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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Crowds of seals lie on the sand, some wriggling towards the water, on the northern French coast where they are staging a comeback. Drone images show around 250 wild grey seals, adults and cubs, frolicking at low tide near the town of Marck. Seals started to disappear from the Cote d’Opale in the 1970s, under pressure from fishermen who saw them as rivals for their catch. Seals, which have no natural predators in the English Channel, have been a protected species in France since the 1980s and as a result they have begun to return to the coast. Rescued grey seal cubs wait for fish during their quarantine at LPA animal refuge in Calais, France, Feb. 13, 2021.”At low tide, they settle here to get fat, to rest and to prepare for their upcoming hunt at sea,” seal enthusiast Jerome Gressier told Reuters. According to a 2018 report of the Hauts-de-France region’s Eco-Phoques project, at least 1,100 seals now live in the area. In the region’s Baie de Somme, harbor seal numbers grew by 14.4% between 1990 and 2017, while grey seals rose by 20%, the study found. Gressier uses a long-focus lens to identify injured seals. “It allows us to see if there are any animals who are caught in nets,” he said. “It hurts them enormously if they are caught by the neck.” Injured seals are treated at a nearby animal rescue center in Calais. Center manager Christel Gressier says many of the animals they deal with are seals, some abandoned by their mothers. “At around three weeks, the mother will quickly teach it to hunt, but if the seal is not able to manage, or do it quickly enough, she leaves and she goes about her business,” she said. “It is at this moment that we can intervene for seals that would not have been able to adapt quickly enough.” 
 
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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expecting their second child, their office confirmed Sunday.
A spokesperson for Prince Harry, 36, and Meghan, 39, said in a statement: “We can confirm that Archie is going to be a big brother. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are overjoyed to be expecting their second child.”Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, are pictured in this undated handout photo supplied to Reuters, following an announcement that they are expecting their second child.In a black-and-white photo of themselves, the couple sat near a tree with Harry’s hand placed under Meghan’s head as she lies on his lap with her hand resting on her bump.
The baby will be eighth in line to the British throne.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “Her Majesty, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince of Wales and the entire family are delighted and wish them well.”
The duke told chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall in 2019 that he would only have two children for the sake of the planet.
Goodall said: “Not too many,” and Harry replied: “Two, maximum.”  
Harry and American actor Meghan Markle married 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 recently bought a house in Santa Barbara, California.
In November, Meghan revealed that she had a miscarriage in July 2020, giving a personal account of the traumatic experience in hope of helping others.
A few days ago, the duchess won a privacy claim against a newspaper over the publication of a personal letter to her estranged father.
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Larry the cat, a four-legged inhabitant of London’s 10 Downing St., is marking a decade as Britain’s mouse-catcher in chief on Monday.
 
The tabby cat was recruited by then-Prime Minister David Cameron to deal with a pack of rats seen scuttling close to the British leader’s official residence and entered Downing Street on Feb. 15, 2011.
 
The former stray, adopted from London’s Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, was given the title Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, an unofficial pest control post. He was the first cat to hold the rat-catching portfolio since the retirement of Humphrey in 1997 and has loyally served three prime ministers.
 
But it seems like yesterday that Larry was just another cat — as opposed to a media superstar — said Lindsey Quinlan, the head of cattery of Battersea.  
 
“Throughout his time at Number 10, Larry has proven himself to not only be a brilliant ambassador for Battersea but also demonstrated to millions of people around the world how incredible rescue cats are,” she said. “His rags to riches tale is yet more proof of why all animals deserve a second chance — one minute they may be an overlooked stray on the streets, the next they could become one of the nation’s beloved political figures, with fans around the world.”
 
Larry, who has met several world leaders, has been largely unfriendly to men but took a liking to former U.S. President Barack Obama. When former President Donald Trump visited in 2019, Larry took a nap under his car.
 
His grip on the public imagination is clear — and political leaders know better than to ignore that popularity. The tomcat was a sentimental topic of conversation in Cameron’s final appearance in parliament as prime minister when he said he wanted to quash a rumor that — perish the thought — he didn’t like Larry.
 
And just to prove it, he whipped out evidence: a picture of Larry lying on his lap.
“He belongs to the house and the staff love him very much — as do I,” he said at the time, explaining why he wasn’t taking Larry with him after leaving office.
 
After the December 2019 election, rumors swirled that Larry might be headed for retirement with the news that the new prime minister, Boris Johnson, was a dog man.  
However, despite the prime minister moving Jack Russell cross Dilyn into Downing Street, Larry remained in office.
 
Reports of his rodent-killing abilities vary. Larry became known for his occasional scraps with neighboring cats — especially Palmerston, chief mouser to the Foreign Office across the street — and fondness for sleep. Palmerston has retired to the country, so things have been a bit quieter of late.
 
These days Larry, now 14, is often seen by photographers patrolling his turf. Visitors to the building can sometimes find him napping on a ledge above a radiator or sleeping on a floor, where dignitaries occasionally have to step over him.
 
At the heart of government, he specializes in power naps.
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The United States has condemned the killing of 13 Turkish citizens by Kurdish militants in northern Iraq. “The United States deplores the death of Turkish citizens in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq,” U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement late Sunday.  “We stand with our NATO Ally Turkey and extend our condolences to the families of those lost in the recent fighting.” Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said earlier Sunday the victims were kidnapped and killed by members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. Akar said 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. 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 as a result of the fighting. Turkey, the United States and the European Union have designated the PKK as a terrorist group.  Tens of thousands of people have died since it launched an armed insurgency in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey. 
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Kosovo’s left-wing reformists were headed for a landslide victory in parliamentary elections, initial results showed Monday, handing them a strong mandate for change from voters fed up with the political establishment. The opposition Vetevendosje (Self-determination) party took home around 48 percent of the vote, according to a tally of more than 90 percent of ballots cast in the Sunday vote.   The triumph nearly doubled the party’s last electoral showing in 2019, reflecting a hunger for new leadership in troubled Kosovo.   “This great victory is an opportunity to start the changes we want,” the party’s firebrand leader Albin Kurti, long a thorn in the establishment’s side, said in a victory speech.  “The election was indeed a referendum on justice and employment and against corruption and state capture,” the 45-year-old added, while warning of “many obstacles” ahead. The snap poll came after a tumultuous year in which the coronavirus pandemic deepened social and economic crises in the former Serbian province, which declared independence 13 years ago after a separatist war led by ethnic Albanian rebels.Albin Kurti leader of the Vetevendosje (Selfdetermination) prepares to cast his vote during Parliamentary elections at a polling station in Pristina on February 14, 2021.Already one of Europe’s poorest economies, Kosovo is now struggling through a pandemic-triggered downturn, with vaccinations yet to start. But for Vetevendosje’s supporters, Sunday’s results sparked hope of better days, with fans honking horns, setting off fireworks and gathering in the main square in the capital Pristina to cheer their victory. The next two largest parties trailed far behind, with around 13 and 17 percent respectively for the ruling centrist Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) — a party of former rebels who have long dominated politics in the country. Both camps admitted defeat, with the LDK’s outgoing Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti pledging to be a “constructive opposition” in parliament.  Tear gas in parliament Once known for provocative stunts such as unleashing tear gas in parliament, Vetevendosje began as a street movement in the 2000s protesting local elites and international influences in Kosovo, which was an UN-protectorate after the war.   It entered electoral politics in 2011 and has tamped down its more radical antics in recent years.    The party ran on an anti-corruption platform, accusing past leaders of squandering Kosovo’s first years of independence through graft and mismanagement while ordinary people suffered.  For most of the past decade, Kosovo has been run by the former commanders who led the late 1990s rebellion against Serb forces.  If they were once feted as independence heroes, the political elite have now become the face of the social and economic ills plaguing the population of 1.8 million, where average salaries are around 500 euros (around $600) a month and youth unemployment tops 50 percent.   “The people are waiting for change, they are waiting for the removal of that which has hindered us, such as corruption and nepotism,” Sadik Kelemendi, a doctor, told AFP before casting his ballot in snow-covered Pristina.  The former rebels were also weakened this year by the absence of top leaders, including ex-president Hashim Thaci, who were detained in November by a court in The Hague on war crimes charges dating back to the 1998-99 rebellion against Serbia.Albin Kurti, a candidate for prime minister of Vetevendosje (Self-Determination), prepares to cast his ballot in parliamentary elections in capital Pristina, Kosovo, Feb. 14, 2021.New generation Vetevendosje now has a clear path to a ruling majority if they team up with minority parties, who are reserved 20 seats in the 120-member assembly, half for the Serb community.   The party also finished first in the last 2019 election, but with little over a quarter of the vote they only lasted some 50 days in power before their shaky coalition with the LDK crumbled.   The stronger showing this time has been attributed in part to Kurti’s new alliance with acting President Vjosa Osmani, 38, who recently left the LDK to join Kurti, turning the two into charismatic duo on the campaign trail. “I think it is about time that Kosovo is led by not only a new generation of politicians in terms of age, but especially in terms of mindset,” Osmani told AFP ahead of the vote.While Kurti himself did not run as an MP — he is banned due to a 2018 court conviction for unleashing tear gas in parliament — his party can still appoint him as their prime minister.  Known for a hardline stance on relations with Serbia, he would face heavy pressure from the West to reboot talks with the northern neighbor, which still denies Kosovo’s statehood.  Their lingering dispute is a source of major tension in the region more than 20 years after the war, and an obstacle for either side in its dreams of joining the European Union. 
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The pro-union Socialist Party appeared set to claim a narrow win in regional elections in Catalonia late Sunday, but the bloc of parties supporting secession by Spain’s northeastern corner were widening their control of the regional parliament.With 95% of the votes counted, the three main parties pledging to carve out an independent Catalan state were likely to increase their number of seats in the regional parliament to 74. In 2017, those same parties won 70 seats of the 135-seat chamber, just two above the majority.The Socialist party led by former health minister Salvador Illa was poised to take 33 seats with over 625,000 votes. The pro-secession Republican Left of Catalonia was also set to claim 33 seats, but with 580,000 votes.But despite the huge boost in support for the Socialist Party of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who has held talks with the separatists in an attempt to ease tensions with the region, Illa would have a difficult time trying to cobbling together support for a government.The outcome confirms that pro-separatist sentiment has not waned despite the suffering of the COVID-19 pandemic and a frustrated secession bid in October 2017 that left several of its members in prison.However, it was not clear if the separatist parties would be able to overcome the in-fighting that has plagued their bloc since the dream of an easy breakaway from Spain proved elusive.The results shifted the power within the pro-secession camp to the leftist Republican Left of Catalonia party, whose 33 seats edged out the center-right Together for Catalonia, set to win 32 seats.The Republican Left of Catalonia of jailed leader Oriol Junqueras can now dispute the leadership of the bloc with Together for Catalonia, the party of former Catalan chief Carles Puidemont, who fled to Belgium following the ineffective 2017 breakaway bid.Together for Catalonia maintains a more radical stance on severing ties from Spain in the short term, while the Republican Left of Catalonia lowered its tone over the past year and set winning an amnesty from central authorities for Junqueras and other jailed leaders as its top priority — for now.The region’s parliament also was poised to become more fragmented, and more radical.The far-right Vox party entered the Catalan legislature for the first time with 11 seats, confirming its surge across Spain in recent years. Its success came at the expense of the conservative Popular Party, which was left with three seats after a campaign in which it softened its formerly hard-line stance against Catalan secessionists.On the other side of the spectrum, the far-left, pro-secession CUP party improved to nine seats from the four it won in 2017. So once again, the pro-secession forces will need the unpredictable CUP to form a majority.A potential regional government will likely hinge on deal-making between parties that could take days or longer to conclude.While the Socialists rose at the expense of the liberal Citizens, which plummeted to six seats after winning the December 2017 elections with 36, the Catalan political panorama remained unchanged in the essential question: The Mediterranean region bordering with France is still roughly split between those who support the creation of a Catalan state, and those who are fervently for remaining a part of Spain.
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The search for three climbers, who went missing on Pakistan’s K2 mountain earlier this month, has found no trace of them.Iceland’s John Snorri, 47, Chile’s Juan Pablo Mohr, 33, and Pakistan’s Muhammad Ali Sadpara, 45, lost contact with base camp on February 5 during their ascent of what global mountaineers describe as the killer mountain. K2 is the world’s second-highest mountain at 8,611 meters.”An unprecedented search in the history of mountaineering has been ongoing,” Vanessa O’Brien, the first British-American mountaineer to climb K2, said Sunday.She is assisting the search effort as part of the virtual base camp comprising family members in Iceland, Chile, and specialists from around the world, including in Pakistan.”It has been nine long days. If climbing the world’s second-tallest mountain in winter is hard, finding those missing is even more of a challenge,” said O’Brien.When asked whether the men could still be alive despite harsh winter conditions, O’Brien told VOA, “That I don’t know. But on Valentine’s Day, I guarantee you they were loved by their families and their nations.”She explained that specialists, with “devoted support” from Pakistani, Icelandic and Chilean authorities, have scrutinized satellite images, used synthetic aperture radar technology, scanned hundreds of pictures, and checked testimonials and times.”When the weather prevented the rotary machines (helicopters) from approaching K2, the Pakistan Army sent a F-16 (aircraft) to take the photographic surveys,” O’Brien said.Unfortunately, there has been no sign of the missing climbers, she added.Karrar Haidri, an official at the private Alpine Club of Pakistan that promotes mountaineering in the country, said the base camp stopped receiving signals from Snorri and his companions after they reached 8,000 meters.Sonrri made his first winter attempt on K2 in 2019, but was forced to abort it “when two members of his team expressed they did not feel fully prepared” for the expedition. ‘Savage Mountain’K2 has gained the reputation as “Savage Mountain” because while more than 6,500 people have climbed the world’s highest peak, Everest, only 337 have conquered K2 to date.Since 1954, up to 86 climbers have died in their attempt to scale K2, where summit winds reach hurricane force and still-air temperatures can plunge below -65 degrees Celsius.Experts say about one person dies on K2 for every four who reach the summit, making it the deadliest of the five highest peaks in the world.Since the first failed bid in 1987-88, only a few expeditions had attempted to summit K2 in winter.Last month, a 10-member team of Nepali climbers made history when they became the first to climb K2 in winter.Located in the Karakoram range along the Chinese border, K2 was the last of the world’s 14 tallest mountains higher than 8,000 meters to be scaled in winter.Bulgarian alpinist Atanas Skatov died earlier this month on K2. A renowned Spanish climber, Sergi Mingote, fell to his death last month while descending the mountain.
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COVID-19 vaccine rollouts have come with mixed but increasing success in developed countries with functional infrastructure. Delivering lifesaving medicine to those in the remotest locations remains a challenge. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports on a German startup looking to change that.
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Hundreds of women have attended protests in Moscow and St Petersburg on Valentine’s Day in support of Russian women prosecuted for political reasons. 
 
The Chain Of Solidary And Love protest is also dedicated to imprisoned opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, who flew to Germany on February 10. Although no explanation was given for her departure, Navalnaya had recently been detained for taking part in unsanctioned rallies in support of her husband. 
 
Images shared on social media on February 14 show women holding red roses, balloons, and heart signs with the names of female political prisoners written on them. Demonstrators also sang, “Love is stronger than fear,” the motto of the protests.  
The organizers said on their Facebook page that the rallies were dedicated to the women who were “beaten and tortured by police during peaceful protests,” as well as “to everyone who spends their days in courts, police buses, and special detention centers.” 
 
They said the “chain” along Moscow’s Old Arbat Street honors Navalnaya as well as lawyer Lyubov Sobol, Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina, municipal deputy Lucy Shtein, Navalny’s press secretary Kira Yarmysh, and Doctors’ Alliance head Anastasia Vasilyeva, who all face criminal charges for calling on supporters to rally for Navalny’s release last month. 
 
Later on February 14, Navalny supporters plan a protest using light from mobile phones, flashlights, and candles to express support for him, despite a warning that people taking part could face criminal charges. Navalny’s team has called on people across Russia to switch on their cell phone flashlights for 15 minutes beginning at 8 p.m. local time and shine the light into the sky from their homes or the courtyards of their apartment buildings. FILE – Opposition leader Alexei Navalny is escorted out of a police station on Jan. 18, 2021, in Khimki, outside Moscow, following the court ruling that ordered him jailed for 30 days. 
Navalny, 44, a staunch critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was arrested on January 17 after returning to Russia from Germany where he had been treated for a nerve-agent poisoning he says was ordered by Putin. The Kremlin denies it had any role in the attack. 
 
Navalny’s detention sparked outrage across the country and much of the West, with tens of thousands of Russians taking part in street rallies on January 23 and 31. 
 
Police cracked down harshly on the demonstrations, putting many of Navalny’s political allies behind bars and detaining thousands more — sometimes violently  — as they gathered on the streets. 
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Spain’s northeastern region of Catalonia is voting Sunday to elect a new parliament and prime minister, with pro-independent parties aiming to retain control and the Socialist Party of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez hoping to take over leadership of the wealthy region for the first time in a decade. Salvador Illa, Spain’s health minister and in charge of the country’s coronavirus response until two weeks ago, leads the ticket of the Socialist Party. The pro-independence parties want not only to maintain their majority in parliament, but also to broaden their base by winning more than 50 percent of the popular vote for the first time.   Opinion polls conducted before the Sunday’s election have predicted a tight race between the Socialists, which were slightly ahead, and the two leading pro-independence parties, the left-wing Republic Left of Catalonia (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya) and the center-right Together for Catalonia (Junts per Catalunya). Political analysts have said that if separatists manage to hold on power, a new drive for independence seems very unlikely, as the movement is divided between moderate and conservative approaches and its top leaders are serving prison terms or have fled Spain after the short-lived 2017 declaration of independence.   Polling stations will close at 8 p.m., local time, and the results are expected by midnight.   
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Kosovo is going to the polls Sunday in an early parliamentary election after the country’s Constitutional Court invalidated the vote to confirm the government formed by the Democratic League of Kosovo, or LDK.More than 1,000 candidates from 28 political groups are competing for the 120 seats in the legislative body, 10 of which belong to Serbian community and 10 to other minorities.Some 1.8 million people are eligible to vote, including about 100,000 in the diaspora.Last year, the LDK forced a vote in parliament to bring down the 4-month-old government of Prime Minister Albin Kurti of Vetevendosje, the Self-Determination Movement, and replace it with the government of Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti of the LDK.In December, Kosovo’s Constitutional Court supported a Vetevendosje challenge of a vote by a convicted lawmaker that helped confirm the Hoti government.Sunday’s vote is held against an economic downturn caused primarily by the coronavirus pandemic. Kosovo has reported over 64,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 1,500 deaths.Bringing unemployment under control and fighting organized crime and corruption will be the biggest challenges for the new government.Opinion polls taken before Sunday indicated that Vetevendosje would win 45% to 55% of the vote among ethnic Albanians, who comprise about 90% of the population.Although it is about twice the number of votes Vetevendosje garnered in 2019 election, it is still below the 61% threshold to govern alone.
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There are 108.5 million global COVID-19 infections, Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Sunday. The U.S. has the most cases at 27.5 million, followed by India with 10.9 million and Brazil with 9.8 million.The Telegraph newspaper reports British scientists are developing a universal vaccine that would combat all the variants of the coronavirus and could be available within a year.The British newspaper says scientists at the University of Nottingham are working on a vaccine that would target the core of virus instead of the spike protein that current vaccines focus on.Targeting the core alleviates the need to frequently adjust existing vaccines as the virus mutates.The Telegraph said proteins found in the core of the virus are far less likely to mutate, meaning the vaccine would protect against all current variants and would theoretically have greater longevity.A 58-year-old man in France is reported to be the first person infected for a second time with the highly contagious South African variant of the coronavirus.The man’s reinfection is “rare albeit probably underestimated,” according to the authors of an article in the Clinical Infectious Diseases journal.New Zealand’s largest city in going into a three-day lockdown, the country’s first in six months. The shuttering of Auckland comes after the discovery of three family members – a father, mother and daughter – with COVID.The rest of the country will be on heightened restrictions.New Zealand is known for having have stamped out the local transmission of the coronavirus, but it regularly detects the virus in travelers to New Zealand who are then placed in quarantine.The mother in the New Zealand family with COVID works at a catering company that does laundry for airlines. Authorities are investigating whether there is a link to an infected passenger.Not all U.S. states are happy about President Joe Biden’s plan to establish 100 COVID vaccine inoculation sites around the country by the end of the month, according to an Associated Press report.The wire service reports that some states have learned that the sites do not come with additional vaccines but would pull vaccines from the state’s existing allocation.A spokesperson for Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee said, “Up until now, we’ve been under the impression that these sites do not come with their own supply of vaccine — which is the principal thing we need more of, rather than more ways to distribute what we already have.”Adding to the confusion, AP reported that some states have been told by federal officials that the new sites would come with their own supply of vaccines.
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Britain said Saturday it will use the first leaders’ meeting of its G-7 presidency next week to seek more global cooperation on coronavirus vaccine distribution and post-pandemic recovery plans.Prime Minister Boris Johnson will host G-7 heads of state for a virtual meeting Friday, their first gathering since April 2020 and U.S. President Joe Biden’s first major multilateral engagement since taking office last month.They are meeting at a seaside retreat in Cornwall in southwestern England on June 11-13, after last year’s gathering in the United States was shelved because of the pandemic.Johnson is eager to boost Britain’s post-Brexit profile and his own international standing, after criticism of his tactics during the country’s fraught divorce from the European Union and his support for ex-U.S. President Donald Trump.He has vowed to focus his G-7 presidency on better coordinating the international response to the pandemic, as well as climate change ahead of Britain hosting a U.N. conference on climate change, COP26, in November.”The solutions to the challenges we face… lie in the discussions we have with our friends and partners around the world,” Johnson said in a statement released late Saturday.He added “quantum leaps in science” had helped produce the COVID-19 vaccines needed to end the pandemic, and that world governments now had a responsibility to work together to distribute them.”I hope 2021 will be remembered as the year humanity worked together like never before to defeat a common foe,” Johnson said.Friday’s virtual gathering will see him host the leaders of the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, as well as the presidents of the European Council and the EU Commission.Later in February, he will also chair a virtual meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the link between climate change and conflict — the first time a U.K. leader has chaired such a session since 1992.The discussions at the meeting will inform crucial action ahead of the U.K.-hosted COP26 Summit to be held November 1-12 in the Scottish city of Glasgow, his Downing Street office said.
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The Italian president swore in the former chief of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, as prime minister on Saturday at the head of a unity government called on to confront the coronavirus crisis and economic slump.All but one of Italy’s major parties have rallied to his side and his cabinet includes lawmakers from across the political spectrum, as well as technocrats in key posts, including the finance ministry and a new green transition portfolio.Much now rests on Draghi’s shoulders.He is tasked with plotting Italy’s recovery from the pandemic and must immediately set to work on plans for how to spend more than 200 billion euros ($240 billion) in European Union funds aimed at rebuilding the recession-bound economy.If he prevails, Draghi will likely bolster the entire eurozone, which has long fretted over Italy’s perennial problems. Success would also prove to Italy’s skeptical northern allies that by offering funds to the poorer south, they will fortify the entire bloc.But he faces enormous challenges. Italy is mired in its worst downturn since World War Two, hundreds of people are still dying of COVID-19 each day, the vaccination campaign is going slowly and he only has limited time to sort things out.Italy is due to return to the polls in two years time, but it is far from certain that Draghi will be able to survive that long at the head of a coalition that includes parties with radically opposing views on issues such as immigration, justice, infrastructure development and welfare.Highlighting Italy’s political instability, Draghi’s government is the 67th to take office since 1946 and the seventh in the last decade alone.CABINET MIXPresident Sergio Mattarella asked him to take over after the previous coalition collapsed amid party infighting. Draghi has spent the past 10 days drawing up his plans and unveiled his 23-strong cabinet on Friday, which included eight women.Eight of the ministries went to technocrats, with the rest split amongst the six main parties that back the government — four for the 5-Star Movement, the largest group in parliament, three each for the Democratic Party, the League and Forza Italia and one apiece for Italia Viva and LEU.As finance minister, Draghi called on an old colleague, Daniele Franco, the deputy governor of the Bank of Italy, while the sensitive job of justice minister was handed to the former head of the constitutional court, Marta Cartabia.He also looked outside the political sphere for two new roles — technological innovation, which was entrusted to the former head of telecoms firm Vodafone, Vittorio Colao, and ecological transition, given to physicist Roberto Cingolani.These twin positions play into demands by the European Union that a sizeable chunk of its recovery fund should be used to promote the digitalisation of the continent and to shift away from a dependence on fossil fuels.Draghi, a reserved figure who has no profile on social media platforms, will unveil his program in the upper house of parliament on Wednesday and the lower house on Thursday.Confidence votes will be held in both chambers and with just the far-right Brothers of Italy outside the cabinet, he looks likely to win the biggest majority in Italian history.However, some members of the 5-Star Movement, which was created in 2009 as an anti-system, anti-euro protest group, have said they might vote against Draghi, threatening a party schism. 
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The European Union on Saturday called on China to reverse its ban on the BBC World News television channel imposed in apparent retaliation for Britain’s pulling of the license of state-owned Chinese broadcaster CGTN.The EU said in a statement that Beijing’s move further restricted “freedom of expression and access to information inside its borders,” and violated both the Chinese constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The statement also said that Hong Kong’s announcement that its public broadcaster would also stop carrying BBC broadcasts added to the “erosion of the rights and freedoms that is ongoing” in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory since the imposition last year of a sweeping new national security law.”The EU remains strongly committed to safeguarding media freedom and pluralism, as well as protecting the right to freedom of expression online and offline, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information without interference of any kind,” the statement said.BBC Banned from Broadcasting in China Country’s broadcast regulator says network has ‘undermined China’s national interests and ethnic solidarity.’ While Britain is no longer in the EU, it remains a member of the Council of Europe, which oversees a 1989 agreement linking broadcasting licenses. Britain, the U.S. and foreign correspondents based in China have also expressed dismay over the BBC ban.China’s move Thursday was largely symbolic, because BBC World was shown only on cable TV systems in hotels and apartment compounds for foreigners and some other businesses. However, it comes against the backdrop of growing conflict between Beijing and Western governments over a slew of issues ranging from human rights to trade and the COVID-19 pandemic in which Chinese criticisms over foreign media coverage have played a prominent role.China’s National Radio and Television Administration said BBC World News coverage of the country violated requirements that news reporting be true and impartial, reflecting complaints over BBC reports about the government’s initial response to the virus outbreak in China. Other complaints were over allegations of forced labor and sexual abuse in the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang, home to Uighurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups. The EU statement specifically linked the ban to BBC reporting on those topics.It wasn’t clear whether BBC reporters in China would be affected. Last year, Beijing expelled foreign reporters for The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times amid disputes with the Trump administration and complaints over media criticism of the ruling Communist Party.Britain’s communications watchdog, Ofcom, revoked the license for CGTN, China’s English-language satellite news channel, on Feb. 4, citing links to the Communist Party, among other reasons.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Ofcom acted on “political grounds based on ideological bias.”Losing its British license was a major blow for CGTN, which is part of a global effort by the party to promote its views and challenge Western media narratives about China, into which it has poured enormous resources. CGTN has a European operations hub in London. 
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An investment deal agreed to in principle between the European Union and China at the end of last year is facing criticism both in and outside the EU. Analysts point to the expected approval of the deal as evidence of Beijing’s uncanny ability to assess the power game within the EU.“If you look at China’s policy, as far as we can tell, over the last decade, toward Europe, they’re very much about dividing Europe into different sections — Central and Eastern Europe [as one bloc], Germany and France and Britain when Britain was still part of the EU [as another bloc], very much focused on appealing to these countries’ national economic self-interest. You know, it’s worked,” said Didi Kirsten Tatlow in a phone interview. Tatlow is a senior fellow in the Asia Program at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin.Tatlow cited China’s handling of its relationship with Germany as a case in point.FILE PHOTO: China’s President Xi Jinping meets German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, May 24, 2018.“They’ve been focusing on Germany for a long time,” she said. “I don’t think China has bottomless pockets, I think it’s very, very good at playing its cards.”Beijing, she said, not only “opened its doors to car and all kind of other German manufacturers,” it has also given Berlin unusual political access. “Let’s remember Germany is the country in Europe that has had these so-called ‘cabinet meetings’ with China for years now,” adding that participation in the meetings as seen as a “high-level honor” by some.In addition to successfully cultivating ties with major powers such as Germany and France, Tatlow said, Beijing has used all the tools at its disposal, including market access, to lure other countries into its orbit. As an example, she cited China’s decision to ink a deal with Slovakia on meat exports shortly before a Beijing-hosted summit with 17 Central and Eastern European countries this week.Even so, uneasiness about getting too close to Beijing has been fermenting among EU member states, Tatlow and others say. Whether that will lead one of the 27 member states to veto the investment agreement with Beijing is still uncertain.”In theory, it only takes one country to veto the deal,” said Jakub Janda, director of the European Values Center for Security Policy, based in Prague.But, he said in a phone interview, the small and medium-sized EU countries may be reluctant to use that power because they need support from Germany and France on other core interests, such as EU agricultural subsidies for Poland, or German backing of the Baltic states in their relationship with Russia.Janda regrets that the EU, under Germany’s leadership, failed to use the negotiations on the investment deal to advance its democratic values and support for human rights, especially since Beijing’s strong desire for a deal gave the EU leverage.The EU insists there are other mechanisms in place to discuss human rights, but Janda believes Beijing will take political concerns seriously only if they are linked to trade — an area that matters to it.“If you only raise the human rights issue through the EU-China human rights dialogue channel, and you tell China what you’re doing in [Xinjiang] is genocide of the Uighur people, the response you’ll get is, ‘No, we’re not.’ And that’s that.”Speaking to an international audience gathered at the Atlantic Council, a think tank in Washington, Charles Michel, president of the EU Council, defended the investment deal.FILE – European Council President Charles Michel is seen on a screen as he speaks with EU leaders during an EU Summit video conference, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at the European Council building in Brussels, Nov. 19, 2020.“The relationship with China is an important question in Europe,” he said, suggesting that through dialogue, the EU could help pressure the Chinese government on human rights. He also credited the investment deal with bringing down certain barriers for EU companies doing business in China, including requirements on joint ventures.Still, the EU leadership’s support for the investment deal has come under fire in civil society. The proposed pact “further entrenches Europe’s existing strategic dependency on China and runs counter to Europe’s core values,” says a widely circulated open letter signed by academics, human rights activists and former politicians.Citing the Chinese leadership’s “insistence on the centrality of the Chinese Communist Party in all parts of China’s economic and social life,” the signatories wrote that “the agreement and the hopes attached to it are products of a bygone era” when there were more legitimate hopes for Chinese liberalization from within.
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World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday all hypotheses regarding the origins of COVID-19 remain open, following his discussions with investigative team members about the findings during their visit to China.
 
The WHO-led international team this week completed a visit to China where they investigated the origins of COVID-19, including a visit to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where some have speculated the virus could have originated.
 
At a news conference before departing China, WHO scientist Peter Ben Embarek told reporters their initial findings led them to believe it was highly unlikely the virus originated in a lab.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 at Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, Feb. 2, 2021.But at the agency’s regular briefing in Geneva, Tedros indicated nothing is off the table.  
 
“Having spoken with some members of the team, I wish to confirm that all hypotheses remain open and require further analysis and studies,” he said.
 
Tedros also cautioned, as he had in prior briefings, that the mission would not find all the answers, but he said it has added important information that takes us closer to understanding the origins of the virus. Tedros said the mission achieved a better understanding of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and identified areas for further analysis and research.
 
He said he expects a summary of the report to be finished in the next week and when it is published, he will discuss the findings.
 
Meanwhile, Tedros said the number of reported COVID-19 globally fell for the fourth consecutive week, and that the number of deaths also fell for the second consecutive week.
 
He credited the declines to stringent public health measures being implemented. Tedros urged nations not to let their guard down and relax those measures just yet.
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