The 518-year-old Mona Lisa has seen many things in her life on a wall, but rarely this: Almost four months with no Louvre visitors.
 
As she stares out through bulletproof glass into the silent Salle des Etats, in what was once the world’s most-visited museum, her celebrated smile could almost denote relief.  
 
A bit further on, the white marble Venus de Milo is for once free of her girdle of picture-snapping visitors.
 
It’s uncertain when the Paris museum will reopen, after being closed on Oct. 30 in line with the French government’s virus containment measures. But those lucky enough to get in benefit from a rare private look at collections covering 9,000 years of human history — with plenty of space to breathe.  
 
That’s normally sorely lacking in a museum that’s blighted by its own success: Before the pandemic, staff walked out complaining they couldn’t handle the overcrowding, with up to 30,000-40,000 visitors a day.
 
The forced closure has also granted museum officials a golden opportunity to carry out long-overdue refurbishments that were simply not possible with nearly 10 million visitors a year.  
 
Unlike the first lockdown, which brought all Louvre activities to a halt, the second has seen some 250 of the museum employees remain fully operational.
 
An army of curators, restorers and workers are cleaning sculptures, reordering artifacts, checking inventories, reorganizing entrances and conducting restorations, including in the Egyptian Wing and the Grande Galerie, the museum’s largest hall that is being fully renovated.
 
“We’re taking advantage of the museum’s closure to carry out a number of major works, speed up maintenance operations and start repair works that are difficult to schedule when the museum is operating normally,” Laurent le Guedart, the Louvre’s Architectural Heritage and Gardens Director told AP from inside the Grande Galerie.
 
As le Guedart spoke, restorers were standing atop scaffolds taking scientific probes of the walls in preparation for a planned restoration, travelling back to the 18th century through layer after layer of paint.  
 
Around the corner the sound of carpenters taking up floorboards was faintly audible. They were putting in the cables for a new security system.  
 
Previously, these jobs could only be done on a Tuesday, the Louvre’s only closed day in the week. Now hammers are tapping, machines drilling and brushes scrubbing to a full week schedule, slowed down only slightly by social distancing measures.
 
In total, ten large-scale projects that were on hold since last March are underway — and progressing fast.  
 
This includes works in the Etruscan and Italian Halls, and the gilded Salon Carre. A major restoration of the ancient Egyptian tomb chapel of Akhethotep from 2400BC is also underway.  
 
“When the museum reopens, everything will be perfect for its visitors — this Sleeping Beauty will have had the time to powder her nose,” said Elisabeth Antoine-Konig, Artifacts Department Curator. “Visitors will be happy to see again these now well-lit rooms with polished floors and remodeled display cases.”
 
Initially, only visitors with pre-booked reservations will be granted entry in line with virus safety precautions.
 
Those who cannot wait are still able to see the Louvre’s treasure trove of art in virtual tours online.
 
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A Moscow court Saturday rejected opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s appeal of a three-year prison sentence for allegedly violating the parole terms of a 2014 suspended sentence on embezzlement charges.Navalny, the Kremlin’s most prominent critic, maintains that the case against him is politically motivated. He asked the judge to order his release, referring to a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights that the case was baseless and ordering Russia to free him. Moscow dismissed that request as unlawful.The appeal court judge, Dmitry Balashov, however, decided to count the six weeks of Navalny’s house arrest as time served. Navalny will serve the rest of the sentence, just over 2½ years, in a penal colony.Later Saturday, Navalny is also scheduled to appear in court in a defamation case, for allegedly slandering a World War II veteran. If convicted, he would face a fine or community service.Navalny was arrested Jan. 17 upon his return to Moscow from Germany following a lengthy recuperation from a near-lethal poisoning attack he and Western nations have blamed on the government of President Vladimir Putin.Russian authorities have denied any involvement in the incident, and have refused to investigate the assassination attempt, citing a lack of evidence.Navalny’s detention has prompted thousands of his supporters to take to the streets across Russia to demand his immediate release. Russian police have arrested several thousand protesters.The United States and its European allies have condemned Navalny’s detention and the aggressive Russian response against demonstrators.   
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The Kremlin’s most prominent opponent, Alexey Navalny, faces two court decisions Saturday that could seal a judge’s ruling to jail him for several years, after he returned to Russia following a poisoning attack.A Moscow court is due to rule on Navalny’s appeal of a decision this month to imprison him for nearly three years for violating the terms of a suspended sentence on embezzlement charges.But if Navalny wins his appeal Saturday, his victory could be short-lived.Prosecutors in a separate trial have called for him to be fined the equivalent of $13,000 for calling a World War II veteran a “traitor” on Twitter last year, with a verdict also expected Saturday.They have also asked Navalny, 44, to be jailed on the same fraud conviction, saying his tweet referencing the veteran was posted during the probation period for the suspended sentence.Backers see bid to silence himSupporters of the outspoken opposition figure say the rulings and several other cases against him are a pretext to silence his corruption exposes and quash his political ambitions.He was given the nearly three-year sentence on February 2 for breaching parole terms of an embezzlement conviction while in Germany recovering from the poisoning.That ruling stemmed from a suspended sentence he was given in 2014 for embezzlement, a ruling the European Court of Human Rights deemed arbitrary.FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with government members via a videoconference at Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, Jan. 28, 2021.The 94-year-old veteran at the center of the defamation trial appeared in a video that was derided by Navalny for promoting constitutional reforms that passed last year and could allow President Vladimir Putin to stay in power until 2036.A series of theatrical hearings in the case ended Tuesday with Navalny asking if the judge could recommend a recipe for pickles, since it is “pointless to talk about the law” with her.Putin came under pressure to release Navalny when he was detained upon arrival at a Moscow airport in January.The arrest sparked large protests across the county that saw more than 10,000 people detained, while the European Union threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia.Europe’s rights court ruled this week that Russia must immediately release Navalny, in a motion swiftly brushed off by the Kremlin.Navalny’s allies believe Russia’s noncompliance with the ruling could lead to its expulsion from the Council of Europe and exacerbate a crisis in Moscow’s ties with Europe that began with the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.Meeting with EU ministersEU member Lithuania’s foreign ministry said Friday that a group of EU foreign ministers would meet with two top Navalny aides in Brussels on Sunday.Navalny aides in talks with EU representatives this month urged the bloc to hit people close to Putin with sanctions.Another Moscow court this week rejected Navalny’s appeal of a fine of 3.3 million rubles (36,825 euros, $44,649) that he was ordered to pay a catering company in another defamation lawsuit.Those charges were levied at the opposition figure by businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, nicknamed “Putin’s chef” because his company Concord catered for the Kremlin.The 59-year-old businessman, who is under U.S. and European sanctions, has two pending cases against Navalny that will be considered in March. 
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Group of Seven leaders, who control a little under half of the world’s economy, on Friday sought to look beyond the COVID-19 pandemic toward rebuilding their battered economies with free trade and to countering China’s “non-market oriented” policies.
 
U.S. President Joe Biden and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi debuted at the G-7 virtual leaders’ meeting, which was chaired by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
 
The leaders called for stronger defenses against a future pandemic, including exploring a global health treaty, but the focus was on a green recovery — on the same day that the United States rejoined the Paris climate agreement.
 
“Jobs and growth is what we’re going to need after this pandemic,” Johnson told the opening of the meeting.
 
An official communique said the G-7 would champion open economies, “data free flow with trust” and work on “a modernized, freer and fairer rules-based multilateral trading system.”
 
After Facebook cut news feeds in Australia, French President Emmanuel Macron raised the role social media platforms should have in preserving freedom of speech and how to regulate them, a French official said Friday.
 
G-7 leaders also supported the commitment of Japan to hold the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 this summer.
 
In a clear reference to China, they said they “will consult with each other on collective approaches to address non-market-oriented policies and practices.”
 
But the tone of the G-7 was distinctly cooperative and collective — as Biden tried to project a message of re-engagement with the world and with global institutions after four years of Donald Trump’s “America First” policies.
 
The COVID-19 pandemic has killed 2.4 million people, tipped the global economy into its worst peacetime slump since the Great Depression and upended normal life for billions.Britian’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson hosts a virtual meeting of G-7 world leaders, at Downing Street in London, Feb. 19, 2021. ‘Mute Angela’
 
Even at the virtual top table of world politics, the “mute curse,” which has stilted video calls for millions of businesses and families over the past months of COVID-19 lockdown, struck.
 
As Johnson began the meeting, a German voice suddenly interrupted him.
 
“Can you hear us Angela,” Johnson quipped to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, chuckling. “I think you need to mute.”
 
Johnson also claimed that Biden had “nicked” — British slang for stolen — his slogan “build back better,” though Johnson said that he himself had probably stolen it from somewhere else.
 
Once the mute problems were over, leaders pledged billions of dollars to COVAX, a coronavirus vaccination program for poorer countries.
 
“COVID-19 shows that the world needs stronger defenses against future risks to global health security,” the G-7 said. “We will continue to support our economies to protect jobs and support a strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive recovery.”
 
Though Biden has cast China as the “most serious competitor” of the United States, China was mentioned only once in the communiques.
 
Johnson said the G-7— as “like-minded liberal free-trading democracies” — stood together on issues such as condemnation of the coup in Myanmar and the detention of Alexei Navalny in Russia.
 
The G-7 of the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada has a combined gross domestic product of about $40 trillion — a bit less than half of the global economy.
 
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Ahead of France’s 2022 presidential election, the government says it will seek to modify electoral laws to allow early voting on electronic machines. But the proposal is meeting backlash from the opposition.    
 
With the topic looming large among lawmakers, political parties in the Senate were clashing this week over the latest draft amendment by the government to modify electoral laws.  
 
The government says it wants to allow early voting on electronic machines up to five days before Election Day to increase voter participation.The political opposition says there’s no need to change the law on such short notice.
 
Stephane Le Rudulier, a conservative senator with the Republican Party, says he opposes the possibility of voters casting their ballots before Election Day because he thinks that voters could miss important updates or breaking news that might change their vote and therefore voters would not be equals. And that, he thinks, would deny legitimacy to any elected candidates.
 
In a Thursday night vote, the proposal was massively rejected by 321 senators. Only 23 senators loyal to President Emmanuel Macron’s party voted in favor.  
 
But that does not mean that the idea of early voting is not popular among French politicians.Patrick Kanner, a Socialist Party senator, describes abstention as a bad poison for any democracy that favors populism and far right movements. He says he supports any initiative to improve voter participation, and sees regular voting, early voting and voting by mail like in the United States as modern tools in the electoral process.
 
In the era of COVID-19, with sanitary measures and social distancing, the debate is open in France to adapt electoral laws to avoid long crowds at polling stations. However, the latest U.S. election and its failure to get fast results in some states set a bad example and hurt public opinion.
 
Jean-Claude Beaujour, a lawyer and vice-president of the France-Ameriques association, says the French want to keep the process simple.
     
“French voters are always concerned with limiting any risk of fraud. There is always the question of the transit of paper ballot. The recent American debate on election fraud has strengthened the feeling the French have about having the most simple and reliable electoral mechanism,” said Beaujour.
 
The French government could revisit its plan to modify the electoral law later this year.
  
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Buckingham Palace confirmed Friday that Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, will not be returning to royal duties, and Harry will give up his honorary military titles — a decision that makes formal, and final, the couple’s split from the royal family.When Harry and Meghan stepped away from full-time royal life in early 2020, it was agreed the situation would be reviewed after a year.Now it has, and the palace said in a statement that the couple, also known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have verified “they will not be returning as working members of The Royal Family. “It said Queen Elizabeth II had spoken to Harry and confirmed “that in stepping away from the work of the Royal Family, it is not possible to continue with the responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service.”The palace said Harry’s appointment as captain general of the Royal Marines and titles with other military groups would revert to the queen before being distributed to other members of the family.Harry, who served in the British army for a decade and has a close bond with the military, founded the Invictus Games competition for wounded troops.”While all are saddened by their decision, the Duke and Duchess remain much loved members of the family,” the palace statement said.American actress Meghan Markle, a former star of the TV legal drama “Suits,” married Harry, a grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, at Windsor Castle in May 2018. Their son, Archie, was born a year later.In early 2020, Meghan and Harry announced they were quitting royal duties and moving to North America, citing what they said were the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media. They live in Santa Barbara, California and are expecting their second child.They recently announced that they will speak to Oprah Winfrey in a TV special to be broadcast next month.A spokesperson for the couple hit back at suggestions that Meghan and Harry were not devoted to duty.”As evidenced by their work over the past year, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex remain committed to their duty and service to the U.K. and around the world, and have offered their continued support to the organizations they have represented regardless of official role,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “We can all live a life of service. Service is universal.” 
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The United States on Friday officially rejoined the 2015 Paris Agreement, reversing a Trump administration decision to leave the climate pact aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions.“The Paris Agreement is an unprecedented framework for global action — we know because we helped design it and make it a reality,” U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a statement. “Its purpose is both simple and expansive: to help us all avoid catastrophic planetary warming and to build resilience around the world to the impacts from climate change we already see.”In 2017, then-president Donald Trump announced the U.S. would pull out of the landmark agreement, saying it was in the United States’ “economic interest to do so.” But terms for leaving the accord meant it did not go into effect until Nov. 4, 2020 – one day after the U.S. presidential election won by Joe Biden.On Jan. 20, shortly after being sworn-in, President Biden signed a stack of executive orders, including the instrument to re-join the Paris Agreement. It was sent to the United Nations, where treaties and agreements are “deposited” with the secretary-general, and now, after a 30-day wait, the U.S. officially becomes a party to the agreement once again.FILE – President Joe Biden signs a series of executive orders, in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, Jan. 28, 2021.The 2015 Paris agreement, signed by virtually every country in the world, aims to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and limit the planet’s temperature increase during this century to 2 degrees Celsius, while working to limit the increase even further to 1.5 degrees.
 
Speaking a day before Washington’s official return, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters that the U.S. decision “strengthens global action” on mitigating global warming.
 
“President Biden’s commitment to net zero emissions means that countries producing now two-thirds of global carbon pollution are pursuing the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050,” Guterres said.Currently, the United States is not on track to meet its Paris pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025.
 
President Biden has pledged to take robust action to meet those goals. He appointed former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry – who helped negotiate the Paris deal in 2015 – as the first-ever presidential envoy on climate and made him a part of his National Security Council.Today’s the day. We’re officially back in the Paris Agreement – again part of the global climate effort. No country can fight this fight on its own. We look forward to a productive year and a successful #COP26 in Glasgow. #GoodToBeBack— Special Presidential Envoy John Kerry (@ClimateEnvoy) February 19, 2021Kerry will join the U.N. chief on Friday for an event to mark the U.S. return to the pact.Biden has also said his administration will hold a Leaders’ Climate Summit on Earth Day, April 22, as part of its climate diplomacy. 
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A court in Belarus sentenced two journalists to two years in prison Thursday on charges of orchestrating demonstrations against President Alexander Lukashenko.
 
Katsiaryna Andreyeva and Daria Chultsova of Poland’s Belsat TV were arrested in November in a Minsk apartment.  They were livestreaming ongoing protests taking place in support of a demonstrator who was killed several days earlier.
 
Andreyeva told the court ahead of the verdict she would work to build “a Belarus that won’t have political repressions.”
A lawyer for the journalists said they would appeal the verdict.
 There have been mass demonstrations in Belarus following a contested August election that Lukashenko’s opponents said was rigged to give him another term.  Lukashenko has denied the election was fraudulent.
 
A subsequent crackdown on the protests has led to the arrests of thousands of people, and prompted the United States and European Union to enact sanctions against officials in Belarus.
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The United States plans to “repair” and “revitalize” cooperation with its European allies as Washington and Beijing are seen as competing for influence in supporting vaccine distribution and post-pandemic recovery in Europe.  U.S. President Joe Biden is set to speak virtually at the Munich Security Conference on Friday. On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will engage virtually with his counterparts from France, Germany and the United Kingdom — the so-called E3 — to discuss what State Department spokesperson Ned Price called “shared global challenges.” Blinken will also participate in the European Union’s Foreign Affairs Council on February 22 at the invitation of EU High Representative Josep Borrell. Biden’s speech would come after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s pledge to boost imports from Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries into the Chinese market in coming years. FILE – A video of China’s President Xi Jinping plays at an exhibition about China’s fight against COVID-19 at a convention center that was previously a makeshift hospital for coronavirus patients, in Wuhan, Jan. 15, 2021.Last week, Xi chaired a long-delayed virtual summit with leaders and senior officials from the so-called “17+1” bloc, eyeing access to the European COVID-19 vaccines market while reasserting China’s influence in the region. The 17+1 bloc was launched in 2012 as China sought cooperation with CEE nations. Twelve of those are European Union members. “China is willing to actively consider the vaccine cooperation needs of CEE countries,” Xi said, citing Serbia and Hungary as two countries that have already begun to roll out nationwide vaccination programs with Chinese vaccines. FILE – A man holds China’s flag next to Serbia’s flag as a plane transporting one million doses of Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group vaccines for the coronavirus arrives at Nikola Tesla Airport in Belgrade, Serbia, Jan. 16, 2021.”China intends to import, in the coming five years, more than 170 billion U.S. dollars of goods from CEE countries,” Xi said, proposing to set up a farm produce wholesale market in the CEE region, in a bid to double CEE countries’ agricultural exports to China and raise two-way agricultural trade by 50% over the next five years. Beijing’s appeal to European countries came as Washington is shoring up efforts to, as officials described it, “revitalize core alliances” and return to multilateralism. “The Biden-Harris administration is committed to deepening dialogue and cooperation with our allies and partners on China, starting with Europe,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA. “We recognize our European partners have their own interests and relationships, and we are not forcing them to choose between China and the United States. However, we remain concerned that China has frequently used multilateral organizations as a tool to advance the PRC’s economic, national security and foreign policy interests at the expense of other countries’ peace and prosperity, respect for human rights and the rules-based international order,” said the spokesperson. Regional observers said Xi was greeted with a cold reception, with six nations choosing to send ministers instead of heads of state to the virtual summit, the lowest level of representation in nine years. The six nations are Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia.   “Based on [the] collective work of @chinaobseervers, the preliminary list of participation from CEE countries at the 17+1 [is expected to be] the lowest level [of] representation in the history of the summit,” tweeted China Observers in Central and Eastern Europe, a group of experts that provide informed analysis on the rising influence of China in the region.Based on a collective work of @chinaobseervers the preliminary list of participation from CEE countries at the 17+1 seems is as below. The lowest level representation in the history of the summit. pic.twitter.com/gE24VRbIqT— ChinaObservers (@chinaobservers) February 9, 2021Other observers said Beijing’s biggest success at the virtual summit was proving that the 17+1 bloc is “not dead,” while noting that Xi failed to attract all CEE heads of state to attend despite personal invitations and “desperate actions” of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “No tangible additional influence gained in the EU by Beijing,” tweeted Jakub Jakóbowski, senior fellow at the Centre for Eastern Studies, a Warsaw-based think tank. “Little chance for this summit to stop the deterioration of relations with CEE (econ. co-op stalled, wolf warrior conflicts, US pressure),” Jakóbowski added. “Certainly won’t derail CEE-US regional co-op.”Little chance for this summit to stop the deterioration of relations with CEE (econ. co-op stalled, wolf warrior conflicts, US pressure). Certainly won’t derail CEE-US regional co-op. Also, unlike ????-led #CAI, no tangible additional influence gained in the EU by Beijing (4/4)— Jakub Jakóbowski (@J_Jakobowski) February 9, 2021In January, Serbia received a million doses of Chinese Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine, becoming the first European country to use Chinese vaccines for its mass rollout. Serbia and China have maintained close ties as Chinese companies invest billions of euros in Serbia’s infrastructure and energy projects.Serbia Becomes First European Country to Use Chinese COVID Vaccine for Mass Rollout Belgrade maintains close ties with Beijing and Chinese companies have invested billions of Euros in Serbia, mainly in infrastructure and energy projectsAlso in January, Hungary became the first European Union country to approve China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine. Many EU countries rely on vaccines provided by American companies Pfizer and Moderna. 
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Artworks owned by the late artist Christo and his wife, Jean-Claude, a duo famed for wrapping landmarks in fabric, sold for $9.6 million at auction on Wednesday.The 28 lots under the hammer at Sotheby’s in Paris included drawings for the couple’s “The Umbrellas (Joint project for Japan and USA),” two spectacular installations by the couple in 1991 consisting of thousands of umbrellas erected simultaneously in Japan and Los Angeles.Less than a year after his death at the age of 84, Christo is evidently more in demand than ever, with more than three quarters of the works on sale selling above estimate.The works, snapped up by buyers in the United States, Asia and Europe, had been expected to sell for between $3 million and $4.5 million collectively.The preparatory drawings for the yellow Californian umbrellas set a new record for a work by the Bulgarian-born U.S. artist at $2 million, while the Japanese version sold for about $1.4 million.A second set of works from the couple’s private collection are due to go on sale Thursday.Christo collaborated with Jeanne-Claude, his wife of 51 years, until her death in 2009 and continued to produce dramatic pieces into his 80s.From Paris’s oldest bridge to Berlin’s Reichstag, they spent decades wrapping landmarks and creating improbable structures around the world.Their large-scale productions would take years of preparation and were costly to erect, but they were mostly ephemeral, coming down after just weeks or months.
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The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is calling on Russia to release top Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny. ECHR said in a press release Wednesday that it “grants an interim measure in favor of” Navalny and “asks the Government of Russia to release him.”  The court’s ruling demanded that Navalny be released immediately, warning that failure to do so would mark a breach of the European human rights convention.The court pointed to Rule 39 of its regulations, citing “the nature and extent of risk to the applicant’s life.”  FILE – This photo shows the inside of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg, eastern France, Feb. 7, 2019.Navalny, 44, has been jailed since his return to Russia last month. Moscow said he violated the terms of his probation while recuperating in Germany from a poisoning attack. The sentence stems from a 2014 embezzlement conviction ECHR has ruled to be unlawful.  Navalny was treated in Germany following a nerve-agent poisoning in Siberia last August. He blamed Russia for the poisoning, a charge denied by the Kremlin.  Several western countries have called for Navalny’s release, threatening to impose sanctions against Russia over the case. The Russian Justice Ministry warned in a statement that the ECHR’s demand would represent a “crude interference into the judicial system” of Russia and “cross the red line.” ECHR is the international court of the Council of Europe, Europe’s main human rights forum. As a member of the EU, Russia is a member of the court.  In the past, it has complied with ECHR’s rulings to compensate Russian citizens who contested verdicts in Russian courts, but it has never faced a demand by the court to release someone who has been detained.  
 
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A top Russian diplomat says the Taliban insurgency is “flawlessly” adhering to the terms of a 2020 peace deal with the United States to help end the war in Afghanistan and is urging Washington not to renege on its commitments.Zamir Kabulov, Russia’s presidential envoy to Afghanistan, spoke ahead of Wednesday’s NATO conference aimed at determining whether to meet a May 1 deadline agreed to with the Taliban for the withdrawal of U.S. and allied troops from Afghanistan. He also spoke as the number of attacks carried out by the Taliban continue to rise.The meeting in Brussels of NATO defense ministers comes amid increased allegations the Islamist insurgent group has committed serious breaches of the February 29, 2020, pact by not reducing Afghan battlefield violence and not cutting ties with international terrorist groups.A new U.S. Department of Defense report said Wednesday that the Taliban’s links remain intact with al-Qaida.“The Taliban continues to maintain relations with al-Qaida … [the terror network’s] members were integrated into Taliban forces and command structures” said Sean O’Donnell, the department’s acting inspector general.And on Monday, the U.N. mission in the country published a new report that points to a sharp increase in targeted killings of Afghan human rights defenders and journalists in recent months.’Much higher’ Taliban violenceThe Taliban have denied they are behind the assassination spree, but Afghan officials blame the insurgents, and independent observers also say the group’s denial is not convincing.“Taliban violence is much higher than historical norms,” General Scott Miller, the head of U.S. forces and the NATO-led noncombat Resolute Support mission, told Reuters on Wednesday. “It just doesn’t create the conditions to move forward in what is hopefully a historic turning point for Afghanistan.”The increase in violence prompted U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration to review the deal before deciding on whether to bring home the remaining 2,500 American soldiers from the South Asian nation to close what has been the longest military intervention in U.S. history.Despite that, the Russian state-owned Sputnik News Agency quoted Kabulov as saying, “The Taliban adhere to the agreement almost flawlessly — not a single American soldier has died since the agreement was signed — which cannot be said about the Americans.”The Russian envoy accused the U.S. military of “repeatedly” carrying out airstrikes against Taliban-held Afghan area positions “under various pretexts.”NATO Chief: No Troop Withdrawal from Afghanistan ‘Before the Time Is Right’ Washington has reduced the number of US forces in the country to 2,500 from nearly 13,000 a year agoKabulov also downplayed the presence of al-Qaida operatives in Afghanistan, saying the terror network has about 500 militants in the country and they do not constitute a major security challenge.“If the new [U.S] administration decides not to withdraw [the troops], it will violate the agreement with the Taliban. It doesn’t look good for anyone. The Taliban have announced the war will continue [if foreign troops extend their stay],” said Kabulov.Through an “open letter,” the Taliban also urged the Biden administration on Tuesday to stick to the troop withdrawal agreement, describing it as “the most effective way of ending” the war in Afghanistan.American officials maintain the U.S. has reduced its forces in Afghanistan from nearly 13,000 a year ago to 2,500 to meet its obligations outlined in the agreement. They also acknowledge the U.S. military has suffered no casualties since the signing of the accord with the Taliban that bound insurgents not to stage attacks against foreign troops.Meeting soughtKabulov said Moscow is trying to host a multination meeting this month on how to nudge the Afghan warring parties back to the negotiating table for peace talks that stemmed from the U.S.-Taliban agreement but have been suspended since early last month.The Taliban and Afghan government negotiators have accused each other of dragging their feet in the talks that started last September but failed to produce tangible results.Kabulov said China, the U.S., Iran and Pakistan have been invited to the proposed meeting to develop a “collective mechanism to push the warring Afghan sides to return to table” and “declare a cease-fire at least for the period of the negotiation process.”The Russian envoy said he would travel to Islamabad this week for “consultations” with Pakistani officials on the Afghan peace process. A Pakistani foreign ministry source told VOA the Russian diplomat was scheduled to arrive in the country on Friday.Taliban Urges US Public to Demand Early Pullout From AfghanistanBiden administration is reviewing whether the Taliban is honoring its commitments before deciding to withdraw remaining 2,500 US troopsKabulov blamed the Afghan government for delaying the start of the intra-Afghan talks that were originally scheduled to begin last March.“The Kabul administration has already done a lot of stupid things: It delayed the start of negotiations in anticipation of a change of administration in Washington, thinking that the next administration would behave differently,” alleged Kabulov.He went on to assert the delay in starting the negotiations had allowed the Taliban to expand their influence to “three-quarters of the territory of Afghanistan” and “strengthen their negotiating position.”Criticism of Taliban defenseA senior Afghan interior ministry official, Sediq Sediqqi, criticized Kabulov for defending the Taliban. “No one should just close their eyes and say that the Taliban adhered to the terms. If that was the case, Afghans would have lived in a cease-fire and peace, the talks would continue and there would have been a solution. Taliban are the main violator and they at war with Afghans,” Sediqqi tweeted.Critics acknowledge Biden faces a tough challenge in deciding how to proceed in Afghanistan, but they say abandoning the timelines agreed upon with the Taliban will have consequences.”If the U.S. extends its military presence beyond May 1, there’s a good chance the Taliban will declare the Doha deal null and void, its war against the U.S. will be back on, a nascent and fragile intra-Afghan dialogue will fall apart, and we will be back to square one,” said Michael Kugelman at Washington’s Wilson Center. 
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The U.S.- German pharmaceutical partners Pfizer-BioNTech announced Wednesday they have struck a deal with the European Commission — the European Union’s executive branch – for another 200 million doses of coronavirus vaccine, with an option to purchase an additional 100 million doses.
In a statement Wednesday, the companies said the agreement is in addition to one signed with the EU last year for 300 million doses through 2021.
The additional doses are expected to be delivered in 2021, with an estimated 75 million to be supplied in the second quarter.
Including the option for 100 million doses, the EU has now potentially stockpiled 600 million doses for use through this year. The regional bloc is being criticized by some of its member states for its slow rollout of the vaccine program.
Last week, in comments to the European Parliament, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen apologized for some of the decisions that contributed to delays, but she expressed no regrets for the extra time taken to ensure the vaccines were efficient and safe before they were approved.
Through its drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the EU has so far approved three vaccines for use among its member states. Along with the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, the EMA has given emergency approval to vaccines produced by Moderna and AstraZeneca.
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Britain wants to see proof that Sheikha Latifa, one of the ruler of Dubai’s daughters, is still alive after the BBC showed a video in which she said she was being held against her will in a barricaded villa, the foreign minister said on Wednesday.
 
“It’s deeply troubling and you can see a young woman under deep distress,” Dominic Raab said.
 
In the video, shown as part of the BBC’s Panorama current affairs programme, Latifa, 35, said: “I am a hostage and this villa has been converted into a jail.”
 
She said she was making the video in the bathroom of the villa, the only room she could lock herself into, adding: “All the windows are barred shut, I can’t open any window.”
 
Asked whether he would support seeing some kind of proof from the United Arab Emirates that Sheikha Latifa was alive, Raab told Sky News television: “Given what we’ve just seen, I think people would just at a human level want to see that she’s alive and well.”
 
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the United Nations was looking into the situation.
 
“That’s something obviously that we are concerned about but the U.N. Commission on Human Rights is looking at that,” he told reporters. “I think what we’ll do is wait and see how they get on. We’ll keep an eye on that.”
 
The Dubai government’s media office referred questions about the video to Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum’s law firm, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
 
Reuters could not independently verify when or where the video was recorded.
 Free Latifa” Campaign
 
Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum drew international attention in 2018 when a human rights group released a video made by her in which she described an attempt to escape Dubai.
 
Last March, a London High Court judge said he accepted as proved a series of allegations made by Sheikh Mohammed’s former wife, Princess Haya, in a legal battle, including that the sheikh ordered the abduction of Latifa. The sheikh’s lawyers rejected the allegations.
 
Asked if Britain would impose sanctions on the UAE after the video, Raab said: “It’s not clear to me that there would be the evidence to support that.”
 
The Free Latifa campaign, which has lobbied for her release, said it had managed to smuggle a phone to Latifa, which had been used to send a series of secret video messages taken over the past two years.
 
Before Tuesday, the only time Latifa had been seen since she was brought back to Dubai was when her family released photos of her sitting with Mary Robinson, a former Irish president and a United Nations high commissioner for human rights, in late 2018.
 
But Robinson told the BBC she had been “horribly tricked” during the visit and never asked Latifa about her situation, fearing it would exacerbate a mental condition she was told the princess had.
 
Mohammed has a vast horse racing stable in Britain and has been pictured with Queen Elizabeth at Royal Ascot horse races.
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Britain’s foreign secretary will call for a U.N. Security Council resolution Wednesday on local cease-fires in order to get COVID-19 vaccines to millions of people in conflict areas.  “We have a moral duty to act, and a strategic necessity to come together to defeat this virus,” Dominic Raab will tell a high-level session of the U.N. Security Council on the global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, according to a statement from his office. Britain presides over the 15-nation body this month. The United Nations has pushed for equitable global access to the COVID-19 vaccine, emphasizing that no country is safe until all are. Uneven inoculations could also lead to virus mutations and new vaccine-resistant variants.  More than 160 million people are at risk of not receiving COVID-19 vaccinations because of instability and conflict, in places including Yemen, Syria, South Sudan, and Ethiopia. Britain says temporary cease-fires negotiated on a case-by-case basis when vaccines are available and ready for distribution in those areas could facilitate the safety of aid workers administering them and the civilians who receive them.FILE – A woman clad in mask due to the COVID-19 pandemic walks next to a child by tents at Camp Roj, housing people who were relocated from al-Hol camp, in Syria’s northeastern Hasakah province, Sept. 30, 2020.Britain points to a successful effort in Afghanistan in 2001 as evidence that local cease-fires can work. There, a two-day pause in fighting allowed thousands of healthcare workers to inoculate nearly 6 million children against polio.  Diplomats said Raab is expected to announce negotiations on a council resolution at the meeting, with the aim of circulating a first draft among members by the end of the week for discussion. It would call for local cease-fires, access to vulnerable populations and funding for the effort.  The initiative faces an uphill battle if a similar effort by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is any indicator. In late March, as the coronavirus was making its way across the planet, he launched a call for a global cease-fire to assist international containment efforts. It took the Security Council three months to agree a resolution supporting his call, after bickering between the then Trump-led U.S. delegation and China over the origins of the virus. While fighting has cooled in some conflict zones, there has been no global pause in fighting.  The high-level session will be the international debut of new Biden administration Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who will join the virtual session and make remarks. Nine other foreign ministers are expected to participate, as well as one prime minister.  U.N. Chief Guterres, the head of UNICEF and the CEO of the vaccination alliance Gavi, will be among the meeting’s briefers.  Wednesday’s session comes ahead of a G7 leaders meeting on Friday, which Britain will also chair and will focus on COVID-19 recovery. 
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The new head of the World Trade Organization (WTO) says in these challenging times, it’s no time for “business as usual,” noting that “deep and wide-ranging reforms are needed” within the world trade body. More with VOA’s Mariama Diallo.  
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U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will be using his first ministerial meeting with NATO allies Wednesday to try to repair the frayed relationship, acknowledging that long-standing ties were, at times, strained under former U.S. President Donald Trump.The change in tone and approach, as senior U.S. defense officials described it Tuesday, comes as the United States and NATO are staring down major decisions on force levels in Afghanistan and on how to best confront powers like Russia and China, which remain set on bending international norms in their favor.But the officials said the Biden administration believes the ability to make progress on any of the pressing issues facing the alliance depends on putting the relationship back on solid footing.”It is fair to say that over the last four years, the public perception of the U.S. commitment and our intent have been a little bit unclear,” a senior U.S. defense official told reporters ahead of the start of two days of virtual meetings.Austin “is really focused on trying to revitalize our relationship with the alliance,” the official said, adding the secretary intends to assure NATO that Washington’s commitment to mutual defense, referred to as Article 5 under the treaty, “remains ironclad.”NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a media conference ahead of a NATO defense minister’s meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Feb. 15, 2021.NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg signaled a desire to reset the U.S.-NATO relationship earlier this month.“There’s no denying that over the last four years, we had some challenging times. And there’s no secret that also I had some difficult discussions with the former president,” he said. “It is in the security interests of both Europe and North America, the United States, to start again.”Yet while the Biden administration and NATO seek to mend any lingering rifts, they are being confronted by their first major decision — what to do in Afghanistan, where the U.S. faces a May deadline for withdrawing its remaining 2,500 troops from the country.Afghanistan“There have not been any decisions on Afghanistan troop levels,” the senior defense official said, calling the NATO ministerial a chance for the U.S. to consult with alliance members, who have another 7,000 troops stationed there.”The United States and NATO went into Afghanistan together. We will adjust together. And if the time is right, we will leave together,” the official added, echoing comments from the FILE – A convoy of U.S. troops, a part of NATO’s reinforcement of its eastern flank, drive from Germany to Orzysz in northeast Poland, March 28, 2017.US forces in EuropeWashington’s NATO allies are also going to want to hear about the fate of U.S. troops currently stationed across Europe.Under the direction of Trump, the U.S. announced last July it would be pulling about 12,000 troops from Germany, sending some of them to Belgium, Italy and Poland, while bringing the rest back home. Under Biden, that plan has been put on hold. And Washington is likely to assure allies that at the least, U.S. forces will not be pulling back.”I would in no way expect to see anything that would look like, say, a withdrawal,” a senior U.S. defense official said. “The posture in Europe is critical to U.S. national security interests.”RussiaAlong with assuring U.S. European allies of a continued U.S. presence, defense officials will also prioritize standing up to Russia.“Revitalizing the U.S. relationship with the alliance, a change in our tone and approach, a desire to work with our allies and partners … that is all inextricably tied to what we have seen from Russia,” the senior defense official said.Defense spendingOne area where there is likely to be some degree of continuity from the Trump administration to the Biden administration is on defense spending.Pentagon officials said Tuesday while they are appreciative of the NATO allies who have made good on the alliance-wide pledge for all members to spend 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense, it is not enough.”We expect all allies to live up to this commitment,” the senior defense official said. “There’s more work to be done … you’re going to very much hear that.”VOA Afghan service contributed to this report. 
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The Dutch government’s COVID-19 policy suffered a major blow Tuesday when a judge ordered the curfew it imposed lifted immediately, saying the government misused its emergency powers. The government immediately appealed the ruling. Prime Minister Mark Rutte imposed the curfew in January in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. The curfew — which allows only people with a pressing need to be outdoors between 9 p.m. and 4:30 a.m. — was the nation’s first since World War II. It was scheduled to end February 9 but was extended last week until at least March 3.The curfew spawned several days of sometimes violent protests when it was first implemented. A group that led several of those protests, Viruswaarheid (“Virus Truth”), brought the case that the court ruled on Tuesday.At a news conference following the ruling, Rutte defended the curfew, saying it was designed to bring the virus under control. He said that while he wants people to have their freedoms, he wants them to be safe as well. He urged people to continue obeying the curfew whether the government’s appeal is successful or not.The Associated Press reports a hearing held Tuesday to consider a government request to allow the curfew to continue, pending the appeal, was halted after a few minutes when a member of Viruswaarheid accused the presiding judge of bias. AP reports the full appeal will be considered on Friday. 
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Spanish rapper Pablo Hasél was arrested Tuesday after a 24-hour standoff between him and his free speech supporters on one side and Catalan anti-riot police on the other. Along with more than 50 supporters, Hásel barricaded himself in rectorate building of Lleida University, located some 160 kilometers west of Barcelona, to resist reporting to serve a prison sentence and to campaign for free speech.“We will win! They will not bend us with all their repression. Never!” the 32-year-old rapper yelled to TV news cameras during his arrest.Hasél, whose birth name is Pablo Rivadulla Duró, has gained attention across Spain for demanding a change to the country’s so-called “Gag Law.” The 2015 legislation, called the Citizen Safety Law, imposes fines for protesting in front of parliament or taking and sharing photographs of police officers. The law became more restrictive during Spain’s mandatory coronavirus quarantine, according to the country’s newspaper El País.Over 200 artists, including film director Pedro Almodóvar and actor Javier Bardem, signed a petition against his jail term. Amnesty International condemned Hasél’s arrest as “terrible news for freedom of expression in Spain.”Last week, the left-wing coalition government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced it would change Spain’s criminal code to eliminate prison terms for free speech offenses. But the government did not specify when it would take action or whether Hasél’s protests inspired the changes.This is not the first time Hasél has clashed with law enforcement. He has faced charges on at least four occasions for assault, praising armed extremist groups, breaking into private premises or insulting the country’s monarchy. In 2014, he was given a two-year sentence, which was suspended, for a song criticizing former King Juan Carlos. In 2018, he was sentenced to nine months in jail for 64 tweets he posted between 2014 and 2016 calling for insurrection. Spain’s National Court rejected his appeals to be kept out of prison, alleging it would be “discriminatory” to do so.Overnight, Hasél tweeted that he chose to go to prison instead of seeking exile.“We cannot allow them to dictate what we can say, what we can feel or what we can do,” he said. “They will arrest me with my head up high for not giving in to their terror, for adding my grain of salt to everything I am saying. We all can do it.”
 
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The prospect of vaccine passports is getting closer in Europe — with more governments considering introducing them not only for travelers, but also to help reopen bars, restaurants and concert halls.Asked whether the introduction of vaccine passports is likely, Britain’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, told reporters Monday some international travel likely would require proof of coronavirus inoculation.FILE – Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson holds a vial of AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine during a visit to a vaccination center in Orpington, South-East of London, Britain, Feb. 15, 2021.“Some countries, clearly, are going to be wanting to insist that people coming to their country have evidence of a vaccination — just as people have insisted in the past that you have evidence you are vaccinated against yellow fever or other diseases,” he said. European governments have been split about whether to endorse a system of vaccine passports, but the travel, tourist and hospitality sectors are desperate to get business going again and say they can’t afford another lost summer.But civil libertarians worry the continent will be divided along a new haves and have-nots fault-line, and this week Britain’s foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, provoked a political uproar when he told a radio interviewer that Britons may have to present evidence of vaccination to enter bars and grocery stores.FILE – Britain’s Foreign Affairs Secretary Dominic Raab walks outside Downing Street in London, Britain, Feb. 3, 2021.“It’s something that hasn’t been ruled out and it’s under consideration, but of course you’ve got to make it workable,” Raab said.His comment earned a sharp rebuke not only from civil libertarians but from Conservative lawmakers.“For everyday life, I don’t think you want to require people to have to have a particular medical procedure before they can go about their day-to-day life,” lawmaker Mark Harper said. “That is not how we do things in Britain.”Elsewhere in Europe, more governments are exploring the idea of introducing vaccine passports — at least for travel. Denmark’s finance minister, Morten Bødskov, last week raised the prospect of inoculation passports being introduced by the end of the month, which would make the Scandinavian country the world’s first to do so. Denmark is currently under a strict pandemic lockdown.“Denmark is still hard hit by the corona pandemic,” he said. “But there are parts of Danish society that need to move forward, and a business community that needs to be able to travel.” FILE – Jytte Margrete Frederiksen, 83, is one of the first Danes vaccinated against COVID-19, in Ishoj, Denmark, Dec. 27, 2020.Estonia is working with the World Health Organization (WHO) on a project to create standardized electronic vaccination certification the country hopes could become the “gold standard” and attract global recognition.Marten Kaevats, an adviser to the Estonian government on technology, told AFP the primary challenge for a globally endorsed system is to ensure that anyone checking the certificate can “trust the source.” The Estonian solution is looking at producing a digital version of the extant paper yellow-card used to prove yellow fever vaccination.Estonia, a tech trailblazer that’s been a pioneer in government e-services, isn’t alone in exploring a possible a digital vaccine passport program that can command global respect. Britain, Greece, Iceland, Hungary, Lithuania and pharmaceutical companies have all announced initiatives. Some are looking at using QR codes, or even facial recognition technology.The challenge is further complicated by the different data-systems countries have for keeping electronic health records that are not mutually recognized across borders. And most countries don’t even maintain digital health records.Kaevats told AFP it is unlikely that a global digital ID will emerge in the coming months, and it is more likely there will be a muddling through in a messy and arbitrary way with a mix of paper and electronic certificates appearing.People wait at the reception hall of a COVID-19 vaccination mega center in Athens, Feb. 15, 2021.Greece has urged the European Commission to shape a common understanding on how a vaccination certificate should be structured, so it could be accepted in all member states. But the EC is struggling — and officials say it becomes even more complicated when trying to fashion a framework for the recognition of certificates that might be developed by countries outside the European Union.There also are disagreements over what rules should apply to travelers who received vaccines not approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Experts at the WHO have withheld recommending vaccination passports for travel, deterred by fears of a messy and dispute-filled implementation and worried by the insufficient guarantee that those who have been inoculated can’t spread the virus, if they still contract it themselves and are asymptomatic.Some international airlines, including the Middle East’s Etihad, which has become the first airline to vaccinate all operational crew, say they already are planning to require passengers to produce pre-travel inoculation documentation. Some airlines are planning to add to their apps a requirement for passengers to add details of their vaccination before being able to book. Growing backlashBut vaccine passports and the emerging idea of inoculation certification being needed to enter restaurants, bars, concert halls and sports stadiums also is prompting a backlash from rights and privacy campaigners. They say that would be unfair when there is not universal access to vaccines and that such plans would be a backdoor way to make vaccinations mandatory, infringing on the freedom of those who refuse vaccines.In Britain, rights campaigners reacted with dismay Tuesday when the country’s vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, told the BBC the government would not forbid businesses from pressing ahead with their own inoculation certification standards for customers and even for employees. “It’s up to businesses what they do,” he said. Zahawi previously had rejected the idea of vaccine passports, saying that the use of them would be “wrong” and “discriminatory.”British ministers appear to be in a quandary, with no firm agreement within the cabinet about the way forward. While Foreign Minister Rabb has openly touted the possibility of vaccine certificates being required for domestic in-country activities, other ministers have briefed against the idea, saying they are sure there will be no formal endorsement of vaccine passports for domestic use.While Johnson said Monday that Britons should not be expected to present paperwork to enter a pub, he shied away from discussing whether care homes and other businesses should be able to insist employees be inoculated.FILE – Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair speaks at a Reuters Newsmaker event in London, Nov. 25, 2019.Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, who has been campaigning for a global coronavirus vaccine passport system, said this week, “We have the technology that enables us to do this securely and effectively. The need is obvious.” He added, “The arguments against it really don’t add up.”But critics say the result will be to divide people, and countries, between vaccine haves and vaccine have-nots, affecting the developing and poor nations much more than rich ones. Some experts estimate that most African nations are unlikely to see mass vaccination programs until 2023 or even 2024.FILE – A syringe and a pack of the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine are seen on the opened window of a pass-through at the newly opened vaccination center, in the former Berlin Tegel Airport, in Berlin, Feb. 10, 2021.Germany’s ethics council, an independent government-funded body, has urged that no special conditions be accorded to the inoculated. It has said much is still unknown about whether vaccinated people can still spread the virus, and that introducing privileges for the vaccinated could prompt civil unrest with the have-nots feeling they are being elbowed aside.France’s European affairs minister, Clément Beaune, has firmly objected to vaccine passports. “We are very reluctant,” he said. “It would be shocking, while the campaign is still just starting across Europe, for there to be more important rights for some than for others.” 
 
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European markets were mixed Tuesday amid growing optimism over the release and distribution of more COVID-19 vaccines around the world, coupled with a steady decline of new coronavirus cases.    
 
Britain’s benchmark FTSE index was up 0.1% at midday.  The CAC 40 index in France gained one-half of one point (+0.01%), while Germany’s DAX index was down more than 13 points (-0.09%).  
 
Asian markets, meanwhile, posted strong numbers earlier Tuesday. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index finished 1.2% higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index surged 1.9%. South Korea’s KOSPI index earned 0.5%, while the TSEC in Taiwan rose 0.6%. 
Mumbai’s Sensex index was down 0.1%. Shanghai’s Composite index remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.    
 
Elsewhere, the  S&P/ASX index in Australia closed up 0.7%.
 
In commodities trading, gold is selling was $1,815.80 an ounce, down 0.4%. U.S. crude was selling at $59.62 per barrel, up 0.2%, and Brent crude oil was selling 0.9% higher, at $63.01 per barrel.  
 
All three major U.S. indices, which were inactive Monday for the federal President’s Day (Washington’s Birthday) holiday, were trending higher in futures trading ahead of Wall Street’s opening bell.  
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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron, expressing her commitment to strengthening bilateral relations, a White House statement said on Monday.  “Vice President Harris and President Macron agreed on the need for close bilateral and multilateral cooperation to address COVID-19, climate change, and support democracy at home and around the world,” the statement said. Since President Joe Biden took office on Jan. 20, his administration has moved to rebuild ties with allies over global issues, a sharp break from the approach of former President Donald Trump, who advocated “America First.”President Joe Biden speaks about the coronavirus in the State Dinning Room of the White House, Jan. 21, 2021, in Washington.In the weeks since Biden was inaugurated, the United States has rejoined the World Health Organization and is rejoining the Paris climate accord.   The call was the second Harris has had with a world leader since taking office, a sign that Harris, a former U.S. senator from California, may play a foreign policy role in the Biden administration. Earlier this month, Harris spoke to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, her first call as vice president with a foreign leader. According to the White House statement, Harris and Macron agreed on the need to combat regional unrest in the Middle East and Africa.  Harris praised Macron for his “leadership on the issue of gender equality and for France’s contribution to NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover.” The phone call is the second between Washington and Paris since Biden took office and potentially bolsters Macron, who faces election next year. Macron has been criticized for poor management of the COVID-19 crisis and a weak French economy, as well as a failure to fight terrorism from Islamic extremists.  Macron is facing stiff opposition from his long-time challenger Marine Le Pen. 
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused fellow NATO ally the United States of supporting terrorists in the wake of the deaths of 13 kidnapped Turks in northern Iraq. He also said a U.S. statement about the killings, which Ankara blamed on Kurdish militants, was a joke.”You [the U.S.] said you did not support terrorists, when in fact you are on their side and behind them,” Erdogan said Monday in comments to supporters. By terrorists, he was referring to the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has been waging a decadeslong insurgency inside southeastern Turkey.Erdogan spoke one day after a U.S. State Department spokesman said in a statement that if the reports of the deaths of Turkish civilians at the hands of the PKK are confirmed, “we condemn this action in the strongest possible terms.” The U.S., European Union and Turkey consider the PKK a terrorist organization.FILE – U.S. Secretary of State Antony BlinkenLater Monday, the spokesman said in another statement that Secretary of State Antony Blinken had spoken by phone with Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. The statement said in part, “The Secretary expressed condolences for the deaths of Turkish hostages in northern Iraq and affirmed our view that PKK terrorists bear responsibility.”FILE – Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut CavusogluSeparately, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said it summoned the U.S. ambassador, David Satterfield, to lodge “in the strongest possible terms” Ankara’s displeasure with Washington’s refusal to accept Turkey’s version of events immediately.Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Sunday the bodies were discovered in the Gara region, near the Turkey-Iraq border, during an operation against the PKK in which Turkish forces killed 48 militants. The bodies were found in a cave complex.A statement on a PKK website said it was holding prisoners of war, including Turkish intelligence, police, and military personnel, and that they were killed due to the fighting.Analysts say the diplomatic dispute between the NATO allies brings to fore simmering tension over Washington’s support of the YPG, a Syrian Kurdish militia, in its war against Islamic State. Ankara accuses the YPG of being affiliated with the PKK.”Fighting the PKK became the principal occupation of the Turkish military,” said international relations professor Serhat Guvenc of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University. Around 40,000 people have died in the PKK’s fight for greater minority rights in Turkey.Washington maintains that the YPG is separate from the PKK, but Ankara is demanding that the U.S. administration decide where its loyalties lie.”The U.S. has to give a final decision. If they continue with the PKK in the region [Syria] or with Turkey, this is a most difficult question,” said Turkish presidential adviser Mesut Casin, who is also with Istanbul’s Yeditepe University.Analyst Guvenc says Ankara is nervous over the stance U.S. President Joe Biden will take toward the YPG. Biden served as vice president under Barack Obama, whose administration took the step to militarily back the YPG against the Islamic State group.”We see a good number of those people in Obama’s team will be part of the new administration in foreign and military positions who support the YPG policy,” said Guvenc. “This must be a major source of concern for Ankara. They will be dealing with people they don’t like. Like this special envoy McGurk, his appointment has sent a very strong signal of what is in the offing.”FILE – Then-President Barack Obama’s envoy to the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State, Brett McGurkGuvenc was referring to Brett McGurk, who served as a special envoy for Syria during the Obama administration. Cavusoglu accused McGurk of being a PKK supporter while in the region.McGurk is now the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa.Some observers note that since Biden won election in November, he has yet to speak with Erdogan, a sign of how complex and complicated bilateral relations remain.”It is hard to see how either party will manage to walk around this minefield,” said former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who served in Washington. He added, “Firm transactionalism is the new buzzword to depict and predict the Biden administration’s approach towards Turkey.”Analysts point out Erdogan is famed for balancing fiery rhetoric with pragmatism and transactionalism. But the Turkish president Monday said relations with its NATO allies have reached a critical moment.”After this, there are two options. Either act with Turkey with no if’s or but’s, without question, or they will be a partner to every murder and bloodshed,” he said.” The terrorist organization on our doorstep, on our borders, is killing innocents.” 
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday suggested he would support a global treaty on pandemics that would establish standards for data-sharing and transparency. Johnson made the comment during his usual COVID-19 briefing from his office in London, when asked about the World Health Organization team’s recently concluded visit to Wuhan, China, to investigate the source of the COVID-19 pandemic.  On Friday, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan issued a statement saying that while the Biden administration has great respect for WHO’s work and the experts who work for it, he expressed “deep concerns” about the early findings of the COVID-19 investigation team and has questions about the process used to reach them. FILE – Peter Daszak and Thea Fischer, members of the World Health Organization team tasked with investigating the origins of the coronavirus disease, sit in a car arriving at Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, Feb. 2, 2021.The Biden administration called on China to make its data from the earliest days of the outbreak available to the world so that it may better understand this pandemic and be ready for the next one. Johnson agreed with those comments and the Biden administration’s call for transparency and said he would go a step further and support a global pandemic treaty that would create a general agreement on how data is shared and on ensuring transparency.  European Council President Charles Michel first proposed the idea of a pandemic treaty last November at the Paris Peace Forum. Such a treaty would likely be developed with the participation of U.N. agencies, civil society groups and nongovernmental agencies.  Nations signing on to such a treaty would, in the event of a pandemic, have a set of standards and guidelines governing how data is shared with the rest of the world. 
 
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