With days to go before the inauguration of Joe Biden as America’s 46th president, America’s European allies are preparing for the new administration.  
For Europe’s leaders Biden’s return to the White House, which he left four years ago as Barack Obama’s vice president, along with familiar faces in key foreign and security jobs, is reassuring.
 
And it is even more so in the wake of last week’s violence against Congress by agitators supporting U.S. President Donald Trump, focused on deep-state conspiracy theories, who sought to reverse the result of Biden’s presidential election win. It is an assault that has left Europeans as disoriented and shaken as Americans.  
 Europe Expects Improved Transatlantic Relations, But Not a Return to Status Quo European leaders and officials are not expecting transatlantic relations to snap back to the way things were before Donald Trump was elected US presidentAt a security conference two years ago in Munich, European leaders were tugging at Biden’s sleeves in the margins, urging him to run for office. After enduring a rough-and-tough “America First” speech from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, their nerves were soothed by Biden, now seen as the most pro-Atlanticist president since George H.W. Bush, when he quipped in his address: “This too shall pass. We will be back.”  
 
Biden and his team of top advisers, his nominee for U.S. secretary of state, Tony Blinken, and his picks for top jobs at the CIA and in the National Security Council, including Jake Sullivan and Amanda Sloat, are known quantities on the other side of the Atlantic, having served in the Obama administration. Sloat, a former senior State Department official, will lead the NSC’s European desk. “Amanda is a great professional who knows Europe well,” says David O’Sullivan, a retired Irish diplomat and former EU envoy in Washington.
 
Policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic are now determined to repair frayed relations and to steady democracies roiled by unprecedented domestic political turmoil and challenged by authoritarian powers. There will be quick agreement on a range of issues with both Brussels and Washington eager for close collaboration, according to analysts. Biden already has committed to rejoining the Paris climate accord and says he will reverse Trump’s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization.FILE – Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a panel discussion at the annual Munich Security Conference, in Munich, Germany, Feb. 16, 2019.Washington and Brussels are likely to move quickly to shape an initiative on how the moribund World Trade Organization can be reformed and rules-based multilateral global governance generally strengthened, say analysts. They also expect a bid to iron out trade disputes. Last month, the European Commission called for the U.S. and the EU to “work closely together on solving bilateral trade irritants.” There is some hope in Brussels of Biden lifting Trump-era tariffs imposed on EU steel and aluminum imports.
 
That could pave the way to settle a longstanding dispute over subsidies to airplane manufacturers Boeing and Airbus. The EC also laid out a wish list for cooperation, including on the pandemic, climate change, technology, security and defense. The list was designed to demonstrate how in tune Europe is with some of Biden’s priorities. It also was, though, an early pitch of EU positions where there are differences, readying for negotiations.
 
Additionally, individual European countries have been courting the new administration. Biden has said he wants to convene a global summit of democracies to forge common goals that serve the cause of freedom and rally democracies to counter authoritarian alternatives. Victoria Nuland, a veteran diplomat slated for a top job at the State Department, recently said: “It’s time to stand up and defend it [democracy].”  
 
She added: “We’ve got problems not only dealing with the autocracies out there … we’ve got backsliding countries all over the world who may have elections, but they’re not behaving like democracies in terms of protecting free press and free judiciaries and upholding the rule of law. And we have problems inside our own societies.”
 
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Saturday: “We are ready to work with the United States on a joint Marshall Plan for democracy,” a reference to the U.S. campaign launched in 1948 to rebuild 18 war-torn Western European nations. Maas said there were “no better, closer, more natural partners in the 21st century than America and Europe.”
 
Britain, too, is ratcheting up outreach to Washington with four top cabinet ministers slated to visit the U.S. capital in the next few weeks. With an eye on the possibility that Biden would defeat Trump, Prime Minister Boris Johnson started advocating in June for the establishment of a D-10 group of leading democracies.
 Under Biden, Europe Hopes for Compromise in US Digital Tax DebateAfter years of resistance by Trump administration, Europeans now hope incoming Biden administration will be willing to compromise – or face possible digital taxLast week, Johnson appointed a cabinet minister to take charge of the COP26 climate change summit, which Britain will host in November in Glasgow. The appointment came after Biden aides warned London it needed to ramp up summit preparations or risk not being taken seriously by the new administration.  
 
Johnson’s government has been quick to outline how well-aligned it is with many of Biden’s key priorities, including strengthening NATO, especially in cybersecurity. It also is boosting its own defense spending. And last month it backed off reneging on parts of a year-old Brexit withdrawal agreement. That could have resulted in border posts being established on the frontier between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, a breach of the U.S.-brokered Good Friday Peace deal.  
 
Both moves were “responses to Biden’s victory,” says Lisa Nandy, the foreign affairs spokesperson of Britain’s Labor Party. She told VOA: “It has been made very clear and not just by Biden, but by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other senior Democrats, that Britain needs to start repairing relations with the EU. Britain has lot of work to do to show that we are still relevant post-Brexit.”FILE – Then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden speaks ahead of a meeting at European Council headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 6, 2015.While there’s much to uniting the two continents, a simple return to how things were before Donald Trump’s presidency isn’t likely, policymakers and analysts agree. Major adjustments will have to be made because of domestic political developments both in the U.S. and Europe—and because of changed geopolitics.
 
Since Biden was last in the White House, China has become even more assertive and the Kremlin has amended the Russian Constitution, paving the way for Vladimir Putin to remain in power in Moscow for the foreseeable future. Both China and Russia have been accused of waging hybrid warfare against the West in a bid to unravel Western democracies by meddling in democratic elections, launching invisible cyber hacks against both the U.S. and Europe, and running online disinformation campaigns.  
 
As Americans and Europeans swap their to-do lists, they say there are many crossovers but also concede differences, as well.  
 
“A lot of commentators focus on how America has changed under Donald Trump. But Europe has also changed,” says Hans Kundnani of Britain’s Chatham House. He cites the growing debate in Europe about the bloc developing “strategic autonomy” with the goal of increasing EU self-sufficiency and independence at a time of growing geopolitical competition between the U.S. and China.
 
Biden aides say they don’t fear a more autonomous Europe, saying a marriage is strengthened when both partners are strong, as long as they don’t start going separate ways.
 
But EU ambitions to become a bigger global player are likely to expose some frictions—especially when it comes to handling China. Kundnani says Europe is likely to bristle at Washington’s efforts to draw the EU into alignment with the U.S. on China. He predicts there’ll be resistance with efforts to get Europe to decouple from China and to take more seriously the geopolitical and security implications of European companies trading with Beijing. “I’m thinking here particularly of Germany,” Kundnani says.
 
Biden wants a “united front” when it comes to China to increase leverage on Beijing. But to the disappointment of Biden aides, the EU last month struck an investment deal with Beijing, which on paper appears to open up China to more European investment hedged with fewer barriers.
 
Days before the agreement was sealed, Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, urged the Europeans to delay the agreement, calling in a tweet for “early consultation with our European partners on our common concerns about China’s economic practices.”
 
Critics on both sides of the Atlantic say the deal will give China preferential access to European markets while Beijing continues to tamp down Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement and maintain detention centers in Xinjiang province, where China’s Communist government has interned more than a million Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic group, according to rights groups.
 
Even before Trump was elected, there was a bipartisan consensus in Washington that Europe needs to take more responsibility for its own security, but several countries have been dragging their feet. Biden will continue to push, say his aides, for equitable burden-sharing, but he won’t engage in the episodic questioning of the very value of the transatlantic defense pact President Trump did in bruising encounters with European leaders. European slowness in rebalancing NATO may remain a source of transatlantic tension, experts assert.
 
NATO aside, Biden has highly ambitious foreign policy goals, which may stretch the EU’s capacity to move fast and secure agreement among its 27 members.
 
“It’s going to take a lot of knitting and a lot of coordination to deal with the many things coming at us, from health to economy to China to tech, all of these kinds of things,” Nuland cautioned at a research group event last month. She said the U.S. will embrace Europe tightly, adding, “Maybe too tightly, so we’ll have to see how that goes.”
 
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European markets are mixed Tuesday as the worsening coronavirus pandemic around the world, coupled with political turmoil in the United States, is putting a damper on trading activity.   At the midday point of the trading day, London’s FTSE index is down 0.6%, the CAC-40 index in Paris is nearly 3 points lower but unchanged percentage-wise (-0.04%) and Frankfurt’s DAX index is up nearly 4 points but is also unchanged (+0.03%).Asian markets were mixed earlier Tuesday.  The Nikkei index in Tokyo finished 25 points higher, but was virtually unchanged percentage-wise (+0.09%), while the Shanghai Composite rose 2.1%.  Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index rose 1.3%, and Mumbai’s Sensex closed 0.5% higher. Pandemic and Political Turmoil Leave Asian Markets Mixed TuesdayGold, oil markets posting solid gains Sydney’s S&P/ASX index lost 0.2%.  Seoul’s KOSPI index closed 0.7% lower, while the TSEC index in Taipei was down 0.3%.      In commodities trading, gold is selling at $1,858.40, up 0.4%.  U.S. crude oil is selling at $52.90 per barrel, up 1.2%, while Brent crude is also 1.2% higher, selling at $56.35 per barrel. With the opening bell on Wall Street looming, the three major U.S. indices — the Dow, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq — are all trending positively in futures trading.
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Pope Francis changed church law Monday to formally allow for more roles for women within the Catholic Church. The decree, called “Spiritus Domini” (The Spirit of the Lord), allows women to serve as readers and altar servers, as well as to assist priests during service or in administering Holy Communion. It officially updates the Code of Canon Law to reflect that “lay persons … can be admitted on a stable basis through the prescribed liturgical rite to the ministries of lector and acolyte,” instead of the previous version “lay men.” In many dioceses, women have already been allowed to carry out such activities. The decision comes as a formal move from Francis, who has publicly advocated for a more diverse and inclusive church, to impede conservative bishops from enforcing male-only altar services in their jurisdictions. “The decision to confer these offices even on women, which entails stability, public recognition and a mandate on the part of the bishop, will make more effective everyone’s participation in the work of evangelization,” the decree says. Francis, however, reiterated that priesthood continues to be a male-only path.  “The church does not have the faculty in any way to confer priestly ordination on women,” the pope wrote in a Monday letter to Cardinal Luis Ladaria, prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. For years, Francis has analyzed the possibility of expanding women’s roles within the church. In April 2020, the pope established a commission to study whether women should be granted the right to become ordained deacons. This would allow women to preach and baptize, but not to conduct Mass. 
 
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The British government Monday launched an ambitious coronavirus vaccination plan, with the goal of having 15 million citizens inoculated by the middle of next month. In a statement, the health department said the plan is to have 2,700 vaccination sites around the country, with one located within 16 kilometers of every person in Britain by the end of January. Health officials say rural areas will be served by mobile vaccination units. The health department said officials hope to be able to deliver at least 2 million vaccinations per week by the end of the month, with all residents and staff in more than 10,000 care homes across Britain having access to the shot. The plan calls for 206 active hospital sites, as well as 1,200 local vaccination sites — including primary care networks, community pharmacy sites and mobile teams. The health department said by the end of this month there will also be 50 mass vaccination centers around Britain. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, speaking with reporters at a newly opened center in Bristol, described the situation as “a race against time.” “We can all see the threat that our NHS (National Health Service) faces, the pressure it’s under, the demand in intensive care units, the pressure on ventilated beds, even the shortage of oxygen in some places,” he said. Johnson said 2.4 million COVID-19 shots had been administered in Britain and that about 40% of 80-year-olds there had been vaccinated, along with around a quarter of elderly residents in care homes. COVID-19 is the illness caused by the coronavirus. The death toll in Britain has been soaring. It now stands at more than 81,500 — the world’s fifth-highest toll — while more than 3 million people have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University. 
 
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Pope Francis, in another step towards greater equality for women in the Roman Catholic Church, on Monday changed its law to formally allow them to serve as readers at liturgies, altar servers and distributors of communion.
 
In a decree, the pope formalized what already has been happening in many developed countries for years. But by introducing the change in the Code of Canon Law, it will be impossible for conservative bishops to block women in their diocese from having those roles.
 
But the Vatican stressed that these roles were “essentially distinct from the ordained ministry,” meaning that they should not be seen as an automatic precursor to women one day being allowed to be ordained priests.
 
“The pontiff, therefore, has established that women can accede to these ministries and they are attributed by a liturgical function that institutionalizes them,” the Vatican said in an explanatory note.
 
In the decree, called “Spiritus Domini” (The Spirit of the Lord), Francis said he had taken his decision after theological reflection.
 
He said many bishops from around the world had said that the change was necessary to respond to the “needs of the times.”
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Britain’s hospitals are on the brink of being overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients and the country’s National Health Service is facing its “worst crisis in living memory,” a senior government official warned Sunday.  The blunt warning from England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, came as members of the government’s main advisory panel, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, warned that nationwide lockdown measures introduced after Christmas were too lax and, being flouted too often by people meeting friends in parks and congregating at supermarkets.  They are urging the closure of nurseries and the end of “support bubbles” that allow for two households to mix. Ministers say they are not planning to tighten up the measures more but will start enforcing lockdown rules strictly and have ordered police to be forward-leaning and issue fines.    People queue for COVID-19 testing at a mass screening centre at Charlton Athletic Football Club as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in London, Britain, Jan. 3, 2021.Some medical workers say the breaking point has already been reached in London and parts of southern England. British coronavirus deaths Sunday surpassed 80,000 for the pandemic, 10,000 more than the civilian death tally during World War II. The country has seen four consecutive daily increases of more than 1,000 deaths.  Dr. Zudin Puthucheary, a critical care consultant, told Sky News the NHS is “breaking in front of us.” He said he was “scared and angry.” The majority of hospitals in Britain’s capital have already reportedly reached over-capacity. London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, declared Friday a “major incident.” In a statement, he said, “The threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point. The number of cases in London has increased rapidly with more than a third more patients being treated in our hospitals now compared to the peak of the pandemic last April,” he added. Puthucheary, who works at the Royal London Hospital, said there’s a shortage of critical care nursing staff and warned intensive care units “are full beyond bursting.” He also said, “We’ve cannibalized staff from all around the hospital — volunteers are pouring in to try and look after these patients and deliver the best care we can. Staff are breaking themselves to make this happen and keep our patients safe — and it’s not going to be enough.” FILE – Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock speaks at a press conference inside 10 Downing Street on further restrictions to be put in place due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in London, Dec. 23, 2020.Speaking on the BBC, Health Secretary Matt Hancock declined to speculate on whether the government would introduce stricter rules “because the most important message is not whether the government will further strengthen the rules. The most important thing is that people stay at home and follow the rules that we have got.” Almost 60,000 new coronavirus cases were reported in Britain Saturday. Ministers say they are in a vaccine race against the virus and plan to open seven mass vaccination centers this week, with more in the pipeline. Neil Ferguson, a government adviser and professor at London’s Imperial College, predicted the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 would soar by another 20 percent. “It will be quite difficult to avoid another 20,000 deaths,” he told reporters. But with one in 30 Britons having the virus, he said the country could be through the pandemic within nine months, as a consequence of the vaccination program and the development of herd immunity. “I think we will see growth rates slow,” Ferguson said. “We may see a decline, and that may be slightly aided by the fact that there is quite a lot of herd immunity in places like London,” he added. Paramedics are also reporting they are being forced to treat patients in ambulances for hours at a time because no beds are available. Many hospital managers have ordered staff not to speak to the media unless they have prior clearance to do so and unlike last year, television crews are finding it hard to get permission to film wards. Some doctors have written anonymously of their experiences in hospitals and paint a grim picture of patients being treated in corridors because intensive care units (ICU) are full.  “We have several patients who are not ‘fit’ for ICU in the current climate,” wrote one consultant  for the new site Unherd.com. “Before COVID, they most likely would have been given a chance, but not now. When we think that these patients have suffered enough, and are unlikely to ever recover, we start talking about making them comfortable. It’s partly that we need the beds for patients with a better chance, and partly that we feel it is cruel to keep these people suffering when their chances of survival are slim. It’s difficult to work out which of those is your true motivation.” Governments across Europe say their hospitals are also stretched, especially in Sweden. And they’re watching with rising anxiety developments in Britain, where transmission rates are being driven by a more contagious mutant strain that’s now being identified across the continent.  Spain’s health minister, Salvador Illa, warned at a press conference Friday the country faces “difficult weeks ahead.” With coronavirus cases surging, he warned, “The data is bad. The incidence rate, the pressure on hospitals, the positivity rate of PCR tests and the number of deaths are rising. The evolution of the pandemic is worsening.” The PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests are considered the most reliable in detecting the coronavirus.  
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Greece’s government has presented a bill to parliament that doubles the country’s territorial waters along its western frontiers, allowing it to exploit untapped energy reserves that can boost its ailing economy. Greece wants to also expand its frontiers along its eastern borders, in the Aegean but its neighbor, Turkey, rejects the move, saying it would spell war. Still, the two NATO allies, that have seen relations plummet dangerously in the last year over energy rights, are gearing for a fresh effort at exploratory talks to sort out their differences.In presenting the bill for ratification by parliament, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said it marked a historic moment for the country, part of a bigger attempt to shield its sovereign interests as Greece and Turkey remain locked in a dangerous standoff over energy and maritime rights in the eastern Mediterranean.The bill is the result of years of negotiations between Greece and Italy, redefining their maritime boundaries and establishing an exclusive economic zone that allows Athens to now survey the Ionian waterway and seabed that divides Greece and Italy for up to 19 kilometers from Greece’s western coast.That’s twice as much as before.A similar agreement is also being sought out with Albania which recently agreed to take the maritime case to arbitration at the international court at The Hague – something which Greece has also been trying to convince Turkey to do to sort out long-standing differences involving the Aegean Sea, an oil-and minerals-rich waterway that divides the two NATO allies.Bent on exploring untapped gas and oil reserves in the seabed that surrounds Greece, Athens has long been keen to extend its borders along its eastern frontiers – a move that Turkey has been strongly resisting, saying that any such designs would choke off its access to the Aegean, turning the waterway into somewhat of a Greek lake.Ankara has warned that any decision by Athens to extend territorial rights in the Aegean would spark war – a threat Greece is reluctant to ignore, especially after the two NATO allies came to the brink of an all-out conflict in that exact waterway just 20 years ago.Relations between the two age-old foes have seesawed for years since then. But in the past year, they escalated dangerously because of oil and gas drilling projects underway in disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean.And while Turkey has snubbed repeated attempts by the European Union to mediate exploratory talks with Greece, it now appears to be returning to the negotiating table.In recent days, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has held crucial talks with key EU officials.More are expected to follow as Ankara, according to analysts, appears to be trying to rekindle its ties with the West after U.S. sanctions were imposed on the country’s defense industry for purchasing a Russian anti-ballistic system in breach of its NATO alliance commitment. The EU is also warning of sanctions it too may impose in March.Dimitris Keridies, a Greek lawmaker and professor of international relations, explains.In this sense, he said, Erdogan is almost predictable in how he is behaving. He’s clearly under pressure and he wants to restore relations with European states, Israel, Arab states and the U.S., especially with the new president coming in, to show a different face to all, mainly the Europeans, ahead of a March summit that will decide on the fate of those sanctions.Greece has long welcomed any Turkish return to exploratory talks; but it wants them to take place under an agreed agenda of topics, says Tassos Hadjivassiliou, a leading lawmaker.If they want to return to the negotiating table, Hadjivassiliou said, then they have to agree to the agenda of the talks. And that, he explains, can include nothing more than issues surrounding exploitation in the Aegean Sea. Any other issues are just unacceptable claims.It remains unclear what the finalized agenda will feature. But government officials in Athens tell VOA the exploratory talks may begin within weeks. 
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Security has been stepped up at Germany’s Bundestag (lower house of parliament) after the storming of the Capitol in Washington by rioters last week, Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble has told lawmakers, Bild am Sonntag weekly reported.”Berlin state police have arranged for a reinforcement of their forces around the Reichstag building,” it quoted Schäuble as saying in a letter to lawmakers.A spokeswoman for the Bundestag confirmed that Schäuble had written to lawmakers about the current situation but declined to give details of the content of the letter.Bild am Sonntag also reported that Schäuble had asked the Foreign Ministry for a report on the Washington violence and would “clarify with the federal government and the state of Berlin what conclusions should be drawn for Bundestag security.”Angry supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, voted out of office in a November election, broke into the Washington Capitol, seat of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, on Wednesday. Five people died, including a police officer.In Berlin, protesters against coronavirus restrictions stormed the steps of the parliament building during a demonstration in August. 
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A shawarma shop in Moscow was forced to close a day after it opened following an outcry over its provocative Josef Stalin-themed branding, the shop’s owner told Reuters on Saturday.The Stalin Doner shop featured a portrait of the controversial communist leader above its front door. Inside, a man dressed in the Stalin-era security service uniform served customers meat wraps named after Soviet leaders.”We fully opened the day before yesterday and served around 200 customers,” shop owner Stanislav Voltman said.”There were no legal reasons [to close the shop],” he added, but said that police had forced him to remove the Stalin sign, and then “colossal pressure” from local authorities forced him to shut completely.The branding was hotly debated on social media, with some commenters condemning it as distasteful.Stalin’s rule was marked by mass repression, labor camps and famine. Nearly 700,000 people were executed during the Great Terror of 1936-38, according to conservative official estimates.However, many in the former Soviet Union still regard him primarily as the leader who defeated Nazi Germany in World War II, ensuring the country’s very existence.”I had expected some social media hype,” Voltman said. “But I had not expected that all TV stations, all the reporters and bloggers would flock here and queue up like they do in front of the Lenin mausoleum.”
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An avalanche that hit a Russian ski resort near the Arctic city of Norilsk late Friday killed three members of a family and buried four buildings under snow, authorities said. Officials said rescuers recovered the bodies of a 38-year-old woman, her 45-year-old husband and their 18-month-old child. A 14-year-old was pulled from the snow alive and was hospitalized with frostbite, officials said.Snowstorm Strikes Spain, Forcing Road Closures, Suspension of Flights, Train ServicesAuthorities have called in the military to rescue people stranded in their vehiclesThe regional office of Russia’s emergency services said in a statement Saturday that the rescue mission involved 242 people and 29 vehicles, working under severe weather conditions throughout the night to dig out the buildings covered with snow and ice.Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said it has opened a criminal probe to determine if the buildings’ owners had adequate safety measures in place. Norilsk is Russia’s northernmost city, located over 2,870 kilometers northeast of Moscow.
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Spain has activated the red weather alert for the first time Saturday as heavy snowfalls have hit large parts of the country, including the capital, since Thursday. Besides Madrid, which recorded the heaviest snowfalls since 1971, the regions of Aragon, Valencia, Castilla La Mancha and Catalonia also were hard-hit by the snowstorms.The unusual blizzard blocked traffic and left thousands of people trapped in cars or in train stations and airports, since they suspended all services as the snowfalls continued Saturday.The storm made driving difficult or caused the closure of over 430 roads by Saturday morning, according to Spain’s transit authorities, which advised people to stay indoors and avoid all nonessential travel.Authorities have mobilized the military to rescue people stranded in their vehicles and  trapped everywhere from small roads to major arteries.The national AEMET weather agency has said the snow would continue until Sunday, as the temperatures remain very low, before Storm Filomena begins moving northeast.According to AEMET’s weather forecast, 20 centimeters of snow was anticipated in large parts of the country, but the accumulation reached more than 50 centimeters even in urban areas.
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Germany, France and Britain each plan to boost their military presence in the Indo-Pacific region, a move analysts say is aimed at countering China and showing support for the U.S., Japan and other regional allies.Germany will send a frigate to patrol Indo-Pacific waters later this year. Britain will deploy the British carrier strike group (CSG) with the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier at its core with no first deployment date announced.France will join Japan and the U.S. to conduct amphibious training in southwestern Japan in May. The three countries also submitted a joint, unsigned note to the United Nations.The note emphasized “the importance of unhampered exercise of the freedom of the high seas” in the South China Sea, according to an op-ed written by Mark Valencia, an adjunct senior scholar at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies in Haikou, in China’s Hainan Province, for the South China Morning Post.According to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies prepared from a survey conducted before the advent of the global pandemic: “China is seen as holding slightly more political power and influence than the United States in Southeast Asia today and considerably more power relative to the United States in 10 years,” and in terms of “economic power and influence, the region views China as much more influential than the United States today, and this gap is expected to grow in the next 10 years.”’Need to uphold the international order’Experts say that the European countries boosting their military presence in the Indo-Pacific region will strengthen their alliances with the United States and Japan and maintain common values and rule-based order in the region.Zachary Hosford, acting director of the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said the European countries “want to signal to the United States that they are aligned with Washington in recognizing both the need to uphold the international order and the Chinese government’s challenges to that order – including through the illegal and destabilizing building of military bases on artificial islands.”Elli-Katharina Pohlkamp, a visiting fellow of the Asia program at European Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA Mandarin, “I believe alliances and defense cooperation can be strengthened and the interoperability of the forces can be enhanced. The China factor is definitely encouraging the enhancement of security ties between Europe and Japan.” This depends on the Japan’s China policy under recently installed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, which Pohlkamp said “is not very clear yet.”Steven Lamy, an international relations professor at the University of Southern California said, “They are making sure China knows that they will check any unilateral action that threatens trade and security in Asia.”Zack Cooper of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), however, believes that the European nation’s deployment is primarily symbolic.“I do think there is concern that the United States is increasingly focused on the Indo-Pacific, so some in Europe want to demonstrate that they can be helpful in Asia, too,” Cooper said. “That is a positive sign, in my view. This has more of a signaling value than a military value, but the message is still a useful one. But I think it is also important to note that the EU-China investment deal is potentially more important as a signal than these military deployments, so we need to make sure that our security and economic efforts are both pointed in the same direction.”’Values-based trade agenda’On Dec. 30, the EU and China concluded negotiations on a wide-ranging investment treaty.President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said, “Today‘s agreement is an important landmark in our relationship with China and for our values-based trade agenda.”Other objectivesBritish and German Asia-Pacific deployments have objectives beyond countering China’s expansion in the region.Jamie Shea, a former NATO official and senior fellow at the think tank Friends of Europe, said the U.K.’s actions were intended to show aspirations to be “Global Britain” after Brexit, as its departure from the EU is known.“This aspiration focuses largely on the Asia-Pacific region as the U.K. is convinced that new trade agreements with the countries in this region are key to the U.K.’s future economic growth,” Shea told VOA. “So a U.K. military capability to project power in the Asia-Pacific, based around the country’s two recently acquired new aircraft carriers, is key to demonstrating the U.K.’s strategic relevance to the region. The Royal Navy is the priority here as ships can be deployed flexibly and are a good way of demonstrating presence.” Shea added that Britain’s defense procurement and its decision to send the HMS Queen Elizabeth to the South China Sea also signals to Washington that the U.K. remains willing and able to be a major strategic ally.While Germany has no desire to be a global military power, it has key economic and trading interests in Asia that it wishes to protect, Shea noted.“Germany has no desire to become embroiled in the regional disputes in Asia, such as in the South and East China seas, but the occasional dispatch of a frigate and participation in a maritime exercise is a useful way to build confidence and develop partnerships and interoperability with Germany’s major trading partners in the region,” Shea said.According to Japan’s Kyodo News, Japan’s defense minister, Nobuo Kishi, last month expressed his desire for German frigates to participate in exercises with Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, which he hoped would pass through the South China Sea.The British government announced on Jan. 4 that the British Royal Navy’s carrier strike group has reached initial operating capability ahead of its first operational deployment later this year.The carrier strike group commander, Commodore Steve Moorhouse, tweeted Jan. 4, “In practical terms, my Strike Group is now at Very High Readiness, meaning we are at 5 days’ notice to deploy, if required, in response to global events & in defence of British interests.”In practical terms, my Strike Group is now at Very High Readiness, meaning we are at 5 days’ notice to deploy, if required, in response to global events & in defence of British interests.— Commander UK Carrier Strike Group (@smrmoorhouse) January 4, 2021In response to the HMS Queen Elizabeth’s deployment to the South China Sea, Tan Kefei, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Defense, said, “The Chinese military will take the necessary measures to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests and firmly safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea.”Adrianna Zhang of the VOA Mandarin Service contributed to this report.  
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Deutsche Bank AG will pay nearly $125 million to avoid U.S. prosecution on charges it engaged in foreign bribery schemes and manipulated precious metals markets, the latest blow for a bank trying to rebound from a series of scandals.Germany’s largest lender agreed to the payout as it entered a three-year deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, and a related civil settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.Almost all of the payout relates to charges Deutsche Bank violated the federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) over its dealings in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, China and Italy, court papers show. Nearly two-thirds of the payout is a criminal fine.The settlements were made public Friday at a hearing in the federal court in Brooklyn, New York.”Deutsche Bank engaged in a criminal scheme to conceal payments to so-called consultants worldwide who served as conduits for bribes to foreign officials and others,” in order to win and retain “lucrative business projects,” Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme in Brooklyn said in a statement.A bank spokesman said, “We take responsibility for these past actions,” which occurred from 2008 to 2017, following thorough internal probes and full cooperation with authorities.Five years of lossesDeutsche Bank has been trying to restore profitability after five years of losses, including by exiting some businesses and reducing its workforce by 18,000.It has also been trying to restore its image in Washington amid several investigations into its dealings with U.S. President Donald Trump, a longtime client.Prosecutors accused Deutsche Bank of violating books-and-records provisions of the FCPA, which forbids companies with U.S. operations from paying bribes elsewhere.They said the violations included disguising bribes paid to a client’s decision-maker in Saudi Arabia as referral fees and recording millions of dollars of payments to an intermediary for an Abu Dhabi official as consultancy fees.The SEC also accused Deutsche Bank of making improper payments to a consultant to help establish a clean energy investment fund with a Chinese government entity, and to an Italian tax judge for referring wealthy clients.In the metals case, prosecutors accused Deutsche Bank traders of placing fraudulent trades, known as spoofing, to induce other traders to buy and sell futures contracts at prices they otherwise would not have.In 2019, Deutsche Bank agreed to pay $16.2 million to resolve SEC charges it violated the FCPA by hiring unqualified relatives of government officials in China and Russia in order to win or retain business.
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Spain was on high alert Friday as a cold snap covered much of the country with snow disrupting road, sea and air traffic, while authorities warned that worse might be in store over the weekend. Parts of central Spain, including the capital, are expected to receive more than 24 hours of continuous snowfall as Storm Filomena moves north from the Straits of Gibraltar, the national AEMET weather agency forecast. The heavy snowfall that in some areas started Thursday was leading to serious disruptions by mid-Friday on about 270 roads and canceled or delayed more than 40 flights, according to Spain’s road and airport authorities. In the southern Canarias archipelago, where rainfall and strong winds have paired with unusually rough seas with giant waves, emergency services rescued 65 people Friday from a ferry that ran aground the night before while trying to approach a dock in the Gran Canaria island. The rescued passengers, including a baby and six crew members who had to wait 14 hours on the vessel because of the difficulty of the operation to bring them to shore, were “exhausted but safe and healthy,” according to a tweet by the island’s government. In Toledo, a historic city of 85,000 south of Madrid and capital of the central Castilla La Mancha region, authorities have called for help from the army to clear roads and prohibited all circulation of vehicles without winter tires or chains. AEMET says up to 20 centimeters (nearly 8 inches) of snow could accumulate in large parts of Spain and the buildup could reach up to 50 centimeters (almost 20 inches) in mountainous areas. The storm is expected to weaken and move northeast by Sunday, the agency said. 
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The World Health Organization says wealthy nations have bought most of the current supply of available COVID-19 vaccine, leaving the world’s poorest nations unable to obtain them.At the agency’s regular briefing Friday in Geneva, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the WHO-organized international vaccine cooperative, COVAX, has now secured contracts for 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines, which it is prepared to roll out in low-and-middle-income countries as soon as they are delivered.Tedros said the vaccine cooperative has first right of refusal on an additional billion doses. But 42 countries – 36 wealthy nations and six “middle-income” nations – are operating COVID-19 vaccines programs.  That leaves no additional available vaccine for the poorer nations.Adding to the problem, Tedros said both high and middle-income countries, that are part of the COVAX program, are making additional bilateral deals for vaccine. “This potentially bumps up the price for everyone and means high-risk people in the poorest and most marginalized countries don’t get the vaccine,” he said.The WHO chief said the hoarding of vaccine by the richest nations – which he calls “vaccine nationalism” – is self-defeating and hurts the entire world. On the other hand, Tedros said equitably sharing vaccines saves lives, stabilizes health systems and would help the global economy recover more quickly.Tedros emphasized that vaccinating equitably helps reduce transmission, which also lessens the virus’ opportunity to mutate.He called on manufacturers to prioritize vaccine supply and rollout through COVAX, and he urged countries that have contracted for more vaccine than they will need to also donate and release it to COVAX immediately.He said, “Remember, ending the COVID-19 pandemic is one of humanities great races, and whether we like it or not, we will win or lose this race together.”
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London Mayor Sadiq Khan Friday declared a “major incident” in the city, due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 there, which he said could overwhelm the National Health Service if it remains unchecked.Khan posted a statement to his official Twitter account and told reporters that he has never been more concerned about the pandemic than he is now. He cited an Office of National Statistics estimate saying one in 30 people in the British capital now has the virus, and said in some areas, it is closer to one in 20.In his statement, the mayor cited signs the virus may be out of control. He said the London Ambulance Service is now taking up to 8,000 emergency calls a day, compared to 5,500 on a typical busy day, and there are now 35 percent more people hospitalized with COVID-19 in London than the peak in the spring.The mayor says he has reached out to Prime Minister Boris Johnson for financial support for Londoners who need to self-isolate and are not able to work.  He is urging residents to stay at home if possible and to wear face masks if they must go out.A major incident is defined as being “beyond the scope of business-as-usual operations, and is likely to involve serious harm, damage, disruption or risk to human life or welfare, essential services, the environment or national security.” It is an event or situation with a range of serious consequences, which requires special arrangements to be implemented by one or more emergency agency.
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Many Scottish fishermen have halted exports to European Union markets after post-Brexit bureaucracy shattered the system that used to put fresh langoustines and scallops in French shops just over a day after they were harvested.Fishing exporters told Reuters their businesses could become unviable after the introduction of health certificates, customs declarations and other paperwork added days to their delivery times and hundreds of pounds to the cost of each load.Business owners said they had tried to send small deliveries to France and Spain to test the new systems this week, but it was taking five hours to secure a health certificate in Scotland, a document which is required to apply for other customs paperwork. In the first working week after Brexit, one-day deliveries were taking three or more days – if they got through at all.Owners could not say for sure where their valuable cargo was. A trade group told boats to stop fishing exported stocks. “Our customers are pulling out,” Santiago Buesa of SB Fish told Reuters. “We are fresh product and the customers expect to have it fresh, so they’re not buying. It’s a catastrophe.”On Thursday evening, the Scottish fishing industry’s biggest logistics provider DFDS Scotland told customers it had taken the “extraordinary step” of halting until Monday export groupage, when multiple product lines are carried, to try to fix IT issues, paperwork errors and the backlog.Scotland harvests vast quantities of langoustines, scallops, oysters, lobsters and mussels from sea fisheries along its bracing Atlantic coast which are rushed by truck to grace the tables of European diners in Paris, Brussels and Madrid. But Britain’s departure from the EU’s orbit introduced reams of paperwork and costs that must be completed to move goods across the new customs border, the biggest change to its trade since the launch of the Single Market in 1993.Those trading in food and livestock face the toughest requirements, hitting the express delivery of freshly caught fish that used to move overnight from Scotland, via England, into France, before going on to other European markets in days. David Noble, whose Aegirfish buys from Scottish fleets to export to Europe, said he would have to pay between 500 to 600 pounds ($815) per day for paperwork, wiping out most profit.His concern is that this marks more than just teething problems and says he cannot pass on the higher costs of doing business. “I’m questioning whether to carry on,” he said. “If our fish is too expensive our customers will buy elsewhere.”Centuries old marketIn the single market, European food could be processed and packed in Britain then returned to the EU for sale. But Britain’s pursuit of a more distant relationship means its trade deal does not cover all interactions between the two sides. Gaps have already appeared on French and Irish shop shelves. Brexit has strained the ties that bind Britain together, while England and Wales voted to leave the EU in 2016.Scotland and Northern Ireland voted remain. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has used Brexit as part of her argument that Scotland should seek independence. She said on Friday that exporters were paying a high price, “a particular worry for Scotland’s world class seafood sector.”Fishermen across Britain have accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of betrayal after he previously vowed to take back control of British waters. With little new control and little access to customer markets, many are in despair.Fishing trade bodies said mistakes in filling out paperwork meant entire consignments were being checked. A French fishmongers’ union said numerous seafood trucks had been held up at the customs point in Boulogne for several hours, and even up to a day, due to faulty paperwork.While that should improve with time, and IT issues should be resolved, Seafood Scotland warned they could see the “destruction of a centuries-old market” if it does not. Fergus Ewing, Scottish secretary for the rural economy, said it was better for problems to be identified and resolved in Scotland than hundreds of miles away.SB Fish’s Buesa, angered at suggestions that traders were not prepared, said all his paperwork was correct and demanded to know why business leaders were not making more of a fuss. He owns the business with his father, has been exporting for 28 years and employs about 50 people. “I’m in the trenches here,” he said. “It’s gridlock.”
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The European Union has reached an agreement with Pfizer-BioNTech for an additional 300 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine.At a news conference in Brussels Friday, EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said the deal will double the number of doses the bloc gets from the drug maker. The commission is the EU’s executive arm.Von der Leyen said the EU had already made a separate deal with U.S. drug maker Moderna for its COVID-19 vaccine, which was authorized for use in Europe earlier this week. She said between the two, the EU has secured enough vaccine to inoculate 380 million Europeans, more than 80 percent of the bloc’s population.  Each vaccine requires two shots given over several weeks.Von der Leyen said 75 million of the extra doses would become available in the second quarter of the year, with the rest being delivered later in 2021.As part of its strategy to combat COVID-19, the EU has reached agreements with six vaccine makers:  Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV and CureVac.It says if all six produce working vaccines, the EU will receive 2.3 billion doses – more than enough to inoculate the EU’s entire population of about 450 million people.Vaccination programs in the 27-nation bloc have gotten off to a slow start and some EU members have been quick to blame the EU’s executive arm for a perceived failure in delivering the right number of doses.The EU has defended its strategy, insisting that vaccination programs have just started, and that the big deliveries of doses are foreseen around April.
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Greece said Tuesday it had approved a landmark $1.68 billion deal with Israel, providing for the procurement of 10 state-of-the-art jet fighters and training of pilots as the government in Athens upgrades its defenses, mainly against its longtime foe Turkey.The deal, which both sides are set to sign in the coming weeks, marks the biggest defense agreement between Greece and Israel since Athens began shifting its pro-Arab outlook and stance in the Middle East some 20 years ago.“The Israelis do not trust easily, especially in the field of defense,” said Costas Filis, a professor of international relations in Athens. “So, this deal is not only important for the qualitative edge it will give Greece’s new generation of pilots and armed forces as a whole, but because of the serious message it puts out – that a solid and new depth of relations has been consolidated between Athens and Jerusalem.”Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said the deal would “serve the interests of both Israel and Greece, creating hundreds of jobs in both countries … promoting stability in the Mediterranean.”Tensions with TurkeyUnder the agreement, Israel will provide 10 Mavi M-346 trainer aircraft, together with simulators and logistical support as part of the 20-year-deal, according to the Greek Defense Ministry. Israel’s Elbit Systems will also set up a flight school to train Greek air force pilots in Kalamata, south of Athens.In recent years, Greece has leased drones from Israel to boost surveillance of its porous borders with Turkey, mainly along the Aegean waterway that divides the two neighbor states but serves as the main gateway for illegal immigration to Europe. Last year, Greece and Israel also joined forces with Cyprus to build a 1,900-kilometer undersea pipeline to carry natural gas from the Eastern Mediterranean’s rapidly developing gas fields to Europe.The energy deal, plus others carved out by nations girdling the oil- and gas-rich region have been largely opposed by Turkey, which has sent out survey ships in recent months, exploring untapped energy potentials in areas Greece claims it has exclusive rights to exploit.NATO allies Greece and Turkey have long challenged each other’s air and sea rights in the region, coming to the brink of war over an uninhabited islet in the Aegean exactly 25 years ago. Since then, relations have seesawed, swinging to the lowest point in recent months in response to the energy standoff in the eastern Mediterranean.With tensions still high, the government in Athens has announced plans to purchase a grab bag of new warplanes, frigates, helicopters, and weapons systems, from sources including the United States and France.“There is no doubt that many of these energy deals and alliances that have been formed over the past year have spawned from a growing concern and distrust of [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan,” Filis told VOA. “But this defense deal with Israel,” he said, “is not about teaming up against Turkey. In fact, quite the opposite.”’Lingering distrust’For decades, Israel and Turkey were among the staunchest of allies, largely promoting, as Filis put it, “U.S. policy interests in the greater region.”Relations collapsed in 2010, however, after an Israeli naval raid on a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza left 10 activists dead. Despite years of acrimony, Erdogan has shown signs of wanting to rekindle relations – a move some analysts says is linked to the election of a new U.S. president anticipated to be less friendly to the Turkish president than outgoing President Donald Trump.“Sure, there is lingering distrust of Erdogan from the Israeli – and U.S. — side,” Filis said.“But that does not mean that Israel wants to push Turkey away. It has long been instrumental in the region and will continue to be. And there is no doubt that relations between the two countries will be restored to the point they were years ago.“It is in Greece’s true interest, therefore, to be seated well in this developing geopolitical play, especially with the Israeli side,” he said.It remains unclear whether improved relations between Turkey and Israel can ease tensions between Greece and Turkey. Still, the Turkish-Israeli rapprochement is gaining pace fast.In recent weeks, the head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization, held numerous meetings with top Israeli defense officials, including the head of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency. What is more, Erdogan has signaled his intent to restore diplomatic ties with Israel after expelling Jerusalem’s top envoy in Turkey in 2018 after 60 Palestinians were killed in violent protests on the Gaza border. Erdogan lashed out at Israel at the time, calling it a “terrorist state” responsible for the Gaza “genocide.”He has yet to rescind those remarks.
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2020 has tied 2016 as the hottest year on record, the European Union’s climate monitoring service said Friday, keeping Earth on a global warming fast track that could devastate large swathes of humanity.The six years since 2015 are the six warmest ever registered, as are 20 of the last 21, evidence of a persistent and deepening trend, the Copernicus Climate Change Service reported.”2020 stands out for its exceptional warmth,” said C3S director Carlo Buontempo, of the Copernicus Climate Change Service.”This is yet another reminder of the urgency of ambitious emissions reductions to prevent adverse climate impacts in the future.”   
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The handbag of Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, are seen as she attends the traditional Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris, July 14, 2018.The United States has indefinitely suspended 25% tariffs on French cosmetics, handbags and other imports it had planned in retaliation for a digital services tax Washington says will harm U.S. tech firms, as it investigates similar taxes elsewhere.The U.S. Trade Representative’s office (USTR) said on Thursday that the 25% tariffs on imports of the French goods, which are valued around $1.3 billion annually, would be suspended indefinitely.Washington announced the tariffs in July after concluding a French digital services tax (DST) would harm firms such as Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon.The USTR said suspending the action against France, which had been scheduled to come into force January 6, would allow it to pursue a coordinated response in 10 investigations involving other countries, including India, Italy, Britain and Turkey.”The U.S. Trade Representative has decided to suspend the tariffs in light of the ongoing investigation of similar DSTs adopted or under consideration in ten other jurisdictions,” the USTR said in a statement.”Those investigations have significantly progressed but have not yet reached a determination on possible trade actions,” it said, adding its aim was to achieve a “coordinated response in all of the ongoing DST investigations.”French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire took note of the postponement, adding, “We view these sanctions as not legitimate under WTO rules. We are once again calling for a global solution to trade disputes between the United States and Europe that will only make losers, particularly during this time of crisis.”EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said in a tweet that he took note of the postponement and that the European Union was willing to work with Washington to find a global solution for fair taxation of the digital sector.”The EU stands ready to explore all options should the U.S. unilaterally apply these trade measures,” he said.The USTR said on Wednesday that it had concluded digital services taxes adopted by India, Italy and Turkey also discriminated against U.S. companies and were inconsistent with international tax principles, paving the way for potential retaliatory tariffs.But it held off on announcing any specific tariff actions and said it would continue to evaluate all available options.The probes are among several still-open USTR Section 301 investigations that could lead to tariffs before President Donald Trump leaves office or early in the administration of incoming President-elect Joe Biden.
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Since the 1950s, thousands of Uighurs fleeing persecution in China have found sanctuary in Turkey, where they share a common linguistic, cultural and religious heritage with the Turks. Some experts say the Uighur community there could be in jeopardy, though, after a recent agreement was reached between the two countries. An estimated 50,000 Uighurs are believed to reside in Turkey, constituting the largest Uighur refugee community in the world.  Uighur diaspora activists cite a significant shift since December 26, however, when the FILE – A masked Uighur boy takes part in a protest against China, at the courtyard of Fatih Mosque, a common meeting place for pro-Islamist demonstrators in Istanbul, Turkey, Nov. 6, 2018.Ekrem told VOA the extradition treaty tilts largely in favor of China, where capital punishment is applied. He said Uighur refugees who are at risk of a death sentence if they return to China are particularly made vulnerable by the treaty, which makes no stipulation that those who are facing the death penalty there cannot be extradited. The agreement, consisting of 22 articles, obligates a signing country to extradite any person wanted on charges of criminal activity to the requesting country. “Extradition can only be granted if the conduct targeted by the extradition request constitutes a crime under the laws of both countries,” the agreement states. Turkey’s stance  Turkish and Chinese officials have dismissed claims the treaty provides a legal window for the deportation of Uighurs from Turkey.   A diplomatic source at the Turkish Foreign Ministry told VOA the country views its treaty with China as a routine move similar to 32 other such treaties signed with other countries for the extradition of criminals under international law. “It is extremely wrong to view the extradition treaty with the PRC as targeting Uighur Turks,” said the source.   FILE – China’s Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng speaks at a forum in Beijing, China, Oct. 22, 2019.During the submission of the treaty for a vote at the Chinese People’s Congress, China’s vice minister of foreign affairs, Le Yucheng, said the agreement addressed the cooperation needs in anti-terrorism and crime fighting between Beijing and Ankara.  Le said the Chinese and Turkish representatives during negotiations on the agreement disagreed on determining the nationality of the person to be deported. Turkey proposed that if the person requested for extradition had acquired the nationality of the requested country when the extradition request was made, the person should be recognized as a national of the requested country. The Chinese side, however, argued such a proposition could encourage criminals to evade extradition by changing their nationality.  “The two parties finally agreed not to specify the time for nationality recognition in the treaty, but to hand it over to the competent authorities in accordance with their respective domestic laws in practice,” Le said.  Turkey’s inability to include its proposal in the treaty means many Uighurs who acquired Turkish citizenship nonetheless could face a crackdown by Beijing, according to Hankiz Kurban, a Turkey-born Uighur whose parents were abducted by Chinese authorities despite their Turkish citizenship.  “If this treaty is ratified by the Turkish parliament, I fear that I won’t be able to see my parents forever,” she said. Kurban said her father came to Turkey as a child and her mother as a teenager from Xinjiang. The two were arrested by Chinese police in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, in 2017 while they were on a business trip and have been incommunicado ever since. Detained Uighurs Rights organizations say the Chinese government has since 2017 subjected more than 1 million Uighur Muslims to torture, forced sterilization, coerced labor and abandonment of their faith in internment camps. But China denies the mistreatment of the minority, saying the detention facilities are “vocational training centers” to combat extremism and teach Uighurs different job skills.  FILE – Workers walk by the perimeter fence of what is officially known as a vocational skills education center in Dabancheng, in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China, Sept. 4, 2018.Relations between Ankara and Beijing seemed strained for a short period after the Turkish president called the Chinese government’s handling of a Uighur protest in July 2009 in Urumqi “a genocide.” The two began to reconcile through the establishment of a strategic cooperative relationship in October 2010. According to Kemal Kirisci, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, the Turkish government in recent years has been “surprisingly quiet and subdued” in the treatment of Uighurs because of the Chinese government’s increasing economic leverage over Turkey.  “Economic considerations may well be playing a role given the dire state of the Turkish economy and the poor relations that Turkey has with its traditional allies in the West,” Kirisci told VOA. Last October, 39 countries in a letter to the U.N. condemned China’s policies in Xinjiang. Uighur diaspora activists said Turkey’s unwillingness to join the effort was noticeable. Alimcan Inayet, director of the Istanbul-based Uighur Academy, charged that Uighur organizations engaged in political activism for “the East Turkistan cause” have found themselves increasingly under pressure.  The extradition treaty means these groups “would have to be more restrained in their activities,” added Inayet.  Last year, NPR said in a report that Turkey had deported at least four Uighurs to Tajikistan, and one of them, Zinnetgul Tursun, ended up in Chinese police custody along with her two toddlers.  Turkey’s directorate general of migration management in a statement last September, however, denied Turkey had extradited Uighurs to China “directly or through third countries.” Despite the Turkish reaffirmation, some Uighurs in Turkey say Ankara’s expanded cooperation with Beijing in security has elevated Uighur refugees’ fear of being extradited to China. “I love Turkey. I am not against this country. Even though I have never committed any criminal act, I am constantly fearful of being arrested or deported,” lamented Ihsan Kartal, a Uighur refugee and a businessman in Istanbul.  
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Ukrainian authorities are investigating documents and audio recordings that appear to reveal a plot to murder Pavel Sheremet, an investigative journalist who was killed in a car bombing.Ukrainian police confirmed Monday that FILE – Boris Nemtsov, a former Russian deputy prime minister and opposition leader, is pictured at a news conference in Moscow, May 30, 2013.Musayeva said Sheremet worked in Russia and had a connection with Boris Nemtsov, an opposition politician and critic of President Vladimir Putin, who was shot dead close to the Kremlin in February 2015.“This Russian connection could have been used as a factor of destabilization in Ukraine,” Musayeva said. “But there is another story, a story related to Belarus. I can say unequivocally that Aleksandr Lukashenko perceived Pavel Sheremet almost as an enemy. At one time he took away his citizenship and it was a direct instruction.”Tensions between Sheremet and the Belarusian authorities had existed since the 1990s because of the journalist’s work, Musayeva said.Sheremet reported critically on the Belarusian president, and in 1998, he and a colleague were handed a suspended sentence for illegally crossing a border after they reported on smuggling.Investigation prioritizedWhen he came to power in 2019, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said investigating Sheremet’s murder would be a priority.Anton Gerashchenko, Ukraine’s deputy minister of internal affairs, confirmed to VOA that investigators received the new evidence in December.”The Ministry of Internal Affairs received information from Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service that a Belarusian intelligence officer, who has been living outside Belarus for eight years, has important information: audio recordings about a possible Belarusian connection in the assassination of Pavel Sheremet,” Gerashchenko told VOA.Investigators looked into the case and signed permits to question the officer, Gerashchenko said.But the minister emphasized a possible Belarus involvement is just one avenue of investigation.”Another version is a Russian connection because it is well-known that Pavel Sheremet had certain historical connections with the Russian Federation,” Gerashchenko said.“That’s why such versions of foreign involvement have been in consideration for a long time, and this new fact can help us to determine which of these versions will prove itself,” Gerashchenko said.The Russian Foreign Ministry in 2016 denied accusations of involvement, The Moscow Times reported.Musayeva, of Ukrainska Pravda, said that although three Ukrainians were on trial for their alleged involvement in the killing, the case against them was questionable.FILE – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko speaks during a meeting with the country’s political activists in Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 16, 2020.“The investigation supported the version that the murder was aimed to destabilize the situation in Ukraine. If we are talking about the possible connection with the recordings and the Belarusian secret services, then this is about the threat to the life of Aleksandr Lukashenko’s political opponents, and if we listen to the words of the recorded messages, this is about the public message for the Belarusian opposition, for the Belarusian people,” she said.The audio recordings show that journalists working in Ukraine continue to be under threat from internal and external forces, Musayeva said.”Until all involved perpetrators and instigators are found, the perpetrators of the high-profile murders of journalists, no journalist in Ukraine can feel safe,” she said.This story originated in VOA’s Ukrainian Service. Some information is from Reuters.
 
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Thursday condemned the assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, and said Trump was wrong for encouraging them.At a news conference from his residence in London, Johnson said the U.S. president has “consistently cast doubt on the outcome of a free and fair election and I believe that was completely wrong.”The comments came a day after Trump supporters forced their way into the U.S. Capitol in a harrowing assault during which four people died.Both houses of the U.S. Congress were inside conducting the normally ceremonial task of certifying electoral college votes and confirming Joe Biden as president-elect.Before the siege on the Capitol building, Trump gave a speech to his supporters repeating numerous false claims that the election had been stolen from him and urged the crowd to go to walk to the Capitol and “make their voices heard.”Johnson, who has generally been an ally to Trump during his term, said he “unreservedly” condemned “encouraging people to behave in the disgraceful way that they did in the Capitol. And all I can say is I’m very pleased that the president-elect (Joe Biden) has been properly, duly confirmed in office and that democracy has prevailed.” 
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