Demonstrators on the Canary Islands on Saturday demanded better living conditions for thousands of migrants who have reached the Spanish archipelago from Africa.A slow procession of hundreds of demonstrators, some on foot and some in cars, crossed the island of Gran Canaria before reaching the Arguineguin dock in the town of Mogan, where nearly 2,000 migrants are living in tents in conditions that an immigration judge has called “inhumane and degrading.”Over 700 migrants in small boats were rescued Saturday, coast guards said, bringing the number of people who have reached the islands by the dangerous Atlantic route from Africa to nearly 17,000 this year — more than 10 times last year’s total.Deepening economic hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic is pushing more people in developing nations to seek better lives elsewhere, while tightened security in the Mediterranean means more migrants are attempting the Atlantic crossing, with many dying along the way.”We are here fighting for a more dignified reception for these people who arrive in our island to find a better life,” said one demonstrator, teacher Famara Brito.Aid groups estimate about 4,000 migrants are living in tourist hotels because of the lack of refugee reception centers. The Federation of Hospitality and Tourism Enterprises of Gran Canaria called on the government Saturday to act so hotels could be used again for tourists.Spain’s regional policy minister said Friday that it would expand naval patrols around the Canary Islands and set up more migrant centers in response to the surge in arrivals.
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo heads to France, Turkey and five other countries days after Democrat Joe Biden was named the projected the winner of the presidential race.  Pompeo’s refusal to recognize Biden’s victory has raised eyebrows, as VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
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French ground forces and military helicopters killed a jihadi commander linked with al-Qaida in Mali along with four others, the French military said Friday. The operation Tuesday targeted Bah ag Moussa, military chief for the RVIM Islamic extremist group, who had been on a U.N. sanctions list and was believed responsible for multiple attacks on Malian and international forces in the country, French military spokesman Colonel Frederic Barbry told reporters Friday. Surveillance drones helped French forces in Mali identify Moussa’s truck in the Menaka region of eastern Mali, which was then targeted by the helicopters and 15 French commandos sent to the scene, Barbry said. All five people in the truck were killed after they ignored warning shots and fired on the French forces, he said. FILE – An anti-aircraft gun is mounted on the back of a pickup truck as militants from a Tuareg political and armed movement in the Azawad Region in Mali gather in the desert outside Menaka, March 14, 2020.He described it as an act of “legitimate defense” and said the bodies were handled “in conformity with international humanitarian law.” He wouldn’t comment on whether allied forces including the U.S. contributed intelligence to the operation. A statement from the French defense minister said Moussa oversaw the training of jihadi recruits. It was the latest of multiple French actions in Mali in recent weeks that killed suspected extremists. Moussa was a Tuareg rebel fighter close to jihadi commander Iyad Ag Ghaly when extremists and rebel forces took control of northern Mali in 2012. That prompted a French-led military operation in 2013 to keep Mali from falling apart. Moussa became a prominent jihadi leader in central Mali in recent years, and he was a liaison with extremist groups in his native northern Mali, according to Malian military officials. The Malian army accused him of orchestrating attacks against Malian forces in Diabaly, Nampala and Dioura that killed dozens of troops. France has thousands of troops in a force called Barkhane in West Africa to help fight extremist groups. After Islamic extremist rebels were forced from power in northern Mali in 2013, they regrouped in the desert and now launch frequent attacks on the Malian army and its allies. The French military announced its latest operation on the fifth anniversary of Islamic extremist attacks that killed 130 people in Paris, targeting the Bataclan concert hall, cafes and the national stadium.
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Hospitals in several parts of Europe, from the Midlands of England to Ukraine, are warning their intensive care units are reaching full capacity as a second wave of coronavirus sweeps across the continent.  Doctors are once again talking about a viral tsunami hitting them, one that’s likely to be worse than the first wave that hit Europe and the United States earlier this year. With the tempo of new infections quickening, even before the northern hemisphere winter sets in, alarm is rising.  Vassilis Voutsas, a Greek doctor who works in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at Thessaloniki’s Papanikolaou Hospital, said Thursday: “My fear is that the number of patients will be so big that we won’t be able to treat them all.” The unit has seen a fivefold rise in patients.  “The hospital system is already at its limits,” he added.In ItalyA clamor of warnings is also coming from hospitals in an arc across northern Italy.  Midweek, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Italy passed the symbolic one million mark, according to government data. The country is now recording more than 30,000 new infections daily and deaths are rising from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.  A COVID-19 sign is seen at the Policlinico Tor Vergata hospital where patients suffering from the coronavirus disease are being treated in Rome, Italy, Nov. 13, 2020.This week, Massimo Galli, head of the infectious diseases department at Milan’s Sacco hospital, warned the situation was “largely out of control.” Italy’s national association of internal medicine professionals agrees, saying Italy’s hospitals in the worst-hit north are close to collapse due to the number of COVID-19 patients being admitted. In an open letter published by the Italian news agency ANSA, the association said hospitals are suffering a shortage of staff and lack of beds “in the face of an abnormal influx of patients due to the rapid and dizzying spread of COVID infection.” The association is calling for a total national lockdown, saying there should be no “downplaying the situation,” which they describe as “dramatic.” Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte last week imposed a nationwide overnight curfew, ordered an early closing for bars and restaurants, and announced further restrictions on people traveling between regions where infection rates are high. Several regions, including Lombardy, the epicenter of the pandemic in Italy during the first wave, have been declared “red zones” and are in a virtual lockdown.  In an interview with La Stampa newspaper, Conte said he was working “to avoid the closure of the entire national territory” and is waiting to see if the new restrictions do tamp down the rising numbers. “We are constantly monitoring the evolution of the contagion, the reactivity and the capacity of our health system to respond,” he said. In UkraineIn Ukraine, where more than half a million confirmed coronavirus cases have been recorded, the COVID-19 situation is dire in some regions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, have been hospitalized after testing positive, although they are suffering only mild symptoms of COVID-19, according to the president’s spokeswoman, Iuliia Mendel. FILE – A medical staffer wearing a protective suit waits at a triage check point that was set to ease the pressure on hospital emergency wards, following the surge of COVID-19 case numbers, at the Monza racetrack, in Monza, Italy, Nov. 11, 2020.”We’re in the midst of what I’d call an operational tsunami,” said Kiran Patel, the chief medical officer. A critical-care consultant, Tom Billyard, told Britain’s Sky News, “We normally struggle through winter, so to add more COVID patients on top of that is a big worry.” On Thursday, British health authorities announced 33,470 people had tested positive for coronavirus in the previous 24 hours — the highest figure recorded since the pandemic began, according to government figures. French Prime Minister Jean Castex has also warned his country’s hospitals are under immense strain, saying there is a hospital admission every 30 seconds. “The pressure on our hospitals has intensified enormously,” he said.   
 
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Five years after the deadly Paris attacks that killed more than 100 people in November 2015, the country paid tribute to the victims Friday. This anniversary is taking place amid a new terror threat as France has been targeted by radical Islamists in recent months.
    
The horrible scenes and sad memories of the night of November 13, 2015, are still vivid among French people. Five years ago, 130 people were killed and 350 were injured when Islamist jihadists attacked a stadium near Paris, bars, restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall in Paris.
 
Francois Hollande, French president at the time of the attacks, was among those who paid tribute to the victims and remembered the tragic events.
    
Hollande acknowledged the memories remain quite vivid even five years after. The time-frame could seem long for a generation but not for a head of state who faced this horrific reality that night, he said. Hollande said the victims must endure painful memories after being hurt or taken hostage during a situation that created traumas for them and for the nation.
    
Prime Minister Jean Castex and cabinet members attended memorial ceremonies Friday in Paris. Gatherings were scaled down this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.  
 
This fifth anniversary occurs as France was recently hit by three terror attacks  – a knife attack outside the former offices of Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly magazine in late September, the decapitation of a teacher a month later, and the stabbing of three people in a church in Nice just days later in late October.
Even if the Islamic state terror group was defeated in Iraq and Syria, the threat has evolved, and lone wolf radical Islamists are now the major threat, according to Laurent Nunez, French national intelligence coordinator.
   
He says that France is being wrongly accused of Islamophobia, and that there is a major and ongoing propaganda campaign being waged by al-Qaida and the Islamic State that is urging lone individuals, already present on France’s soil, to stage attacks using basic weapons, like what happened in Nice with a knife.
   
The trial of those accused of involvement in the November 2015 attacks will begin early next year.
 
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Turkish analysts say Joe Biden’s projected presidential election victory could prove to be a pivotal moment in Turkey’s relations with the United States — one that could see Ankara pivoting back to its traditional Western allies or further deepening ties with Russia and China. While many European leaders were quick to offer congratulations to Biden, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan belatedly issued a statement Wednesday acknowledging Biden’s victory. In it, Erdogan stressed the “strategic” nature of bilateral ties and said they should be further strengthened based on common interests. The Turkish leader also sent a message to President Donald Trump, thanking him. Under Trump, critics say, Erdogan paid little price for confronting fellow NATO members and cozying up to Moscow, with the U.S. president opposing calls in the U.S. Congress for sanctions against Turkey.A Biden presidency, some analysts are predicting, will bring very different things for Erdogan. “The message from Biden will be to Turkey, do behave like an ally,” said International relations teacher Soli Ozel of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University. He told VOA he believes Biden’s victory could be a watershed moment in bilateral relations.”A Biden presidency gives you the opportunity to actually change tracks, not necessarily giving up on your interests but change your style. But if Turkey insists on defying everyone, I don’t think we can get anywhere, and the key to that is the S-400,” Ozel said. The S-400 is an advanced missile system that Turkey bought from Russia despite Washington’s warning that the purchase violated U.S. law and that the missile’s radar compromises NATO defense systems.A defiant Ankara test-fired the system last month, despite a warning from U.S. senators that the move would trigger sanctions. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, speaking at a November gathering of Turkish ambassadors, called on Washington to get over its objections to the S-400, declaring the issue was “done.”Biden’s challenge Among the first critical foreign policy decisions Biden could face is whether to sanction Turkey over the S-400. Erdogan’s deepening ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin are raising concerns within NATO.Under the so-called Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, CAATSA, Biden has a broad range of options when it comes to sanctions – from symbolic to severe financial measures.The U.S. could take action against Turkey’s state-owned Halkbank for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran. Despite a New York court jailing of a senior Halkbank official in 2018 for extensive violations of Iran sanctions, the U.S. Treasury Department has so far held off on penalizing Turkey.In early 2021, Halkbank faces charges again in a New York court for alleged sanction-busting. Analysts say that until now, Ankara has banked on its strategic importance to avoid sanctions. Turkey borders Iran, Iraq, Syria, hosts a U.S. radar base, and allows the U.S. military to operate from its Incirlik air base, one of the region’s largest.Observers warn Turkey could be overplaying its hand. “Plenty of people in the United States believe they can manage things without Turkey,” cautions Ozel, who says Washington’s need for Incirlik “is being questioned more seriously today than before.”Analysts say Ankara’s hardline stance towards Washington is perhaps a negotiating ploy. They say Mr. Erdogan is aware that Biden will likely take a more robust stance towards Moscow and that Turkey can play a critical role in that strategy.”No doubt there is a lot of anger directed at Turkey, at President Erdogan himself,” said Asli Aydintasbas, a senior fellow of the European Council of Foreign Relations. “There will be a tendency also to see if the U.S. can peel Turkey back from its reliance on Russia. And I think Erdogan knows how to play this game; he knows how to play the U.S. against Russia and vice versa, and that will be an interesting dance to watch.”But some warn of far-reaching consequences if that dance should end with U.S. sanctions on Turkey.”Hostile actions against Turkey will eventually align Turkey with the Eurasian and Asia powers like Russia and China,” said retired Admiral Cem Gurdeniz. “This is going to be inevitable because they are threatening the very existence of Turkey.”The legacy of Turkey’s 2016 failed coup by disaffected military officers could also be a complicating factor for Biden. Suspicions in Ankara remain that the Obama administration, which Biden served in, was involved in the attempted military takeover, a charge Washington has denied. But Aydintasbas says Biden’s experience of working with Turkey could serve the relationship well. “The tail end of the Obama administration relations between Turkey and Washington was pretty bad. But Biden himself emerged as an Erdogan whisperer. It was Biden who was dispatched to Turkey after the failed coup attempt in 2016 to repair the relationship. So the one-on-one relationship between the two may not be so bad, ” he said.  
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European and world leaders Thursday insisted that when COVID-19 vaccines are ready they should be made available to everyone, under an international project that still needs $28 billion. “We aren’t going to beat the virus if we abandon part of humanity,” French President Emmanuel Macron told the Paris Peace Forum, which seeks concrete solutions to global issues. The third edition of the forum is dedicated to finding ways to ease the pain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The three-day international conference aims to raise more than $500 million toward ensuring fair access to coronavirus tests, treatment and vaccines for all, including poor countries. European and world leaders attend The Paris Peace Forum at The Elysee Palace in Paris, Nov. 12, 2020.It takes place as the number of cases is increasing rapidly across Europe and beyond but with hopes rising for the rollout of a coronavirus vaccine, perhaps even before the end of the year, Top U.S. government scientist Anthony Fauci said Thursday the coronavirus vaccine “cavalry” was on its way, bringing fresh hope as the world registered more than 10,000 deaths in just 24 hours, a record. The world-leading expert on infectious diseases said that after this week’s much-trumpeted news that a vaccine developed by U.S. drug giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech was 90% effective, another is “literally on the threshold of being announced.” ‘Financing gap’  During the online Paris forum, several countries are expected to announce funding for the so-called ACT-Accelerator, a mechanism led by the World Health Organization that aims to ensure access to tests, treatments and vaccines for all. In September, the United Nations estimated that the ACT-Accelerator had received only about $3 billion of the $38 billion needed to meet the goal of producing and delivering 2 billion vaccine doses, 245 million treatments and 500 million diagnostic tests over the next year. On Thursday, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that a “financing gap” of $28.5 billion remains and that $4.5 billion is urgently required “to maintain momentum.” “The international community must ensure that fair and equitable access to a vaccine is ensured for everyone,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. Chinese President Xi Jinping exhorted world leaders to “put human life above everything … and provide a targeted and concerted response” to the health crisis. Senegal’s President Macky Sall attends The Paris Peace Forum at The Elysee Palace in Paris, Nov. 12, 2020.Senegalese President Macky Sall asked for assurances that enough doses of a virus vaccine would be produced and would reach the poorest countries “which have the most need.” Senegal, a poor nation with a population of about 16 million people, has so far been spared a large coronavirus outbreak. Biggest public health effort in history Day one of the meeting saw France offer 100 million euros, with another 50 million euros pledged by Spain and 100 million euros from the European Commission. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $70 million, bringing its total donations to $226 million for the vaccine project. “We are talking about the largest public health effort in the history of the world and it won’t be unexpensive,” Melinda Gates said. The British government is also set to declare a contribution of one British pound for each $4 announced. Paris Forum members also promised the creation of a high-level expert panel that would curate all available science concerning the interactions between humans, animals and changes in the environment. “The pandemic showed us how much correlation there is between the health of humans, that of animals, and that of the planet,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told the forum. At the finance part of the forum, a group of development banks pledged to refocus their investments to take into account climate and development targets set by the U.N. and the Paris accord of 2015. Public development banks invest $2.3 trillion every year, 10% of the world’s total investments. The banks also promised to promote projects that reduce inequalities, protect the environment and pursue “sustainable development” goals, without offering examples. 
 
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The head of Germany’s infectious disease institute said Thursday that while the COVID-19 threat in the country remains high, and some hospitals are reaching capacity, he is cautiously optimistic. Speaking to reporters in Berlin, Lothar Wieler, president of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases, said the nation as of early Thursday had recorded 21,866 new cases of coronavirus infections in the previous 24 hours. According to Johns Hopkins University, Germany has reported nearly 750,000 cases since the pandemic began and more than 12,000 deaths. Although infections continue to rise, he said, “what makes me cautiously optimistic is the fact that the number of cases has been increasing at a slightly slower rate for some days now. So, the curve is going up a little less steeply — it is flattening out.” FILE – A nurse treats a patient with COVID-19 in the intensive care unit of Bethel Hospital in Berlin, Germany, Nov. 11, 2020.Wieler said he did not know if that was a stable development that can continue. But he insisted it shows “we are not helplessly at the mercy of the virus,” and measures the government has taken do make a difference. On November 2, Germany implemented a four-week partial shutdown to bring the rate of new infections under control. Restaurants, bars, sports and leisure facilities have closed, but schools and nonessential shops remain open. Wieler noted that the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care has doubled in the past two weeks. He added that the situation is likely to worsen before it improves. “It is possible that patients may no longer be able to receive optimal care everywhere,” he said. “We must therefore prevent the situation from worsening further. That is my expectation, and we are doing everything we can to achieve this goal.” Wieler said that nearly half of hospitals responding to his institute are reporting limited availability of ventilator treatment, mostly because of staffing issues caused by infections or quarantine. Although Germany has enough beds and ventilators available nationwide, many German hospitals are currently “working at the limits of their capacity,” said Uwe Janssens, president of Germany’s Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine. Janssens described a shortage of medical personnel trained to provide anesthesia- and ventilation-based treatments as a “key problem.” “Where it is medically justified, procedures must be halted and postponed,” Janssens said, encouraging medical facilities’ need to conserve resources. 
 
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The European Union’s executive branch announced a strategy Thursday to provide protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, nonbinary, intersex, and queer people as discrimination against those groups increases in Europe. At a news conference in Brussels, European Commission Vice President for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova said it is becoming increasingly apparent the protections are needed. “Too many people cannot be themselves without fears of discrimination, exclusion or violence,” she said. Jourova cited attacks on pride marches and the adoption of anti-gay legislation in countries such as Hungary and Poland, where there has been an effort to create “LGBTIQ ideology-free zones.”  European Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli said the strategy to fight such discrimination is based on four pillars: reducing discrimination against LGBT people, ensuring their safety, building inclusive societies and calling for equality around the world. The commission proposed tackling discrimination against LGBT people, in particular when it comes to employment and ensuring their safety, also protecting them from online hate speech by including homophobic hate crime and hate speech in a list of “Eurocrimes.” Jourova added that COVID-19 lockdowns made the situation for LGBT people worse. European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen called out Poland’s LGBT ideology-free zones in her state of the EU speech in September, saying “Being yourself is not your ideology, it’s your identity.” She said such zones have no place in the European Union. The commission cited a report from the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, which found 43% of LGBT people last year declared that they felt discriminated against compared with 37% in 2012, even though EU acceptance of LGBT people is improving. 
 
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US-Russian relations have been at a low ebb over the past four years — lasting damage from charges of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. But with Joe Biden’s projected victory in the 2020 race, debate in Russia now centers on what, if anything, will change. From Moscow, Charles Maynes reports.Producer: Jason Godman. Camera: Ricardo Marquina 
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Greece and Turkey have long been at loggerheads over a host of issues – from a scattering of uninhabited islands in the Aegean Sea that divide them, to the origins of souvlaki.Now, they are trading jabs anew, this time trying to trump each other’s claims to Pfizer’s creation of what may be the world’s first demonstrably effective coronavirus vaccine.Since the company’s announcement earlier this week, media and medical experts from around the globe have hailed the drug’s pioneers, Dr. Ozlem Tureci and Dr. Ugur Sahin, as heroes.While both scientists are children of Turkish migrants who moved to Germany as part of the first guest worker generation in the late 1960s, the pair founded BioNTech in 2008 to develop new types of targeted cancer treatments.Two men wearing masks to help protect against the spread of coronavirus, watch their dogs playing in a public garden, in Ankara, Turkey, Nov. 12, 2020.As the coronavirus pandemic spread earlier this year, BioNTech, which employs 1,300 people, quickly moved to reallocate its resources, teaming up with the U.S. pharmacy industry giant Pfizer to develop 20 candidates for a vaccine.As the world this week breathed a sigh of relief at news that one of the experimental vaccines had shown results, Turkey, like perhaps no other state, went into a frenzy.Since the revelation, Turkish news media have splashed pictures and praise of the “Turkish dream team” on the fronts of newspapers, magazines and websites. Politicians have praised them for contributing to humanity. Even teachers across the nation are said to be aggressively lecturing students about what is being described as the great Turkish feat.On the other side of the Aegean divide, though, Greeks are giving scant coverage and little praise to the scientific duo, largely referring to them as Germans, rather than Turkish nationals.Pundits, press and politicians have instead taken to rejoicing their own national success: Albert Bourla, the Greek veterinarian at the helm of Pfizer and his strategy of striking a deal with BioNTech to produce and globally distribute the landmark drug.“A Greek yields hope of a breakthrough,” shouted the Athens-based Skai television network, featuring reports and special segments about Bourla and his rise from the humble origins in Thessaloniki, northern Greece.“The Greek who steers Pfizer,” blared the Capital.gr news site, as politicians across the divide posted pictures and praises for the leading Greek executive, fanning web chatter that the small and poor country, in the throes of a tragic COVID-19 comeback, would be the first to receive samples of the vaccine.5 Things to Know About Pfizer’s Coronavirus Vaccine Early results look great, but questions remain Having joined Pzifer’s animal-health division in 1993, Bourla became the company’s chief executive last year, striking a string of successful deals. In the first nine months of his tenure, he refocused the company toward patent-protected drugs and vaccines with the potential for significant sales growth.The drug maker’s announcement this week triggered a surge in BioNTech’s stock, pushing the company’s shares up by 23.4%, and rallying markets globally.BioNTech and Pfizer had been working together on a flu vaccine since 2018, but they agreed to collaborate on a coronavirus vaccine in March.Both sides left politics and age-old rivalries aside, bonding more over their shared backgrounds as scientists and immigrants.“We realized that he is from Greece, and I’m from Turkey,” Sahin said in a recent interview, avoiding mention of their native countries’ long-running antagonism. “It was very personal from the beginning.”While both NATO allies, Greece and Turkey have been at odds over air, sea and land rights for decades. They came to the brink of war in September before Washington waded into a standoff in the eastern Mediterranean, urging Ankara to recall a vessel exploring for energy off the coast of a Greek island.    EU and U.S. diplomats have long tried to bridge the Greek-Turkish divide and build trust between the two sides through business. A major thawing of relations in 1999 saw trade between the two countries soar while cultural barriers eroded dramatically.Whether the Pfizer and BioNTech cooperation on good science can serve as a catalyst for improved Greek-Turkish relations remains unclear, pundits and politicians quip on both sides.  For now, though, the rivalries seem to have no impact on Pfizer’s collaboration with BioNtech.“He’s a scientist and a man of principles,” Bourla said of Sahin, in a recent interview. “I trust him 100%.”
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Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the head of his office have been hospitalized after contracting the coronavirus earlier this week.
Zelenskiy and the head of the presidential office, Andriy Yermak, are being treated at Kyiv’s Feofaniya Clinical Hospital, Yermak’s adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said in a November 12 interview with the online newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda.
“A special office has been equipped there to enable the president to hold conferences. He has held a large number of conference calls today,” Podolyak said.
He said Yermak has a separate, isolated ward.
Zelenskiy “first went home but decided to move to Feofania [hospital] to accurately isolate and not expose anyone,” Reuters quoted a presidential spokeswoman as saying.
“There are better conditions for patients. Nothing serious,” she said, referring to the president’s condition.
On November 9, Zelenskiy’s office said he had tested positive for coronavirus, adding that the president “is feeling well and will continue to perform his duties remotely in self-isolation.”
Minutes later, Yermak also announced that he had tested positive for the coronavirus and that he was feeling “fine.”
Other top Ukrainian officials, including the finance and defense ministers, were also reported to be infected.
Health authorities said on November 12 that the country registered a record 11,057 new coronavirus cases over the previous 24 hours, with 198 new deaths.
The new infections took the total confirmed cases to 500,865, with 9,145 deaths.
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Giuliana Chenal-Minuzzo, the first female athlete to deliver the Olympic oath, in 1956, and the first woman to win a Winter Games medal for Italy four years earlier, has died at the age of 88. The Italian was hailed by her country’s alpine skiing federation as “one of the greatest post-war champions.” Chenal-Minuzzo won downhill bronze in the 1952 Oslo Olympics, going on to claim a second bronze at the 1960 Squaw Valley Games, that time in the giant slalom. FILE – Italian Alpine skier Giuliana Chenal-Minuzzo reads the Olympic oath, on behalf of all the athletes taking part, at the opening ceremony of the seventh Winter Olympic Games, at Cortina, Italy, Jan.26, 1956.At the intervening 1956 Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Games, she broke ground by delivering the Olympic oath. First pronounced by Belgian athlete Victor Boin (water polo, swimming and fencing) at the 1920 Antwerp Summer Games, the Olympic oath of modern times was similar to that taken by the Olympic athletes of ancient times – but at the modern Olympic Games, the athletes swear on the Olympic flag, not on the entrails of a sacrificed animal. The modern Olympic oath, originally written by International Olympic Committee (IOC) president and founder Pierre de Coubertin, has been modified over time to reflect the changing nature of the sporting competition. The oath taker is from the host nation and takes the oath on behalf of all athletes participating at those Olympic Games. Oaths for officials and coaches were added in 1972 and 2010 respectively. 
 
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An extremely rare, purple-pink diamond mined in Russia, which Sotheby’s described as “a true wonder of nature,” sold for $26.6 million on Wednesday, the auction house said.Sotheby’s had estimated that the flawless oval gem, “The Spirit of the Rose,” could fetch from $23 million to $38 million at the Geneva sale.The hammer price was 21 million Swiss francs. With commission, the final price was 24.4 million Swiss francs, or US $26.6 million. It was bought by a telephone bidder who chose to remain anonymous, Sotheby’s said.Jewelry expert Benoit Repellin, who led the sale, said it set a record for a diamond graded fancy vivid purple-pink sold at auction. The stone weighed 14.83 carats and was the largest pink diamond with that color grading to go on the block.The diamond was named after a ballet performed by the Ballets Russes and its legendary dancer Vaslav Nijinsky in 1911.Mined by Russian diamond producer Alrosa in July 2017, it was cut from the largest pink crystal ever found in the country, Sotheby’s said.The diamond was shown in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taipei.Colored stones have been greatly valued as an asset class by the super-rich in recent years, with top-quality pink diamonds especially prized.The Argyle mine in western Australia, which produced the world’s largest supply of pink diamonds, halted production last week because of depletion.”The lucky buyer could well profit from prices soaring for pink diamonds in the coming years thanks to increased rarity,” Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77 Diamonds, Europe’s largest online diamond jeweler, said in a statement.Naturally colored diamonds occur because they possess a particular lattice structure that refracts light to produce colored, rather than white, stones.
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Greece and Egypt, which angered Turkey by reaching an agreement on natural resources in the eastern Mediterranean, will welcome more decisive U.S. involvement in the region under President-elect Joe Biden, the Greek prime minister said Wednesday.”Both Greece and Egypt will receive positively a more decisive role of the United States in the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean,” Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at a news conference with visiting Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.Cairo and Athens sealed an accord for the partial demarcation of maritime boundaries in August, giving them rights over natural resources in the Mediterranean.Mitsotakis said the accord showed that countries that respect international law and neighborly relations can achieve results to the benefit of their people. He said both Greece and Egypt were willing to expand the accord.Turkey’s positionTurkey, which is at odds with Greece over overlapping claims to energy resources in the Mediterranean, says the pact infringes on its own continental shelf.The agreement also overlaps maritime zones Turkey agreed to with Libya last year, which were declared illegal by Athens.Tensions between the two NATO allies flared following the accord, after Turkey sent its Oruc Reis seismic survey vessel into disputed Mediterranean waters.Ankara pulled out the vessel in September to allow for diplomacy with Greece but then sent it back to the area.On Wednesday, Greece said Turkey’s new naval advisory, engaging an area for seismic activities from Wednesday through November 23, was provocative and urged Ankara to revoke it immediately.”We agreed to continue our solidarity, alongside all friendly countries, in order to confront anyone who threatens regional stability and security, and in a way that prevents any party from imposing its hostile positions,” el-Sissi said.
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Three months after disputed elections in Belarus, protesters and journalists continue to be arrested, beaten and harassed. On Sunday, police detained over 1,000 people at protests in cities across the Eastern European nation.The arrests were the highest number since protests calling for President Alexander Lukashenko to step down began in August.FILE – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko takes his oath of office during his inauguration ceremony at the Palace of the Independence in Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 23, 2020.Weekly rallies have been held since the presidential elections on Aug. 9 in which long-term leader Lukashenko retained power in a vote seen by international observers as not fair or transparent and in which key opposition were detained or forced to flee.”Since the end of August, the situation has worsened again, and journalists have been disappearing again,” Andrei Bastunets, chair of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), told VOA.In that period, the association has documented at least 60 cases of journalists being arrested, including 16 who are still in custody, and several who say they were beaten. In addition, the government has revoked accreditation to international journalists, and fined or filed legal action against local and foreign media, and access to internet has been blocked.Charges against the media include unlawful disobedience or taking part in an “unsanctioned event.”The international community has called on Belarus to hold new elections and a report by the international Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which in September invoked the “Moscow Mechanism” allowing it to send in experts,  said it found evidence of “massive and systematic” rights abuses.The Belarus Foreign Ministry has dismissed international criticism and the OSCE decision to invoke the Moscow Mechanism. An official was cited in news reports as having told the OSCE in Vienna, “Authorities are simply forced to take tough steps, that are often ambiguously perceived, to maintain the social, economic and political stability in the country and ensure national security.”Journalists, including from the Associated Press and BBC, have said they were detained and beaten while covering the protests. Belarus Blocks Scores of News Sites Amid Protest, International OutcryMinsk-based journalists’ trade association calls virtual news blackout ‘indirect censorship,’ constitutional violation”In the first days of the protests, the police didn’t really look at whether you were a journalist or not. Our colleagues were treated very harshly, and many of them were taken to a temporary detention center, where they went through the same torture as civil activists and protesters,” Bastunets said.At first, he added, news outlets were still able to call the Interior Ministry press service or city officials to request that detained colleagues be freed. Bastunets says he believes that may have been thanks to statements by then Interior Minister Yuri Karayev, who said journalists should not be detained because, like police, they are performing their duties.”Afterwards, Karaev was removed from his post, though not for these words,” said Bastunets, citing several cases where journalists, clearly identified as press, had gathered to cover protests, only to be detained.“They stood aside from the protesters,” Bastunets said. “But police buses rolled in, the journalists were crammed into them. They were taken, supposedly, to check documents, but from police stations they were sent to detention centers. And lately it started to happen at every rally.”More Than 500 Protesters Detained in Belarus Demonstrators demand resignation of President Alexander Lukashenko, call for new electionsThe Belarusian response to protests has been shocking, Aleksandr Klaskovsky, head of analytical projects at the independent news agency BelaPAN, said.“Terrible things were happening, I mean the brutality of the security forces, which beat people caught in the streets,” Klaskovsky told VOA. “We learned many shocking details later.”Klaskovsky said that immediately after the Aug. 9 vote, internet access was shut off for three days. Access is also cut during protests and authorities have threatened to block or suspend several popular news websites including Tut.by, which is often described as one of Belarus’s leading news sites.As authorities worked to prevent access, Belarusians found ways to bypass the blocks.“Many Belarusians have mastered different ways of bypassing blocks,” Bastunets from the journalist association said, adding that Telegram channels, “have become the main source of information and communication.”Irina Khalip, Belarus correspondent for Novaya Gazeta, the independent Russian outlet known for its investigative reporting, agreed. “Without question, Telegram channels and independent sites” are the main source of information, she said.“Even social networks have largely taken on the function of mass information,” Khalip said, adding that through these platforms Belarusians can clarify what happened or get information on who has been arrested or released.Credentials RevokedInternational journalists have also been restricted, after the Foreign Ministry in August revoked accreditations under what it described as a “change in rules.”“The new accreditations are carefully parceled out, and, as far as I can tell, ahead of anyone else they go to the Russian media reporters. They are now more loyal, obviously, given the political situation and the fact that [Russian President] Vladimir Putin supported Alexander Lukashenko,” said Klaskovsky.”The authorities push journalists into an illegal space, and now it is better to go to the action just in a column of demonstrators than to go out with a badge and a vest stenciled ‘Press’,” Klaskovsky said, adding that it lessened the risk of jail.Khalip of Novaya Gazeta said accreditation has never been a guarantee of safety.“I never understood the point of hunting for accreditation in the sincere conviction that this piece of paper will help you in some way,” she said. “In fact, these papers have not saved anyone from arrests, beatings, or fines.” Belarus Media Arrests Are Sign of Election Crackdown, Experts SayBelarus arrests at least 20 journalists, along with opposition leader and protesters, ahead of presidential vote next month Even state-run media has publicly objected to the crackdown. In August, around 300 Belarusian state TV channel employees went on strike over what they called an official ban on reporting harsh crackdowns on protesters.They were replaced by employees sent to Belarus by the Russian-funded channel RT.No guarantee of safetyKlaskovsky, from BelaPan, likened the challenges for media in the past three months to being “on the front line.”“We can say that the authorities have started a war against the part of society that demands changes, against the non-government press,” Klaskovsky said. “For them, journalists are enemies, because the purpose of the authorities is to suppress the civil resistance, and since journalists honestly do their job, cover everything that is happening, all the facets of the current deep political crisis in Belarus, [the media] get in the middle of it.”Khalip agreed, saying said that in today’s Belarus, journalists are forced to work “in a situation of war” where nothing guarantees safety.”I always knew that among the journalists I knew there were many brave, fearless and heroic people,” Khalip said. “And now they are demonstrating all this every day, when they get into the heat of action, go to the marches, lock hands shoulder-to-shoulder with the protesters. It’s beautiful, and this is how it should be.”Klaskovsky also praised the media’s refusal to be silenced.“Journalists have brought the truth about the first terrible days after the elections to their readers and to the world community. And so, I believe, have fulfilled their historical task,” said Klaskovsky. “Today there is no question as to whether independent journalism exists in Belarus.”This story originated in VOA’s Russia service.
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The United Nations is appealing for $45.5 million to provide life-saving assistance for 260,000 of the most vulnerable people affected by Super Typhoon Goni in the Philippines.The storm, the world’s most powerful tropical cyclone this year, swept across large swathes of southern Luzon with terrifying force 10 days ago. Torrential rains and violent winds blew away roof tops, damaging and destroying homes and infrastructure. The lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people have been shattered.The roof and pews of the St. Francis of Assisi church in Malinao town are damaged from powerful winds of Typhoon Goni in Albay province, central Philippines, Nov. 3, 2020.The United Nations says 1.9 million people in eight of the Philippines’ 17 regions have been affected by the typhoon, leaving an estimated 845,000 people in need of humanitarian assistance. The U.N. plans to aid 260,000 of the most vulnerable; among them women, children, the disabled and elderly — people who essentially have lost everything and have no means of support.Given the extent of devastation, the number of casualties has been relatively low. The government reports at least 25 people have been killed, 399 injured and seven are missing. U.N. resident humanitarian coordinator in the Philippines Gustavo Gonzalez says the government’s preemptive action saved many lives.“The government of the Philippines has made significant efforts and they deserve recognition by the huge preemptive evacuation of people,” Gonzalez said. “We are talking about 480,000 people that were evacuated before the arrival of the typhoon. They were moved to some evacuation centers.”Unfortunately, Gonzales said people in the centers now are faced with other risks posed by COVID-19. Local authorities, he notes, are particularly concerned this disaster is taking place at the same time the pandemic is spreading throughout the country.“People in evacuation centers, of course, cannot follow social distancing measures,” Gonzalez said. “The lack of appropriate water access and sanitation represent also a health risk for an area that is also well known by previous cholera outbreaks.”The World Health Organization reports 400,000 cases of coronavirus, including 7,661 deaths in the Philippines. Gonzales notes Typhoon Goni destroyed the only COVID-19 laboratory in the heavily affected Bicol Region, putting an end to all testing.The appeal will fund essential relief, including food, shelter, hygiene, water and sanitation, psychosocial support and protection. The money also will be used to restore livelihoods and critical services to promote the rapid recovery of the most affected communities.
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After the recent terror attacks in France and Austria, European leaders held a summit Tuesday in France to coordinate the response against terrorism, and they are pushing for a “common coordinated and rapid” European response to counterterror attacks.The question of how to respond to Islamist attacks like the recent ones in Nice and Vienna brought together Tuesday French President Emmanuel Macron and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz at the Elysee Palace in Paris where they were joined by videoconference with the leaders of Germany, the Netherlands, and top EU officials.President Macron urged a “common coordinated and rapid” European response to counterterror attacks.Macron detailed the need to develop common databases between EU states, improve cooperation between law enforcement, share intel and enact tougher legislation on the continent. Any threat at EU external borders or inside even one member state is a threat to the entire EU, said the French president.European leaders also stressed the need for what they said should be a “determined fight against terrorist propaganda and hate speech on the internet.” Macron mentioned Netherlands and Austria as good examples of how this fight should be carried out.He said the Internet is a space of freedom, and social networks are, too, but this freedom exists only if there is security and if it does not serve as a refuge for those who flout European values or seek to indoctrinate with deadly ideologies. Macron said terrorist propaganda must be removed within an hour once it is flagged.To counter jihadist terrorism, EU leaders also are calling for measures to ensure that the teachings of imams on the continent do not include hate speech.Charles Michel is the president of the European Council.Michel said religious freedom is key in Europe, but there also is a need to guarantee that imams preach the right values of tolerance and peace.This meeting took place on the eve of the anniversary of the November 2015 attacks that killed more than 100 people in Paris. 
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In the land that gave the world the first modern novel, Don Quixote, the language of its creator, Miguel de Cervantes, is under threat. This is the contention of bilingual campaigners and conservative politicians who believe a new education law will erode a constitutional guarantee to teach Spanish, also known as Castilian, in schools. Spain is a linguistically diverse country where the Catalan, Galician and Basque languages have equal status that is protected by law. Spain’s left-wing coalition government has introduced a reform, which says Castilian Spanish does not have to be the principal language in classrooms throughout the country. It means in regions like Catalonia, the Basque Country or Galicia, educational authorities must still teach Spanish but it does not have to be the first language and instead can be taught as a secondary subject. The law has sparked a passionate political dispute in a country where language wars have been raging since Spain returned to democracy in the late 1970s. Longtime leader General Francisco Franco banned regional languages for four decades. After he died in 1975 and democracy was stored, regions won the power to decide which languages were taught in the classroom. Catalonia, which for almost 40 years has been run by nationalist regional governments, embarked on a policy of linguistic immersion with Catalan as the main language in public schools. Spanish is taught for only two hours per week. Elsewhere, in the Basque Country, Galicia and the Balearic Islands, which include Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca, regional languages have also been offered in schools. Heritage at stake Campaigners who defend the right to learn in Spanish accuse the left-wing coalition government of abolishing the last remaining guarantees to education in what has been Spain’s dominant language for centuries.  The reform was agreed among the ruling Socialists, their junior partners in the coalition, the far-left Unidas Podemos and the Catalan separatists Catalan Republican Left, ERC. Ana Losada, president of the Assembly for Bilingual Schools in Catalonia, believes the reform will give authorities a chance to rid Spanish from the classrooms. “Here in Catalonia, they have imposed Catalan and relegated Spanish to a secondary subject. We have fought through the courts to defend our rights under the constitution for our children to be taught in Spanish and we have won,” she told VOA. “This law change will take away that right to defend our language.” Losada recounted the case of 30 parents at the Guinovart School in Castelldefels near Barcelona who took legal action to force authorities to teach in Spanish in 25% of teaching time. She said the Spanish constitutional court defended their right to learn in their mother tongue, despite suffering abuse from those who oppose their actions. The issue of language has proved hugely divisive in Spain. Some Spanish speakers believe Spanish is an integral part of the national culture. Equally, Catalans, Basques and Galicians claim they want to defend their own heritage, symbolized in their languages. Political battle Carlos Carrizosa, leader of the center-right Ciudadanos party in Catalonia, believes the reform was a concession by the minority government so Catalan separatists would support the 2021 budget in a vote due after Christmas. FILE – Carlos Carrizosa of Ciudadanos party speaks at the Parliament of Catalonia after Spain’s Supreme Court jailed nine separatist leaders, triggering violent protests in the region, in Barcelona, Spain, October 17, 2019.The support of the ERC, which has 13 lawmakers, would be crucial to approve the government’s spending plan to help Spain recover from the economic damage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ciudadanos, a party with only 10 MPs, may also be vital for the Socialists to win a majority to pass the budget but they are going to make this education law a bargaining chip in return for their votes. “My party has said today that we will not support the budget if they go ahead with this reform. Until now children have been guaranteed Spanish in schools in Catalonia – even if we have had to take court action to ensure this. This law will change this,” he told VOA in an interview. Proponents of the reform, which will come into action when schools return in September 2021, denied the charge that they show no respect for the language of Cervantes. Equality “The charge that we are trying to rid of Spanish could not be further from the truth. This law will ensure that any pupil must leave school speaking Spanish and any other language, be it Catalan, Basque or Galician equally well,” Juan Mena, education spokesman for En Comú, a far-left party allied to Unidas Podemos, told  VOA. “The mention of Spanish no longer being the principal language is only because previous education laws said Spanish must be the principal language even in regions where other languages are spoken.” Spanish is spoken by 534 million people, making it the fourth most important in the world after English, Mandarin and Hindi. “It is a victory for us because we have managed to safeguard Catalan as the principal language in education without impairing Spanish,” said Raul Murcia, a spokesman for ERC. Gregorio Luri, a respected educationalist, believes the amendment may be challenged by the Spanish constitutional court. 
 
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European Union regulators have filed antitrust charges against Amazon, accusing the e-commerce giant of using data to gain an unfair advantage over merchants using its platform.
The EU’s executive commission, the bloc’s top antitrust enforcer, said Tuesday that the charges have been sent to the company.
The commission said it takes issue with Amazon’s systematic use of non-public business data to avoid “the normal risks of competition and to leverage its dominance” for e-commerce services in France and Germany, the company’s two biggest markets in the EU.
The EU started looking into Amazon in 2018 and has been focusing on its dual role as a marketplace and retailer.
In addition to selling its own products, the U.S. company allows third-party retailers to sell their own goods through its site. Last year, more than half of the items sold on Amazon worldwide were from these outside merchants.
Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, the EU commissioner in charge of competition, said it’s not a problem that Amazon is a successful business but “our concern is very specific business conduct which appears to distort genuine competition.”
Amazon faces a possible fine of up to 10% of its annual worldwide revenue, which could amount to billions of dollars. The company rejected the accusations.
“We disagree with the preliminary assertions of the European Commission and will continue to make every effort to ensure it has an accurate understanding of the facts,” the company said in a statement.
The company can, under EU rules, reply to the charges in writing and present its case in an oral hearing.
Vestager also opened a second investigation into Amazon over whether it favors its own products and those from third-party merchants that use its logistics and delivery services.
It’s the EU’s latest effort to curb the power of big technology companies, following a series of multi-billion-dollar antitrust fines against Google in previous years.
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The European Union will impose tariffs on up to $4 billion of U.S. imports in retaliation for U.S. subsidies for Boeing but said on Monday it was hopeful of an improvement in trade ties under U.S. President-elect Joe Biden. The move, given the green light by the World Trade Organization last month, is the latest in a 16-year U.S.-EU dispute over civil aviation subsidies. U.S. tariffs on $7.5 billion of EU products after a parallel WTO case against Airbus have been in place for over a year. “We have made clear at every stage that we want to settle this long-running issue,” EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis told a news conference after an online meeting of EU trade ministers on Monday. “Regrettably, despite our best efforts (and) due to lack of progress on the U.S. side, we can confirm that the European Union will later today exercise our rights and impose countermeasures awarded to us by the WTO in respect to Boeing.”FILE – European Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis speaks during a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels, November 21, 2018.From Tuesday, the EU will impose tariffs of 15% on U.S. exports of planes and parts and of 25% on a variety of products, including tobacco, nuts, fruit juice, fish, spirits, bags, tractors and casino and gym equipment. The bloc says its main objective is to persuade the United States to negotiate a solution, arguing the chief beneficiaries of the dispute are competitors such as China’s COMAC. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer last month had said any move by Brussels to impose tariffs would force a U.S. response, but a brief statement issued late Monday contained no such threat, and his office said the two sides were in negotiations to resolve the longstanding dispute. “The United States is disappointed by the action taken by the EU today,” he said. “The EU has long proclaimed its commitment to following WTO rules, but today’s announcement shows they do so only when convenient to them.” The United States argues that the alleged subsidy — a Washington state tax break — was repealed seven months ago, removing any legal basis for the EU measures. Although headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Boeing used to be a Seattle, Washington-based company and retains major production facilities in Washington state. In the past, the Trump administration has said it could choose to hike its 15% tariffs on Airbus planes, raise tariffs on products such as EU cheese, olives and whiskey, or switch to other products. It argues there is no legal basis for EU measures because underlying subsidies to Boeing have been repealed. Brussels says only the WTO can determine whether members have complied with its rulings. Boeing called the EU decision “disappointing and surprising,” and urged Airbus and Brussels to work to resolve the trade dispute. ‘Great expectations’ for Biden German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier told the news conference that many EU countries saw Biden’s election victory as a chance for an improvement in ties. FILE – German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier arrives for a news conference to present the government’s economic spring projection, amid the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic in Berlin, Germany, April 29, 2020.”We will try to get a new start in trade policy between the United States and all member states,” said Altmaier, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency. He said Europe’s goal was to find common ground with the future Biden administration and then reduce overall tariffs as much as possible. “There are great expectations and the hope that the American presidential elections will lead to a return to multilateral engagement in international trade,” Altmaier said. The European Union and most EU states have congratulated Biden on his election victory. Trump, with whom Europe has had strained relations, is pursuing legal challenges to the outcome while making unfounded claims of fraud. Dombrovskis said the Commission, which coordinates trade policy for the 27 EU nations, had made some informal contacts with Biden’s team and that there was a full list of things to do, from coordinating on the reform of global trade rules to incorporating climate change goals into trade. The EU tariffs come about a week before regulators are expected to clear the Boeing 737 MAX for service after a safety grounding of more than 19 months. Industry sources say the tariffs could hobble deliveries to key buyers such as Ireland’s Ryanair, whose chief executive has called on Boeing to absorb the extra import duties. A coalition of the U.S. and European drinks industry said the tariffs would damage a sector already devastated by COVID-19 related closures. Dombrovskis repeated an EU offer that the bloc was ready to suspend its measures at any time if the United States did the same, “whether under the current or the next administration.”  
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The Vatican on Tuesday will release its report into the rise and fall of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the once-influential American cardinal who was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019 after a Vatican investigation confirmed decades of rumors that he was a sexual predator. The McCarrick scandal is different from other cases of clergy abuse, primarily because there is evidence that Vatican and U.S. church leaders knew of his penchant for bedding seminarians but turned a blind eye as McCarrick rose to the top of the U.S. church as an adept fundraiser who advised three popes.  When McCarrick’s crimes were revealed, the scandal sparked such a crisis of confidence in the church’s U.S. and Vatican hierarchies that Francis approved new procedures to investigate bishops accused of abuse in a bid to end decades of impunity for Catholic leaders. But beyond that, the McCarrick case has forced the Vatican to acknowledge that adults can be victims of sexual abuse, too. The Vatican has long tried to paint any sexual relations between priests and adult men or women as consensual, focusing its prevention policies on protecting minors.  But as a bishop, McCarrick held all the power in his relationships with his seminarians: to refuse his sexual advances or report his misconduct could have spelled an end to their priestly vocations and careers in the church. The Vatican’s new policies, enacted as a response to the McCarrick scandal, spell out that adults could have been forced “to perform or submit to sexual acts” through abuses of authority by church leaders.FILE – Pope Francis reaches out to hug Cardinal Archbishop emeritus Theodore McCarrick after the Midday Prayer of the Divine with more than 300 U.S. Bishops at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., September 23, 2015.What’s it about?  The archdiocese of New York announced on June 20, 2018, that it had determined that an allegation that McCarrick sexually molested a minor was “credible and substantiated.” The allegation was lodged by a former altar boy who said McCarrick fondled him when he was a teenager during preparations for Christmas Mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1971 and 1972. The allegation was the first against McCarrick involving a minor, and as such triggered the investigation.  On the same day, McCarrick’s former dioceses of Newark and Metuchen, New Jersey, revealed they had settled two of three allegations of sexual misconduct by McCarrick involving adults in 2005 and 2007. Subsequently, James Grein came forward detailing the abuse he suffered at the hands of McCarrick, a family friend, starting when he was 11. Other former seminarians have since described the harassment and abuse they endured while “Uncle Ted,” as McCarrick liked to call himself, was their bishop in New Jersey, forced to sleep in his bed during weekend trips to his beach house.  McCarrick, 90, was defrocked last year after the Vatican determined he sexually abused adults and children, including during confession. McCarrick’s response McCarrick has said he was innocent of the fondling accusation but accepted the pope’s sanctions.  “While I have absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse, and believe in my innocence, I am sorry for the pain the person who brought the charges has gone through, as well as for the scandal such charges cause our people,” he said in a statement June 20, 2018, after the initial fondling allegations were substantiated.  In a 2008 email McCarrick sent to the Vatican, he denied ever having sexual relations with anyone but said he had shown an “unfortunate lack of judgment” for having shared his bed with seminarians.FILE – Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano reads during the episcopal ordination of Auxiliary Bishops James Massa and Witold Mroziewski, in Brooklyn, New York, July 20, 2015.Archbishop’s bombshellThe McCarrick scandal took on greater dimensions on Aug. 26, 2018, when the former Vatican ambassador to the U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, published an 11-page expose accusing two dozen U.S. and Vatican churchmen by name of knowing about McCarrick’s misconduct since at least 2000 and hiding it. Vigano cited the case of one former seminarian who in 1994 wrote a lengthy letter to his bishop detailing McCarrick’s sexual abuse of him and others — a document that would have been turned over to the Vatican at the very least in 2004 when the man was defrocked.  Vigano demanded Francis resign, saying he had told the pope in 2013 during one of their first meetings that McCarrick has “corrupted generations of seminarians and priests, and Pope Benedict ordered him to withdraw to a life of prayer and penance.” Vigano claimed that Francis rehabilitated McCarrick from Benedict’s sanctions and turned him into a trusted adviser. FILE – Pope Francis wears a face mask as he attends an inter-religious prayer service for peace in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, a church on top of Rome’s Capitoline Hill, in Rome, October 20, 2020.Vatican’s response Francis initially refused to comment, but later authorized a Vatican investigation into its archives to determine who knew what and when about McCarrick, the result of which is being released Tuesday.  In 2019, Francis told Mexican broadcaster Televisa that he didn’t know anything about McCarrick’s past and didn’t remember if Vigano had raised the issue with him when they met in 2013. In addition, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, head of the Congregation for Bishops, confirmed McCarrick had been subject to disciplinary measures for uncorroborated “rumors” of misconduct but said the Vatican’s decision for him to live a discreet life of prayer stopped short of binding canonical sanctions because the rumors lacked proof. Ouellet accused Vigano of mounting a “blasphemous” political hit job against Francis. Further revelations A former McCarrick aide, Monsignor Anthony Figueriredo, in May 2019 released excerpts of correspondence that show McCarrick was placed under written Vatican restrictions in 2008 for sleeping with seminarians but regularly flouted them with the apparent knowledge of Vatican officials under Benedict and Francis.  In December 2019, the Washington Post reported that McCarrick gave more than $600,000 in donations from a personal fund he controlled to powerful clerics in the U.S. and Vatican, including those who had a say in whether to investigate him. The payments underscored the common tradition among well-funded bishops and religious superiors to curry favor in the Vatican with checks.  McCarrick also helped funnel millions of dollars to three popes via the U.S. Papal Foundation, which he helped co-found to raise money from wealthy American Catholics for specific works of papal charity. 
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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday became the latest world leader to test positive for COVID-19.Zelenskiy tweeted the announcement, saying “There are no lucky people for whom #COVID19 does not pose a threat. Despite all the quarantine measures, I received a positive test. I feel good & take a lot of vitamins. Promise to isolate myself but keep working. I will overcome COVID19 as most people do. It’s gonna be fine!”Shortly thereafter, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, announced on his Facebook page that he too had coronavirus. Yermak said he feels “normal” and will continue working from self-isolation. He also urged everyone not to be careless with COVID-19 rules, saying “Wear masks, wash your hands. Keep your distance, while staying calm.”The number of daily new COVID-19 cases in Ukraine continues to grow. The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reports the country registered 9,647 new cases and 142 new deaths Monday, bringing the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic to 474,245. At least 8,695 have died from the disease in Ukraine.
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Police in Belarus arrested at least 500 people on Sunday as thousands of protesters took to the streets again to demand new elections and the resignation of President Alexander Lukashenko.
 
At least nine journalists were detained, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists.
 
The human rights group Viasna was quoted to have put the number of those arrested in the capital, Minsk, and elsewhere, between 548 and 830. They included well-known model and former Miss Belarus winner Olga Khizhinkova, and Olympic decathlete Andrei Kravchenko.
 
A heavy security force had been deployed since early Sunday in the capital as protesters held umbrellas and waved red-and-white flags that have become the symbol of the opposition. Police also deployed water cannon in various locations around the city.
 
Since Lukashenko claimed victory in a disputed August 9 election, with the country’s election commission saying he garnered 80% of the vote, protesters have regularly taken to the streets demanding his resignation and the release of political prisoners.
 
Lukashenko’s main opposition candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, was forced to take asylum in Lithuania after fleeing Belarus for her safety in the wake of the government crackdown.
 
Despite widespread claims at home and abroad the vote was heavily rigged, Lukashenko has refused to relinquish power. He has been in office for 26 years.
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