key war-winning factor, say some historians, who point out American factories produced more airplanes than all of the other major war powers combined.US suppliesAnd without U.S. supplies, the Soviet war effort would have been massively diminished. America supplied Stalin with 400,000 trucks, 2,000 locomotives, more than 10,000 rail rolling stock and billions of dollars’ worth of warplanes, tanks, food and clothing. At the same time, the U.S. also supplied nearly a quarter of Britain’s munitions.“We were lucky to have America as an ally,” Russian historian Anatoly Razumov told VOA recently. He said American technology and supplies formed the base of Russia’s war effort. “And we want to close our eyes to that. It’s shameful! Sometimes I talk to ordinary people who don’t want to understand. We were together during the war. How would it be if we hadn’t had this help? It was not a victory of just one country over Hitler. It was a victory of the whole world over him.”That view was echoed 75 years ago by Winston Churchill, Britain’s iconic wartime leader, when at 3 p.m. (London time) on May 8, 1945, he broadcast to the British people to announce victory in Europe.FILE – Winston Churchill approaches microphones to make a speech in January 1939.He recapped his nation’s lonely stand against Hitler in 1940, but he highlighted the gradual appearance of “great allies” in the fight, suggesting victory had been achieved because of a combined effort. “Finally,” he said, “the whole world was combined against the evildoers, who are now prostrate before us.”Churchill concluded his broadcast: “We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing. … Advance Britannia! Long live the cause of freedom! God save the king!”Britons allowed themselves a respite Friday from coronavirus woes to mark VE Day. The celebration was a more muted and stationary affair than had been planned,  as it was in neighboring France and elsewhere in Europe. Parisians waved the French tricolor from balconies. Britons had tea parties in their gardens and along their streets — making sure they remained a safe distance from each other as they raised a glass to the countless individual sacrifices that led to victory in Europe in 1945.Queen’s broadcastHow the war was won — who deserves the lion’s share of credit — seemed lost at the moment of quiet celebration and as they listened to a broadcast by Queen Elizabeth, who, like other Western leaders, used wartime sacrifices to inspire hope in the fight against the coronavirus now. Weaving the themes of wartime endurance and success, she said Britain was still a country that those who fought in WWII would “recognize and admire.”And she added: “Never give up, never despair.”In Washington, war veterans joined U.S. President Donald Trump in laying a wreath at the World War II Memorial. “These heroes are living testaments to the American spirit of perseverance and victory, especially in the midst of dark days,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said, cutting through the clamor of historical debate.

Report: Russian Troops to Help Venezuela Search for Members of Failed Incursion

Russian soldiers are operating drones over Venezuela as part of a search for members of a paramilitary force that led a botched invasion this week, local media reported, citing deleted tweets from a state military command center.At least eight Russian special forces members will be “operating drones to run search and patrol operations” near La Guaira, the coastal state just north of Caracas, according to a report Friday from local news outlet El Nacional. It posted a screenshot of a tweet it said was later deleted on Thursday from the profile of the military command, known as ZODI La Guaira.An aircraft arrived at the country’s international airport on Thursday that would join the search mission, ZODI La Guaira wrote in a separate tweet, posting a photo of a helicopter. El Nacional said that tweet was also later deleted.The aircraft’s origin and the reason the tweets were deleted were not immediately evident.The information ministry did not immediately reply to a request for clarification.Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Interfax news agency on Saturday that the report represented an attempt to denigrate the cooperation between Moscow and Caracas.’Fake News’ZODI La Guaira on Friday posted a tweet saying the command “categorically denies interference by the Russian military” in its ranks. The post included a screenshot of a tweet from user @YourNewsAnonLat about Russia’s alleged support, saying the claim was “Fake News.” It did not address the screenshots of the previous alleged tweets from the account.Even though the incursion was broadly considered a humiliating failure since authorities initially announced it had been broken up on Sunday, organizers in subsequent days have said members of the force continued to fight.There has, however, been no evidence of any military actions on the part of the group since Sunday.Thirty-one people have been arrested for their role in the bungled incursion, Chief Prosecutor Tarek Saab said Friday, including two Americans who work for the security firm that organized it, Silvercorp USA.Authorities said eight people were killed.The two captured Americans appeared on state television in Venezuela on Wednesday and Thursday, saying they had been tasked by Silvercorp with taking control of the Caracas airport in order to fly out President Nicolas Maduro after his planned seizure by the group.On Friday, Venezuela requested the extradition of U.S. veteran Jordan Goudreau, chief executive of Florida-based Silvercorp USA, who has claimed responsibility for the plan, and two U.S.-based Venezuelans for their roles in the failed incursion.

Serbia Protests EU Site’s Reference to Inventor Tesla as Croatian

The Serbian government Saturday protested to the European Union after one of the bloc’s educational websites described inventor and electricity trailblazer Nikola Tesla as a “famous Croatian.”Tesla was an ethnic Serb born under the former Austrian Empire in what is now Croatia.He spent most of his life in Western Europe and the United States, but his ethnicity is a near-constant source of friction between Balkan neighbors and former Yugoslav republics Serbia and Croatia.Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said Saturday that he had sent a protest note to Brussels after learning about the reference to Tesla as a “Croatian” on the EU’s Learning Center website for children.Serbia is a candidate country for EU membership; Croatia joined the bloc in 2013.Serbia’s culture minister, Vladan Vukosavljevic, previously demanded an “apology to the Serbian people” from the European Union for allowing what he described as “the virus of this fake information” to appear on an official EU website.The ashes of Tesla, who developed alternating current as a means to transport electricity and was among the first scientists to discover X-ray imaging, are housed in the Nikola Tesla museum in Belgrade, the Serbian capital.Statues in his honor are on display both there and in the Croatian capital, Zagreb.Tesla took on U.S. citizenship and lived there for decades before his death in New York in 1943.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Brazil Ex-Prisoners Distribute Aid to Poor Amid COVID Lockdown

A Brazilian non-governmental organization run by a group of ex-prisoners is providing aid to residents of Rio de Janeiro’s poor neighborhoods (favelas) as the country is facing an economic crisis partially caused by coronavirus restrictions.
 
Eu Sou Eu, or I Am Me, is distributing food and face masks to the needy in the favelas, where many people live under the poverty line, lacking adequate food and decent living spaces.
 
Authorities in Brazil have enforced strict guidelines to curb the spread of COVID-19 with stay-at-home orders and requiring people to wear masks in public places and on transportation.
 
However, President Jair Bolsonaro has pushed to have measures eased and has criticized governors for going too far with restrictions.
 
Data collected by the Johns Hopkins University show that Brazil has more than 146,800 confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 10,000 deaths. 
 

EU Says Its Envoy Erred After China Demanded Cuts to Op-Ed

The European Union said Friday that its envoy to China made a mistake by allowing the country’s foreign ministry to censor an opinion piece by EU ambassadors without first informing headquarters or member states, amid concern that the bloc might be bowing to political pressure from Beijing.
The op-ed by the EU’s 27 ambassadors was published in the China Daily this week to mark the 45th anniversary of EU-China diplomatic relations. But China’s foreign ministry insisted it could only appear in the paper if a reference to the coronavirus originating in China was removed.
The EU’s External Action Service — essentially a sort of European foreign office — said that its ambassador, Nicolas Chapuis, was reluctant to agree to the cut, but did so because he was under “time pressure.”
“There was no consultation of headquarters, and there was no consultation either of member states prior to the decision,” spokeswoman Virginie Battu-Henriksson said, adding: “The decision was not the right one to take.” However, Chapuis did inform them later, she said.
Despite the move, Chapuis retains the confidence of his superiors and Battu-Henriksson said that he “is an outstanding expert of China and is a true asset” to the bloc, having been sent on diplomatic assignment to the country six times.
The short section that was removed referred to the outbreak of the coronavirus being “…in China, and its subsequent spread to the rest of the world over the past three months…” The op-ed was published in full on the European delegation to China’s website and in some EU member countries.
Still, Germany’s Greens EU lawmaker Reinhard Buetikofer tweeted that “EU ambassadors act like sheep” and added that “even if the op-ed would’ve been published uncensored, it would have been quite questionable, to say the least.”
The spat comes a week after the head of the External Action Service, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, was forced to deny that his agency had bowed to pressure from China and watered down a report critical of the country’s role in promoting disinformation about the coronavirus.
Borrell was grilled by EU lawmakers over the incident. Belgian parliamentarian Hilde Vautmans demanded to know “who interfered, which Chinese official put pressure, at what level, what means of pressure. I think that Europe needs to know that, otherwise we’re losing all credibility.”
EU institutions are notoriously slow to validate changes to documents and communications materials. Seeking the agreement of 27 countries as well might have caused significant delays to the op-ed’s publication.
In a statement Friday, the EU delegation in China said it “strongly regrets” that the article was not published in its unedited form and that it had “made known its objections to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in no uncertain terms.”
It said the decision to go ahead anyway was made because the article still “passed key messages” on topics of EU concern, such as “climate change and sustainability, human rights, the importance of multilateralism” as well as international coronavirus efforts and debt relief.

British PM Delays Lifting Coronavirus Restrictions

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will keep Britain under a coronavirus lockdown until at least next month — to the frustration of some in his Cabinet, who behind the scenes are arguing that Downing Street now needs to prioritize the economy, which is heading for its worst recession in 300 years.Cabinet ministers and some senior Conservatives have urged Johnson at least to release a timetable on easing the lockdown, with specific dates for different stages for lifting restrictions. Former Finance Minister Sajid Javid, a onetime rival for the leadership of the ruling Conservatives, said Friday that Downing Street must turn its attention to the economy now that the peak of coronavirus cases is thought to have been reached.“We’ve got to find a way forward,” he told broadcaster Sky News. Javid said it was right to have “put public health first,” but now Johnson needed to pivot to focus on economic recovery. “We’re going to have to coexist with this virus for, I think, many months, if not potentially years. But we’ve got to find a way forward and that does mean you are relaxing, as much as you can,” he said.Javid is the most prominent Conservative so far to call publicly for the economy to be restarted swiftly, but two of Johnson’s most senior Cabinet members, Michael Gove and Javid’s replacement as finance minister, Rishi Sunak, also have been making the case in Cabinet meetings for an unlocking of Britain, say Conservative sources.A view of a COVID-19 testing station manned by British military personnel inside London’s Hyde Park, May 8, 2020.For most of the week, Britain’s pro-Conservative newspapers have assumed Johnson would announce in the next few days the lifting of many restrictions. They have been highlighting the damage the lockdown is doing to the economy. On Thursday, the Bank of England warned that Britain is heading for its worst recession since 1706, when the country’s then-agriculture-based economy contracted by 15 percent because of poor weather and a disastrous harvest.Incremental changesJohnson is scheduled Sunday to outline the incremental changes to the coronavirus restrictions he is prepared to order before the end of May. He will outline a longer-term overall exit strategy, too, but has told his Cabinet he will proceed with “maximum caution,” with only modest changes before June at the earliest.His caution contrasts with the policies of some of Britain’s European neighbors, which, while approaching exits from their lockdowns cautiously, are easing their restrictions more quickly.German Chancellor Angela Merkel — under pressure from the country’s regional authorities — announced Thursday that the goal of slowing the spread of coronavirus had been achieved, so all shops can be reopened as lockdown restrictions are eased. Germany’s Bundesliga football league has been given the green light to resume, and schools will gradually start reopening for the summer term.Germany’s 16 federal states will oversee the timing of the easing in their jurisdictions and are empowered to operate an “emergency brake” if there are any new surges in infections.A woman wearing a protective shield looks at her phone as the lockdown because of the coronavirus outbreak continues, in London, May 8, 2020.Johnson’s caution comes after he was warned that viral outbreaks in Britain’s nursing homes and hospitals make significant easing before June risky. Johnson expressed “bitter regret” midweek in the House of Commons at the epidemic wave that has struck the country’s nursing homes. Some nursing home managers blame the government, saying a decision to speed up hospital discharges of the elderly triggered the outbreaks.8,000 deaths a weekThe Office for National Statistics has reported that the average number of deaths in care homes is approaching 8,000 a week. Martin Green, of the industry association Care England, told reporters that it had been “foolhardy” to discharge patients in a rush to nursing homes in a bid to free up hospital beds for an influx of coronavirus patients. “It was a major mistake. We should have moved nobody unless we were absolutely sure they were COVID-19 negative,” he said.Some Conservatives say privately that Johnson’s own struggle with the coronavirus may be another factor in his determination to move more cautiously than they would prefer. Johnson was discharged from the hospital on April 11, a week after being admitted with a severe case of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.Government officials initially said he was moved from self-isolation in a Downing Street apartment to a nearby London hospital as a “precautionary move,” but it later transpired that doctors quickly feared for his life and transferred him into an intensive care unit a day after his arrival.This past week, Johnson told The Sun newspaper that at one point it was “50-50” whether he would be put on a ventilator. Johnson described how he was given “liters and liters of oxygen” to keep him alive, and he credited his recovery to “wonderful, wonderful nursing.”He said contingency plans had been readied in the event he didn’t survive. “It was a tough old moment; I won’t deny it,” he told the paper.On Sunday ,Johnson will offer the public some relief from the strict lockdown by announcing people can take unlimited outdoor exercise. Churches and other places of worship are also likely to be allowed to open for private prayer, and garden centers are likely to be given approval to reopen. But households are unlikely to be allowed to mix, because officials fear that could lead to a spike in transmissions.Britain became the first country in Europe to pass 30,000 coronavirus deaths. Communities Minister Robert Jenrick said these were “heartbreaking losses.”
 

Greek Police Tackle Corona Parties as Government Eases Lockdown

Greece’s government is gradually easing lockdown restrictions, and after 42 days of strict stay-at-home rules, young Greeks are spilling onto the streets. Authorities are striking back, imposing stiff fines and new lockdowns in an effort to prevent a possible resurgence of the coronavirus.In the Athens suburb of Agia Parasksevi earlier this week, more than 400 young Greeks defied social-distancing rules by buying take-away drinks from local pubs and turning the district’s main square into a massive, open-air block party.Police intervened, firing tear gas to disperse the crowds and imposing a new curfew.But most young Greeks, in Agia Paraskevi and beyond, are undeterred.Thousands of people have spilled out on the streets for take-away parties in the capital and in other cities across the country. Fines of up to 5,000 euros have been slapped on bar owners fanning the craze.Nothing seems to be working, though. Even older crowds are joining in, inundating parks and piazzas for late-night strolls and meetings despite COVID controls forbidding social gatherings.Nikos Hardalias, the head of Greece’s homeland security force, is concerned.In a stern public appeal late Thursday, he urged Greeks to heed social distancing rules and to avoid behaving in ways that could enflame the spread of the COVID virus.The staggering death tolls of neighboring Italy, he warned, should not be ignored.Early and rigorous Greek controls have helped keep most of this country of 11 million free of the virus. Just over 2,000 cases have been reported, with fewer than 150 deaths.However, the government’s handling of the crisis after the easing of controls has been the source of fierce political debate.Alexis Haritsis of the left-wing opposition Syriza party accused the government of using excessive force to keep Greeks in check. Spontaneous acts of celebration or gatherings, he said, cannot be confronted with tear gas and the police.With the summer setting in and the weekend approaching, authorities fear take-away parties may spread even further, and police say they are considering deploying special negotiators to help disperse defiant crowds.  
 

Europe Holds Low-Key VE Day Commemorations Due to Virus

Europe was marking the 75th anniversary of the surrender of Nazi Germany to Allied forces following six years of war  in a low-key fashion Friday  due to coronavirus lockdown restrictions across the continent.
The big celebrations that had been planned have been either cancelled or scaled back dramatically and people across Europe have been asked to mark the moment in private.  
There will be no mass gatherings, no hugging or kissing, but that day of liberation is being remembered from Belfast to Berlin. For the few World War II veterans still left, many living in nursing homes under virus lockdowns, it’s a particularly difficult time.BritainUp and down the U.K., people have been getting into the spirit of VE Day, which for this year alone has been designated as a public holiday.
Many are dressing up in 1940s attire, while bunting has been displayed outside homes, including at 10 Downing Street in London that houses the prime minister’s office. People are also being encouraged to go out onto their doorsteps to sing Dame Vera Lynn’s iconic wartime anthem, “We’ll Meet Again” — which has added resonance now as families and friends are separated by coronavirus lockdowns.
People gathered in a socially distanced way on the hills of south London to marvel at the Royal Air Force’s Red Arrows. The nine planes flew in formation above the River Thames and let loose their red, white and blue smoke to mark the colors of the Union flag.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who lit a candle Thursday evening by the grave of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey in remembrance of those who gave their lives, wrote to the country’s veterans, describing them as “the greatest generation of Britons who ever lived.”
Prince Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, led the country in a two-minute silence at the war memorial on the grounds of Balmoral Castle in Scotland. Charles laid a wreath of poppies on behalf of the nation. At the U.K.’s main memorial on Whitehall in central London, traffic ground to a halt as people observed the silence.  
The tributes will continue through the day. The victory speech of Britain’s wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill, will be broadcast on BBC Television.  
Queen Elizabeth II will speak to the nation at 9 p.m., the exact time that her father, King George VI, addressed Britons 75 years ago.FranceFrench President Emmanuel Macron led a small ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe monument to mark the anniversary. He lay a wreath and relit the flame of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, atop a deserted Champs-Elysees, Paris’ grandest avenue.  
Macron was accompanied by former presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy, each carefully observing social distancing. Macron cleaned his hands with hand gel after signing the official register.  
Four singers of the French Army Chorus sang the national anthem, “La Marseillaise.”
Macron also laid a wreath at the statue of one of his predecessors, Charles de Gaulle, the general revered for leading the French Resistance from London after France had fallen in 1940. France was liberated in 1944.GermanyGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel and other top officials laid wreaths at the memorial to victims of war and violence in Berlin, standing in silence as a trumpet played. The low-key ceremony on an empty Unter den Linden boulevard replaced a bigger event that President Frank-Walter Steinmeier had once planned to lead outside the Reichstag parliament building.
“The corona pandemic is forcing us to commemorate alone – apart from those who are important to us and to whom we are grateful,” Steinmeier said. He recalled that, on May 8, 1945, “the Germans were really alone,” militarily defeated, economically devastated and “morally ruined.”
“We had made an enemy of the whole world,” he said in a nationally televised address. Seventy-five years later, he said, “we are not alone.”
Steinmeier underlined Germans’ responsibility to “think, feel and act as Europeans” in this time of crisis and to confront far-right attacks wherever they emerge.
“If we don’t keep Europe together, in and after this pandemic, we will prove not to be worthy of May 8,” he said.
Germans have come to see the Nazis’ defeat as a liberation.
“We Germans can say today that the day of liberation is a day of gratitude,” Steinmeier said. “Today, we must liberate ourselves – from the temptation of a new nationalism; from fascination with the authoritarian; from distrust, isolation and enmity between nations; from hatred and agitation, from xenophobia and contempt for democracy.”
Merkel spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone Friday to mark the anniversary, and the two agreed the war is a reminder of the need for “close cooperation between states and people to preserve and encourage peace and understanding.”  Poland
In Poland, VE Day elicits mixed emotions as the defeat of Nazi Germany did not lead to the immediate freedoms that other European nations enjoyed. After the war, Poland was subjugated by the Soviet Union, and remained part of the communist bloc until 1989.  
At a wreath-laying commemoration at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw, President Andrzej Duda described VE Day as a “bittersweet anniversary” for a country that endured one of the most brutal Nazi occupations. Six million of Poland’s 35 million people were killed, half of whom were Jewish.  
Duda lamented the fact that thousands of Polish troops who had fought alongside Allied forces during the war were later “betrayed” by the Allies and were not allowed to march in the 1946 Victory Parade in London for fear of straining British relations with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
World War II began on Sept. 1, 1939, when Adolf Hitler’s Nazi forces invaded Poland. 

25 Evacuated from Nursing Home in Argentina after Testing Positive for COVID-19

Authorities in Argentina evacuated 25 residents from a nursing home in Buenos Aires Thursday night after they tested positive for the coronavirus.Initial reports indicated none of those taken from the nursing home showed any symptoms.Five workers at the nursing home also tested positive for the coronavirus.The director of the nursing home, Blas Rinaudo, said the facility will continue to care for 15 other residents who tested negative for the virus and conduct follow-up tests to check their status.Meanwhile, people banged pots and pans from their balconies in Buenos Aires on Thursday evening to protest measures the government is taking to stop the spread of the coronavirus.Argentina is heading into its eighth week of lockdown.The South American nation has 5,371 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 282 deaths.

Croatia Defense Minister Resigns Over Military Plane Crash

Croatia’s defense minister has resigned after an air force training plane crashed shortly after takeoff from a military airbase in the southwest of the country.Both crew members were killed in Thursday’s crash. A similar accident three months ago, when a helicopter crashed, also killed two pilots.Damir Krsticevic announced his resignation, saying “we have to be transparent” and take responsibility for the crashes.”This is a big loss for the Croatian army,” Krsticevic said. “I am today stepping down from the role of vice president of the government and minister of defense of the Croatian Republic. Thank you.”The Croatian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the Zlin single-engine aircraft crashed at around 4 p.m. local time during a routine training flight near the central Adriatic town of Zadar.The ministry did not give any explanation for the possible cause of the accident.Images for the from the scene of the crash showed a small plane’s wreckage in flames, near what seemed to be a private house.

Captured U.S Contractor says Venezuelan President was Target of Foiled Attack

Venezuela has aired a video in which captured U.S. contractor Airon Berry said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was a target of Sunday’s foiled raid.This is the second video released by the Venezuelan government purporting to show the questioning of Berry and fellow security contractor Luke Denman, both former members of the U.S. Special Forces.In the video aired Thursday, Berry said the Venezuelan Intelligence Services and the airport tower were also targets.Maduro insists the men were operating under the direction of the White House.President Donald Trump has denied any U.S. involvement in the raid.Jordan Goudreau, operator of a Florida-based security contracting company implicated in the botched mission, has said he was unable to convince the Trump administration to support his plan for a private coup.Maduro announced Thursday that the government will attempt to extradite Goudreau for allegedly participating in the raid.Authorities allege the men traveled by speedboat from neighboring Colombia to the Venezuelan port city of La Guaira. Eight people were killed in the foiled attack.Venezuela authorities said Thursday that they have now captured 23 people involved in the incident.

Hundreds Protest in Belgrade Against President’s Grip on Power

In Serbia, hundreds of people took to the streets of the capital, Belgrade, late Thursday to demonstrate against the country’s president, Aleksandar Vucic.Protesters from the “Citizens’ Resistance” movement accuse Vucic of curbing democratic freedoms.”We are here because we are angry at our government, because of everything they did to us during the past two months, and even more time,” said protester Biljana Stojkovic. “This is the clear repression, and we think that this is a dictatorship we are living in nowadays. So, this is not just because of COVID-19, this is because of everything else that is going on in this country.”The protest in front of the presidency building was organized just one day after the authorities lifted restrictions imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19.Once during the protest, participants led by some opposition leaders attempted to storm the building’s entrance. Security guards did not intervene.Critics have accused Vucic of using the state of emergency imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic to tighten his grip on power ahead of the general elections, which are to be held next month. Vucic has denied the accusations.Some opposition parties have announced a boycott of June’s election, questioning its freedom and fairness.The opposition also accuses Vucic of controlling the mainstream media, of not allowing it to give space to critical voices.

Bolsonaro Puts Brazil Military in Charge of Fighting Amazon Destruction  

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday authorized deployment of armed forces to fight destruction of the Amazon rainforest, giving them authority over environmental agencies in the region as military influence in the government grows.   Environmental advocates fiercely criticized the order, saying that environmental agencies are the one with the necessary expertise. Last year, Bolsonaro waited until August to send troops into the Amazon, following international outcry over a wave of fires in the rainforest, which traps vast amounts of greenhouse gases that cause climate change. Deforestation in Brazil’s Amazon hit an 11-year high in 2019, and rose another 51% through March this year.   The order, unlike last year, gives the military authority to “coordinate” activities of agencies such as environmental enforcer Ibama and parks department ICMBio. Plan called ‘unacceptable’Suely Araujo, who headed Ibama until early 2019 and now is an adviser to advocacy group Climate Observatory, said it was “unacceptable” to transfer power over environmental operations in the Amazon to the military.  “The military can help in certain situations, but in relation to environmental agencies, they should be consulted and not subordinated,” Araujo said. “It’s the environmental agencies that have expertise in this area, who know how to carry out operational planning and strategy.” Bolsonaro, a former paratrooper, has appointed a slew of current and former military officers as government ministers since taking office in 2019. This year, he increased to seven the number of military men in his 20-member cabinet, not including retired general and Vice President Hamilton Mourao. One month at a timeAraujo said putting the armed forces in charge of Amazon enforcement operations raised the question of whether Ibama would have to ask the military’s permission to destroy equipment used to commit crimes such as illegal logging inside indigenous reserves or other protected areas.   Bolsonaro has repeatedly said the government should not destroy this type of machinery, but Ibama agents have not halted the practice, long considered the only way to avoid a repeat of environmental crimes.   Ibama and the Environment Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.  The military authorization is effective from May 11 to June 10, but can be extended in 30- day increments, as Bolsonaro did once last year, for 60 days in total. Vice President Mourao said last week that the government planned to send in the military as part of a plan to establish bases in the Amazon to fight deforestation. 

Macron to Putin: Virus Crisis Shows Need for Peace-Building

France’s leader on Thursday called for closer cooperation with Russia as the world struggles against the coronavirus, recalling the joint Allied effort to defeat Nazi Germany that ended 75 years ago.In a conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Emmanuel Macron expressed “the recognition of the French people” as both countries prepare to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe this week. The Soviet Union played a key role in defeating Nazi Germany, whose forces occupied France.Despite tensions with Russia over its actions in Ukraine, Macron argued that “this common memory should bring us together.” He added that the virus pandemic “makes the construction of peace and stability on the continent and in the rest of the world more necessary than ever,” according to a French presidential statement.While France is starting to reopen as the virus recedes, infections are still rising in Russia.Macron has increasingly reached out to Russia, even as his relationship with United States President Donald Trump has been strained by trade and other disputes.Trump also spoke with Putin Thursday, saying the U.S. is ready to provide assistance to any country in need, including Russia, according to the White House.