British officials say a Liberian-registered oil tanker is docked safely in Southampton and its crew “safe and well” after British naval special forces stormed the ship following a report that stowaways threatened violence. In a statement, ship operator Navios Tanker Management, says the Nave Andromeda left Lagos, Nigeria, on October 6 and had been due to dock in Southampton on Sunday when the ship’s master became “concerned for the safety of the crew due to the increasingly hostile behavior of the stowaways.” A report by the British Broadcasting Corporation indicates the crew had been aware of the stowaways – believed to have been from Nigeria – but said they became unruly and even violent as the ship neared Britain. The ship was circling an area a few kilometers southeast of the Isle of Wight, south of Southampton, and when it failed to dock, local authorities were contacted. A statement on the British ministry of Defense’s Twitter account indicates police requested assistant from the military.  The coast guard was also called in and scrambled helicopters to reach the scene.  A nearly five-kilometer exclusion zone was established around the vessel.  After several hours, commandos from the Royal Navy Special Boat Service were lowered from helicopters onto the ship, whose crew had locked themselves in a secure area. Within minutes, the commandos had detained seven people and secured the vessel. Speaking to reporters Monday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson thanked both the police and armed forces for what they did “to keep our shores safe.” 
 
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Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Turkish citizens to boycott French goods in response to what he says is France’s “anti-Islam” agenda.During a televised speech Monday, he also called for European Union countries to pressure France to end French President Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to fight what he called “Islamist separatism.” Macron has said separatism threatens to take over some Muslim communities in France.”Never give credit to French-labeled goods. Don’t buy them,” Erdogan said, according to the BBC. He added that “European leaders should tell the French president to stop his hate campaign.”Tensions between the two NATO allies have risen in recent months as Macron vowed to defend secularism in the wake of the public beheading of a French teacher earlier this month by a Muslim militant over cartoons depicting Prophet Muhammad.French President Emmanuel Macron speaks after meeting with the medical staff of the Rene Dubos hospital center, in Pontoise, outside Paris, Oct. 23, 2020.Macron called Islam a religion “in crisis,” the BBC reported, and announced measures to stem what he called separatism. France has the largest Muslim community in Western Europe.Just how much of an impact a boycott would have remains to be seen. France is the 10th largest source of imports to Turkey. France is also Turkey’s seventh biggest market for exports, Reuters reported.France and Turkey have also clashed recently over policy in Syria and Libya, as well as Turkish oil and gas exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. More recently, the two have been at odds over the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
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Belarus’s opposition called a countrywide general strike on Monday — the latest in a series of efforts to dislodge longtime leader Alexander Lukashenko from power following what opponents say was a rigged presidential election in the former Soviet republic last August.  Svetlana Tikhanovskaya — Lukashenko’s primary opponent in the race and who fled the country under state pressure following the vote — threatened the strike two weeks ago in an effort to reinvigorate the protest movement.  FILE – Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, candidate for the presidential elections, foreground, greets people during a meeting to show her support, in Brest, 326 km southwest of Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 2, 2020.Her demands: Lukashenko resign, end police violence against demonstrators, and free hundreds of political prisoners or face a national work stoppage.   On Monday, the independent media site Tut.by posted photos of workers striking at several key factories. The news service also reported dozens of workers detained at the Grodno Azot factory for joining the strike. Nexta, People with old Belarusian national flags march during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, Oct. 25, 2020.Yet once again, Lukashenko’s security troops and riot police were out in force.  Central metro stations were closed in advance — forcing people to walk towards the city center.  Crowds chanting “Strike, Strike, Strike” were met with stun grenades, rubber bullets, and tear gas as they closed in on Lukashenko’s residence — sending protesters running for cover.  The Interior Ministry also reported demonstrators had thrown rocks and broken windows outside a police headquarters in central Minsk.  The damage did not appear to be widespread.  Meanwhile, the human rights group Vesna reported more than 300 protesters arrested — adding to the estimated 8,000 detained in the wake of the vote.  On social media, a widely shared video showed masked security guards terrorizing protesters who had fled into a nearby apartment.  Its unbearable to watch. Ferocious from impunity, Lukashenka’s police are hunting protesters in private apartments, threatening to use gas if the people don’t go with them 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.Lukashenko has refused to step down — arguing he won the election in a landslide with 80% of the vote.  He also has backing from his neighbor Russia, which seeks to maintain a predictable ally in charge along its western border.   Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov implied Russia was growing concerned about the strike’s ability to impact Russia’s economy — noting the two economies were integrated “at the highest levels.” “For us, it’s extremely important how rhythmically and reliably the Belarus factories function,” added Peskov.  President Vladimir Putin has provided both economic aid and assurances of military support if necessary. In another sign of Moscow’s careful watch over events in Belarus, Sergei Narishkin, the head of Russia’s external intelligence services, was in Minsk to meet  with Lukashenko last week. Meanwhile, the U.S. and other Western governments have denounced the violence against demonstrators and backed sanctions on the Lukashenko regime — with the European Union declaring it no longer saw Lukashenko as the head of Belarus.  French President Emanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are among European leaders who have met with Tikhanovskaya directly.  FILE – Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya meets with French President Emmanuel Macron in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sept. 29, 2020.Washington calling In a separate development, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with Lukashenko by phone on Saturday —   the first publicly known high-level contact between the U.S. and the embattled Belarusian leader since the political crisis began.  Secretary Pompeo had been behind recent U.S. efforts to improve relations with Minsk — even meeting with Lukashenko during a high profile visit to Minsk last February.  According to the State Department, Pompeo “reaffirmed U.S. support for the democratic aspirations of the people of Belarus” and demanded the release and evacuation of Vitali Shkliarov, 44, a Belarusian-American political analyst who was arrested ahead of the August vote while visiting his parents in Grodno.  FILE – Belarusian opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova greets protesters during a rally at Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 22, 2020.In recent days, Kolesnikova issued a letter from prison saying Lukashenko’s security forces were threatening to jail her for the next 25 years.  
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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko defied an ultimatum to surrender power by midnight on Sunday, challenging his opponents to make good on their threat to paralyze the country with a national strike.Eleven weeks after a disputed presidential election, the crisis in the former Soviet republic entered a new phase with the expiration of the “People’s Ultimatum” set by opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.Lukashenko’s refusal to quit after 26 years in power will test whether the opposition has the mass support it needs to bring enterprises across the country of 9.5 million people to a halt.Tsikhanouskaya, who fled to Lithuania after the Aug. 9 election for the safety of her family, has urged Belarusians starting Monday to block roads, shut down workplaces, stop using government shops and services and withdraw all money from their bank accounts.Lukashenko has scoffed at the calls for a strike. “Who will feed the kids,” he has asked, if workers at state-owned enterprises go on strike.Tsikhanouskaya on Sunday called for the strike to go ahead after police forces loyal to Lukashenko fired stun grenades and detained scores of people in a clampdown on protests by tens of thousands in Minsk and elsewhere.”The regime once again showed Belarusians that force is the only thing it is capable of,” she wrote in a statement. “That’s why tomorrow, Oct. 26, a national strike will begin.”The standoff is being closely watched by neighboring Russia and by Western governments.Russian President Vladimir Putin has no desire to see another leader toppled by protests in a former Soviet state, as happened in Ukraine in 2014 and in Kyrgyzstan earlier this month. He too has faced street demonstrations at various times, including for the past three months in the far eastern city of Khabarovsk.Since the crisis began, Moscow has backed Lukashenko with a $1.5 billion loan and increased security cooperation, including a series of joint military exercises and a visit last week by the head of Russia’s foreign intelligence agency.Agencies: Belarus and Russia Will Respond to External Threats, Lukashenko Tells Pompeo Lukashenko had sought to mend fences with the West in recent yearsSecurity crackdownLukashenko, 66, claimed victory in the Aug. 9 election with officially more than 80% of the vote, but the opposition accused him of vote-rigging on a massive scale.He has responded to mass street protests by arresting around 15,000 people, though most have since been released, and jailing opposition leaders or forcing them to leave the country.
A U.N. human rights investigator said last month that thousands of people had been “savagely beaten” and there were more than 500 reports of torture, which the authorities deny.The United States, European Union, Britain and Canada have imposed travel bans and asset freezes against a string of officials accused of election fraud and human rights abuses.Tsikhanouskaya presented her ultimatum on Oct. 13 after the government said police would be authorized to use combat weapons against protesters if needed.Three days later, a senior police official repeated the threat.”We will of course humanely use weapons against them, including firearms, and we will remove the most dangerous ones from the streets,” said Nikolai Karpenkov, head of the police unit in charge of fighting organized crime.
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Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has accused French President Emmanuel Macron of “attacking Islam” by defending the publication of “blasphemous” caricatures.
 
The comment Sunday comes four days after Macron said France would not “give up cartoons” depicting the Prophet Muhammad, pledging that Islamists “will never have” his country’s future.
 
“Sadly, President Macron has chosen to deliberately provoke Muslims, including his own citizens, through encouraging the display of blasphemous cartoons targeting Islam & our Prophet PBUH (peace be upon him),” Khan said in a series of tweets.
 
“It is unfortunate that he has chosen to encourage Islamophobia by attacking Islam rather than the terrorists who carry out violence, be it Muslims, White Supremacists or Nazi ideologists,” Khan wrote.
 FILE – French President Emmanuel Macron.Macron’s controversial remarks came in response to the beheading of a French teacher, Samuel Paty, outside Paty’s school near Paris after he had shown cartoons depicting the Prophet during a class on free speech. The French president described the slain teacher as a hero, saying Islamists were a threat to the country.
 
“This is a time when Pres Macron could have put healing touch & denied space to extremists rather than creating further polarisation & marginalisation that inevitably leads to radicalisation,” Khan said.
 
Caricatures of the Prophet are forbidden by Islam. Insulting the religion or the Prophet carries the death penalty under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.
 
“By attacking Islam, clearly without having any understanding of it, President Macron has attacked & hurt the sentiments of millions of Muslims in Europe & across the world,” Khan said.
 
Earlier this month, Macron sparked controversy when he said, “Islam is a religion that is in crisis all over the world,” prompting several Muslim countries to call for a boycott of French goods.
 
In recent years, France has experienced a series of violent attacks blamed on suspected Islamists, including a bloody 2015 assault on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo for publishing anti-Islam images.
 Khan writes to Facebook
 
Separately, the Pakistani leader wrote to Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive officer of Facebook, urging him to ban anti-Islam content on the social media platform.
 
“Given the rampant abuse and vilification of Muslims on social media platforms, I would ask you to place a similar ban on Islamophobia and hate against Islam for Facebook that you have put in place for the Holocaust,” said Khan in a letter his office released to media late Sunday.There was no immediate comment from Facebook.The social media giant recently announced it was updating its hate speech policy to ban any content that denied or distorted the Holocaust.
 
Khan noted in the letter that Islam has been associated with terrorism in France and publication of blasphemous cartoons targeting Islam have been allowed there.
 
“This will lead to further polarization and marginalization of Muslims in France. How will the French distinguish between radical extremist Muslim citizens and the mainstream Muslim citizenry of Islam?,” Khan asked.
 
Last month, the Pakistani prime minister, in his address to the United Nations General Assembly, denounced Charlie Hebdo for re-publishing the cartoons and demanded that “willful provocations” be “universally outlawed.”
 
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Police in Belarus used stun grenades Sunday to disperse protesters, who after months of demonstrations, have threatened a national strike if longtime President Alexander Lukashenko does not resign by midnight.News reports say than 100,000 protesters were in the streets of Minsk Sunday – the 11th in a row of demonstrations against Lukashenko’s contested victory in August presidential elections.Video posted on RFE/RL showed police using stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse crowds as they marched to the Independence Palace in the capital, carrying the white and red flags that have come to symbolize the opposition movement.Agencies: Belarus and Russia Will Respond to External Threats, Lukashenko Tells Pompeo Lukashenko had sought to mend fences with the West in recent yearsOpposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who fled the country for her safety since the August election, has called for a national strike if Lukashenko does not resign by midnight.Lukashenko has indicated he will ignore the ultimatum.At least two people were injured by police in Sunday’s protests, according to RFE/RL. Sixty people were arrested, according to Belarusian rights group Vesna.Lukashenko maintains he won the poll in a landslide — garnering 80% of all ballots — despite widespread claims at home and abroad that the vote was heavily rigged to keep him in power. He has been in office for 26 years.Public anger has grown over the crackdown in the wake of the protests that have seen more than 7,500 arrests and police violence against demonstrators.Hundreds have emerged from police custody with bruises and tales of torture at the hands of Lukashenko’s security agents.Lukashenko has said the protests are encouraged and supported by the West and accused NATO of moving forces near Belarusian borders. The alliance has denied the accusations.
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With the number of daily new infections from the coronavirus now close to 20,000, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Sunday announced new closures set to take effect on Monday. He is tightening restrictions nationwide for the next month despite street protests in Rome and Naples over curfews.  Concerns over the fast-rising numbers in new daily infections from the coronavirus have brought a rapid tightening of measures by the Italian government. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte signed a new decree announcing the new closures that would take effect across the country starting at midnight.  Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte wearing a protective face mask gestures as he speaks during a news conference on government’s new anti-COVID-19 measures, at Chigi Palace in Rome, Oct. 25, 2020.Conte said the analysis of the epidemiological curve shows a rapid increase with the consequence that across nearly the entire country, the spread of the contagion and the stress on the health system have reached concerning levels. The government has ordered bars, cafes and restaurants to stop serving at 6 p.m. local time. At restaurants, only four customers will be allowed to sit at the same table unless they live under the same roof. Seventy-five percent of lessons for high school students will be online but younger children will continue to be able to attend their classes in person. Gyms, swimming pools, spas, cinemas, theaters and gaming halls will be shuttered as will ski resorts. There will be no more fairs and gatherings for weddings and other such events. Local police officers check that stores are closed in a shopping center in Milan, after the Lombardy region imposed a stop to non-essential economic activities and people’s movements between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m, in Milan, Oct. 24, 2020.The latest decree also encourages members of the public not to leave home unless they have to go to work, school, or venture out for health or other strictly necessary reasons. The government says smart working must take place as much as possible and families should also avoid hosting people at home. As the number of people going into intensive care units also rises, Prime Minister Conte has been trying to avoid a new national lockdown, aware of the further damage it would cause to the Italian economy, already suffering from last-year’s two-month-long lockdown. He says every effort is needed to halt the rapid resurgence of the virus responsible for the COVID-19 disease. Conte said everything possible must be done to protect both health and the economy. For the past couple of days and before the new closures were announced, Italy witnessed street protests in Naples and Rome, indicating that despite the concerns over the rising number of infections, there is general discontent in the nation and fears that this pandemic is far from under control.      
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Pope Francis on Sunday named 13 new cardinals, including Washington D.C. Archbishop Wilton Gregory, who would become the first Black U.S. prelate to earn the coveted red hat.In a surprise announcement from his studio window to faithful standing below in St. Peter’s Square, Francis said the churchmen would be elevated to a cardinal’s rank in a ceremony on Nov. 28.Other new cardinals include an Italian who is the long-time papal preacher at the Vatican, the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, a Franciscan friar; the Kigali, Rwanda, Archbishop Antoine Kambanda; the Capiz, Philippines, Archbishop Jose Feurte Advincula, and the Santiago, Chile, Archbishop Celestino Aos Braco. Another Franciscan who was tapped is Friar Mauro Gambetti, in charge of the Sacred Convent in Assisi. The pope, when elected in 2013, chose St. Francis of Assisi as his namesake saint. Earlier this month, the pontiff journeyed to that hill town in Umbria to sign an encyclical, or important church teaching document, about brotherhood.In a reflection of the pope’s stress on helping those in need, Francis also named the former director of the Rome Catholic charity, Caritas, the Rev. Enrico Feroci, to be a cardinal.Wilton, 73, was picked by Francis to lead the prestigious diocese in the U.S. capital last year. The prelate has his pulse on factions in the U.S. Catholic Church, which has both strong conservative and liberal veins since he served three times as the head of the U.S. Conference of Bishops.Nine of the new cardinals are younger than 80, and thus eligible to elect the next pontiff in a secret conclave. Some cardinals head powerful Vatican offices, and pontiffs frequently turn to cardinals for advice.No details were immediately given by the Vatican about the concistory, as the formal ceremony to make the churchmen cardinals is known, especially in view of travel restrictions involving many countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.As he has in other groups of cardinals he tapped in his papacy, Francis in this selection reflected the global nature of the Catholic Church and his flock of 1.2 billion Catholics.Others named cardinals include a Maltese prelate, Monsignor Mario Grech; Monsignor Marcello Semeraro, an Italian serving as prefect of the Vatican office which runs the saint-making process; Bishop Cornelius Sim, a Brunei native who serves as apostolic vicar of Brunei; the Italian archbishop of Siena and nearby towns in Tuscany, Augusto Lojudice; the retired bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, Monsignor Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel; and an Italian former Vatican diplomat, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi.Churchmen over 80 who are named cardinals are chosen to honor their life of service to the church. Those in this batch too old to vote in a conclave are Cantalamessa, Tomasi, Feroci and Arizmendi Esquivel. 
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The leader and founder of Greece’s neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party has turned himself in after a court ordered him and other senior members of the party to serve more than 13 years in prison for acting as a criminal organization under the guise of a political party.It is a historic decision bound to have ramifications for other far-right parties across Europe.However, as a three-member criminal court here ordered the leaders of the far-right Golden Dawn party to immediately serve out their prison sentences, many of them emerged defiant.Nikos Michaloliakos, the leader of Golden Dawn, emerged from his home, vowing to quickly return.“We will be vindicated!” he shouted. “I am proud to be taken to jail for my ideas, and we will be vindicated by history and the Greek people,” he said.Michaloliakos and six other leading members of Golden Dawn were former members of the Greek parliament. One continues to hold a seat in the European Parliament.They were convicted earlier this month and sentenced to more than 13 years in prison for leading a violent, decade-long campaign that targeted anyone who was on the political left and not Greek.Despite their conviction, the defendants battled in court for days seeking to win some sort of leniency or suspended sentences that would allow them to serve their sentences at home. Even the court’s prosecutor recommended the neo-Nazis be kept out of jail on the grounds that they had had no prior criminal record.After repeated delays and days of deliberation, though, the judge, Maria Lepenioti, ordered the entire leadership to serve out their sentences behind bars, insisting the order take immediate effect.Police have already started rounding up Golden Dawn’s leaders. They are all expected to appeal their convictions.After the five-year trial, prosecution attorneys such as Kostas Papadakis emerged elated, punching the air in victory.This decision is historic, he said, because it debunks the mystique surrounding Golden Dawn.With a symbol similar to a swastika, and stiff-arm salutes in praise of Adolf Hitler, Golden Dawn is a neo-Nazi party that emerged from obscurity, gaining surprising prominence during Greece’s grim economic crisis.The party went from winning fewer than 20,000 votes in the 2009 general election to more than 7% of the vote and winning 21 parliamentary seats within three years.It retained that hold through 2019, with 18 lawmakers in Greece’s Parliament.No outright fascist party in Europe managed to make such gains in general elections for years.What made Golden Dawn different, and potentially more dangerous than all other Nazi groupings in Europe, was that in public many of its members professed respectable politics and community service that put Greeks first.Many of its members helped escort young women, protecting them at night across the country’s crime-infested capital. They came to the aid of senior citizens and brought food and clothes to many of those in need, including the tens of thousands of Greeks who had lost their jobs to the financial crisis.But they were also seen as the kind of Nazis read about in history books, all driven by profound racism and an admiration for Adolf Hitler, his extremist rhetoric, the torchlit flag-waving rallies, the endless recruitment of young men and the operation of violent hit squads that frequently roamed the streets of the country, targeting immigrants, communist trade unionists, gay people and an antifascist rapper.It was this deadly attack in 2013 against Pavlos Fyssas that finally forced authorities to crack down on the violent group and send its leaders to jail.It remains unclear whether the party can and will remain operative. It is also unclear whether the end of Golden Dawn will stamp out far-right extremism and racist attitudes still strong within Greek society.
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Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a phone call on Saturday that Belarus and Russia were ready to respond jointly to external threats, Russian agencies quoted Belarus state media as saying.Lukashenko, who is holding on to power despite major protests in recent weeks calling for him to resign, is facing the prospect of a national strike that could begin on Monday following an ultimatum set by opposition leaders.Lukashenko has shown no sign he will heed the ultimatum and step down. Protests against his 26-year rule began following an Aug. 9 election victory his opponents say was rigged.Lukashenko had sought to mend fences with the West in recent years and Pompeo had traveled to Belarus in February in a bid to “normalize” ties. But the crisis after the disputed election pushed Lukashenko back closer to traditional ally Russia.A U.S. State Department spokesperson confirmed Pompeo’s call on Saturday. “The Secretary called for the full release and immediate departure from Belarus of wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Vitali Shkliarov and reaffirmed U.S. support for the democratic aspirations of the people of Belarus,” the spokesperson said in a statement.Washington has imposed sanctions on Belarus officials following violent crackdowns at demonstrations in Minsk and across the country.Protesters shouting slogans and waving red-and-white opposition flags marched through the streets of Minsk on Saturday, footage taken by local media showed.”Russia does not interfere in the internal affairs of Belarus. At the same time, the countries are ready to jointly respond to emerging external threats,” Russia’s Interfax news agency cited Belarus state television as saying, describing the call.”By mutual opinion, after Pompeo’s February visit to Minsk, the situation has changed dramatically, new challenges have arisen and are emerging,” Interfax cited Belarusian state television as saying.
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Confirmed coronavirus infections continued to soar Saturday in many parts of the U.S. and Europe. In some cases, so did anger over the restrictions governments put in place to try to stem the tide.Oklahoma, Illinois, New Mexico and Michigan were among states announcing new record highs in daily confirmed cases Saturday, a day after a nationwide daily record of more than 83,000 reported infections, according to Johns Hopkins University.Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, Michigan’s chief medical executive, said it’s “now more important than ever that people take this seriously.” The 3,338 new COVID-19 cases in her state topped the old record by more than 1,300.German authorities reported a record one-day total of new coronavirus cases this weekend while leaders in Spain and Italy debated how to control the resurgent virus amid public pushback to curfews despite a global death toll topping 1.1 million.In Italy, officials huddled with regional authorities on Saturday to determine what new restrictions could be imposed as confirmed cases surpassed half a million.Premier Giuseppe Conte has said he doesn’t want to put Italy under severe lockdown again, as he did at the pandemic’s start. In past days, several governors ordered overnight curfews in their regions to stop people from congregating at night outside bars and other venues.One such curfew fueled anger in Naples, triggering a violent clash by protesters with police. Italian media said protesters hurled rocks, pieces of broken ceramic tiles and smoke bombs at police while they battled back with tear gas. Elsewhere in Europe, police in Warsaw, Poland, used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse protesters angry over new virus restrictions, and anti-lockdown demonstrators gathered in London’s Trafalgar Square.Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese on Saturday branded the Naples protests “unacceptable” and said prosecutors were investigating.According to Health Ministry figures, Italy’s one-day new caseload of confirmed infections crept closer to 20,000 on Saturday, a slightly bigger daily increase than Friday. The nation’s confirmed death toll, second-highest in Europe after Britain’s, rose to 37,210 after 151 more deaths.Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez plans to meet with his Cabinet on Sunday morning in Madrid to prepare a new state of emergency, a strategy used twice since the start of the pandemic.The first in March ordered strict home confinement across the nation, closed stores, and recruited private industry for the national public health fight. The second went into effect two weeks ago, focused on transit limits in the Madrid area.In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel urged citizens again to reduce their number of social contacts as the nation recorded a new daily high for infections.The 14,714 cases reported on Saturday includes cases from both Friday and Thursday because of a three-hour data outage at the country’s disease control agency Thursday. Forty-nine more people died, bringing the overall death toll past 10,000.The chancellor said in her weekly podcast “if we all obey (to social distancing) we will all together survive this enormous challenge posed by the virus.”Other European countries have tightened restrictions hoping to cope with their own rising case counts.Slovenia closed down hotels, shopping malls and other nonessential shops as authorities reported a record high of both new daily infections and deaths in the small country of 2 million people. Greece unveiled a mask requirement and a mandatory nightly curfew for Athens and other areas deemed high risk.In South America, Colombia became the eighth country to reach 1 million confirmed coronavirus cases on Saturday, according to the Colombian Ministry of Health. Two of the others are also in Latin America: Argentina, which hit that mark on Monday, and Brazil, which has more than 5 million confirmed cases.In the U.S., the virus has claimed about 240,000 lives, according to the COVID-19 Dashboard published by Johns Hopkins. The total U.S. caseload reported Friday was 83,757, topping the 77,362 cases reported on July 16.Many rural communities are bearing the brunt. In Columbia, Tennessee, Maury Regional Medical Center said Friday it was suspending elective surgical procedures that require an overnight stay for two weeks, beginning on Monday. The Daily Herald reported that it was treating 50 COVID-19 inpatients, 20 of whom were in the medical center’s 26-bed intensive care unit.Martin Chaney, Maury Regional’s chief medical officer, said small home gatherings have become the emerging threat through which the disease is being spread in the six-county region the medical center covers.”In our homes, we all let our guard down,” Chaney said. “You think it is safe to not socially distance, and you take your masks off. That is spreading the disease very rapidly.”
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U.S. officials in Turkey have warned Americans in the country of possible terror attacks in Istanbul and other areas within the country.
 
In a security alert issued Friday, the mission said it received “credible reports of potential terrorist attacks and kidnappings against U.S. citizens and foreign nationals in Istanbul, including against the U.S. Consulate General, as well as potentially other locations in Turkey.”
 
The mission warned U.S. citizens to exercise extra caution in large office buildings, shopping malls and in other places where Americans and other foreigners may gather.
 
Visa and other services for Americans provided at the mission’s facilities in Turkey have been suspended, the mission said.
 
The U.S. State Department said Saturday the alert was issued “as a result of ongoing assessments of security conditions” in the country but did not disclose specifics about what prompted the alert.
 
The alert followed recent U.S. air strikes against al-Qaida forces in Syria, including a strike on Thursday where senior leaders of the terrorist group were said to be meeting.
 
“[Al-Qaida in Syria] takes advantage of the instability in northwest Syria to establish and maintain safe havens to coordinate activities,” the U.S. military’s Central Command warned in a statement.
 
Syria’s Idlib province is the last rebel stronghold in the country after a decade of war. Opposition forces that include jihadist fighters continue to repel attacks by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with assistance from Turkey’s military.
 
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International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said the Olympic Games are not about politics and must guard against becoming a “marketplace of demonstrations.”
Against the backdrop of the Black Lives Matter movement to protest racial injustice, calls have increased this year for a change to Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter, which bans any form political protest during the Games.
World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe said earlier this month he believes athletes should have the right to make gestures of political protest during the Games, contrary to official IOC policy.
“The Olympic Games are firstly about sport. The athletes personify the values of excellence, solidarity and peace,” Bach wrote in The Guardian.
“They express this inclusiveness and mutual respect also by being politically neutral on the field of play and during the ceremonies. At times this focus on sport needs to be reconciled with the freedom of speech all athletes also enjoy at the Games.
“The unifying power of the Games can only unfold if everyone shows respect for and solidarity to one another. Otherwise, the Games will descend into a marketplace of demonstrations of all kinds, dividing and not uniting the world.”
Bach said he experienced the “political impotence” of sport when West Germany was among several countries to boycott the 1980 Moscow Games.
“As chair of the West German athletes’ commission I strongly opposed this boycott because it punished us for something we had nothing to do with – the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet army,” Bach, the winner of team fencing gold at Montreal 1976, wrote.
“It’s no consolation that we were ultimately proven right that this boycott not only punished the wrong ones, but that it also had no political effect… the Soviet army stayed nine more years in Afghanistan.
“The Olympic Games are not about politics. The IOC, as a civil non-governmental organization, is strictly politically neutral at all times.”
The COVID-19 pandemic forced the IOC to delay this year’s Tokyo Games until 2021. 
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Heavy fighting continues over the Nagorno-Karabakh region as Armenia and Azerbaijan accuse each other of shelling residential areas.Nagorno-Karabakh authorities said Azerbaijani rockets hit the town of Martakert and several villages in the Martuni region overnight.Nagorno-Karabakh officials say 927 of their troops have been killed, and more than 30 civilians have died.Azerbaijan has not disclosed its military losses but has said 63 civilians have been killed and 292 wounded.While the fighting continued in the breakaway mountain enclave, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan to “end the violence and protect civilians” after nearly a month of intense fighting.In a statement issued Friday after Pompeo met separately with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan in Washington the state department said, “The secretary also stressed the importance of the sides entering substantive negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to resolve the conflict based on the Helsinki Final Act principles of the non-use or threat of force, territorial integrity, and the equal rights and self-determination of peoples.”Pompeo said in a tweet after his talks that he and both foreign ministers discussed “critical steps” to halt the violence. “Both must implement a ceasefire and return to substantive negotiations,” he said.Mnatsakanyan told VOA the talks were “very good” on Friday as he left the State Department, where about two dozen demonstrators, mostly Armenians, were gathered outside. When asked about a timeline for a cease-fire, he said “we [will] keep working on that.” The meeting in Washington was arranged after two failed Russian attempts to broker a cease-fire in the worst outbreak of fighting over the region in more than a quarter-century.Pompeo has joined other global leaders in pushing for an end to the fighting over the disputed territory. But Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Wednesday he sees no possibility of a diplomatic solution at this stage of the conflict.For his part, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said Armenian forces must withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh to end the fighting, which Russian President Vladimir said may have killed about 5,000 people since the violence erupted.Turkey said Wednesday it will not hesitate to send troops and provide military support to help Azerbaijan if such a request is made. Pompeo has called on other countries not to provide “fuel” for the conflict.Shortly before the meetings in Washington began, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he hoped to collaborate with Russia to resolve the conflict.Aram Avetisyan of VOA’s Armenian Service contributed reporting.  
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Tensions between the United States and Turkey appear to be growing, following the latest war of words between the two allies over Ankara’s purchase of Russia’s S-400 air defense system.The latest spat ignited Friday, after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed earlier reports that Turkey has started testing the Russian-made system, brushing aside U.S. concerns.”(The tests) have been and are being conducted,” Erdogan told reporters. “The United States’ stance absolutely does not concern us.”“If we are not going to test these capabilities at our disposal, then what are we going to do?” he added.Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks to the media, in Istanbul, Oct. 23, 2020. Erdogan confirmed the country tested its Russian-made missile defense system, despite objections from the United States.The U.S. Defense Department responded hours later Friday, with a harshly worded statement, stopping short of accusing Turkey of betraying the alliance.”The U.S. Department of Defense condemns in the strongest possible terms Turkey’s October 16 test,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman, Jonathan Rath Hoffman said, warning the testing “risks serious consequences for our security relationship.”“We have been clear and unwavering in our position,” Hoffman added. “An operational S-400 system is not consistent with Turkey’s commitments as a U.S. and NATO ally.”Reports that Turkey has started testing the Russian-made air defense system first emerged last week, sparking a U.S. Navy F-35 jets fly over Levi’s Stadium during the national anthem before an NFL playoff football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Minnesota Vikings, Jan. 11, 2020, in Santa Clara, Calif.Since then, the U.S. has suspended Turkey from participation in its F-35 stealth fighter jet program and, at times, has considered potential sanctions against Ankara even though it is a NATO ally.U.S. officials have warned Turkey’s use of the advanced Russian radar technology could compromise NATO’s military systems and could potentially be used to target NATO jets in Turkey, including the F-35.Turkey has previously dismissed such concerns, and Erdogan indicated Friday there may not be much the U.S. can do to get hm to change course.”It seems that the gentlemen (in the U.S.) are especially bothered that this is a weapon belonging to Russia,” Erdogan told reporters, before adding, “We are determined, we are continuing on our path as always.”Information from Reuters was used in this report.
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is calling on the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan to “end the violence and protect civilians” after nearly a month of intense fighting in the breakaway mountain enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
 
The State Department issued the statement after Pompeo met separately with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan in Washington on Friday.
 
“The secretary also stressed the importance of the sides entering substantive negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs to resolve the conflict based on the Helsinki Final Act principles of the non-use or threat of force, territorial integrity, and the equal rights and self-determination of peoples,” said State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus.
 
Mnatsakanyan told VOA the talks were “very good,” as he left the State Department Friday. When asked about a timeline for a cease-fire, he said “we [will] keep working on that.”
 
A group of some two dozen demonstrators, mostly Armenians, were gathered outside the State Department Friday.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 7 MB480p | 10 MB540p | 14 MB720p | 34 MB1080p | 58 MBOriginal | 60 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioThe meeting in Washington was arranged after two failed Russian attempts to broker a cease-fire in the worst outbreak of fighting over the region in more than a quarter-century.
 
Pompeo has joined other global leaders in pushing for an end to the fighting over the disputed territory. But Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Wednesday he sees no possibility of a diplomatic solution at this stage of the conflict.
 
For his part, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said Armenian forces must withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh to end the fighting, which Russian President Vladimir said may have killed about 5,000 people since the violence erupted.
 
Also Wednesday, Turkey said it will not hesitate to send troops and provide military support to help Azerbaijan if such a request is made. Pompeo has called on other countries not to provide “fuel” for the conflict.
 
Shortly before the meetings in Washington began, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he hoped to collaborate with Russia to resolve the conflict.
 Aram Avetisyan of VOA’s Armenian Service contributed reporting. 
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A political standoff is brewing in the Czech Republic where the health minister has refused to resign after pictures were published of him eating in a Prague restaurant closed under COVID-19 regulations.
 
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis Friday called on Health Minister Roman Prymula to resign after the tabloid Blesk published pictures of Prymula leaving a restaurant late at night and entering a car without a face mask. Both acts appear to violate Health Ministry restrictions on restaurants and mask requirements in most places, including chauffeured cars.
 
But later Friday, Prymula told reporters he did not break any rules and refused to step down. He said he had been invited to the restaurant for meeting with a hospital director and entered the restaurant through a private entrance and wore a mask once he was in his car.
 
Bars and restaurants in the Czech Republic are closed under current regulations designed to at least slow the spread of the virus. Schools, theaters, cinemas, zoos and many other locations are also closed and professional sports competitions have been stopped.
 
The health minister said the prime minster does have the option to fire him. Babis was scheduled to meet with Czech President Milos Zeman, who approves ministerial changes, later Friday to discuss the matter.
 
The controversy comes as the nation is battling the worst resurgence of COVID-19 in Europe. As of Friday, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control reports over the past two weeks, the Czech Republic has led the continent with 1,148 cases per 100,000 people. 
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met in Washington Friday with the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in a bid to help end nearly a month of intense fighting in the breakaway mountain enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.
 
Pompeo invited Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan to meet with him separately at the State Department and said earlier this week he is anxious to hear what they are seeing on the ground.
 
The meeting in Washington was arranged after two failed Russian attempts to broker a cease-fire in the worst outbreak of fighting over the region in more than a quarter-century.
 
Pompeo has joined other global leaders in pushing for an end to the fighting over the disputed territory. But Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said Wednesday he sees no possibility of a diplomatic solution at this stage of the conflict.  
 
For his part, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said Armenian forces must withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh to end the fighting, which Russian President Vladimir said may have killed about 5,000 people since the violence erupted.  
 
Also Wednesday, Turkey said it will not hesitate to send troops and provide military support to help Azerbaijan if such a request is made. Pompeo has called on other countries not to provide “fuel” for the conflict.  
 
Shortly before the meetings in Washington began, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he hoped to collaborate with Russia to resolve the conflict.
 
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Belgian officials Friday announced new COVID-19 restrictions but stopped short of a lockdown to stem the surging rate of infections, which are now averaging more than 10,000 per day.At a news conference in Brussels, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced, among other restrictions, fans are now banned from sports matches; zoos and theme parks will be closed; and limits will be placed on the number of people in cultural spaces. Teleworking remains the rule wherever possible.Belgium had already closed cafes, bars and restaurants and imposed a curfew, and has Europe’s second highest infection rate per capita after the Czech Republic. New infections hit a peak of 10,500 on Thursday.De Croo said Belgium is “pressing the ‘pause’ button” for a few goals, “to ensure that our doctors and hospitals can keep doing their work, that children can continue attending schools and that businesses can continue working while preserving as much as possible the mental health of our population.”Visits at nursing homes have also been limited, but many health experts think the new curtailment won’t be enough to break the contagion chain.Since the pandemic started, the virus has killed 10,588 people in the small nation with 11.5-million inhabitants.The health situation is so dramatic in nine out of 10 Belgium’s provinces that authorities have recently warned intensive care units will hit their capacity by mid-November if new coronavirus cases continue at the same pace.”No rules, no laws can defeat the virus,” said De Croo. “The only ones who can defeat it, it is us and our collective behavior.”To avoid a collapse of the health system, Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke said that the number of beds available in ICUs will be increased to 2,300 while non-urgent operations will be postponed over the next four weeks.De Croo said it is not new rules and regulations that will defeat the virus, but the collective behavior of the people.  He also sent a message of support to business owners and workers affected by the measures who struggle financially and are losing their jobs.”To all the people affected on the economic level be assured that we are putting everything in place to help, we are going through a national crisis, and national crisis requires national solidarity,” he said.
 
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The relationship between France and the United States is rarely as far apart as it is now, say experts. As the U.S. presidential election nears, polls show many French are hoping for a reboot under a new leader in the White House, as Lisa Bryant reports for VOA from Paris.
Producer: Henry Hernandez
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Russia and Iran are ramping up attacks on U.S. government networks and computer systems while also amplifying their disinformation campaigns, hoping to rattle the confidence of American voters with less than two weeks until the Nov. 3 presidential election.The warning Thursday from U.S. intelligence and election security officials came less than 24 hours after the director of national intelligence blamed Iran for launching the first sensational attack on the upcoming election, accusing Tehran of being behind thousands of spoofed emails designed to intimidate voters.Thursday’s advisories from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency suggested that the emails, as well as the ability of Russia and Iran to access voter registration information, were just the start of a larger campaign to undermine the U.S. elections.According to the FBI and CISA, the attacks from Russia began in September, targeting dozens of state and local government networks involved in activities ranging from aviation to education.The Russian cyber actor known as Beserk Bear “successfully compromised network infrastructure, and as of October 1, 2020, exfiltrated data from at least two victim servers,” the advisories said.The attackers also managed to obtain credentials that could allow them to move around in the networks, seeking out critical information that they could exploit at a later date, potentially to disrupt the upcoming presidential election.”There may be some risk to elections information housed on SLTT [state, local, tribal and territorial] government networks,” the statement added. “However, the FBI and CISA have no evidence to date that integrity of elections data has been compromised.”Officials refused to share additional details about the Russian exploits, or say which government servers had been compromised, but the independent cyber security firm Mandiant said the Russian behavior appeared to be geared toward the Nov. 3 vote.”Access to these systems could enable disruption or could be an end in itself, allowing the actor to seize on perceptions of election insecurity and undermine the democratic process,” Mandiant Senior Director of Analysis John Hultquist said in a statement.Hultquist added that while there had been at least one attack on an election-related target, “we have no information which suggests these actors are capable or even willing to alter votes.”But while the Russian cyber actors appear content, for the moment, to threaten U.S. election-related networks, the FBI and CISA warned Thursday that Iranian-linked actors appear to be in position to exploit current network vulnerabilities.“These actors have conducted a significant number of intrusions against U.S.-based networks since August 2019,” according to the new advisory, pointing to possible distributed denial of service (DDos) attacks, spear-phishing campaigns and website defacements.“These activities could render these systems temporarily inaccessible to the public or election officials, which could slow, but would not prevent, voting or the reporting of results,” the advisories said.It further warned that Iranian cyber actors have also been expanding their election-related disinformation efforts, “creating fictitious media sites and spoofing legitimate media sites to spread obtained U.S. voter-registration data, anti-American propaganda, and misinformation about voter suppression, voter fraud, and ballot fraud.”The warnings from U.S. security and intelligence officials represent a shift from the cautious, but seemingly more optimistic tone they sounded as recently as last month.”Russia continues to try to influence our elections, primarily through what we would call malign foreign influence … as opposed to what we saw in 2016 where there was also an effort to target election infrastructure,” FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers on the House Homeland Security Committee Sept. 17.#Election2020-“#Russia continues to try to influence our elections, primarily thru what we would call malign foreign influence” per @FBI’s Wray “As opposed to what we saw in 2016 where there was also an effort to target election infrastructure”— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) September 17, 2020But in an interview with Hearst Television two weeks ago, the top U.S. counterintelligence official suggested the threat landscape was changing, saying Russia, Iran and China were actively targeting U.S. election infrastructure.”We are very resilient, and we’ve been very successful in pushing back the majority of these efforts,” National Counterintelligence and Security Center William Evanina said.Evanina confirms to Hearst #Russia#China#Iran have actively targeted US election infrastructure, emails/servers for both the @realDonaldTrump & @JoeBiden campaigns”We are very resilient & we’ve been very successful in pushing back the majority of these efforts”— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) October 8, 2020In the wake of the Iranian email campaign, officials are warning American voters these campaigns by Russia and Iran, are just the start.“The intelligence shared [Wednesday], while alarming, is not surprising,” CISA Director Christopher Krebs said in a statement, adding that the number of actors seeking to meddle is likely to grow.”These are desperate attempts by our adversaries to intimidate or to undermine voter confidence, but Americans can rest assured: thousands of your fellow citizens stand ready to defend your vote, every single day” per @NSAGov’s Imbordino & @US_CYBERCOM’s BrigGen Hartman— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) October 22, 2020In the meantime, some current and former U.S. officials have expressed a sense of foreboding, noting Russia and Iran may not be done making use of the voter registration data they obtained, and which Iran used in its email campaign.“The reported Iranian acquisition of voter data should be a cause for concern,” said Norman Roule, a former senior U.S. intelligence official, who said Tehran’s efforts show its cyber and influence operations have evolved.“Whether or not this data was publicly available, its acquisition by Iranian actors engaged in these operations indicates that the material will form the basis for future targeting operations,” he said. “If our response becomes an internal debate with little focus on Iran, they will learn that these operations come at little cost.”Another current U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter, told VOA there is heightened concern about Tehran’s efforts, warning the Iranian regime appears to still be looking for payback following the drone strike in January that killed Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani.For now, state election officials are urging voters to remain calm and avoid falling for upsetting or sensational claims likely to pop up on social media, whether director by Iran, Russia or anyone else.“Be prepared for foreign efforts aimed at sowing division and undermining the legitimacy of the election,” a coalition of national and state officials said in a statement issued late Thursday. “Be prepared for attempts to confuse or misinform.”“The entire election community stands ready for the task ahead,” they added.NEW: @CISAgov@EACgov@NASSorg@NASEDorg on attacks vs #Election2020″We must remain steadfast…While this year has thrown unprecedented obstacles in our way, the entire election community stands ready for the task ahead & united in our goal to protect our democracy” pic.twitter.com/Go3imyxLgl— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) October 22, 2020Some experts worry that as Election Day draws near, American voters will be tested like never before.“The really tricky problem is that we’re all in a laboratory right now and we’re being experimented on by different parties,” said John Scott-Railston, a senior researcher at The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School.”We don’t know what the results will be. They [U.S. adversaries] don’t know what the results will be. But they’re very much learning,” he said.
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Healthy volunteers will be deliberately infected with the coronavirus to try to speed up the development of a vaccine, under plans announced by the British government this week.  The trial will involve healthy volunteers ages 18 to 30. Most coronavirus vaccine trials involve giving volunteers the potential vaccine or a placebo and then waiting until enough of them have been exposed to the virus through their everyday lives. That can take months or years. Britain announced this week it plans to begin the so-called “human challenge” trials in May 2021 to speed up the development of vaccines.  Several young people have already volunteered, among them Danica Marcos, 22, a recent university graduate from London. “So many people [are] struggling right now. I want this pandemic to be over,” Marcos told The Associated Press. “Every day that goes on, more cases are going on, more people are dying. And if this vaccine trial could mean that this period of trauma for the whole world will be over sooner, I want to help. I want to be a part of that.” People walk past a display featuring health advice in the shopping district in central Sheffield, south Yorkshire, Oct. 21, 2020. (AFP)Alastair Fraser-Urqhart, 18, from Stoke-on-Trent said he wanted to contribute to a vaccine.  “Personally, I can’t let this opportunity to do something, to really do something, pass me by when I’m at such low risk than other people,” he said. The British government plans to invest over $43.4 million in the challenge trial. The World Health Organization said it could be significant. “There is a very long history of this for development of a number of vaccines that has been part of what has gone on with, say, the development of the cholera vaccines and the typhoid vaccines,” said Margaret Harris, a spokeswoman for WHO. Harris also expressed some concerns. “What is critical is that if people are considering this, it must be overseen by an ethics committee, and the volunteers must have full consent, and they must select the volunteers in order to minimize their risk. Because you will be challenging people with a virus that we do not have a treatment for,” Harris said. “So, you must ensure that everybody involved understands exactly what is at stake, must be selected to minimize the risk. The volunteer and you must ensure that informed consent is rigorous, that they really do understand all the risks.” FILE – A passenger in a car receives a novel coronavirus test at a drive-in COVID-19 testing facility set up at the Chessington World of Adventures Resort, in Chessington, southwest of London, Oct. 20, 2020. (AFP)Infections, hospitalizations and deaths from the new coronavirus are rising sharply in many countries around the world. A vaccine remains the best hope of any return to some kind of normality, said Dr. Sterghios Moschos, a microbiologist at the University of Northumbria, who spoke to VOA in a recent interview. “At this point in time, we don’t have a way of stopping transmission,” Moschos said. “And we don’t even have the financial capacity to give multiple antibody treatments, steroids, et cetera, like Donald Trump received, to everybody in the population that needs treatment. The cost is quite large for these kinds of treatments. We don’t have a vaccine. And therefore, as a result, we need to contain the spread of this virus. Not just manage it, contain it.” The initial aim of the British research team will be to discover the smallest amount of virus it takes to cause a COVID-19 infection, using controlled doses of the virus. If approved by regulators and an ethics committee, it is hoped the full challenge trial could begin in May 2021.  
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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed Thursday that the military alliance would establish a space center at the Allied Air Command base in Ramstein, Germany.Speaking in Brussels after a virtual conference of NATO foreign ministers, Stoltenberg confirmed reports regarding the space center made earlier this week by European news agencies.”NATO is determined to keep our cutting edge in all domains,” he said, including “land, sea, air, cyber and space.”During a meeting last December, Stoltenberg declared “space as an operational domain for NATO. And today we took another important step.”In his comments, the NATO chief said the Allied Air Command space center would help to coordinate allied space activities and provide support for NATO missions and operations from space using satellite communications and imagery. Stoltenberg said the center also would help protect NATO-allied space systems by sharing information about potential threats.Stoltenberg has said repeatedly that NATO has no interest in the “militarization” of space. But Thursday, he said threats against NATO allied satellites and space systems were real.“For instance,” he said, “Russia and China are now developing capabilities that can blind, destroy, for instance, satellites, which will have a severe impact on both military and civilian activities on the ground.”Stoltenberg also said NATO foreign ministers expressed concern about Russia’s growing arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles and the importance of Russia and the U.S. extending the new START missile treaty.The secretary-general also called for an immediate cease-fire and cessation of all hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The region lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994.The current fighting that started there marks the biggest escalation in the conflict since the war’s end. Stoltenberg called on Turkey to “use its considerable influence in the region to calm tensions.”
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French President Emmanuel Macron paid a soaring tribute Wednesday to a middle school teacher brutally killed in an Islamic terrorist attack last week, while vowing an all-out fight against radical Islam he said threatened the nation. Seven people, including two teenagers, face possible prosecution.President Macron’s homage to slain history teacher Samuel Paty was broadcast live from the Sorbonne University in Paris — picked deliberately for its symbolism of learning and light.Macron called Paty the kind of teacher people never forget:  a man who was respectful of his students and had read the Muslim holy book, the Quran.Paty –who posthumously received France’s highest Legion of Honor award – had become the face of France, the President said, of the nation’s determination to destroy terrorists and thwart Islamist extremism.Macron’s address was among a number of displays of anger and grief in France after Paty’s gruesome beheading last Friday as he returned home from the Paris-area school where he taught. French prosecutors have charged seven people with the killing.Among them are two teens, part of a group of students who were paid by Paty’s killer to identify him. The assailant, 18-year-old Abdullakh Anzorov, was shot dead by police shortly after stabbing and beheading Paty. Officials say Anzorov was apparently motivated by anger after the teacher showed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a class on free expression.Also charged in Paty’s death, France’s anti-terror prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said, was the father of one of Paty’s students who launched an online hate campaign against the teacher over the cartoons – along with a known Islamist radical who helped with that campaign.This is France’s second terrorist attack in less than a month, and the government’s response has been swift. Police have carried out a number of raids and are vowing to expel more than 250 foreign-born radicals as well as shut down institutions allegedly linked to radical Islam.Among those targeted for dissolution is the Collective Against Islamophobia in France for allegedly supporting the father’s hate campaign against Paty. But the organization’s head, Jawad Bachare, rejected those charges claiming his group was being used as a scapegoat by a government that cannot protect its nation.Many French have responded to these latest attacks with protests and silent marches in defense of free expression and secularism. 
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