A pro-European reformer has won the presidency of Moldova — defeating her Moscow-backed opponent in a second-round vote that centered around the economy, corruption, and what course the small, one-time Soviet republic would choose in the tug and pull between Russia and the West.With all the Incumbent Moldovan President Igor Dodon speaks to media in Chisinau, Moldova, Nov. 16, 2020.Her opponent, the incumbent President Igor Dodon, earned the support of 42% of voters despite support from Moscow and a scorched earth Moldova’s presidential candidate Maia Sandu, poses for a selfie photo with her supporters as she leaves the Action and Solidarity Party office in Chisinau, Nov. 16, 2020.East vs West dimensions?The Moldovan election appeared to be the latest challenge to Russia’s continued influence over former Soviet republics it once ruled.Russian President Vladimir Putin has openly backed Dodon and had called on Moldovans to support his bid for another term. Russian political advisers arrived from Moscow to help manage the campaign.Indeed, Dodon has been a loyal Kremlin ally in return, calling for good relations, attending key Kremlin events, and sitting out calls to sanction Russia over its seizure and annexation of Crimea from neighboring Ukraine.Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting via video conference in Moscow, Nov. 5, 2020.“This certainly serves the vital interests of the Russian and the Moldovan people,” he added. In addressing the course of her future foreign policy on Monday, Sandu said she would seek a “true balance” by pursuing “pragmatic dialogue with all countries” including Europe, Russia and the United States.Sandu supporters argue the incoming president was simply sticking with a pragmatic approach to foreign policy that had served her well in the past.”Maia does come from this chain of pro-European politicians in Moldova,” says the European Council on Foreign Relations’ Nicu Popescu, who served as foreign minister under Sandu when she was prime minister for a period in 2019.“But she’s also someone who sees pro-Europeanism as not built through hostile relations with Russia,” he told VOA.“Much of the Moldovan population wants this approach,” he added. 
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Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology reported a “high intensity” explosion Monday at the Stromboli volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, located off the southern coast of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea.The institute’s surveillance cameras captured the event in visual and thermal format early Monday. The explosion could be seen sending ash and steam at least 100 meters into the air and streams of lava rapidly running down the center-south side of the volcano. The institute reported the event lasted four minutes. “From the seismological standpoint,” it “was characterized by a sequence of explosive events and landsliding,” it said.The institute also reported no variation in the overall condition of the volcano.The Stromboli volcano is one of the most active on Earth, with minor explosions and random lava flows descending from the crater directly into the sea. It has been erupting almost continuously since 1932. Light from its nighttime eruptions is visible for long distances, earning it the title, “Lighthouse of the Mediterranean.”
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The European Commission, the European Union’s administrative branch, announced  Monday a deal with to purchase 405 billion doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine from German bio-tech company CureVac. The announcement comes just days after EU officials announced a similar deal with German company BioNTech and U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for an initial 300 million doses of the vaccine candidate they jointly produced, which, they say, has proven 90 percent effective against COVID-19 in late-stage testing. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters the deal with CureVac is, of course, conditional on their vaccine proving to be safe and effective.  Von der Leyen said the fifth CureVac is fifth company the alliance has contracted with a for its COVID-19 vaccine portfolio.FILE – A sign marks the headquarters of Moderna Therapeutics, which is developing a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Cambridge, Mass., May 18, 2020.She said they are already working on a deal with U.S. pharmaceutical company Moderna, for a sixth contract. On Monday, Moderna announced testing showed its vaccine candidate to also be better than 90 percent effective. Von der Leyen said the European Commission hopes to have finalize their contract with Moderna soon.  She said all the vaccines must independently tested by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) before they will be accepted. She said, “We do not know at this stage which vaccine will end up being safe and effective… And this is why we need to have a broad portfolio of vaccines based on very different technologies.” European nations continue to see a surge in COVID-19 cases, and many have implemented at least partial nationwide lockdowns until the end of the month. 
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 Security forces in Pakistan sealed off a main highway into the capital, Islamabad, for a second day Monday to contain thousands of Islamists gathered outside the city to protest the reprinting of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in France. 
 
Witnesses and organizers said around 5,000 followers of the far-right Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, or TLP, began rallying on Sunday in neighboring Rawalpindi city and vowed to march toward the French Embassy in Islamabad.   Supporters of Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan, a religious political party, chant slogans while they block a main highway during an anti-France rally over the remarks of French President Emmanuel Macron, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Nov. 16, 2020.Rally participants were chanting anti-France slogans and demanding the expulsion of the French ambassador. 
 
Pakistani authorities, however, deployed thousands of riot police and paramilitary forces, and placed shipping containers at key entry points to block participants from entering the capital. Cell phone service in and around Islamabad was also switched off to prevent rally organizers from coordinating with each other.  
 
Protesters attempted to remove roadblocks Sunday night in their bid to enter the city, prompting police to respond with tear gas. The ensuing clashes spilled into Monday morning, injuring more than a dozen police officers.  Activists and supporters of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) gather beside empty tear gas shells fired by police during an anti-France demonstration in Islamabad, Nov. 16, 2020. An officer told VOA one of their personnel suffered “critical” injures, saying some of the demonstrators were “armed with long sticks that had daggers tied to them.” The clashes also left several protesters injured, according to hospital sources in Rawalpindi. 
 
The Pakistani capital remained under virtual lockdown even on Monday evening, with telecommunication services suspended for a second day in a row and security forces struggling to disperse the rally.  
 
Commuters between Islamabad and Rawalpindi and those traveling to the capital from other parts of Pakistan faced lengthy delays on alternate routes into the capital.  
Islamic parties in Pakistan have routinely organized scattered protests since early September against French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo for republishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that Muslims deem as blasphemous.  
 
Last month, a history teacher was decapitated outside a school near Paris after he had shown his students caricatures of the Prophet when the class discussed free speech.FILE – Floral tributes to Samuel Paty, the French teacher who was beheaded on the streets of the Paris suburb of Conflans St Honorine, are seen at the Place de la Republique, in Lille, France, Oct. 18, 2020.While French authorities were investigating the slaying of Samuel Paty and cracking down on suspected Islamist militants, a Tunisian man fatally stabbed three people in a cathedral in Nice. 
 
French President Emmanuel Macron has defended the right of publishers in his country to depict cartoons of the Prophet, drawing strong condemnation and triggering anti-France protests in Muslim countries.  
 
Islamabad has formally lodged a complaint with France over what it called a “systematic Islamophobic campaign” in the European nation. 
 
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has accused Macron of attacking the Muslim faith and urged Islamic countries to work together to counter what he called growing repression in Europe. 
 
“European powers, Western countries must understand that you cannot use freedom of speech as a weapon to cause Muslims pain by insulting our Prophet. Unless this is understood, the cycle of violence will keep happening,” Khan cautioned in a statement earlier this month.  
 
The ongoing violent protest outside Islamabad is not the first time the hardline cleric and TLP chief, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, has organized demonstrations over blasphemy-related issues in Pakistan.  
 
Rizvi’s followers, at his call, almost paralyzed parts of Pakistan in 2018 following the acquittal by the Supreme Court of a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, who had been wrongly accused of disrespecting the Prophet Muhammad.  
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A suspected Islamic State gunman who opened fire aboard a high-speed train in France in 2015 is going on trial Monday in Paris.  Ayoub El Khazzani, a Moroccan national, was heavily armed when he opened fire and shot a passenger after the train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris crossed the border into France on August 21, 2015. A Frenchman, a Briton and three Americans, two of them in the military but on leave at the time, tackled Khazzani and disarmed him.  Khazzani, 31, is charged with “attempted terrorist murder.”  He had joined the Islamic State group in Syria in May 2015. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in jail. A judicial source has said that Khazzani had confessed to investigators he planned to attack U.S. soldiers and not civilians. FILE – Then-French President ollande poses with British businessman Chris Norman, US student Anthony Sadler, US Airman First Class Spencer Stone and US National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos (R) during a ceremony at the Elysee Palace, Aug. 24, 2015.At a ceremony to award the Americans the Legion of Honor days after the attack, France’s then president, Francois Hollande said that “one need only know that Ayoub El Khazzani was in possession of 300 rounds of ammunition and firearms to understand what we narrowly avoided, a tragedy, a massacre.”  FILE – Ambulances gather in the street outside the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo’s office, in Paris, Jan. 7, 2015. Masked gunmen stormed the offices of a French satirical newspaper Wednesday, killing at least 11 people before escaping,The train attack occurred between two deadly attacks in Paris that year. The first, in early January at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket, killed 12 people and injured 11 others. In November, a group of jihadists would kill 130 people in coordinated attacks in the French capital. American actor and director Clint Eastwood turned Khazzani’s drama into a movie titled The 15:17 to Paris, the time the gunman opened fire. Eastwood and the three Americans have been summoned to testify at Khazzani’s trial.       
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and other leaders Monday for economic and security talks. The top U.S. diplomat is also taking part in a wreath-laying ceremony for terrorism victims in Paris. Counterterrorism and global threats were among topics the State Department said Pompeo would be discussing Monday in his meetings with Macron and with Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, second from right, pauses as he participates in a wreath-laying ceremony in homage to victims of terrorism at Les Invalides in Paris, Nov. 16, 2020.Pompeo is on a multi-nation tour that next takes him to Turkey to meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world’s Greek Orthodox Christians. He is also due to visit Georgia, and then Israel, where Pompeo will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and discuss U.S.-brokered agreements for Israel to normalize relations with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.  Diplomats said Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al-Zayani is set to join a three-way meeting with Pompeo and Netanyahu. Other stops on Pompeo’s tour include the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. 
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The opposition candidate in Moldova is the projected winner of the runoff presidential election. With almost all the vote counted by Sunday evening, pro-European Maia Sandu was leading with about 57% of the vote, compared to incumbent, pro-Russian president Igor Dodon’s 43%, according to results published on the Moldovan Central Election Commission website.   Sandu, 48, a former prime minister and a former World Bank employee, ran for Moldova’s top job with a pro-European political platform against a president who had promised to keep close ties with Moscow as a traditionally “strategic partner.” Her supporters celebrated overnight in front of opposition headquarters in the center of the capital Chisinau and were chanting “President Maia Sandu” and “a country for young people.”Incumbent Moldovan President Igor Dodon and his wife Galina smile while walking out of a voting station during the country’s presidential election runoff in Chisinau, Moldova, Nov. 15, 2020.Dodon, 45, who was the economy minister under a communist government between 2006 and 2009, said he “voted for peace, social justice and Christian values.”  “We must maintain good relations with the European Union and with Russia,” Dodan said. In the first round of voting on November 1, Sandu, the center-right politician caught the incumbent president by surprise, although she did not garner enough votes to avoid the runoff.   Moldova, a Soviet republic until 1991, with a population of a little more than 3.5 million, has long been divided between those who promote strong ties with the European Union and those who favor close relations with Moscow.  
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Belarusian police detained more than 1,000 people Sunday during protests across the country demanding the resignation of President Alexander Lukashenko and a new election following a disputed vote in August.The Vyasna human rights group said most detentions were made in Minsk, where black-clad security forces used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse thousands of demonstrators. Two people were beaten by masked security officers inside a grocery store.At least 18 journalists, including four contributors to RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, were among those detained in Minsk and other cities, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists.Belarusian riot police block the road to stop demonstrators during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, Nov. 15, 2020.Russia, meanwhile, has supported Lukashenko in the ongoing standoff.Lukashenka vowed Friday not to hand over power and slammed his political opponents and demonstrators.Lukashenko said his country should integrate with Russia and Moscow-led organizations to avoid what he called “color revolutions,” a term often used to describe pro-Western political upheavals.His remarks came as the European Union again condemned violent crackdowns against Belarusian protesters and threatened to impose more sanctions on Minsk following the death of Bandarenka.Several protesters have been killed and thousands of people arrested since authorities declared Lukashenka the landslide winner of the vote.There have also been credible reports of torture during a widening security crackdown.Most of the country’s opposition have been arrested or forced to leave the country.
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is self-isolating after being told he came into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, officials said Sunday.”He will carry on working from Downing Street, including on leading the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic,” a statement from his office said.Johnson “is well and does not have any symptoms of COVID-19,” it added.Johnson met with a small group of lawmakers for about a half-hour on Thursday, including one who subsequently developed coronavirus symptoms and tested positive.He was notified by the National Health Service’s Test and Trace system Sunday and told he should self-isolate because of factors including the length of the meeting.Officials said they will discuss with parliamentary authorities how Johnson can take part remotely in parliament’s business. He plans to “continue speaking to the country during his self-isolation period,” they added.The statement didn’t say how long Johnson plans to isolate, but U.K. health authorities’ guidance is that anyone contacted by Test and Trace should quarantine for 14 days.In April, Johnson was hospitalized in intensive care after contracting the coronavirus.
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Belarusian police have detained scores of protesters who were demanding the resignation of Alexander Lukashenko and a new presidential election following a disputed vote in August.Black-clad security forces used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse thousands of demonstrators in the capital, Minsk, on Sunday.The Vyasna human rights group said at least 179 protesters were detained in Minsk and other cities, including in Homel, Hrodna, and Mogilev.Demonstrators in Minsk carried the banned white-red-white flags that have become a symbol of the political opposition in Belarus and chanted slogans like, “Lukashenko! Tribunal!” and “Love live Belarus!”Mobile Internet was down and several subway stations in central Minsk were closed.FILE – Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, leader of the opposition from Belarus, speaks to the media during a press statement in Berlin, Germany, Oct. 6, 2020. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanouskaya, who has said the vote was rigged in Lukashenko’s favor and considers herself the rightful winner, described the crackdown on protesters on November 15 with “gas, grenades and firearms” as “devastating” and called for international support for the demonstrators.”We ask our allies to stand up for the Belarusian people and human rights. We need a humanitarian corridor for the injured, support for the media, international investigation of crimes,” she wrote on Twitter.Tikhanouskaya left Belarus for Lithuania after the vote amid threats to her and her family.Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus for 26 years, has faced almost daily protests calling for his resignation since a presidential election on August 9 that the opposition says was rigged and which the West has refused to accept.Russia, meanwhile, has supported Lukashenko in the ongoing standoff.Lukashenka on November 13 vowed not to hand over power and slammed his political opponents and demonstrators.Lukashenko said his country should integrate with Russia and Moscow-led organizations to avoid what he called “color revolutions” — a term often used to describe pro-Western political upheavals.His remarks came as the European Union again condemned violent crackdowns against Belarusian protesters and threatened to impose more sanctions on Minsk following the death of a 31-year-old Belarusian man on November 12 who is believed to have been badly beaten by masked security forces.Several protesters have been killed and thousands of people arrested since authorities declared Lukashenka the landslide winner of the vote.There have also been credible reports of torture during a widening security crackdown.Most of the country’s opposition have been arrested or forced to leave the country.
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The U.N. human rights office says the government of Belarus continues to commit human rights violations with impunity against peaceful protesters three months after the country’s disputed presidential elections.Belarusian citizens remain outraged at the outcome of the August 9 presidential election that returned Alexander Lukashenko to power in an election widely seen as fraudulent. They continue to voice their grievances by taking to the streets in protest.U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said the government has responded to these peaceful demonstrations in a heavy-handed manner, with the use of unnecessary or excessive force by law enforcement officials.“Arbitrary mass detentions continue. To date, it is estimated more than 25,000 people have been detained, including more than 1,000 who took part in solidarity protests in the capital, Minsk, and throughout Belarus on the 8th of November. Many of those detained have faced administrative charges, in some cases being held for up to 15 days, but the Belarusian authorities are increasingly bringing criminal charges against people,” he said.Colville said at least 127 students taking part in demonstrations have been expelled from their courses. He said dozens of medical workers and doctors in solidarity with the opposition have been detained. He said the government reportedly has frozen the bank accounts of a charity assisting some 60 alleged victims of violence and torture.On Thursday, a 31-year-old man, Roman Bondarenko, reportedly died after he allegedly was assaulted by masked men and ill-treated by a member of the security forces. Belarusian officials have denied any role in the death.People gather to honor 31-year-old Raman Bandarenka, who died at a Minsk hospital after several hours of surgery due to serious injuries in Minsk, Belarus, Nov. 13, 2020.If the allegations are proven to be true, Colville said Bondarenko’s death takes government abuse to a whole new level.“The latest statement from the investigative committee – is an investigative body in Belarus continues to indicate that the authorities for now do not acknowledge that those who attacked Mr. Bondarenko were police officers or otherwise associated with the security apparatus,” he said.The U.N human rights office is calling on the Belarusian authorities to conduct a thorough, independent investigation into this incident and to publicly share its results. It says the perpetrator should be brought to justice if a crime was found to have been committed.President Lukashenko, meanwhile, denies that the election was fraudulent and refuses to step down. 
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Turkish President Erdogan visited breakaway Northern Cyprus on Sunday to meet its newly elected leader who backs his call for a “two-state” solution to the divided island’s five-decade conflict if U.N.-mediated talks yield no results.With Turkey’s support, former prime minister Ersin Tatar won a tight presidential vote last month that could further strain ties with the internationally-recognized Cypriot government to the south. Tatar’s predecessor had backed reunification.Turkey is alone in recognizing Northern Cyprus as an independent state. Cyprus was split after a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek-inspired coup.Turkey’s government said Erdogan and Tatar would discuss how to strengthen ties and also the situation in the broader Eastern Mediterranean, where Turkey has clashed this year with Cyprus, Greece and the European Union over offshore territorial rights.The EU, which has threatened to impose sanctions on Turkey next month over illegal oil and gas exploration at sea, admitted Cyprus into the bloc in 2004. Erdogan has said separate administrations were the only solution after U.N.-mediated peace talks between Cyprus and North Cyprus broke down in 2017. Ankara has proposed an informal meeting between Turkey, Greece, Turkish and Greek Cypriots and the United Nations.Before last month’s election, Northern Cyprus partially reopened the beach town of Varosha, a fenced-off resort area abandoned in no-man’s land since 1974.Turkey backed the move while the United States, Greece and Greek Cypriots criticized it. 
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In an unassuming house in rolling hills east of the Hungarian capital, a small family firm is helping oil the wheels of the world’s big pharmaceutical companies on the path to a coronavirus vaccine. Biologist Noemi Lukacs, 71, retired to Szirak, her birth village, to establish English & Scientific Consulting (SciCons) and manufacture a genetic sensor so sensitive that a few grams can supply the entire global industry for a year. “We produce monoclonal antibodies,” Lukacs told Reuters in the single-story house where she was born, now partly converted into a world-class laboratory. The white powder ships worldwide from here, micrograms at a time. “These antibodies recognize double-stranded RNA [dsRNA],” she explained. DsRNA is a byproduct of viruses replicating, so its presence signals the presence of a live virus, long useful in virus-related research. More importantly, dsRNA is also a byproduct of the process used by U.S. giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech to create their experimental COVID-19 vaccine which is more than 90% effective according to initial trial results last week.And because dsRNA can be harmful to human cells, it must be filtered out from any vaccine to be used in humans. Several filtering methods exist, but the most widely used way to do quality control is to expose the vaccine to Lukacs’ antibodies. Not only will the antibodies show if there is any dsRNA in the vaccine, they will also tell researchers how much of it is present. Only once completely freed from dsRNA can the vaccine be administered. The result: a line of big pharma representatives outside her door. Hungarian biologists Alexandra Torok and Noemi Lukacs check the purity of an antibody, a genetic sensor of sorts, in Szirak, Hungary, Nov. 13, 2020.The small company is growing rapidly, yet its revenue was only 124 million forints (just over $400,000) last year, with profits at 52 million forints. That feeds five employees and even leaves some for local charity projects in Szirak. To Lukacs, that is just fine. The success of the RNA field, long frowned upon, is vindication enough. Dog in the race The former university professor followed the race to the vaccine closely and rooted especially for the contestants who look set to come first: those using modified RNA to train cells of the human body to recognize and kill the coronavirus. The RNA was her dog in the race. The modified RNA, or mRNA, methodology is a whole new group of drugs, with the COVID vaccine the first product likely to get regulatory approval and go into mass production. But more applications are expected, which has Lukacs overjoyed. “Once you get into the RNA field, it is an extremely exciting area,” she said, recalling decades of struggles when the rest of the scientific community did not share her excitement. Or most of the rest, that is. Another Hungarian woman, Katalin Kariko, working across the Atlantic, patented the method that enables the use of RNA and promises to free the world not only of the coronavirus but scores of other diseases. In the process, Kariko — now the Vice President of Germany’s BioNTech, which was first alongside U.S. giant Pfizer to break through with a vaccine earlier this month  — became an early SciCons customer. The COVID breakthrough and other RNA uses may necessitate more use of Lukacs’s antibodies as well, but they do not anticipate much of a boon. “We would be happy to sell more of it,” said Johanna Symmons, her daughter and the small company’s chief executive. “We probably will too. But it’s not like we’ll get silly rich.” Being part of the solution reaps its own rewards. “We have cooperated with most vaccine manufacturers, and certainly almost all of the ones using the mRNA method,” she said with a hint of pride. “We have been a small screw in this large machine.”    
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The leader of Armenia’s opposition Homeland party, Artur Vanetsyan, has been arrested and accused of plotting to overthrow the government and kill the country’s embattled prime minister, as the country’s main security body said it had thwarted an assassination attempt.Vanetsyan, who formerly headed Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS), was detained after his arrival for a meeting with the service’s Investigative Department on Saturday, according to his lawyer.”Vanetsyan was detained on suspicion of usurping power and preparing the assassination of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan,” attorney Lusine Sahakian wrote on Facebook.In addition, Sahakian wrote, “illegal searches” were carried out in the apartment of Vanetsyan’s parents and an office affiliated with the Homeland party.Both Sahakian and Vanetsyan’s Homeland party condemned the moves as politically motivated.NSS statementThe NSS has not confirmed Vanetsyan’s arrest, but in a statement Saturday it said that it had thwarted an assassination attempt against Pashinyan.”The National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia has revealed cases of illegal acquisition and storage of weapons, ammunition and explosives by a group of people with the aim of seizing power in the Republic of Armenia,” the statement said. “It is clarified that the attackers, who did not agree with the domestic and foreign policy of the state, intended to seize power by killing the head of government.”The Homeland party said in a statement that Vanetsyan’s arrest was part of the Armenian authorities’ efforts to quell opposition protests against a Russia-mediated cease-fire agreement that stopped fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in Nagorno-Karabakh.Pashinyan’s agreement to the truce with Azerbaijan on Tuesday prompted a furious reaction in the Armenian capital, with protesters storming government buildings and parliament.Homeland is one of 17 Armenian opposition groups that launched the protests and demanded Pashinyan’s resignation. They accuse Pashinyan of capitulating to Azerbaijan and committing high treason.10 arrestsOn Wednesday, 10 prominent opposition figures, including Vanetsyan, were arrested and accused of “organizing illegal violent mass disorder.” The detentions were denounced by the opposition as illegal, and the opposition figures were released two days later.Vanetsyan, 40, was appointed as head of the NSS immediately after the 2018 revolution that brought Pashinyan to power. He quickly became an influential member of Pashinyan’s entourage, overseeing high-profile corruption investigations initiated by Armenia’s new leadership.Vanetsyan resigned in September 2019 after a falling out with the prime minister. He has since repeatedly accused Pashinyan of incompetence and misrule, prompting angry responses from the premier and his political allies.While the Moscow-brokered truce ended fighting that has killed more than 2,000 soldiers and civilians on each side, it has been rejected by Armenians because it allows Azerbaijan to keep large swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh.Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but its majority Armenian population has governed its own affairs since Azerbaijani troops and Azeri civilians were pushed out of the region in a war that ended in a cease-fire in 1994.The most recent fighting broke out in late September.
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In a bitter farewell to his home of 21 years, Garo Dadevusyan wrenched off its metal roof and prepared to set the stone house on fire. Thick smoke poured from houses that his neighbors had already torched before fleeing this ethnic Armenian village about to come under Azerbaijani control.The village is to be turned over to Azerbaijan on Sunday as part of territorial concessions in an agreement to end six weeks of intense fighting with Armenian forces. The move gripped its 600 people with fear and anger so deep that they destroyed the homes they once loved.The settlement — called Karvachar in Armenian — is legally part of Azerbaijan, but it has been under the control of ethnic Armenians since the 1994 end of a war over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. That war left not only Nagorno-Karabakh itself but also substantial surrounding territory in Armenian hands.After years in which sporadic clashes broke out between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces, full-scale fighting began in late September this year. Azerbaijan made relentless military advances, culminating in the seizure of the city of Shusha, a strategically key city and one of strong emotional significance as a longtime center of Azeri culture.Two days after Azerbaijan announced it had taken Shusha, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a Russia-brokered cease-fire under which territory that Armenia occupies outside the formal borders of Nagorno-Karabakh will be gradually ceded.Muslim Azeris and Christian Armenians once lived together in these regions, however uneasily. Although the cease-fire ends the fighting, it aggravates ethnic animosity.Garo Dadevusyan, right, wrenches off its metal roof and prepares to set the stone house on fire in Kalbajar before leaving the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, Nov. 14, 2020. The village is to be turned over to Azerbaijan Nov. 15.”In the end, we will blow it up or set it on fire, in order not to leave anything to Muslims,” Dadevusyan said of his house.He spoke while taking a rest from salvaging what he could from the home, including metal roof panels, and piling it onto an old flatbed truck.The truck’s final destination was unclear.”We are homeless now, do not know where to go and where to live. Do not know where to live. It is very hard,” Dadevusyan’s wife, Lusine, said, choked by tears as the couple gave the interior of the house a last look.Dadevusyan’s dismay extended to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Armenia and Russia keep close relations and Russia has a sizable military base in Armenia, so many Armenians had hoped for support from Moscow. Instead, Russia facilitated the cease-fire and territorial concessions and is sending in nearly 2,000 peacekeepers to enforce it.”Why has Putin abandoned us?” Dadevusyan asked.Cars and trucks stuck in a huge traffic jam climb along the road from Kalbajar to a mountain pass leaving the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, Nov. 14, 2020.On Saturday, kilometers-long columns of cars and trucks carrying fleeing residents jammed the road to Armenia.Scores of local people flocked to Dadivank, an Armenian Apostolic Church monastery dating to the ninth century, as priests removed sacred items to be taken away. Many of the visitors took photos of themselves at the site nestled in the mountains near Karvachar, suggesting they did not expect to see it again.People look at bells, removed from the Dadivank, an Armenian Apostolic Church monastery dating to the ninth century, as ethnic Armenians leave the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, Nov. 14, 2020.A small group of Russian peacekeepers watched from across the road, some sitting on their armored vehicles.The monastery’s abbot, the Reverend Hovhannes Ter-Hovhannisyan, walked over to greet them.”It’s very important to us that the Russian peacekeepers came today in order to preserve peace, because not all the questions of our future have been resolved,” he said. “But I am sure that justice will triumph.”Hundreds of thousands of Azeris were displaced by the war that ended in 1994. It is unclear when any civilians might try to settle in Karvachar — which will now be known by its Azeri name, Kalbajar — or elsewhere.Any returns could be wrenching. Settlers will confront the burned, empty shells of houses — or worse. Agdam, which is to be turned over next week, once was a city of about 40,000, but now is an empty sprawl of buildings that were destroyed in the first war or later ruined by pillagers grabbing building materials.Returning also is potentially dangerous because of the remnants of war. The Azerbaijani general prosecutor’s office said one man was killed and another injured Saturday when they triggered a mine left over from the fighting in Fizuli, an area now under Azerbaijani control.For the Dadevusyans, their sudden relocation is overwhelming beyond words.”When you spent 21 years here and now need to leave it … ,” Garo Dadevusyan said, trailing off, as smoke from nearby burning houses choked the air. Soon, he knew, his house would be one of them.
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Demonstrators on the Canary Islands on Saturday demanded better living conditions for thousands of migrants who have reached the Spanish archipelago from Africa.A slow procession of hundreds of demonstrators, some on foot and some in cars, crossed the island of Gran Canaria before reaching the Arguineguin dock in the town of Mogan, where nearly 2,000 migrants are living in tents in conditions that an immigration judge has called “inhumane and degrading.”Over 700 migrants in small boats were rescued Saturday, coast guards said, bringing the number of people who have reached the islands by the dangerous Atlantic route from Africa to nearly 17,000 this year — more than 10 times last year’s total.Deepening economic hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic is pushing more people in developing nations to seek better lives elsewhere, while tightened security in the Mediterranean means more migrants are attempting the Atlantic crossing, with many dying along the way.”We are here fighting for a more dignified reception for these people who arrive in our island to find a better life,” said one demonstrator, teacher Famara Brito.Aid groups estimate about 4,000 migrants are living in tourist hotels because of the lack of refugee reception centers. The Federation of Hospitality and Tourism Enterprises of Gran Canaria called on the government Saturday to act so hotels could be used again for tourists.Spain’s regional policy minister said Friday that it would expand naval patrols around the Canary Islands and set up more migrant centers in response to the surge in arrivals.
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo heads to France, Turkey and five other countries days after Democrat Joe Biden was named the projected the winner of the presidential race.  Pompeo’s refusal to recognize Biden’s victory has raised eyebrows, as VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
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French ground forces and military helicopters killed a jihadi commander linked with al-Qaida in Mali along with four others, the French military said Friday. The operation Tuesday targeted Bah ag Moussa, military chief for the RVIM Islamic extremist group, who had been on a U.N. sanctions list and was believed responsible for multiple attacks on Malian and international forces in the country, French military spokesman Colonel Frederic Barbry told reporters Friday. Surveillance drones helped French forces in Mali identify Moussa’s truck in the Menaka region of eastern Mali, which was then targeted by the helicopters and 15 French commandos sent to the scene, Barbry said. All five people in the truck were killed after they ignored warning shots and fired on the French forces, he said. FILE – An anti-aircraft gun is mounted on the back of a pickup truck as militants from a Tuareg political and armed movement in the Azawad Region in Mali gather in the desert outside Menaka, March 14, 2020.He described it as an act of “legitimate defense” and said the bodies were handled “in conformity with international humanitarian law.” He wouldn’t comment on whether allied forces including the U.S. contributed intelligence to the operation. A statement from the French defense minister said Moussa oversaw the training of jihadi recruits. It was the latest of multiple French actions in Mali in recent weeks that killed suspected extremists. Moussa was a Tuareg rebel fighter close to jihadi commander Iyad Ag Ghaly when extremists and rebel forces took control of northern Mali in 2012. That prompted a French-led military operation in 2013 to keep Mali from falling apart. Moussa became a prominent jihadi leader in central Mali in recent years, and he was a liaison with extremist groups in his native northern Mali, according to Malian military officials. The Malian army accused him of orchestrating attacks against Malian forces in Diabaly, Nampala and Dioura that killed dozens of troops. France has thousands of troops in a force called Barkhane in West Africa to help fight extremist groups. After Islamic extremist rebels were forced from power in northern Mali in 2013, they regrouped in the desert and now launch frequent attacks on the Malian army and its allies. The French military announced its latest operation on the fifth anniversary of Islamic extremist attacks that killed 130 people in Paris, targeting the Bataclan concert hall, cafes and the national stadium.
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Hospitals in several parts of Europe, from the Midlands of England to Ukraine, are warning their intensive care units are reaching full capacity as a second wave of coronavirus sweeps across the continent.  Doctors are once again talking about a viral tsunami hitting them, one that’s likely to be worse than the first wave that hit Europe and the United States earlier this year. With the tempo of new infections quickening, even before the northern hemisphere winter sets in, alarm is rising.  Vassilis Voutsas, a Greek doctor who works in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at Thessaloniki’s Papanikolaou Hospital, said Thursday: “My fear is that the number of patients will be so big that we won’t be able to treat them all.” The unit has seen a fivefold rise in patients.  “The hospital system is already at its limits,” he added.In ItalyA clamor of warnings is also coming from hospitals in an arc across northern Italy.  Midweek, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Italy passed the symbolic one million mark, according to government data. The country is now recording more than 30,000 new infections daily and deaths are rising from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.  A COVID-19 sign is seen at the Policlinico Tor Vergata hospital where patients suffering from the coronavirus disease are being treated in Rome, Italy, Nov. 13, 2020.This week, Massimo Galli, head of the infectious diseases department at Milan’s Sacco hospital, warned the situation was “largely out of control.” Italy’s national association of internal medicine professionals agrees, saying Italy’s hospitals in the worst-hit north are close to collapse due to the number of COVID-19 patients being admitted. In an open letter published by the Italian news agency ANSA, the association said hospitals are suffering a shortage of staff and lack of beds “in the face of an abnormal influx of patients due to the rapid and dizzying spread of COVID infection.” The association is calling for a total national lockdown, saying there should be no “downplaying the situation,” which they describe as “dramatic.” Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte last week imposed a nationwide overnight curfew, ordered an early closing for bars and restaurants, and announced further restrictions on people traveling between regions where infection rates are high. Several regions, including Lombardy, the epicenter of the pandemic in Italy during the first wave, have been declared “red zones” and are in a virtual lockdown.  In an interview with La Stampa newspaper, Conte said he was working “to avoid the closure of the entire national territory” and is waiting to see if the new restrictions do tamp down the rising numbers. “We are constantly monitoring the evolution of the contagion, the reactivity and the capacity of our health system to respond,” he said. In UkraineIn Ukraine, where more than half a million confirmed coronavirus cases have been recorded, the COVID-19 situation is dire in some regions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, have been hospitalized after testing positive, although they are suffering only mild symptoms of COVID-19, according to the president’s spokeswoman, Iuliia Mendel. FILE – A medical staffer wearing a protective suit waits at a triage check point that was set to ease the pressure on hospital emergency wards, following the surge of COVID-19 case numbers, at the Monza racetrack, in Monza, Italy, Nov. 11, 2020.”We’re in the midst of what I’d call an operational tsunami,” said Kiran Patel, the chief medical officer. A critical-care consultant, Tom Billyard, told Britain’s Sky News, “We normally struggle through winter, so to add more COVID patients on top of that is a big worry.” On Thursday, British health authorities announced 33,470 people had tested positive for coronavirus in the previous 24 hours — the highest figure recorded since the pandemic began, according to government figures. French Prime Minister Jean Castex has also warned his country’s hospitals are under immense strain, saying there is a hospital admission every 30 seconds. “The pressure on our hospitals has intensified enormously,” he said.   
 
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Five years after the deadly Paris attacks that killed more than 100 people in November 2015, the country paid tribute to the victims Friday. This anniversary is taking place amid a new terror threat as France has been targeted by radical Islamists in recent months.
    
The horrible scenes and sad memories of the night of November 13, 2015, are still vivid among French people. Five years ago, 130 people were killed and 350 were injured when Islamist jihadists attacked a stadium near Paris, bars, restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall in Paris.
 
Francois Hollande, French president at the time of the attacks, was among those who paid tribute to the victims and remembered the tragic events.
    
Hollande acknowledged the memories remain quite vivid even five years after. The time-frame could seem long for a generation but not for a head of state who faced this horrific reality that night, he said. Hollande said the victims must endure painful memories after being hurt or taken hostage during a situation that created traumas for them and for the nation.
    
Prime Minister Jean Castex and cabinet members attended memorial ceremonies Friday in Paris. Gatherings were scaled down this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.  
 
This fifth anniversary occurs as France was recently hit by three terror attacks  – a knife attack outside the former offices of Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly magazine in late September, the decapitation of a teacher a month later, and the stabbing of three people in a church in Nice just days later in late October.
Even if the Islamic state terror group was defeated in Iraq and Syria, the threat has evolved, and lone wolf radical Islamists are now the major threat, according to Laurent Nunez, French national intelligence coordinator.
   
He says that France is being wrongly accused of Islamophobia, and that there is a major and ongoing propaganda campaign being waged by al-Qaida and the Islamic State that is urging lone individuals, already present on France’s soil, to stage attacks using basic weapons, like what happened in Nice with a knife.
   
The trial of those accused of involvement in the November 2015 attacks will begin early next year.
 
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Turkish analysts say Joe Biden’s projected presidential election victory could prove to be a pivotal moment in Turkey’s relations with the United States — one that could see Ankara pivoting back to its traditional Western allies or further deepening ties with Russia and China. While many European leaders were quick to offer congratulations to Biden, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan belatedly issued a statement Wednesday acknowledging Biden’s victory. In it, Erdogan stressed the “strategic” nature of bilateral ties and said they should be further strengthened based on common interests. The Turkish leader also sent a message to President Donald Trump, thanking him. Under Trump, critics say, Erdogan paid little price for confronting fellow NATO members and cozying up to Moscow, with the U.S. president opposing calls in the U.S. Congress for sanctions against Turkey.A Biden presidency, some analysts are predicting, will bring very different things for Erdogan. “The message from Biden will be to Turkey, do behave like an ally,” said International relations teacher Soli Ozel of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University. He told VOA he believes Biden’s victory could be a watershed moment in bilateral relations.”A Biden presidency gives you the opportunity to actually change tracks, not necessarily giving up on your interests but change your style. But if Turkey insists on defying everyone, I don’t think we can get anywhere, and the key to that is the S-400,” Ozel said. The S-400 is an advanced missile system that Turkey bought from Russia despite Washington’s warning that the purchase violated U.S. law and that the missile’s radar compromises NATO defense systems.A defiant Ankara test-fired the system last month, despite a warning from U.S. senators that the move would trigger sanctions. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, speaking at a November gathering of Turkish ambassadors, called on Washington to get over its objections to the S-400, declaring the issue was “done.”Biden’s challenge Among the first critical foreign policy decisions Biden could face is whether to sanction Turkey over the S-400. Erdogan’s deepening ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin are raising concerns within NATO.Under the so-called Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, CAATSA, Biden has a broad range of options when it comes to sanctions – from symbolic to severe financial measures.The U.S. could take action against Turkey’s state-owned Halkbank for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran. Despite a New York court jailing of a senior Halkbank official in 2018 for extensive violations of Iran sanctions, the U.S. Treasury Department has so far held off on penalizing Turkey.In early 2021, Halkbank faces charges again in a New York court for alleged sanction-busting. Analysts say that until now, Ankara has banked on its strategic importance to avoid sanctions. Turkey borders Iran, Iraq, Syria, hosts a U.S. radar base, and allows the U.S. military to operate from its Incirlik air base, one of the region’s largest.Observers warn Turkey could be overplaying its hand. “Plenty of people in the United States believe they can manage things without Turkey,” cautions Ozel, who says Washington’s need for Incirlik “is being questioned more seriously today than before.”Analysts say Ankara’s hardline stance towards Washington is perhaps a negotiating ploy. They say Mr. Erdogan is aware that Biden will likely take a more robust stance towards Moscow and that Turkey can play a critical role in that strategy.”No doubt there is a lot of anger directed at Turkey, at President Erdogan himself,” said Asli Aydintasbas, a senior fellow of the European Council of Foreign Relations. “There will be a tendency also to see if the U.S. can peel Turkey back from its reliance on Russia. And I think Erdogan knows how to play this game; he knows how to play the U.S. against Russia and vice versa, and that will be an interesting dance to watch.”But some warn of far-reaching consequences if that dance should end with U.S. sanctions on Turkey.”Hostile actions against Turkey will eventually align Turkey with the Eurasian and Asia powers like Russia and China,” said retired Admiral Cem Gurdeniz. “This is going to be inevitable because they are threatening the very existence of Turkey.”The legacy of Turkey’s 2016 failed coup by disaffected military officers could also be a complicating factor for Biden. Suspicions in Ankara remain that the Obama administration, which Biden served in, was involved in the attempted military takeover, a charge Washington has denied. But Aydintasbas says Biden’s experience of working with Turkey could serve the relationship well. “The tail end of the Obama administration relations between Turkey and Washington was pretty bad. But Biden himself emerged as an Erdogan whisperer. It was Biden who was dispatched to Turkey after the failed coup attempt in 2016 to repair the relationship. So the one-on-one relationship between the two may not be so bad, ” he said.  
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European and world leaders Thursday insisted that when COVID-19 vaccines are ready they should be made available to everyone, under an international project that still needs $28 billion. “We aren’t going to beat the virus if we abandon part of humanity,” French President Emmanuel Macron told the Paris Peace Forum, which seeks concrete solutions to global issues. The third edition of the forum is dedicated to finding ways to ease the pain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The three-day international conference aims to raise more than $500 million toward ensuring fair access to coronavirus tests, treatment and vaccines for all, including poor countries. European and world leaders attend The Paris Peace Forum at The Elysee Palace in Paris, Nov. 12, 2020.It takes place as the number of cases is increasing rapidly across Europe and beyond but with hopes rising for the rollout of a coronavirus vaccine, perhaps even before the end of the year, Top U.S. government scientist Anthony Fauci said Thursday the coronavirus vaccine “cavalry” was on its way, bringing fresh hope as the world registered more than 10,000 deaths in just 24 hours, a record. The world-leading expert on infectious diseases said that after this week’s much-trumpeted news that a vaccine developed by U.S. drug giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech was 90% effective, another is “literally on the threshold of being announced.” ‘Financing gap’  During the online Paris forum, several countries are expected to announce funding for the so-called ACT-Accelerator, a mechanism led by the World Health Organization that aims to ensure access to tests, treatments and vaccines for all. In September, the United Nations estimated that the ACT-Accelerator had received only about $3 billion of the $38 billion needed to meet the goal of producing and delivering 2 billion vaccine doses, 245 million treatments and 500 million diagnostic tests over the next year. On Thursday, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that a “financing gap” of $28.5 billion remains and that $4.5 billion is urgently required “to maintain momentum.” “The international community must ensure that fair and equitable access to a vaccine is ensured for everyone,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. Chinese President Xi Jinping exhorted world leaders to “put human life above everything … and provide a targeted and concerted response” to the health crisis. Senegal’s President Macky Sall attends The Paris Peace Forum at The Elysee Palace in Paris, Nov. 12, 2020.Senegalese President Macky Sall asked for assurances that enough doses of a virus vaccine would be produced and would reach the poorest countries “which have the most need.” Senegal, a poor nation with a population of about 16 million people, has so far been spared a large coronavirus outbreak. Biggest public health effort in history Day one of the meeting saw France offer 100 million euros, with another 50 million euros pledged by Spain and 100 million euros from the European Commission. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $70 million, bringing its total donations to $226 million for the vaccine project. “We are talking about the largest public health effort in the history of the world and it won’t be unexpensive,” Melinda Gates said. The British government is also set to declare a contribution of one British pound for each $4 announced. Paris Forum members also promised the creation of a high-level expert panel that would curate all available science concerning the interactions between humans, animals and changes in the environment. “The pandemic showed us how much correlation there is between the health of humans, that of animals, and that of the planet,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told the forum. At the finance part of the forum, a group of development banks pledged to refocus their investments to take into account climate and development targets set by the U.N. and the Paris accord of 2015. Public development banks invest $2.3 trillion every year, 10% of the world’s total investments. The banks also promised to promote projects that reduce inequalities, protect the environment and pursue “sustainable development” goals, without offering examples. 
 
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The head of Germany’s infectious disease institute said Thursday that while the COVID-19 threat in the country remains high, and some hospitals are reaching capacity, he is cautiously optimistic. Speaking to reporters in Berlin, Lothar Wieler, president of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases, said the nation as of early Thursday had recorded 21,866 new cases of coronavirus infections in the previous 24 hours. According to Johns Hopkins University, Germany has reported nearly 750,000 cases since the pandemic began and more than 12,000 deaths. Although infections continue to rise, he said, “what makes me cautiously optimistic is the fact that the number of cases has been increasing at a slightly slower rate for some days now. So, the curve is going up a little less steeply — it is flattening out.” FILE – A nurse treats a patient with COVID-19 in the intensive care unit of Bethel Hospital in Berlin, Germany, Nov. 11, 2020.Wieler said he did not know if that was a stable development that can continue. But he insisted it shows “we are not helplessly at the mercy of the virus,” and measures the government has taken do make a difference. On November 2, Germany implemented a four-week partial shutdown to bring the rate of new infections under control. Restaurants, bars, sports and leisure facilities have closed, but schools and nonessential shops remain open. Wieler noted that the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care has doubled in the past two weeks. He added that the situation is likely to worsen before it improves. “It is possible that patients may no longer be able to receive optimal care everywhere,” he said. “We must therefore prevent the situation from worsening further. That is my expectation, and we are doing everything we can to achieve this goal.” Wieler said that nearly half of hospitals responding to his institute are reporting limited availability of ventilator treatment, mostly because of staffing issues caused by infections or quarantine. Although Germany has enough beds and ventilators available nationwide, many German hospitals are currently “working at the limits of their capacity,” said Uwe Janssens, president of Germany’s Interdisciplinary Association for Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine. Janssens described a shortage of medical personnel trained to provide anesthesia- and ventilation-based treatments as a “key problem.” “Where it is medically justified, procedures must be halted and postponed,” Janssens said, encouraging medical facilities’ need to conserve resources. 
 
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The European Union’s executive branch announced a strategy Thursday to provide protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, nonbinary, intersex, and queer people as discrimination against those groups increases in Europe. At a news conference in Brussels, European Commission Vice President for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova said it is becoming increasingly apparent the protections are needed. “Too many people cannot be themselves without fears of discrimination, exclusion or violence,” she said. Jourova cited attacks on pride marches and the adoption of anti-gay legislation in countries such as Hungary and Poland, where there has been an effort to create “LGBTIQ ideology-free zones.”  European Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli said the strategy to fight such discrimination is based on four pillars: reducing discrimination against LGBT people, ensuring their safety, building inclusive societies and calling for equality around the world. The commission proposed tackling discrimination against LGBT people, in particular when it comes to employment and ensuring their safety, also protecting them from online hate speech by including homophobic hate crime and hate speech in a list of “Eurocrimes.” Jourova added that COVID-19 lockdowns made the situation for LGBT people worse. European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen called out Poland’s LGBT ideology-free zones in her state of the EU speech in September, saying “Being yourself is not your ideology, it’s your identity.” She said such zones have no place in the European Union. The commission cited a report from the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, which found 43% of LGBT people last year declared that they felt discriminated against compared with 37% in 2012, even though EU acceptance of LGBT people is improving. 
 
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