Illegal migrants and refugees in Greece will take a back seat in the nation’s coronavirus vaccination drive, the government in Athens has said, stoking concerns that more than 70,000 asylum-seekers, stuck in squalid living conditions, may become more vulnerable, according to aid workers and the United Nations.In rolling out the vaccine program last month, the center-right government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis vowed to make asylum-seekers eligible for the jab.
 
But Aristotelia Peloni, a government spokesperson, said this past week that thousands of migrants and refugees stuck in some 30 camps across the country or left adrift without proper accommodation, waiting for years to have their asylum requests heard, were not a priority.
 
“There is a provision for [migrant] inoculations to take place in closed areas, but for the time being others have priority, mainly elders … and vulnerable groups that will soon be added into the program regardless of age,” she told a news conference.
 
As of February 1, only the Netherlands and Spain have included migrants into their vaccination programs, according to the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM). Britain also offers free coronavirus testing and vaccinations for undocumented migrants. And Germany, most recently, said migrants would be second in line in its ongoing vaccination drive.
 
People older than age 85 have led Greece’s vaccination campaign, including senior government officials, health workers, police, coast guard personnel and the military. Jabs for those 60 and older have followed in recent weeks in a second and third wave of inoculation against the deadly virus that causes the COVID-19 disease.
 
But the government’s “Greeks first” vaccination policy has critics here fearing it echoes strong anti-immigrant sentiment and rhetoric once trumpeted by the leaders of Golden Dawn, one of Europe’s most violent neo-Nazi groups.
 
Humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations’ refugee agency, UNHCR, are urging the government to clarify its policy regarding migrants.
 
“No one is safe until everyone is safe,” said Peter Kessler, the senior communications officer for the U.N.’s agency in Greece. “Ensuring that refugees and other non-nationals are included in the vaccine rollout and have access to vaccinations is key to protecting everyone and ending the pandemic.”
 
At least 70% of the population worldwide needs immunity to “sustainably slow the transmission of the virus.” And key to ending the pandemic, experts say, is ensuring that refugees are included in the vaccine rollout.
 
Since taking power in 2019, Mitsotakis’s center-right government has adopted a tougher stance on illegal migration, coming under increasing fire by aid organizations and the UNHCR for mistreating migrants and refugees, and by orchestrating covert operations to forcibly evict asylum-seekers.
 
In a report issued last month, aid group Aegean Boat Report documented the cases of 13 men, women and children it says were beaten, robbed and forced onto a life raft by Greek authorities on the island of Lesbos, only hours after illegally entering the country from Turkey.
 
The report said uniformed operatives removed the refugees from a camp on the island, claiming the refugees were being taken for COVID-19 testing.
 
“Instead,” the report said, “they were forced into an isobox, repeatedly beaten with batons, stripped of their possessions and forced into seas on an inflatable raft.”Greece has grappled with accusations of forced migrant returns and abuse since 2015, when about a million refugees, mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, arrived in Europe to escape violence at home.
 
Forcing migrants to turn around is a serious breach of international law, violating asylum-seekers’ right to safe passage and protection.
 
Croatia, France, Spain, and Italy — all European Union member states that face similar migration challenges — also have been accused of engaging in unlawful, sometimes violent pushbacks.
 
Officials contacted by VOA on Sunday did not respond to requests for comment. Still, the government in Athens has repeatedly denied the allegations, claiming humanitarian groups have been aiding and abetting asylum-seekers in their quest to illegally enter Greece from Turkey and seek passage to the heart of Europe. Athens has also alleged that several of the non-governmental organizations have been working with human smugglers, allegedly facilitating illegal migration to Europe.
 
In February, NGO Mare Liberum said it alone had documented “close to 10,000 people” who were pushed back in 320 cases last year.
 
The group said the alleged pushbacks represented an “unprecedented escalation in human rights violations in the Aegean.”
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Pope Francis Sunday visited Christian communities in Iraq’s north, where the Islamic State group carried out its worst devastation, to bring encouragement and solace to those who suffered numerous atrocities and are trying to rebuild their homes and lives. Iraqis are also hoping to rebuild trust and hope for the future.Joyous celebrations welcomed Pope Francis to Iraq’s Christian heartland, first in Mosul where Iraqis shouted, “Viva Baba Francesco, long live Pope Francis, welcome to Nineveh.” Surrounded by the ruins of Islamic State militant destruction, the pope led prayers for the victims of war, saying, “Hope is more powerful than hatred.”    The pope then headed to the town of Qaraqosh, the heartland of Iraq’s once thriving Christian community of 50,000, where only half the population has returned after the jihadists destroyed infrastructure and laid mines in homes. He urged Christians to forgive injustices perpetrated by Muslim extremists against them and rebuild their lives once again.      “So do not lose hope; do not lose faith. Remember that we need to forgive. Have good courage to continue fighting, to continue to seek forgiveness. And I know it is hard, but God can bring peace to this Earth,” he said.      Pope Francis arrives to pray for the victims of war at Hosh al-Bieaa Church Square in Mosul, Iraq, March 7, 2021.French Dominican Rev. Olivier Poquillon is helping to oversee the rebuilding of Mosul’s Our Lady of the Hour Church, where Muslims, Christians and other communities “work together, engage together for the common good.”    “It’s really a bottom-up initiative,” he said. “The idea came from the people of Mosul. We saw a young neighbor, he was probably born after the time of the American invasion, so he never knew the peaceful time of Mosul. And he told us, Oh, you are Christians, come back, come back; we need you to live in peace together.”     Hassan Amer, a Muslim, works with Catholic Relief Services in the Nineveh Plains on projects to promote rebuilding devastated communities and interreligious trust. The “Shared Future Program’’ receives funding from USAID.    “We work with communities from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds to common goals and establish and strengthening the relationships. Most importantly, building the broken trust among the communities on Nineveh Plains after years of displacement,” he said.   For the Vatican, the continued presence of Christians in Iraq is vital to keeping alive faith communities that have existed since the time of Christ.   
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Swiss citizens vote Sunday on whether to prohibit women from wearing full facial coverings in public, a controversial issue that has divided the country during an exceptionally heated campaign.  
Campaigners, politicians and the media have dubbed it the “burka ban” even though the burka is not worn in Switzerland.  The burka, a full body covering with a mesh screen to see through that is worn in Afghanistan has come to symbolize the oppression of women.    This is one of the messages figuring in a heated campaign leading up to Sunday’s vote.  Campaign posters of a menacing-looking woman wearing a black niqab with only her eyes exposed reading “Stop Radical Islam” and “Stop Extremism” are plastered all over Switzerland.      Critics of the proposed ban call it deeply racist and sexist.  They say it is an attack against the Muslim community and is aimed at stigmatizing and marginalizing this minority group even more.   The right-wing Swiss People’s Party, which supports the ban disagrees.  It claims the burka initiative defends the dignity of women.  However, Swiss parliamentarian Jean-Luc Addor acknowledges the campaign is calling for an end to what supporters see as the Islamization of Switzerland.    “This is something that we find shocking.  It is fundamentally in opposition with various values of our civilization simply because, for us, free people show their faces in all circumstances outside,”  he said.  The irony of demanding a ban on full-face coverings has not escaped many at a time when Switzerland’s 8.5 million people are obliged to wear masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.    The Swiss federal government opposes the proposal.  Justice Minister Eveline Widmer Schlumpf says accepting the initiative would unnecessarily endanger religious peace in the country.   She says it would violate human rights, which are guaranteed under international conventions.  Furthermore, she says passage of the initiative would tarnish Switzerland’s reputation as a country that values the protection of fundamental rights.  Debates about various symbols of Islam, including burkas and niqabs have been going on for years.  In 2009, Swiss voters approved another Swiss People’s Party initiative to ban the building of minarets in the country.   Many people in Switzerland believe the proposed ban on full face coverings is much ado about nothing.  They note only some 30 women in Switzerland wear the niqab.  About half are Swiss converts to Islam and the other half are tourists who come to this Alpine country for vacation.   The latest opinion polls suggest the referendum will pass by a slim margin.  If it does, Switzerland will join five other European countries that have full or partial bans of face covering in place.     
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Inspectors will check an underwater pipeline for pollution after it caught fire on a frozen river in Russia’s Siberia, federal monitoring service Rostekhnadzor said Sunday.First reports suggest around 700 tons of liquefied petroleum gas (a mixture of propane and butane) could be on site, Rostekhnadzor spokesperson Andrei Vil said on his Telegram account.The pipeline’s owner Russian petrochemicals giant Sibur said the gas leak happened Saturday, causing a short fire on the frozen River Ob in the oil-rich Khanty-Mansiysk region in Western Siberia.It happened 44 kilometers (27 miles) from the nearest residential area and there were no “risks for the population and the environment”, the company added.But Vil said on Telegram that “statements indicating the absence of risk for the environment raise serious doubts” because of the amounts of liquefied petroleum gas on site.The cause of the leak is still being established, said Sibur.A Sibur regional official Alexander Teplyakov said Sunday the incident was under control but that the company would pay for any damage caused by the incident.Teplyakov, quoted in a statement from the local authorities, said 27 people and 12 units of machinery were currently on site.Samples  would be taken from the surface of the water to determine any damage to the environment, he added.Russia frequently suffers environmental disasters, often due to the country’s ageing infrastructure or to negligence.Last month, mining giant Norilsk Nickel was fined close to $2 billion for a fuel spill that leaked tons of diesel into rivers in the Russian Arctic. 
 
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The virus swept through a nursery school and an adjacent elementary school in the Milan suburb of Bollate with amazing speed. In a matter of just days, 45 children and 14 staff members had tested positive.Genetic analysis confirmed what officials suspected: The highly contagious coronavirus variant first identified in England was racing through the community, a densely packed city of nearly 40,000 with a chemical plant and a Pirelli bicycle tire factory a 15-minute drive from the heart of Milan.”This demonstrates that the virus has a sort of intelligence. … We can put up all the barriers in the world and imagine that they work, but in the end, it adapts and penetrates them,” lamented Bollate Mayor Francesco Vassallo.Bollate was the first city in Lombardy, the northern region that has been the epicenter in each of Italy’s three surges, to be sealed off from neighbors because of virus variants that the World Health Organization says are powering another uptick in infections across Europe. The variants also include versions first identified in South Africa and Brazil.Europe recorded 1 million new COVID-19 cases last week, an increase of 9% from the previous week and a reversal that ended a six-week decline in new infections, WHO said Thursday.”The spread of the variants is driving the increase, but not only,” said Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, citing “also the opening of society, when it is not done in a safe and a controlled manner.”50% more transmissibleThe variant first found in the U.K. is spreading significantly in 27 European countries monitored by WHO and is dominant in at least 10 countries: Britain, Denmark, Italy, Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Israel, Spain and Portugal.It is up to 50% more transmissible than the virus that surged last spring and again in the fall, making it more adept at thwarting measures that were previously effective, WHO experts warned. Scientists have concluded that it is also more deadly.”That is why health systems are struggling more now,” Kluge said. “It really is at a tipping point. We have to hold the fort and be very vigilant.”In Lombardy, which bore the brunt of Italy’s spring surge, intensive care wards are again filling up, with more than two-thirds of new positive tests being the U.K. variant, health officials said.After putting two provinces and some 50 towns on a modified lockdown, Lombardy’s regional governor announced tightened restrictions Friday and closed classrooms for all ages. Cases in Milan schools alone surged 33% in a week, the provincial health system’s chief said.The situation is dire in the Czech Republic, which this week registered a record-breaking total of nearly 8,500 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Poland is opening temporary hospitals and imposing a partial lockdown as the U.K. variant has grown from 10% of all infections in February to 25% now.Two patients from hard-hit Slovakia were expected to arrive Saturday for treatment in Germany, where authorities said they had offered to take in 10 patients.Rate of decline slowingKluge cited Britain’s experience as cause for optimism, noting that widespread restrictions and the introduction of the vaccine have helped tamp down the variants there and in Israel. The vaccine rollout in the European Union, by comparison, is lagging badly, mostly because of supply problems.In Britain, the emergence of the more transmissible strain sent cases soaring in December and triggered a national lockdown in January. Cases have since plummeted, from about 60,000 a day in early January to about 7,000 a day now.Still, a study shows the rate of decline slowing, and the British government says it will tread cautiously with plans to ease the lockdown. That process begins Monday with the reopening of schools. Infection rates are highest in people ages 13-17, and officials will watch closely to see whether the return to class brings a spike in infections.While the U.K. variant is dominant in France, forcing lockdowns in the French Riviera city of Nice and the northern port of Dunkirk, the variant first detected in South Africa has emerged as the most prevalent in France’s Moselle region, which borders Germany and Luxembourg. It represents 55% of the virus circulating there.Austria’s health minister said Saturday the U.K. variant is now dominant in his country. But the South Africa variant is also a concern in a district of Austria that extends from Italy to Germany, with Austrian officials announcing plans to vaccinate most of the 84,000 residents there to curb its spread. Austria is also requiring motorists along the Brenner highway, a major north-south route, to show negative test results.The South Africa variant, now present in 26 European countries, is a source of particular concern because of doubts over whether the current vaccines are effective enough against it. The Brazilian variant, which appears capable of reinfecting people, has been detected in 15 European countries.WHO and its partners are working to strengthen the genetic surveillance needed to track variants across the continent.The mayor of Bollate has appealed to the regional governor to vaccinate all 40,000 residents immediately, though he expects to be told the vaccine supply is too tight.Bollate has recorded 3,000 positive cases and 134 deaths — mostly among the elderly — since Italy was stricken a year ago. It took the brunt in the resurgence in November and December and was caught completely off guard when the U.K. variant arrived, racing through school-age children before hitting families at home.”People are starting to get tired that after a year there is no light at the end of the tunnel,” Vassallo said.
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Republican Senator Ted Cruz has placed a hold on President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Central Intelligence Agency to pressure the administration to put tough sanctions on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project.The Senate Intelligence Committee this week backed William Burns, a former ambassador to Russia, by a unanimous vote. Burns has been confirmed by the Senate for five previous jobs in 33 years and is expected to eventually be approved by the full Senate.FILE – Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Feb. 26, 2021, in Orlando, Fla.The hold, placed Friday, is a delaying tactic as the Texas senator pressures the administration to sanction ships and companies helping Russia’s state energy company Gazprom build the $11 billion pipeline to take gas under the Baltic Sea to Europe via Germany.”I’ll release my hold when the Biden admin meets its legal obligation to report and sanction the ships and companies building [Russia President Vladimir] Putin’s pipeline,” Cruz wrote on Twitter. The move was first reported by Bloomberg.After a year’s delay caused by sanctions, Gazprom is racing to finish the pipeline, which analysts expect could happen by September. A second vessel, the Akademik Cherskiy, has joined the construction site off Denmark.President Joe Biden believes the pipeline is a “bad deal for Europe,” the White House has said. The pipeline would bypass Ukraine, depriving it of lucrative transit fees, and could undermine its efforts against Russian aggression.”It’s hard to see how delaying the confirmation of a CIA director who enjoys strong bipartisan support makes Americans safer,” said Biden transition spokesperson Andrew Bates. “Biden has been clear that Nord Stream 2 is a bad idea and plays into Russia’s hands.”U.S. lawmakers from both parties who oppose the project believe about 15 ships are helping to build the pipeline. But the State Department last month sanctioned only one ship in a report to Congress required by sanctions law.Forty Republican senators said in a letter to Biden this week that the sanction against the Fortuna vessel would not stop the pipeline, which as of February had about 75 miles (120 km) left to go off Denmark and 19 miles (30 km) off Germany.The State Department is set to submit to Congress another report on Nord Stream 2 on May 16, which could contain more sanctions, though spokesman Ned Price has said sanctions are only “one of many tools” that can be used.  
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The Vaxi Taxi was a godsend for Leslie Reid.The 48-year-old stagehand wanted to get a COVID-19 shot, but he was worried about riding public transport to the vaccination center because his immune system had been weakened by a bout with flesh-eating bacteria that almost cost him his arm.So Reid jumped at the opportunity when his doctor called and offered him the shot, together with door-to-door transportation.”I was one of the fortunate ones,” he said after being inoculated inside a black van cab at a community vaccination event in north London. “I’m sure there are plenty more vulnerable people than me that should have gotten this. What can I say? I’m very glad.”The “Vaxi Taxi” that ferried Reid to his appointment and whisked him home again is just one initiative doctors and community organizers are promoting as they try to make sure everyone gets inoculated. While Britain has engineered one of the world’s most successful coronavirus vaccination programs, delivering at least one dose to more than 30% of its population, minority groups and deprived communities are lagging behind.A recent survey commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care found that just 72.5% of Black people in England either have received or would accept the vaccine. That compares with 87.6% for Asians and 92.6% for whites.Anxieties, discriminationThat disparity is the product of a variety of issues ranging from concerns about vaccine safety and past discrimination in Britain’s health care system to simple ones like transportation.But community leaders are trying home-grown solutions to fill the gap.Dr. Jacqueline Marshall talks to patient Margaret Duncan Williams before giving her a dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine during a pop-up vaccination drive in Kilburn, London, Feb. 28, 2021.Dr. Sharon Raymond is one of the activists trying to remove vaccination barriers. The general practitioner and head of the Covid Crisis Rescue Foundation helped organize last Sunday’s pop-up vaccination event at Cambridge Gardens, a triangle of grass and trees in a northwest London neighborhood where half the residents are from ethnic minorities.Her aim was to create an inviting space where people would feel comfortable coming forward to ask questions and discuss their concerns.”It brings it to a place that’s familiar. It becomes much more accessible,” Raymond said. “That’s why this model of bringing the vaccination out to communities in familiar places in an unthreatening way, I think, is the way forward.”So on a chilly, late winter afternoon people got their shots under a heated, bright yellow tent festooned with balloons. Neighbors munched on sandwiches, sipped drinks and stopped to talk to the doctors, nurses and firefighters on hand.’Suited to our DNA’Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi praised such local initiatives, describing them as part of a national strategy that aimed to organize uptake down to the postal code. He told The Associated Press that data are showing that people want access to the vaccine at a time of their choice and in a place they trust.”We demonstrated our ability to organize and deploy at scale in the Olympics,” he said with enthusiasm. “This is even bigger. This is the largest vaccination program in the history of the [National Health Service], in the history of the United Kingdom. But I do think it’s suited to our DNA on these isles.”And for those who needed a little help to get to the park earlier this week, there was the Vaxi Taxi. People didn’t even need to leave the back seat in order to receive their inoculation if they didn’t want to.Raymond, who has crowd-funded many of her initiatives, hopes to get more support to get iconic black cabs rolling out to help across the capital. Since they have screens, they provide a shield for those inside, are accessible for the disabled and, with few tourists these days, there are plenty of cabbies willing to take part.”This is my vision of London,” Raymond said. “The black cab saves the day!”   
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Pope Francis met with Iraq’s top Shiite religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, during a visit Saturday morning to the Shiite holy city of Najaf. Both men issued statements after the meeting urging peaceful coexistence among Iraq’s different religious groups.
 
Amateur video posted on social media showed a group of children in the south of Iraq chanting a welcome message to Pope Francis as he traveled to Najaf Saturday morning to meet with the country’s top Shiite religious authority. Welcome signs were also posted on billboards in many towns and cities.After traveling from Baghdad by helicopter, Pope Francis, accompanied by close advisers, walked through the narrow streets of Najaf to reach al-Sistani’s compound. Chaldean Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako sat near the pope, as he chatted with al-Sistani in his office for close to an hour.Neither of the men could be heard on the video but each of their offices issued statements after the meeting calling for “unity among Iraqis and peaceful coexistence.”
 
Arab media reported the meeting between Francis and al-Sistani “took months to arrange,” as the Shiite cleric rarely meets with visiting foreign religious or political dignitaries. Cardinal Sako, however, is said to have close ties to al-Sistani and his advisers, and he wanted both men to deliver a message of peace and unity.Iraq analyst Hassan Mustapha told Arab media that both religious leaders are following what looks like a “roadmap” for reconciliation following the bitter conflicts in recent years.He said that both the pope and ayatollah are renouncing violence and killing, and both would like mankind to live in peace, security and faith. The statements of both, he said, read like a roadmap with al-Sistani denouncing oppression, persecution and religious tyranny while promoting freedom to choose.Al-Sistani reaffirmed that religious authorities must play a role in protecting Iraq’s small Christian community and that they should be able to live in peace and enjoy the same rights of all other Iraqis.Pope Francis, center, prepares to leave after an inter-religious meeting near the archaeological site of Ur, near Nasiriyah, Iraq, March 6, 2021.The pope’s meeting with al-Sistani was followed by a visit to the ruins of Ur, thought to have been the birthplace of the Prophet Abraham. Members of Iraq’s different religious groups held an interfaith meeting before hearing the pope speak.Chaldean religious music preceded the pope’s message along with readings from the Bible and the Quran related to Abraham. The leader of the world’s Roman Catholics urged Iraqis to “unite” and not to “surrender” to violence and oppression. He stressed that “we are all grandsons of (the Prophet) Abraham and we must not try to divide heaven since heaven calls for uniting men.”
 
Dr. Paul Sullivan, a professor at the Washington-based National Defense University, told VOA that “the adherents of the Abrahamic faiths – Islam, Christianity and Judaism have a chance to see similarities over differences.” “Let us hope,” he stressed, “they take this chance and get beyond the blind spots of prejudice and bigotry … to see their common humanity and similarities of belief.”  
Later Saturday the pope was expected to celebrate mass at the Chaldean Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Baghdad.
 
Francis also plans to visit Mosul, Irbil, and Qaraqosh before leaving Iraq.  
 
The pope will hold an open-air mass at the Irbil stadium on Sunday afternoon. Because of the COVID-19 restrictions, attendance will be limited to 10,000 people.
 
The Christian presence in Iraq dates to the first centuries of the religion, but only a few hundred thousand Christians remain today.  
 
This is the pope’s thirty-third trip outside the Vatican and his first in the last 15 months due mostly to the COVID pandemic.  
 
The pontiff is scheduled to return to Rome Monday morning.
 
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Pope Francis has addressed an interfaith gathering of Iraq’s religious and ethnic groups in Ur, said to be the birthplace of Abraham, the common patriarch for Jews, Christians and Muslims. He drove home the need for respect and unity, and he used the opportunity to condemn violent religious extremism.  
       
Pope Francis traveled to the ruins of the ancient city of Ur, considered the cradle of civilization, to remind people that what binds them is more powerful than what divides. Faithful from the Christian, Muslim, Yazidi and Mandean communities were present Saturday. The pope reinforced his call for inter-religious tolerance and fraternity during the first-ever papal visit to Iraq, where religious and ethnic divisions and conflict have torn apart the social fabric for decades.    The pontiff said that all of Iraq’s communities have suffered too long from terrorism and war. “Hostility, extremism and violence are not born of a religious heart: They are betrayals of religion,” he said. His remarks in Italian were translated into English.     “We are believers and as believers mustn’t stand silent when we see terrorism, when terrorism takes hold of religion for its own gain. It is up to us as religious men and women to destroy evil. We cannot have the light of God be darkened as it has been in this country, where war, violence and terrorism has brought darkness,” the pontiff said.Pope Francis also drew attention to the genocide perpetrated by Islamic State militants against Iraq’s minority Yazidi community and their continuing plight.   “Yazidi men and women, young children were taken from their homes and sold into slavery, subjected to violence. We must remain hopeful for the future. But there are still people to this very day, who are held captive. People who cannot return to their homeland. We pray for freedom of thought, of mind, freedom of religion to be upheld everywhere,” the leader of the world’s Roman Catholics said.Pope Francis has sought to support Christians in Iraq, whose numbers have dwindled from 1.5 million in 2003 to less than 300,000 in this majority Shiite Muslim country, by calling on leaders to protect all minority rights.
 
During his speech, the pope praised “the young Muslim volunteers of Mosul, who helped to repair churches and monasteries, building fraternal friendships on the rubble of hatred, and those Christians and Muslims who today are restoring mosques and churches together.”  He called “the greatest blasphemy” the act of “hating our brothers and sisters.”   
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Pope Francis, leader of the world’s Roman Catholics, met Saturday in Iraq with the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a leading Shiite Muslim figure.
 
The historic session between 84-year-old pontiff and the reclusive al-Sistani took place in the 90-year-old Muslim leader’s modest home in the holy city of Najaf.  
 
Al-Sistani said Christians have the same rights as other Iraqis and that they should have peaceful lives.  
 
Al-Sistani is one of the most important figures in Shiite Islam and wields considerable influence in Iraq and beyond.
 
Iraqi Christians are hoping al-Sistani’s statement and Francis’ message of coexistence will help to ease their lives in the mainly Muslim country, where they find themselves frequently under attack from Shiite militia members.
 
A religious official in Najaf told the Associated Press that the meeting was “a private visit without precedent in history, and it will not have an equal to any previous visits.”  
 
The encounter between the two religious leaders also comes against the tense backdrop of the possibility of rocket firings into Iraq from rogue Iranian-back groups and the global COVID-19 pandemic.  
 
After his meeting with al-Sistani, Francis attended an interfaith meeting in the ancient city of Ur where he again delivered his message of peaceful coexistence.
 
“From this place, where faith was born, from the land of our father Abraham, let us affirm that God is merciful and that the greatest blasphemy is to profane his name by hating our brothers and sisters,” Francis said.
 
Ur is believed to be the birthplace of Abraham, revered by three religions – Islam, Judaism and Christianity.
 
Later Saturday the pope will celebrate mass at the Chaldean Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Baghdad.
 
Francis will also visit Mosul, Irbil, and Qaraqosh before leaving Iraq.  
 
The pope will give an open-air mass at the Irbil stadium on Sunday afternoon. Because of the COVID-19 restrictions, attendance will be limited to 10,000 people.
 
The Christian presence in Iraq dates to the first centuries of the religion, but only a few hundred thousand Christians remain today.  
 
This is pope’s 33rd trip outside Italy and his first in the last 15 months due in most part to COVID-19.   
 
The pontiff is scheduled to return to Rome Monday morning.
 
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Once the seat of a powerful maritime empire, Portugal is attracting attention from today’s great powers. Analysts warn that unless the U.S. moves quickly, China will soon expand its control over a key Portuguese seaport.A month from now, the fate of a new terminal at the Port of Sines on Portugal’s southwestern coast is scheduled to be decided.Sines is “the first deep water port if you go from the United States to Europe, so it’s a very important infrastructure,” Domingos Fezas Vital, Lisbon’s ambassador to the United States, said in a phone interview.In 2012, the People’s Republic of China acquired a stake in one of the four terminals at the port, drawing attention to Beijing’s strategic design.“We now have an international bid for a fifth terminal, which will be a second container terminal,” Fezas Vital told VOA. “We would very, very, very much like to have American companies competing for this bid; I think it will be very important to have an American presence in Sines.”He said it was unimportant whether that bid was “American only (or) American together with friends and allies.”Eric Brown is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute with a focus on Asia and global strategy.“It’s clear when you look at the PRC’s Maritime Silk Road — the oceans-focused component of the Belt and Road Initiative — that one of their ambitions is to control the littorals of Eurasia and large parts of Africa,” he said in a phone interview. “And I would say that in the grander imaginings of things, that also includes Latin America.“One of the ways in which they’re attempting to acquire that control is through politically directed economic investments through state-owned enterprises and state-directed enterprises in critical ports that skirt the Pacific, the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean, and increasingly the North Sea and the Baltic states,” he said.Seen from that perspective, “control of Sines, which is important for the Iberian economy and for southwestern Europe as a whole, is of enormous consequence,” he said.Brown sees Chinese behavior as that of a “power trader,” an idea recently put forward by Robert D. Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. PortugalThe thesis that Germany acted as a “power tradet” that used trade as a key instrument to gain commercial and military advantage over its adversaries was originally put forth by the late economist Albert O. Hirschman in a book entitled FILE – Ship containers are moved at the Port of Sines, in Sines, Portugal, Feb. 12, 2020.In order to not lose out to Chinese state-backed bids for key infrastructure projects like the Port of Sines, Washington may just have to take a page from Beijing’s playbook, Prestowitz suggested, and put more government muscle behind corporate initiatives.While American conservatives have traditionally been most skeptical about government efforts to direct the economy, Prestowitz welcomed a Republican-led move under former President Donald Trump in 2019 to reorganize two existing agencies into the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.The move, he said, was a good start toward giving the United States the tools to fight back against China.Atkinson, for his part, proposes the establishment of a NATO-like trade alliance that would be able to respond “bravely, strategically, and expeditiously” to Chinese economic expansionism and power projection.
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Pope Francis, leader of the world’s Roman Catholics, met Saturday in Iraq with the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a leading Shiite Muslim figure.The historic session between 84-year-old pontiff and the reclusive al-Sistani took place in the 90-year-old Muslim leader’s modest home in the holy city of Najaf.Al-Sistani said Christians have the same rights as other Iraqis and that they should have peaceful lives.Al-Sistani is one of the most important figures in Shiite Islam and wields considerable influence in Iraq and beyond.Iraqi Christians are hoping al-Sistani’s statement and Francis’ message of coexistence will help to ease their lives in the mainly Muslim country, where they find themselves frequently under attack from Shiite militia members.A religious official in Najaf told the Associated Press that the meeting was “a private visit without precedent in history, and it will not have an equal to any previous visits.”The encounter between the two religious leaders also comes against the tense backdrop of the possibility of rocket firings into Iraq from rogue Iranian-back groups and the global COVID-19 pandemic.After his meeting with al-Sistani, Francis attended an interfaith meeting in the ancient city of Ur where he again delivered his message of peaceful coexistence.“From this place, where faith was born, from the land of our father Abraham, let us affirm that God is merciful and that the greatest blasphemy is to profane his name by hating our brothers and sisters,” Francis said.Ur is believed to be the birthplace of Abraham, revered by three religions – Islam, Judaism and Christianity.Later Saturday the pope will celebrate Mass at the Chaldean Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Baghdad.Francis will also visit Mosul, Erbil, and Qaraqosh before leaving Iraq.The pope will give an open-air Mass at the Erbil stadium on Sunday afternoon. Because of the COVID-19 restrictions, attendance will be limited to 10,000 people.The Christian presence in Iraq dates to the first centuries of the religion, but only a few hundred thousand Christians remain today.This is pope’s 33rd trip outside Italy and his first in the last 15 months due in most part to COVID-19.The pontiff is scheduled to return to Rome on Monday morning.
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Relations between Britain and the European Union were thrown into a fresh crisis Friday, just weeks after the two concluded a trade deal to end the long-running saga of Brexit, the British departure from the bloc after four decades of membership.EU officials say they plan to launch legal action soon against Britain for its unilateral decision to delay by several months the implementation of part of the Brexit deal that requires customs checks on goods being traded between Britain and its Northern Ireland province.The delay, London says, will give traders and consumers in British-ruled Northern Ireland time to adjust to the new and complicated trading arrangements that require, among other things, health inspections and certificates for food and livestock shipments.Britain and the EU agreed to the new rules to avoid the establishment of a hard border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which would have breached the U.S.-brokered 1998 Good Friday peace agreement.’Very negative surprise’Under the Brexit deal, the British province remains in Europe’s tariff-free single market. Since the final Brexit deal was inked in December, the province’s supermarkets have complained of shortages of basic British food staples.Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission’s vice president, told the Financial Times that the announcement midweek by the British government of a delay in implementation was a “very negative surprise.”On Thursday, EU officials threatened to impose trade tariffs on Britain and to suspend parts of the Brexit trade deal if London didn’t back down. Sefcovic said officials were preparing a legal action, which would most likely be brought before the European Court of Justice, and “it would be really something coming to our table very soon.”FILE – Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, left, speaks with Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok during a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the Europa building in Brussels, Dec. 9, 2019.Simon Coveney, Ireland’s foreign minister, told reporters the EU would have no option but to resort to legal action because it was negotiating with a partner “it simply couldn’t trust.” Because of the dispute, the European Parliament this week announced it was postponing setting a date for ratifying the Brexit deal.The dispute may appear at first glance to be a dry and even obscure trade matter, but analysts say it has the potential not only to worsen already frayed relations between Britain and Europe but also risks dangerous political developments in Ireland.Those in turn could impact Britain’s relationship with the Biden administration, which has emphasized that Brexit should in no way undermine the Good Friday peace agreement.That agreement ended decades of sectarian violence between mainly Protestant pro-British loyalist groups and the mainly Catholic IRA, which waged an insurgency to try to push British forces out of Northern Ireland and London to relinquish control of the province.Pressure on JohnsonLondon’s decision to delay implementation for six months of the protocol requiring customs checks came as lawmakers from Britain’s ruling Conservative Party and from pro-British unionist parties in Northern Ireland increased their efforts to persuade Prime Minister Boris Johnson to abandon or to renegotiate the Brexit deal with the EU.They argue the Northern Ireland protocol is unworkable and will increase costs for the province’s businesses, which in turn will be passed on in higher prices to consumers. The province’s supermarkets say they have found it hard to get staple British food products because imports have been blocked at ports by an overzealous application of the Brexit trading rules, as well as confusion over what paperwork is required.The Conservative and unionist lawmakers also fear that the new trading arrangements will end up tearing the province away from Britain.Ominously, Northern Ireland’s loyalist paramilitary groups warned Johnson this week that they were withdrawing their support for the Good Friday peace agreement until the Brexit protocol was abandoned. Their withdrawal prompted fears of a return to violence, although David Campbell, a leading loyalist figure, said loyalist opposition to the Brexit deal would be “peaceful, democratic and constitutional.””We are looking to the prime minister to use every effort he can to rectify the problems with the protocol. Let’s hope that those issues are resolved,” Campbell told the BBC. “I have no doubt that but for the present pandemic you would have already seen street protests and demonstrations. Our history shows that street protests and demonstrations are very difficult to control and maintain peacefully.”A hope for no violenceAfter the announcement by loyalist groups, Jonathan Powell, a chief negotiator for the British government in the 1998 peace talks, said he was dismayed.”I think it’s a mistake, but I do pin my hopes on the promise that they will not go back to violence and that there’s no intention of returning to the old days. I think we should deal with this as a political issue to which people object strongly and find the solution that way,” he said in a broadcast interview.FILE – Northern Ireland Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster, center,  speaks to journalists at European Union headquarters in Brussels, April 11, 2019.The first minister of Northern Ireland’s devolved government, Arlene Foster, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, accused the EU of taking a “very belligerent approach” to the difficulties caused by the Northern Ireland Protocol. She welcomed Johnson’s decision to delay implementation.Johnson has threatened before to scrap customs checks on trade between Britain and Northern Ireland — a threat that nearly wrecked the overall Brexit deal signed in December. This time he’s said a delay is needed to avoid significant immediate disruption to everyday life in Northern Ireland. He has said the move is “temporary and technical” and designed “to ensure there are no barriers in the Irish Sea, to make sure things flow freely.”Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, warned British ministers recently that their efforts to negotiate a trade deal with the U.S. would be rebuffed if Brexit ended up wrecking the 1998 peace agreement.Just before last November’s U.S. presidential elections, Joe Biden was similarly blunt, saying in a tweet: “We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit.” He added: “Any trade deal between the U.S. and UK must be contingent upon respect for the Agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period.”  
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Meghan Markle, Britain’s Duchess of Sussex, says she is now “ready to talk” along with husband Prince Harry, ahead of a highly anticipated weekend airing of an interview with Oprah Winfrey.Markle credits her newfound freedom for opening up about the limitations put on her by the royal family and her appreciation for making her own decisions.”It’s really liberating to be able to have the right and the privilege in some ways to be able to say, ‘Yes … I’m ready to talk,’ ” she said.Markle believes now is the time to share her side of the story and how life has changed since leaving the royal family.“We’re on the other side of a lot of, a lot of life experience that’s happened,” Markle said. “And also that we have the ability to make our own choices in a way that I couldn’t have said yes to you then, that wasn’t my choice to make.”Markle and Prince Harry, who tied the knot in May 2018, stunned the royal family in January when they announced they would step down from their official royal duties to live independently in Montecito, California.Since coming to Montecito, the couple announced their new commonwealth project, Archewell Foundation, named after their son Archie. Teaming with chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen, the foundation said it would create Community Relief Centers in regions of the world prone to climate disasters.Sunday’s interview comes after Buckingham Palace announced Wednesday it would be launching an investigation into claims Markle bullied her staff while still living as a royal in London.“I don’t know how they could expect that after all of this time, we would still just be silent if there is an active role that the firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us,” Markle said.Oprah with Meghan and Harry will air this Sunday at 8 p.m. EST on the CBS television network. 
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Pope Francis begins a long-desired trip to Iraq Friday, the first to the birthplace of the Prophet Abraham by any head of the Catholic Church. It is the first trip by Pope Francis to a foreign country since the pandemic, and everyone on the papal plane has been vaccinated against COVID-19. It will be a challenge all the same, though, as cases in the country have surged and there are fears that those hoping to see the pope will forget the social distancing rules. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi welcomes Pope Francis as he arrives at Baghdad International Airport to start his historic tour in Baghdad, Iraq, March 5, 2021.The Vatican’s ambassador to Iraq, Archbishop Mitja Leskovar, recently tested positive for COVID and is currently self-isolating, but the pope has insisted on going ahead with the visit.In a video message to the Iraqi people, Francis told them how he longed to meet them, see their faces and visit a land that is ancient and an extraordinary cradle of civilization.The pope said he was coming to Iraq as a “penitent pilgrim” to implore forgiveness and reconciliation after years of war and terrorism.My dear Christian brothers and sisters from Pope Francis arrives at Baghdad International Airport where a welcoming ceremony is held to start his historic tour in Baghdad, Iraq, March 5, 2021.Security is also a concern during the papal visit, as attacks have increased in recent weeks on civilian and military targets. The pope is expected to travel in an armored vehicle and not his usual popemobile. Vatican officials have said they are satisfied that Iraqi authorities will be able to provide the required protection for the papal visit. Francis is planning to visit several Iraqi cities during his visit, including Mosul, Erbil and Qaraqosh where he will meet people rebuilding their communities and churches. He will also visit Ur, the birthplace of the prophet Abraham. One of the highlights of his trip will undoubtedly be when he travels to the holy city of Najaf to meet the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the influential 90-year-old Shia Muslim cleric. A man takes selfies as he waits for the arrival of Pope Francis, at Baghdad Airport Road, in Baghdad, Iraq March 5, 2021.   
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The United States on Thursday agreed to a four-month suspension of retaliatory tariffs imposed on British goods such as Scotch whisky over a long-running aircraft subsidy row, with both sides pledging to use the time to resolve the dispute. The U.S. administration under former President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Scotch whisky and other European Union food, wine and spirits, which the industry says have put its future at risk. The multibillion-dollar tit-for-tat tariff battle involving the United States, the European Union and Britain relates to a long-running row over state subsidies for plane manufacturers Airbus and Boeing. Britain is party to the dispute as a former member of the EU and maker of key Airbus components. “The United Kingdom and the United States are undertaking a four-month tariff suspension to ease the burden on industry and take a bold, joint step towards resolving the longest running disputes at the World Trade Organization,” a joint statement said. “This will allow time to focus on negotiating a balanced settlement to the disputes and begin seriously addressing the challenges posed by new entrants to the civil aviation market from nonmarket economies, such as China.” FILE – The vertical tail wing of an Airbus A350 is seen on the final assembly line in Toulouse, southwestern France, Oct. 23,2012.White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the decision would give both sides time to work out a solution. “It was meant to deescalate the issue and create space for a negotiated settlement to the Airbus and Boeing disputes,” she told a White House briefing. The tariff truce is separate from broader U.S.-Britain talks on a post-Brexit trade agreement but sends a positive signal about those discussions. Psaki declined to say if the U.S.-Britain tariff deal foreshadowed a similar truce with Brussels. Britain and the United States were hoping to reach a trade deal before the expiration of fast-track trade promotion authority granted to the U.S. federal government by Congress in July. To hit that deadline, U.S. trade officials would have to notify Congress about a likely trade deal sometime in April. Reaction to suspensionAirbus spokesman Clay McConnell welcomed the suspension of what he called “lose-lose tariffs” and said the company supports all efforts to reach an agreement. U.S. company Boeing said: “A negotiated settlement will allow the industry to move forward with a genuinely global level playing field for aviation.” Ivan Menezes, chief executive of Diageo, the maker of Johnnie Walker and Talisker whiskies, said a permanent solution would help safeguard thousands of jobs across Scotland and the rest of Britain. The agreement to lift tariffs is temporary and applies only to British goods. U.S. tariffs will continue to apply to EU goods, according to a U.S. administration official. U.S. President Joe Biden’s top trade nominee, Katherine Tai, is headed to confirmation by the full Senate next week. She told the Senate Finance Committee last month that Washington had completed four rounds of negotiations with Britain since announcing the start of talks. She said she would make it a priority to resolve the aircraft subsidy dispute. Tai, asked if she would prioritize an agreement with Britain, told the committee in written responses to questions released this week that Britain was “an important trading partner and ally.” The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States welcomed Thursday’s decision but said it was disappointed that British tariffs on U.S. whiskey relating to a separate dispute over steel were still being applied.
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The World Health Organization’s Europe director reported Thursday that new COVID-19 cases rose 9% to just over a million in the region last week.  
 
Hans Kluge said it was the first increase in new infections after six weeks of decline.
 
At a virtual news briefing from his headquarters in Copenhagen, Kluge told reporters that more than half the region saw increases in new cases.
 
Kluge said most of the resurgence was seen in central and eastern Europe, although new cases were also on the rise in several western European countries where rates were already high.  
 
 “Over a year into the pandemic, our health systems should not be in this situation. We need to get back to the basics,” he said.
 
He said the high rates of transmission and rapid spread of variants require increased vigilance, improved testing and isolation of cases, tracing and quarantining contacts, and care.  
 
Kluge said the so-called British variant has been reported in 43 of 53 countries in the region; the South African variant in 26 countries; and the variant originally identified in Brazil and Japan in 15 countries.  
 
The WHO Europe chief urged nations to accelerate the rollout of vaccines, saying they are already saving lives, with hospitalizations and deaths in most at-risk groups declining significantly.  
 
Kluge said 45 countries have started vaccinations in the European region.
 
He also called on leaders to reengage with their communities to counter “pandemic fatigue” to prevent people from putting aside preventative measures.
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Europe’s far right has suffered some setbacks recently: Germany’s top opposition party is under surveillance for extremism and France shut down a right-wing youth group.  Experts say these groups are using old and new grievances and are inspired by their U.S. counterparts. For VOA, Lisa Bryant reports from Paris.
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It’s a new era for Russian women, at least if they’re aspiring truckers, boat drivers, or pilots. Russia’s government has opened up several hundred professions that previously barred women under late-Soviet-era labor restrictions.  From Moscow, Charles Maynes reports.Videographer: Ricardo Marquina Montanana, Producer: Henry Hernandez
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Glenda Andrew pulls a tray of salmon from the oven, filling the community center’s kitchen with the aroma of garlic, cayenne and lemon rising from its crackling skin.
It is the scent of memory, of family dinners and church socials — the warmth of the Caribbean in the middle of a gray English winter made gloomier by COVID-19.  
This is food for the soul, Andrew says, and it’s needed now more than ever by Britain’s older immigrants who have been isolated from friends and family by the pandemic. Once a week the 57-year-old joins other volunteers to prepare hot meals with the zing of the islands, which they distribute for free to people in Preston and surrounding communities in northwestern England.
The area has recorded some of the U.K.’s highest coronavirus infection rates.
“It’s a great way to connect and build that relationship, but I didn’t know that at the time,” Andrew said of the project’s beginnings. “I just knew that I wanted to do something and make sure that they were getting a hot meal — not sandwiches, not soup — getting something that they’re accustomed to eating and hope that they would enjoy it.”
Once a week, for the last 42 weeks, the lucky seniors on Andrew’s list have been treated to delicacies such as jerk pork, curry goat and cow foot soup accompanied by rice and peas, yams and plantains. Portions are hefty, so there’s enough to go in the freezer for another day. Last week, some 400 meals were packed into yellow foam packages and delivered by volunteers.
The meal program grew out of Andrew’s work with Preston Windrush Generation & Descendants, a group organized to fight for the rights of early immigrants from the Caribbean and other former British colonies who found themselves threatened with deportation in recent years.  
The Windrush Generation, named after the ship that carried the first migrants from the Caribbean in 1948, came to Britain in response to a government call for workers from throughout the Empire to help rebuild the country after World War II.
The Windrush Scandal rocked Britain in 2018 amid a crackdown on illegal immigration. Long-term legal residents lost jobs, homes and the right to free medical care because many arrived as children and couldn’t produce paperwork proving their right to live in the U.K. Some were detained, and an unknown number were deported to countries they barely remembered.
When the coronavirus pandemic struck Britain, the free-spirited Andrew didn’t want the community to be victimized again. She decided to create her own food program tailored to the taste buds of the people she grew up with.
Nothing is too good for Andrew’s people. They get the best. No pilchards here.
“Salmon is a delicacy, isn’t it? You know what I mean? They’re worth it,” she said. “They brought us up, they’ve taught us so many things. They gave up their life in the Caribbean to come here.”
In addition to food, the volunteers offer a bit of human contact.  
The loneliness and isolation of the past year is painful for many of the seniors. When deliveries arrive, they seek out friendly gossip with the volunteers about what their neighbors are up to.
Sylius Toussaint, 81, who came from Dominica in 1960, said chatting with volunteers like Dave Williams helps as much as the food.
“They say hello and give you a meal, and maybe for just a few seconds at least you see someone new; someone you haven’t seen all week,” Toussaint said as his wife, Bridget, shot him a bemused look. “If you are on your own, it is so nice to see a fresh face — especially bringing gifts.”
Andrew wants to keep the meals flowing, even as optimism grows that Britain’s mass vaccination program may soon allow lockdown restrictions to be eased.
The project runs on donations and the energy of Andrew, who seemed to be in a dozen places at once as she marshaled her volunteer chefs last week. For now, they use a donated kitchen in a community center, but there’s a glimmer of hope for a more permanent venue at some point — maybe a place the community can gather.
But that’s in the future. For now, the volunteers plan to just keep going, gluing the community together with plates of rice and peas.
“Initially it was the food and, as I said, I didn’t know what we were creating,” Andrew said. “And it’s been amazing.”
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Since U.S. President Joe Biden’s election, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been making diplomatic overtures to the West, pledging democratic reforms at home and promising a serious effort to improve ties with Turkey’s NATO partners.The Turkish leader told France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, in a video call Tuesday that cooperation has “very serious potential,” and he added that dialogue has an important role to play.“As two strong NATO allies, we can make significant contributions to peace, stability, and peace efforts in a wide geography — from Europe to the Caucasus, the Middle East, and Africa,” Erdogan said in a statement following the conversation.Also Tuesday, Erdogan unveiled a long-awaited action plan he has trailed heavily since Biden’s election win last November, which he says is aimed at improving human and civil rights in Turkey.“The ultimate aim of Turkey’s action plan is a new civilian constitution,” the Turkish president highlighted in his speech. The plan originates from the state’s “obligation to protect, in all of its affairs and acts and with all of the state institutions and organizations, the physical and moral integrity and the honor and dignity of individuals,” he announced.FILE – Members of Reporters Without Borders hold stencils representing portraits of imprisoned Turkish journalists, during a demonstration in front of the Turkish Embassy, in Paris, Jan. 5, 2018.But Erdogan’s critics say the action plan sits oddly with his government’s quashing of dissent — Turkey jails more journalists than any other country in the world — and the imprisoning of the Turkish leader’s political opponents, as well as a rolling crackdown on dissident groups, which became more expansive after a 2016 coup attempt failed to topple the Islamist populist leader.Wariness, skepticismDespite the overtures to Biden and Brussels, which have included the appointment of a new Turkish ambassador to the U.S. and Erdogan’s stated hopes to turn a new page in relations with the West after years of strained relations, the diplomatic charm offensive has been received so far in Washington with wariness and skepticism.U.S. officials say only last year Erdogan was engineering a dangerous standoff in the eastern Mediterranean with Greece and Cyprus over lucrative gas and oil drilling rights. Western Europeans and Turkey’s other regional neighbors accused Ankara of brinkmanship in a deadlock that saw opposing warships come close to clashing. And even in December, the Turkish president was continuing to complain about a Western conspiracy being formed against Turkey aimed at frustrating the projection of Turkish power and influence abroad.FILE – A handout photograph released by the Turkish Defense Ministry Aug. 12, 2020, shows Turkish seismic research vessel Oruc Reis, center, as it is escorted by Turkish Naval ships in the Mediterranean Sea, off Antalya, Aug. 10, 2020.“There are few signs that the leopard really has changed its spots,” an American official told VOA on Wednesday. He was speaking just hours after Turkey said it is considering purchasing a second S-400 anti-aircraft missile system from Russia, despite strong disapproval from the U.S. and NATO.FILE – The first parts of a Russian S-400 missile defense system are unloaded from a Russian plane near Ankara, Turkey, July 12, 2019.Ankara’s original purchase last year of the Russian air defense system, which NATO members say is incompatible with membership in the Western alliance, prompted even the more forbearing Trump administration to impose sanctions on Turkey.U.S. and Western officials say it is hardly surprising they remain skeptical about Erdogan’s intentions. “It is hard not to conclude that he is talking from both sides of his mouth,” said a Western diplomat. “There are no signs of him easing his crackdown on domestic dissent nor turning aside from a marriage of convenience with Russia.”Biden has taken an even harder line on Turkey than his White House predecessor, Donald Trump. Before being elected, Biden tagged Erdogan as an autocrat, and the new administration has rebuked Ankara for rights abuses and urged the release of prominent activist Osman Kavala.FILE – A journalist stands in front of a poster featuring jailed philanthropist Osman Kavala, during a press conference given by his lawyers, in Istanbul, Turkey, Oct. 31, 2018.Biden and Erdogan have yet to speak. The only high-level contact so far featured a phone conversation between Jake Sullivan, the U.S. national security adviser, and Ibrahim Kalin, a security adviser to the Turkish leader.  EU, Turkish relationsLater this month, European Union heads of state and government are scheduled to review the bloc’s relations with Turkey. “There is no doubt that EU governments want a calmer, more predictable relationship with Ankara,” according to Marc Pierini, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Europe research organization.He says they want to see improved relations with Turkey for economic reasons and because they fear that any further deterioration could prompt Erdogan to break his deal with the EU to block refugees from using Turkey again as a gateway to Europe.But in a commentary for Carnegie Europe, Pierini notes that Erdogan’s diplomatic charm offensive places the Europeans in a tricky spot. They don’t want to be seen “giving a blessing to Turkey’s autocratic leanings at a time when the country blatantly disregards and mocks Europe’s fundamental values,” he said. “Ankara is striving to dodge punitive measures and fill the agenda with reforms that are palatable to the Europeans. Yet, domestic developments in Turkey keep pointing in the opposite direction.” Rights issuesWestern diplomats say Ankara wants to limit any dialogue with the U.S. and Europe just to trade and economic matters with rights issues and Erdogan’s adventurism in Syria, Libya and Central Asia off the agenda.So far, that doesn’t seem to be working.FILE – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the State Department in Washington, Feb. 4, 2021.On Monday, 170 U.S. lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging the Biden administration to address “troubling” human rights issues as it shapes its policy toward Turkey.Lawmakers noted in the letter that Turkey has long been an important partner, but they say Erdogan is responsible for the strains in the relationship.“Strategic issues have rightfully received significant attention in our bilateral relationship, but the gross violation of human rights and democratic backsliding taking place in Turkey are also of significant concern,” the lawmakers said, pointing to the weakening of Turkey’s judiciary, the appointment of Erdogan’s political allies to key military and intelligence positions, and the wrongful imprisonment of political opponents, journalists and members of minority groups. 
 
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Germany’s domestic intelligence agency recently put the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) Party under surveillance for suspected extremist links that pose a potential threat to democracy, German media outlets report. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, or BfV) would not comment on the reports because of ongoing legal action by the AfD.  The Interior Ministry, which oversees the BfV, would neither confirm nor deny the news reports, but multiple German media organizations confirmed the surveillance through government sources close to the situation. On Wednesday, AfD’s parliamentary leadership, which controls 88 of 709 seats in the legislative body, described the surveillance as “completely unjustified” and vowed to fight it in court. The co-leader of the Alternative for Germany far-right party Alexander Gauland and the vice-leader of the parliamentary group Tino Chrupalla, left, address a press conference, in the parliamentary compound of the Bundestag in Berlin, March 3, 2021.BfV’s February 24 decision to classify AfD as a potential security threat is the first time in Germany’s post-war history that a political party represented in Parliament has been put under such scrutiny. The designation gives the intelligence agency additional surveillance powers, including tapping phones and other communications, and monitoring the movements of AfD members.  The AfD has become the main opposition in the German Parliament, which is entrenched in politics at all levels across the nation. The move also comes ahead of the September election that will choose Chancellor Angela Merkel’s successor.  Alexander Gauland, AfD’s parliamentary floor leader, told reporters the designation is clearly an effort to ruin the party’s chances in the election, and the matter will be decided in the courts. The AfD is currently the largest of four opposition parties in the national Parliament and has lawmakers in all 16 state assemblies. The party has moved steadily to the right since it was founded in 2013 for critics of the shared euro currency. It has been strongly denounced in recent years for its anti-immigrant rhetoric and ties to neo-Nazis. Several AfD members sympathized with the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6.  Several senior figures have quit in recent years, warning that the party was being taken over by far-right extremists. Recent polls have shown support for AfD sagging as low as 9% after winning 12.6% of the vote in 2017. 
 
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British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak announced Wednesday the government is extending emergency economic aid by nearly $91 billion to boost economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. In his annual budget speech to Parliament, Sunak said benefits to workers left unemployed by the pandemic will be extended until the end of September. He said the government will also allocate nearly $1 billion to support the arts, culture and sports impacted by the pandemic.  Sunak promised to do “whatever it takes” to support the British people and businesses through what he hopes will be the final months of pandemic restrictions. Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak attends a virtual press conference inside 10 Downing Street in central London, Britain, March 3, 2021.To help begin to pay for some of these programs, Sunak also announced that corporation taxes would rise from 19% to 25% beginning in 2023, by which time the economy should be past the pandemic crisis, he said. “Even after this change, the U.K. will still have the lowest corporation tax rate in the G-7,” Sunak said. The government will also freeze personal income tax thresholds, increasing revenue as inflation boosts incomes. The finance minister also announced the British Office for Budget Responsibility is forecasting the economy will return to its pre-pandemic strength by the middle of 2022, six months earlier than was forecast in November.  The bad news, he said, is that the impact of the pandemic will be felt long term, as the five-year forecast for economic growth is 3% smaller than it was pre-pandemic. 
 
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A French government spokesman said Wednesday officials are hoping to lift some of the nation’s COVID-19-related restrictions by the middle of next month, as vaccinations have, so far, proven effective at lowering infection rates. At a Paris news conference, French government spokesman Gabriel Attal told reporters that while the nation is still facing hard times, “For the first time in months, the return to more normal living conditions is in sight.”  Attal said infection rates are decreasing among groups that have been vaccinated — meaning the elderly. Attal said it is a sign the vaccination campaign is working, and that it should be sped up.  He said the goal of vaccinating the most fragile was to reduce hospitalizations and protect the health care system, which is key to easing restrictions. The spokesman said President Emmanuel Macron has asked government officials to submit proposals gearing up toward a “cautious reopening” of the country. FILE – A Nice resident and her dog go for a bike ride during virus-related confinement in Nice, southern France, Feb. 27, 2021.Earlier this week, Health Minister Olivier Veran said France will retain its current measures aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19, including a nighttime curfew, as a bare minimum for the next four to six weeks. Other measures now in force include the closure of bars, restaurants, museums, sports and music venues. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus. At more than 3.8 million infections, France has world’s sixth highest number of cases, according to the Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the global outbreak. Reports say the number of new daily infections in France has been at more than 21,000 for six straight days. 
  
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