Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday granted a $1.5 billion loan to Belarus as a show of support for its embattled leader, Alexander Lukashenko, after weeks of street demonstrations that have accused him of rigging last month’s election to retain power in Minsk. The two leaders met at the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi for nearly four hours. Putin gave few details about the loan, although the Kremlin later said some of the new money would be used to refinance earlier loans. Russia also said the two presidents had agreed to boost trade cooperation and discussed energy supplies. Law enforcement officers detain demonstrators during a rally to protest the presidential election results in Minsk, Sept. 13, 2020.As for the protests, Putin said, “We want Belarusians themselves, without prompting and pressure from outside, to sort out this situation in a calm manner and through dialogue and to find a common solution.”Putin said defense cooperation between Russia and Belarus would continue. Russian news agencies reported Moscow was sending paratroopers to Belarus for joint “Slavic Brotherhood” exercises. Belarus authorities have cracked down on the demonstrations, detaining 774 on Sunday out of the estimated 100,000 who marched and chanted epithets against Lukashenko. He has denied rigging the August 9 election against opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has fled to Lithuania. FILE – Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya interacts with supporters in Warsaw, Poland, Sept. 9, 2020.Tsikhanouskaya, on social media, criticized the awarding of the loan to Belarus. “Dear Russians! Your taxes will pay for our beatings,” she said. “We are sure that you would not want that. This may prolong the death throes of Lukashenko, but it cannot prevent the victory of the people.” The United Nations human rights council says it will hold an urgent debate on the violence in Belarus.  In the Sunday protests, throngs marched through Minsk toward a government district, chanting, “Long live Belarus” and “You’re a rat,” a common taunt targeting Lukashenko. Coming to a halt, they chanted “fascists” as hundreds of riot police with shields blocked a road. The Interfax Russian news agency reported that shots were fired into the air to keep protesters away from an area of Minsk where the Belarusian leadership lives. 
 
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Mass protests continue in Belarus as thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators contest what they insist were rigged August elections to keep longtime leader Alexander Lukashenko in power. The latest weekend demonstrations come as the Belarusian strongman travels to Russia seeking critical support for his regime. For VOA News in Minsk, Charles Maynes reports.
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At its opening session, the U.N. Human Rights Council approved a proposal by the European Union to hold an urgent debate on the human rights situation in Belarus by a vote of 25 in favor, two against and 20 abstentions. The European Union cited the steep deterioration of human rights in Belarus following the allegedly rigged August 9th election of President Alexander Lukashenko in its request for an urgent debate.In her opening speech to the council, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michele Bachelet validated these concerns.  She said her office has been receiving alarming reports of ongoing violent repression of peaceful demonstrations, involving excessive use of force by law enforcement officials.“Thousands of arrests, many of them apparently arbitrary, and hundreds of allegations of torture or ill-treatment, including against children, with some reports indicating sexual violence,” said Bachelet. “Recently, abductions by unidentified individuals of people associated with the opposition have also been reported…There has been limited evidence of any steps by the authorities to address these reports.”  Country Violations Top UN Human Rights Council Agenda Council to discuss reports detailing summary executions, torture, arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances, sexual assault and other violationsBelarus’ ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Yuri Ambrazevich, said the EU proposal was part of a broad political campaign aimed at supporting political forces in Belarus who had lost the election.  He spoke through an interpreter.“The proposal of the European Union has nothing to do with human rights,” said Ambrazevich. “It is, however, aimed at rendering political pressure against the State of Belarus, which is a form of direct intervention in the domestic affairs of a sovereign State and is a gross violation of international law.” In her speech, Human Rights Chief Bachelet presented a bleak assessment of the human rights situation around the world.  In rapid-fire order, she highlighted gross violations in dozens of countries in all regions of the world — violations which suppressed the rights and freedoms of people, impoverished societies, triggering violence and conflict.  The human rights records of a number of these States will come under review during the Council’s three-week session.  They include Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Myanmar, Ukraine, Venezuela, Syria, and Yemen among others.The High Commissioner warns of ongoing political instability, social and economic upheaval and violence if the grievances, despair and inequality afflicting countless millions of people are not addressed.
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Two allies of stricken Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny are expected to have won local parliamentary seats in the Siberian city of Tomsk when results are released on Monday for a variety of regional and local elections across the country that the ruling United Russia party likely dominated.Ksenia Fadeyeva and Andrei Fateyev came out on top in two constituencies in Tomsk, the city where Navalny fell ill last month with what his doctors in Germany have said was poisoning by a rare nerve agent from the Novichok group of chemicals.Meanwhile, the ruling United Russia party topped the polls overall in Tomsk with more than 24 percent of the vote, according to early results published by regional election officials on Monday.In another Siberian city, Novosibirsk, the chief of Navalny’s local team, Sergei Boiko, reportedly also won a seat on the city council in the September 11-13 voting.The elections were closely watched for signs of protest against the ruling party that backs President Vladimir Putin amid mounting frustrations over declining living standards for many Russians and the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.Navalny had promoted a “smart” voting strategy designed to hurt United Russia and fielded dozens of candidates for city councils in Siberia.Citing data from exit polls and preliminary counting, Aleksei Turchak, the secretary of United Russia’s general council, said late on September 13 that the ruling party was set to win majorities in all regional legislatures and that its candidates for governor were well ahead.However, the independent monitoring group Golos cited numerous reports of irregularities in the September 13 elections, including ballot-box stuffing and ballots cast by real voters being switched.There were also concerns that early voting allowed over the previous two days because of the coronavirus pandemic had led to irregularities.The local elections were also seen as a crucial test for the increasingly unpopular ruling party ahead of next year’s national legislative elections.A total of 18 regional governor posts were contested, along with voters choosing 11 regional legislatures and 22 cities voting for municipal legislatures. Four by-elections were also held for vacant seats in the lower house of the national parliament, the State Duma.The polls came less than a month after the August 20 poisoning of Navalny, who is currently hospitalized in Berlin from the suspected ingestion of the Soviet-developed nerve toxin. His supporters blame Kremlin allies.Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation supported candidates it saw as best placed to unseat incumbents of United Russia. 
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Specialist labs in France and Sweden have confirmed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok, the German government said Monday. A German military laboratory previously confirmed the substance in his samples.         German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said that the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has also received samples and is taking steps to have those tested at its reference laboratories.  “Independently of the ongoing examinations by the OPCW, three laboratories have now confirmed independently of one another the proof of a nerve agent of the Novichok group as the cause of Mr. Navalny’s poisoning,” Seibert said in a statement.          He said Germany had asked France and Sweden for an “independent review” of the German findings using new samples from Navalny.         Navalny, the most visible opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was flown to Germany two days after falling ill on Aug. 20 on a domestic flight in Russia. Berlin has demanded that Russia investigate the case.         Seibert on Monday renewed Germany’s demand that “Russia explain itself” on the matter. He added that “we are in close consultation with our European partners on further steps.”         The Kremlin has bristled at calls from Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders for Russia to answer questions in the case, denying any official involvement and accusing the West of trying to smear Moscow.          Russian authorities have prodded Germany to share the evidence that led it to conclude “without doubt” that Navalny was poisoned with a military nerve agent from the Novichok group, the same class of Soviet-era agent that British authorities said was used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, in 2018. Berlin has rejected suggestions from Moscow that it is dragging its heels. Navalny was kept in an induced coma for more than a week as he was treated with an antidote, before hospital officials said a week ago that his condition had improved enough for him to be brought out of it.  It isn’t clear when Berlin’s Charite hospital will next issue an update on his condition. 
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At least 100,000 Belarusians took to the streets in the capital of Minsk on Sunday in one of the biggest protests yet against President Alexander Lukashenko after he claimed victory in a disputed election last month that his opponents say was rigged.Police said they detained more than 400 protesters in Minsk, with arrests continuing into the evening.With public outrage building against Lukashenko, who has ruled the former Soviet bloc nation for 26 years, Russia said it would support him by sending paratroopers to Belarus for “Slavic Brotherhood” joint drills.Law enforcement officers detain protesters during a rally against police brutality and the presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 13, 2020. (Credit: Tut.By)Protesters claim the August 9 presidential election was won by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Key opposition leaders have since either been jailed or fled the country, with Tsikhanouskaya now in Lithuania.Lukashenko has rejected claims the election was rigged and contends that foreign powers are behind the protests. Throngs of protesters marched through Minsk toward a government district Sunday, chanting “Long live Belarus” and “You’re a rat,” a common taunt against Lukashenko.Coming to a halt, they chanted “fascists” as hundreds of riot police with shields blocked a road.The Interfax Russian news agency reported that shots were fired into the air to keep protesters away from an area of Minsk where the Belarusian leadership lives.The unrest came as Lukashenko prepared to travel to Russia on Monday for talks with President Vladimir Putin.Moscow has expressed support for Belarus, potentially restructuring its debt and offering to send in Russian riot police if needed. 
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The European Union and China hold talks Monday with hopes to strike a trade and investment deal by the year’s end. Several issues pose potential hurdles, though, from human rights and climate concerns to the outcome of November’s U.S. election.
Expectations for the summit have already been notched down. It was supposed to be a face-to-face meeting in Leipzig, Germany, between Chinese President Xi Jinping and the 27 European Union leaders. Because of coronavirus concerns, it has now turned into virtual, downsized talks between just Xi, top EU officials and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, which holds the bloc’s rotating presidency. The two sides still hope to reach an agreement this year on a deal granting greater investment in and access to each other’s markets.  But as European Council President Charles Michel pointed out during previous EU-China talks in June, there are key areas the two global powers do not agree on. He noted European concerns on issues such as human rights, climate change and cyberattacks.  Indeed, Reuters news agency suggested Monday’s talks may result in only a modest agreement for now on protecting regional food designations on products such as Irish whisky and Chinese bean paste.  “What’s at stake here is the EU-China relationship is not in really fantastic shape at the moment,” he said.Janka Oertel, director of the Asia program at the European Council on Foreign Relations policy institute, says “the situation in Hong Kong, the situation in Xinjiang, plus the economic situation that hasn’t improved over the last few years, plus COVID — has really created a lot of concern in Europe at the future relationship with China.” She’s referring to European concerns about China’s treatment of minority Uighurs, and its policies toward Hong Kong, including the controversial new national security law. On the economic side, Europe wants greater market access, intellectual property rights protection and climate change commitments from Beijing.   FILE – A cargo truck drives amid stacked shipping containers at the Yangshan port in Shanghai, China, March 29, 2018.U.S.-China tensions also form part of the backdrop for the talks. Observers say China, in response, seeks a closer relationship with the EU while Europe is wary of becoming a battleground for the American and Chinese governments.  
 
Oertel says the U.S. presidential election, pitting former Vice President Joe Biden against President Donald Trump, will influence the next steps for Beijing and Brussels.   “Under a Trump presidency, the outlook for transatlantic cooperation and coordination on China is not great, because of the way the Trump administration has so far dealt with its allies,” she said.By contrast, she says, Brussels and Washington may cooperate more closely in responding to China under a Biden presidency.  For now, experts say, EU member states are divided over how to deal with China —whether to adopt a tougher or softer approach moving forward.  
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Thousands of protesters gathered in the Belarus capital Minsk Sunday for another demonstration after longtime leader Alexander Lukashenko extended his rule following a disputed election last month.Protests have been ongoing since the August 9 vote that opposition parties, the United States and the European Union allege was rigged.On Saturday, thousands demonstrated to demand the release of opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova, who was jailed this week after she resisted expulsion from the country.Video broadcast by Polish-funded satellite TV channel Belsat and independent outlet Tut.by showed masked Belarusian riot police violently detaining at least 40 women who were thrown into vans as scuffles erupted in the city’s central Freedom Square.Law enforcement officers detain protesters during a rally against police brutality and the presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 13, 2020. (Credit: Tut.By)Some of the women protesters chanted “Bring back our Masha,” referring to Kolesnikova, while others beat saucepans.Lukashenko, who denies the August 9 vote was fraudulent, accuses council members and activists of colluding with Western nations to try to create a parallel government.Thousands of people have been detained over five weeks of protests triggered by the contested election. At least three people have been killed and hundreds hurt as police have aggressively dispersed peaceful protesters with rubber bullets, clubs and stun grenades.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday said the U.S. and other countries are considering bringing sanctions against “those involved in human rights abuses and repression in Belarus.”  
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With tensions between NATO allies Greece and Turkey rising, Greece has announced plans to purchase a grab bag of new warplanes, frigates, helicopters and weapons systems. Greece’s defense shopping spree comes amid a new diplomatic scramble with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visiting Cyprus to ease an energy standoff in the eastern Mediterranean.Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced the defense upgrade, saying it stemmed from the need to offset what he called Turkey’s destabilizing moves in the region.Along with its longstanding air and sea claims in the Aegean, Ankara is now torpedoing peace in the eastern Mediterranean, Mitsotakis said. Turkey is threatening southeast Europe and is undermining security at a crucial crossroads between East and West, he said.Greece and Turkey are locked in an increasingly tense and dangerous standoff in the Aegean Sea and eastern Mediterranean over hydrocarbon drilling rights and delineation of their maritime boundaries.In a speech at a trade fair, Mitsotakis said Greece would obtain 18 new warplanes from France to replace its aging fleet of Mirage 2000 fighters. The shopping list will also include four new navy helicopters and an equal number of frigates. Existing battleships will also be refurbished.Details of the deals were not announced but it is not the first instance this year in which Greece has shown an interest in substantially upgrading its defenses.Greece and the U.S. are already in talks for the procurement of at least 24 fifth-generation F-35 warplanes for $3 billion.Having finalized its intent, the new acquisitions, experts say, would give Athens a significant qualitative edge in its air defense against Turkey, which is facing problems in procuring new aircraft and upgrading its existing fleet.The United States suspended Turkey from the F-35 Fighter program after it moved to acquire advanced Russian S-400 air defense missile systems last year.Mitsotakis’ announcement comes amid a new diplomatic effort in the region by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to convince Greece and Turkey to back off from their monthlong standoff in the eastern Mediterranean.After talks with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and other officials, Pompeo said the United States remains deeply concerned by Turkey’s continuing operations surveying for natural resources in areas over which Greece and Cyprus both assert jurisdiction in the eastern Mediterranean.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades make statements during a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia, Cyprus, Sept. 12, 2020.Pompeo added that, “Countries in the region need to resolve disagreements – including on security and energy, resource and maritime issues – diplomatically and peacefully. Increased military tensions help no one but adversaries who would like to see division in transatlantic unity.”Pompeo’s visit to Cyprus comes hot on the heels of a similar visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.Greece has refused to engage in negotiations with Turkey until it stops searching for eastern Mediterranean gas reserves.However, Sunday, just hours after Pompeo shuttled to Cyprus for high-level talks, hopes of a breakthrough seemed to emerge.Turkey called its top research vessel back to base, leaving an opening for a potential start to crucial negotiations. 
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Angry migrants left homeless by a blaze at Europe’s largest refugee center demanded to leave the Greek island of Lesbos on Saturday as authorities opened up new tent shelters and European leaders faced growing calls to take in more of the displaced.More than 12,000 people, most from Africa and Afghanistan, have been sleeping rough since flames swept through the notoriously squalid and overcrowded Moria camp earlier this week. Some residents had COVID-19, raising fears the outbreak could spread.Under a hot sun on Saturday, hundreds of migrants, many chanting “Freedom” and “No Camp,” gathered as bulldozers cleared ground in preparation for tents to be put up.Some carried handwritten signs carrying messages including “We don’t want to go to a hell like Moria again” and “Can you hear us Mrs Merkel?” in an appeal to the German chancellor.“The fire made things much more difficult,” said Sajida Nazari, a 23-year-old student from Afghanistan who has been on Lesbos for over a year. “We don’t have food, we don’t have water, we don’t have freedom.”Police briefly fired rounds of teargas when some of the protesters attempted to march down a road leading to the island’s main port of Mytilene, which police had blocked while work on the new tent settlement continued nearby.The fire at the camp, which was holding four times the number of people it was supposed to, has returned the spotlight to the migration crisis facing the European Union, which has struggled to find a response that goes beyond temporary fixes.German Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on Europe to accept more refugees but the difficulty of reaching an accord was underlined by Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who ruled out taking more in.Greek authorities have refused any mass transfer off the island, located a few miles off the Turkish coast, despite growing hostility from residents angry after years at the front line of the crisis.But officials said they were determined to provide shelter and proper sanitation and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.“As of today, asylum seekers will start coming into the tents, into safe conditions,” Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi told reporters at the site.The need to bring the situation under control has been made more urgent by the fact that authorities have lost track of 35 camp residents who had tested positive for coronavirus.Health authorities have promised to conduct rapid tests at the entrance of the new camp, with a quarantine unit ready for anyone testing positive.Still, the unsanitary conditions being endured by Moria’s former inhabitants in the fields and streets of Lesbos has caused deep alarm.“This is a health bomb. These people haven’t even had access to water all these days, they cannot even wash their hands,” Matina Pagoni, president of Athens and Piraeus hospital doctors’ union, told Skai television. 
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Russians vote Sunday in dozens of local elections that will be scrutinized for signs of discontent with the ruling United Russia party following the suspected poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.Navalny, 44, had hoped to undermine United Russia’s grip on regional power and had urged his supporters to vote against it tactically before he fell gravely ill in what Germany and his allies say was an attempt to kill him last month.United Russia, which backs President Vladimir Putin, dominates regional politics, but the elections come at a time of public frustration over years of falling wages and the government’s handling of the pandemic.Seen as a dry run for next September’s parliament elections, the regional polls will elect 18 governors and an array of local parliaments and city councils.Early voting began Friday after authorities stretched the elections over three days, a move criticized by independent election watchdog Golos, which warned the longer period would make it harder for monitors to catch fraud at polling stations.Navalny’s allies have pressed ahead with the Kremlin critic’s “smart voting” strategy, naming more than 1,000 politicians on the ballots they think can beat ruling party candidates and telling their supporters to vote for them.The strategy aims to disrupt a political system that often bars the Kremlin’s staunchest foes from running, while allowing softer candidates from the parliamentary parties to compete. Navalny has been unable to set up his own party.The anti-corruption campaigner also has dozens of allies running in elections for seats in the city councils of Novosibirsk and Tomsk in Siberia.There have been some signs of anti-Kremlin discontent in the regions.Mass rallies in the far eastern city of Khabarovsk show no sign of abating two months after they flared over the arrest of a popular local governor who defeated United Russia’s candidate in an election upset in 2018.  
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Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland,” a recession-era road trip drama starring Frances McDormand, won the Golden Lion for best film Saturday at a slimmed-down Venice Film Festival, which was held against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic.Zhao and McDormand appeared by video from the United States to accept the award, given virus-related travel restrictions made reaching the Lido in the Italian lagoon city difficult if not impossible for many Hollywood filmmakers and actors.”Thank you so much for letting us come to your festival in this weird, weird world and way!” McDormand told the masked audience as the Italian marketing team for the film actually accepted the award. “But we’re really glad you let us come! And we’ll see you down the road!”A favorite going into the awards season, “Nomadland” is screening at all the major fall film festivals in a pandemic-forged alliance involving the Venice, Toronto, New York and Telluride festivals.Britain’s Vanessa Kirby won best lead actress for “Pieces of a Woman,” a harrowing drama about the emotional fallout on a couple after their baby dies during a home birth. Italy’s Pierfrancesco Fabino won best lead actor for “Padrenostro,” (“Our Father”), an Italian coming-of-age story that takes place after a terrorist attack in the 1970s.Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa won the Silver Lion for best director for “Wife of a Spy,” while the Silver Lion grand jury prize went to Mexico’s Michel Franco for his dystopian drama “Nuevo Orden.”The Russian film “Dear Comrades!” about a 1960s-era massacre in the former Soviet Union, won a special jury prize while Chaitanya Tamhane won best screenplay for “The Disciple,” about an Indian man’s pursuit to be a classical vocalist.That the 10-day Venice festival took place at all was something of a miracle, given that northern Italy in late February became ground zero for Europe’s coronavirus outbreak. The Cannes Film Festival was canceled and other big international festivals in Toronto and New York opted to go mostly online.British actress Vanessa Kirby poses with the Coppa Volpi for Best Actress at the closing ceremony of the 77th edition of the Venice Film Festival, in Venice, Italy, Sept. 12, 2020.But after Italy managed to tame its infections with a strict 10-week lockdown, Venice decided to go ahead, albeit under safety protocols that would have previously been unthinkable for a festival that has prided itself on spectacular visuals and glamorous clientele.Face masks were required indoors and out. Reservations for all were required in advance, with theater capacity set at less than half. The public was barred from the red carpet, and paparazzi, who would normally chase after stars in rented boats, were given socially distanced positions on land.While it’s too soon to say if the measures worked, there were no immediate reports of infections among festivalgoers, and compliance with mask mandates and social distancing appeared to be high.”We were a little bit worried at the beginning, of course,” said festival director Alberto Barbera. “We knew that we had a very strict plan of safety measures and we were pretty sure about that, but you never know.”Hong Kong director Ann Hui almost didn’t make it after she couldn’t get on her flight because of virus border restrictions. In the end, she arrived to collect her Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award and to see her out-of-competition film “Love After Love” make its world premiere.Movie lovers applauded Venice’s effort and the symbolic significance of the world’s oldest film festival charting the path forward.”It’s a moment of rebirth for everyone, for the whole world,” said Emma Dante, the Italian director of the in-competition film “The Macaluso Sisters.” “This festival is really an important moment of encounter, of beginning to dream again and be together again, even with the norms and following all the safety protocols.”Film writer Emma Jones said aside from “a few teething problems” with the online reservation system, the festival went off better than she expected.”It feels safe in there, it feels socially distanced,” she said of the venues.Jones noted that the lineup of films lacked the usual Hollywood blockbusters – think “La La Land,” and “The Shape of Water” – that have used Venice as a springboard to Oscar fame. While the festival featured films from Iran, India, Australia and beyond, it was heavily European.”This is a COVID festival. There’s no use pretending anything else,” Jones said.But she added: “It would feel really off-note, I think, to have had a red carpet with screaming fans and celebrities walking down it and people talking about who wore what. 2020 is not the year for those kind of discussions.”Instead, she said, Venice focused on the integrity of the films and the diversity of the countries represented.”We were lucky to receive a lot of submissions from all over the world, and apart from a few missing titles from the Hollywood major film studios, most of the countries are represented in Venice and the quality of the lineup is really very high,” said festival director Barbera. 
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Thousands of Belarusians demonstrated Saturday in Minsk to demand the release of opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova, who was jailed this week after she resisted expulsion from the country.Video broadcast by Polish-funded satellite TV channel Belsat and independent outlet Tut.by showed masked Belarusian riot police violently detaining at least 40 women who were thrown into vans as scuffles erupted in the city’s central Freedom Square.A woman wears a T-shirt with a sign of an old Belarusian flag during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 12, 2020.Saturday’s protests were a precursor to a massive women’s rally expected on Sunday to protest police violence and allegations of electoral fraud. Some of the women protesters chanted “Bring back our Masha,” referring to Kolesnikova, while others beat saucepans.Kolesnikova, who has been in a Minsk jail since Monday, has been accused of undermining national security as part of a criminal investigation against leaders of the Coordination Council, which was formed last month to negotiate a transition of power after President Alexander Lukashenko won a sixth term in office.Opposition parties, the United States and the European Union allege the August 9 election was rigged.Lukashenko, who denies the voting was fraudulent, accuses council members and activists of colluding with Western nations to try to create a parallel government.Thousands of people have been detained over five weeks of protests triggered by the contested August 9 election. At least three people have been killed and hundreds hurt as police have aggressively dispersed peaceful protesters with rubber bullets, clubs and stun grenades.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday said the U.S. and other countries are considering bringing sanctions against “those involved in human rights abuses and repression in Belarus.”
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The U.N. refugee agency is calling for long-term solutions for thousands of migrants on Greek islands who were rendered homeless by fires that devastated the Moria asylum center on the island of Lesbos.An estimated 11,500 asylum seekers are living in the open since a series of fires, which started five days ago, ravaged Greece’s Moria asylum center.No casualties have been reported, but the blaze destroyed everything, leaving everyone without shelter.The U.N. refugee agency reports thousands of vulnerable people, including very young children, pregnant women, elderly people and people with disabilities, are sleeping in the streets, fields, and beaches.UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo says her agency is helping Greek authorities protect and assist asylum seekers affected by the fires. She says the UNHCR is providing emergency aid to ensure people do not sleep in the open.“The coronavirus pandemic also is adding to an already desperate situation. People tested positive [for] COVID need to be provided with special care, isolation and treatment arrangements and medical support. The UNHCR has advised all those previously staying in the center to restrict their movements until temporary solutions are found,” Mantoo said.Greek soldiers set up UNHCR tents to accommodate asylum seekers left without shelter after fires at a refugee camp on Lesbos Island, Greece, Sept. 11, 2020.The Moria center, Europe’s largest refugee camp, was meant to house 3,000 people. At times, the camp population in this squalid, tented settlement swelled to more than 20,000. This is a consequence of increasing numbers of people fleeing war, persecution and extreme poverty, and the refusal of other European countries to share the burden by accepting asylum seekers.Mantoo said the situation must change because it is no longer tenable. Long-term solutions must be found for refugees and asylum seekers stuck in overcrowded, unsafe conditions on the Greek islands.“UNHCR has long been highlighting the need to address the situation and conditions for asylum seekers on the Aegean Islands. The incidents at Moria demonstrate the long-standing need to take action to improve living conditions, alleviate overcrowding, improve security, infrastructure and access to services in all five reception centers on the Greek islands,” Mantoo said.The U.N. refugee agency is appealing to European countries to do more to protect asylum seekers. It urges them to quickly relocate unaccompanied children and other particularly vulnerable people from their precarious situation on the islands.
The agency welcomes recent announcements by some European countries to take in unaccompanied minors and families with children from Greece. 
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One of Germany’s most experienced diplomats had to wait three months this year before Warsaw would approve his appointment as Berlin’s ambassador to Poland.The official acceptance of an envoy by a host government is normally a formality, especially between allies — as well as an event used to highlight neighborliness and friendship. But Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven, one of Germany’s most experienced diplomats, hasn’t received a warm welcome in the Polish capital.A begrudging Polish government on September 1 finally issued its acceptance of his selection. However, it could not resist referring once again to the cause of the delayed approval, noting that Poles remain sensitive to the “great unhealed wound” of World War II.The ostensible objection to the selection of Freytag von Loringhoven, NATO’s first chief of intelligence and deputy head of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, as envoy was that his father was a German army officer who served in Adolf Hitler’s entourage in the final weeks of the war.“What is strange for us is that Berlin didn’t realize their pick could cause resentment,” said a senior Polish official.FILE – Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven, NATO’s first chief of intelligence and deputy head of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, speaks at the World Summit on Counter-Terrorism, in Herzliya, Israel, Sept. 4, 2018.For Germans, the objection has been bewildering. Freytag von Loringhoven’s father was a career officer, and he wasn’t charged subsequently with any war crimes. He went on to become a general in Germany’s postwar armed forces.The spat over Freytag von Loringhoven’s appointment is just one of a series of recent ugly disputes partly rooted in the past that has brought German-Polish relations to an alarming low. Poland’s ruling nationalist conservative Law and Justice Party, known as PiS, has accused Germany of seeking to recover territory it lost to Poland after 1945, and it has repeatedly declared that Germany should compensate Poland for the damage wrought on the country during World War II, a conflict triggered by Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland.On the day Poland formally accepted Germany’s new ambassador, which happened to be the 81st anniversary of the beginning of the war, a Polish parliamentary commission announced it had finalized the amount of reparations it wants Germany to pay. The number has not been formally disclosed, but Warsaw in the past has estimated wartime damages at around a trillion euros.FILE – Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven poses in front of a painting of his ancestors at his home in Munich, Germany, April 29, 2005. Freytag von Loringhoven, who was part of Adolf Hitler’s entourage in the final weeks of World War II, died in 2007.Poland’s prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki says Poland lost 6 million people in the war and “many more than any other country that has received vast reparations … The Germans razed to the ground over a thousand Polish villages,” he said in a recent interview.Germany has repeatedly denied it owes Poland money after Warsaw waived all war reparations in 1953.For Germans, the reappearance of wartime history is frustrating. They believe they have accepted moral responsibility for the war and have done much to atone for the past as well as to shape a new peaceful Germany that has helped build the European Union.They see the PiS as seeking to whip up anti-German feeling solely for domestic political reasons — it plays well to the party’s core supporters in the poorer eastern half the country and may have helped the PiS-aligned Andrzej Duda win reelection in a tight presidential race in July.The main Polish opposition parties agree.Not only Poland
However, it isn’t just relations between Berlin and Warsaw that are being affected by war memories, or what Germans see as their weaponization.Beneath the surface, war-tied resentments are bubbling in other parts of Europe, too, with possible important ramifications for the consolidation of the EU, a bloc founded partly to ensure European nations would cease squabbling and to avert the chance of any future conflict emerging among them.Pollsters have noted a rise in anti-German sentiment in the southern European states of Italy and Spain, and in Greece, where the country’s post-2008 debt crisis and Germany’s handling of it still grates. In Hungary and elsewhere in Central Europe, as well as Italy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is blamed for encouraging the 2015 migrant influx into Europe with her open-door policy for asylum-seekers.FILE – Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for a meeting of her Christian Union parties faction at the Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 8, 2020.Some observers predict resentment toward Germany will only grow in the coming months for two main reasons.The first is that poorer European nations will become ever more frustrated with a widening gap between their economic performance and Germany’s, which is likely to weather the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic better.“The EU is supposed to be a convergence machine, spreading prosperity rather than embedding differences between rich and poor countries,” The Economist magazine noted recently. “It has not worked out that way,” it added.That uneven economic recovery risks fueling populist nationalist anger in the countries that lose out, a possible development Merkel has noted is a risk. In June she backed an EU economic recovery fund, arguing it would serve as “a political instrument against populists and radicals.”The second is that Germany is increasingly becoming the undisputed dominant political force on the European stage, thanks to its economic clout and partly as a result of Britain’s exit from the EU, say analysts. Many of the key posts in Brussels are held by Germans, including the presidency of the European Commission, and no major proposal can be adopted by the EU without Berlin’s approval.
 
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French Prime Minister Jean Castex said Friday the government was not planning a new, nationwide lockdown in response to a dramatic spike in COVID-19 cases this week. In a televised statement in Paris, following a meeting with the Defense Council, Castex acknowledged the COVID-19 situation has gotten worse, and he urged citizens to practice social distancing and wear masks. In addition, he said, the government would take steps to slow the spread of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.  He said these measures would include fast-tracked testing for priority cases and giving local authorities the power to make some businesses reduce opening hours. But the French prime minister said they would not “put on hold our social, cultural and economic lives, the education of our children, and our capability to live normally.” The French government is under renewed pressure to curb the spread of the disease as health authorities Thursday reported 9,843 new confirmed coronavirus cases, a new record, topping the previous record of 8,975, set six days earlier. French health experts have called on the government to act to avoid a second wave of the virus. The head of the government’s scientific council, Jean-François Delfraissy, said Wednesday the government needs to make “a number of difficult decisions in the next 10 days.”  In March, France imposed a strict lockdown. That succeeded in preventing the hospital system from being overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases, but it also dealt a severe blow to the economy. That lockdown was relaxed in early May. 
 
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For Rabbi Jonathan Rietti, this year would have marked his 37th consecutive visit to Uman, Ukraine, for Rosh Hashana — the Jewish new year which falls this year on September 18-20.
 
The town, located 200 km south of Kyiv, is the burial place of the 18th-century tzaddik, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, who founded the Breslov sect of Hasidism. Up to 50,000 Hasidic Jews visit his gravestone each year.
 
But this year’s pilgrimage has been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, which led Ukrainian authorities to estimate that the site would get no more than 3,000 visitors, most of whom have already arrived.
 
Rabbi Rietti, a son of a famous British actor Robert Rietti, who lives in Monsey, New York, said in an interview that visiting tzaddik Nachman’s grave on Rosh Hashana is the central tenet of Breslov Hasidism.
 
“We’ve been made the promise that for anyone who comes to his grave on Rosh Hashana, his soul in the other world, would pray for that person for a blessed new year.”
 
The Ukraine government announced a month-long restriction on new visitors on Aug. 27, citing a “growing number of new COVID-19 cases in Ukraine.”
 
“All large crowds of people have a significant increase in incidence [of the disease]. The mass celebration of Rosh Hashanah will lead to a colossal collapse,” President Volodymyr Zelensky told representatives of Jewish religious organizations in Ukraine at a meeting on Aug. 25, according to his official website.
 
Zelensky, who is Jewish himself, explained that his government decided to close the borders, in part, because of a request from authorities in Israel, home to most of the pilgrims. He pointed out that Ukraine had significantly restricted mass gatherings by its own citizens in April, when Christians celebrate Easter.
 
Rabbi Rietti told VOA he still hopes to make the trip. He says that he and other pilgrims are willing to follow any safety requirements.
 
“In my particular case, I’ve had corona, and I’ve got a lot of antibodies. But I’m happy to follow any restrictions or requirements on arrival, whether it would be quarantine in Uman or wearing a mask, social distancing, whether it has to do with making sure they’ve taken my temperature.”
 
He added that if any would-be pilgrim is experiencing symptoms of the disease, “I don’t think they should be going anywhere, not just Uman.”
 
Americans hoping for an exception to the travel ban have received a boost from 26 Republican members of the U.S. Congress, who signed onto a letter asking Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to urge Ukraine to let the Americans in.
 
“The ruling to close the Ukrainian border has at least a dozen published exceptions, including allowing students, diplomats, and cultural figures to arrive by invitation,” said the Sept. 4 letter, whose signers include House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy.
 
Calling for Ukraine to make a “limited religious exception” for up to 2,000 people, the letter said the Hasidic visitors would respect Ukraine’s safety protocol, including “remaining separate from the local population.”
 
Rep. Jeff Duncan, the author of the letter, told VOA that “as a former Member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee with a longstanding history of working on religious freedom issues, protecting religious practices is extremely important to me.”
 
“With COVID-19 turning our world upside-down this year, we have all had to make sacrifices,” he said in an email exchange. “However, even during times of uncertainty, governments should continue to allow maximum flexibility for religious expression and practice.”
 
Nachman Mostofsky, an executive director of “Chovevei Zion,” one of five Jewish organizations that supported the letter, explained that while he is not Breslov Hasid himself, he felt compelled to act.FILE – Orthodox Jewish pilgrims pray at the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov during the celebration of the Rosh Hashanah holiday, the Jewish New Year, in Uman, Ukraine, Sept. 21, 2017.”They have waited the entire year for this; they saved every penny they can put aside to go. … These people believe that going there will actually help them from COVID. They believe that this is what gives them a sweet and happy new year and a healthy new year for them.”
Mostofsky said he found most support from the evangelicals in Congress. “I believe that Muslims should be able to go to Mecca and Medina. And I believe that Mormons outside of the United States should be able to come and visit Utah. This is not necessarily a Jewish issue. This is a religious rights issue. … The freedom of religious expression is sacrosanct to Americans.”
 
The chief rabbi of Kyiv, Yaakov Bleich, who splits his time between New York state and Ukraine, was also present at the meeting with the Ukrainian president on August 25.
 
“I told [Zelensky] that this trip for Breslov Hasidim is very very important. It is so important that even in Soviet times, people risked everything to make that trip.
 
“Rather than try to stop it, let’s try and make it work, which means using the existing framework, legal framework, which exists for tourists: You must wear masks; no more than a certain number of people can gather in a one place. And if they can work that out, let them come.”
 
At the same time, he explained that several factors influenced the Ukrainian government’s decision to restrict admissions to the country.
 
First, officials were expecting a second wave of COVID-19 that prompted neighboring Hungary to close their borders. Secondly, he said, Israel asked Ukraine to limit the number of visitors on Rosh Hashana “because Israel is afraid of what will be when they come back.”
 
Additionally, he believes that Ukrainian authorities were influenced by a spike in COVID-19 cases following an Easter pilgrimage in Eastern Ukraine, even though many churches around the country conducted their Easter services online.
 
Within the Orthodox Jewish community itself, not everybody believes an Uman pilgrimage is necessary this year.
 
Alex Kay, an Orthodox Jew who lives in Monsey, New York, said he has visited Uman several times, but this year the father of three is happy to stay home.  
“We haven’t prayed together in months. In Torah, the most important thing is to take care of your life. (…) Realistically, if you see Uman on Rosh Hashana, there are just so many people doing everything together: People eating together, praying together, playing together.”
 
Kay explained that while he doesn’t follow the Breslov Hasidic branch of Judaism, he has Breslov Hasidic friends, and he understands how central this pilgrimage is to their faith. But still, he said, not this year.
 
“If there is a big influx of Jews to Ukraine on this Rosh Hashana, anything that happens in Ukraine from now on, any person who gets sick, anything that happens is going to be because of the Jews. That’s just how the world is.”
 
Even if there is a way to accommodate a small group of pilgrims, asking the Ukrainian government to do so doesn’t sit well with Kay, who immigrated to the U.S. from Kyiv, Ukraine, more than 20 years ago.
 
“I love Ukraine. When people ask me where I’m from, I still say Ukraine. It’s my country, and it is very dear to me. It is very hard for me to see that the country is put under pressure. … I feel more unfortunate about it, because the Jews are involved in putting the pressure on them.”
 
The U.S. State Department and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine declined VOA`s requests to comment for this story.
 
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Britain said it will launch a new COVID-19 app across England and Wales later this month which will allow people to use QR codes when they enter venues, boosting the country’s contact tracing to help keep the spread of the virus in check.
 
With cases rising, Health Minister Matt Hancock said the new app would help NHS (National Health Service) Test and Trace, the scheme used in England to contact those who have been in contact with a COVID-infected person, to reach more people.
 
“The launch of the app later this month across England and Wales is a defining moment and will aid our ability to contain the virus at a critical time,” he said in a statement on Friday.
 
Previous attempts to develop more sophisticated tracing apps  have struggled to expand beyond the pilot stage, and the  government has faced criticism after missing launch deadlines.
 
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has banned groups of more than six people from meeting from Monday as the government tries to keep the spread of the virus under control amid a sharp rise in cases in recent days.
 
The UK recorded 2,919 new daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, and cases have started to track much higher than the levels of around 1,000 per day recorded in August.
 
The new app will be officially launched on September 24, and available for pubs, restaurants, cinemas, hairdressers and other venues and their customers to download.
 
People visiting a venue will check-in by scanning a QR code displayed at the entrance on their mobile phone which can in turn be used by NHS Test and Trace to contact them to tell them to self-isolate in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak.
 
The use of QR codes will replace the current system whereby people have to manually fill in their contact details when they enter a venue. 
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The same Russian military intelligence outfit that hacked the Democrats in 2016 has renewed vigorous U.S. election-related targeting, trying to breach computers at more than 200 organizations including political campaigns and their consultants, Microsoft said Thursday.The intrusion attempts reflect a stepped-up effort to infiltrate the U.S. political establishment, the company said.”What we’ve seen is consistent with previous attack patterns that not only target candidates and campaign staffers but also those who they consult on key issues,” Tom Burt, a Microsoft vice president, said in a blog post. U.K. and European political groups were also probed, he added.Most of the hacking attempts by Russian, Chinese and Iranian agents were halted by Microsoft security software and the targets notified, he said. The company would not comment on who may have been successfully hacked or the impact.Although U.S. intelligence officials said last month that the Russians favor President Donald Trump and the Chinese prefer his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, Microsoft noted Thursday that Chinese state-backed hackers have targeted “high profile individuals associated with the election,” including people associated with the Biden campaign.China’s hackers largely gather intelligence for economic and political advantage, while Russia tends to weaponize stolen data to destabilize other governments.Microsoft did not assess which foreign adversary poses the greater threat to the integrity of the November presidential election. The consensus among cybersecurity experts is that Russian interference is the gravest. Senior Trump administration officials have disputed that, although without offering any evidence.”This is the actor from 2016, potentially conducting business as usual,” said John Hultquist, director of intelligence analysis at the cybersecurity firm FireEye. “We believe that Russian military intelligence continues to pose the greatest threat to the democratic process.”Fancy BearThe Microsoft post shows that Russian military intelligence continues to pursue election-related targets undeterred by U.S indictments, sanctions and other countermeasures, Hultquist said. It interfered in the 2016 campaign seeking to benefit the Trump campaign by hacking the Democratic National Committee and emails of John Podesta, the campaign manager for Hillary Clinton, and dumping embarrassing material online, congressional and FBI investigators have found.The same GRU military intelligence unit, known as Fancy Bear, that Microsoft identifies as being behind the current election-related activity also broke into voter registration databases in at least three states in 2016, though there is no evidence it tried to interfere with voting.Microsoft, which has visibility into these efforts because its software is both ubiquitous and highly rated for security, did not address whether U.S. officials who manage elections or operate voting systems have been targeted by state-backed hackers this year. U.S. intelligence officials say they have so far seen no evidence of infiltrations.Thomas Rid, a Johns Hopkins University geopolitics expert, said he was disappointed by Microsoft’s refusal to differentiate threat level by state actor.”They’re lumping in actors that operate in a very different fashion, probably to make this sound more bipartisan,” he said. “I just don’t understand why.”Microsoft said in the past year it has observed attempts by Fancy Bear to break into the accounts of people directly and indirectly affiliated with the U.S. election, including consultants serving Republican and Democratic campaigns and national and state party organizations — more than 200 groups in all.Also targeted was the center-right European People’s Party, the largest grouping in the European Parliament. A party spokesperson said the hacking attempts were unsuccessful. The German Marshall Fund of the United States, a think tank, was another target. A spokesperson said there was no evidence of intrusion.Hurricane PandaMicrosoft did not say whether Russian hackers had attempted to break into the Biden campaign but did say that Chinese hackers from the state-backed group known as Hurricane Panda “appears to have indirectly and unsuccessfully” targeted the Biden campaign through non-campaign email accounts belonging to people affiliated with it.The Biden campaign did not confirm the attempt, although it said in a statement that it was aware of the Microsoft report.Iranian state-backed hackers unsuccessfully tried to log into accounts of Trump campaign and administration officials between May and June of this year, the blog said.”We are a large target, so it is not surprising to see malicious activity directed at the campaign or our staff,” Trump campaign deputy press secretary Thea McDonald said. She declined further comment.Tim Murtaugh, the campaign’s communications director, said: “President Trump will beat Joe Biden fair and square and we don’t need or want any foreign interference.”In June, Google disclosed that Hurricane Panda had targeted Trump campaign staffers while Iranian hackers tried to breach accounts of Biden campaign workers. Such phishing attempts typically involve forged emails with links designed to harvest passwords or infect devices with malware.Although both Attorney General William Barr and National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien have said China represents the greatest threat to U.S. elections, Microsoft’s only mention of a Trump administration official targeted by Chinese hackers is “at least one prominent individual formerly associated” with the administration.Disinformation campaignsGraham Brookie, director of digital forensic research at The Atlantic Council, disputes the claim made by Barr and O’Brien that China poses the greater threat to this year’s election. Brookie’s lab is at the forefront of unearthing and publicizing Russian disinformation campaigns.Brookie confirmed that his employer was among targets of Hurricane Panda but said there was no evidence the hacking attempts, which he said were unsuccessful, had anything to do with the 2020 election.”We have every indication that this was an instance of cyber-espionage, information gathering, as opposed to electoral interference,” he said.By contrast, Brookie said, “it’s pretty evident that the Russian attempts (Microsoft disclosed) were focused on electoral processes and groups working on that.”Microsoft noted a shift toward greater automation in Fancy Bear methods for trying to steal people’s log-in credentials, which previously largely relied on phishing. In recent months, the group has employed so-called brute-force attacks that barrage an account login with short rapid bursts of potential passwords. It has also used a different method that makes only intermittent login attempts to avoid detection.Fancy Bear has also stepped up its use of the Tor anonymizing service to hide its hacking, Microsoft said.  
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Leaders of seven southern European countries on Thursday urged Turkey to end “unilateral and illegal activities” in the eastern Mediterranean and resume dialogue to ease tensions in the region.Heads of state and government of France, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Italy, Spain and Portugal gathered in Corsica amid fears of open conflict, as Turkey seeks to expand its energy resources and influence in the region. In their final statement, leaders reaffirmed their “full support and solidarity with Cyprus and Greece,” who they say are facing Turkey’s “confrontational actions.”  “We regret that Turkey has not responded to the repeated calls by the European Union to end its unilateral and illegal activities,” they said.  FILE – The Turkish drilling vessel Yavuz is seen being escorted by a Turkish navy frigate in the eastern Mediterranean off Cyprus, Aug. 6, 2019.The leaders warned that “in absence of progress in engaging Turkey into a dialogue, and unless it ends its unilateral activities, the EU is ready to develop a list of further restrictive measures” at a summit later this month. They also called on resuming German mediation in the dispute. Russia also offered this week to mediate. Greece and Turkey have deployed naval and air force units to assert competing claims over energy exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean. Turkish survey vessels and drill ships continue to prospect for gas in waters where Greece and Cyprus claim exclusive economic rights. France is carrying out military patrols in the region in a show of support for Greece and Cyprus, and the EU is mulling new sanctions against Turkey. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said, “If Turkey really wants a frank dialogue with Greece and Cyprus with the European Union, it must demonstrate this in practice — to immediately stop unilateral actions, to make convincing indications that it respects international law.”  French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis ahead of the plenary session of the MED7 Mediterranean countries summit, in Porticcio, Corsica, France, Sept. 10, 2020.Turkey needs to “restrain its aggressive rhetoric” and “return to the table for exploratory talks with Greece,” he added.  Turkish leaders have lashed out at France and the EU for siding with Greece and Cyprus in the dispute. Earlier Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron denounced what he called “unacceptable” provocations from Turkey.  “Turkey is no longer a partner in this region,” he told reporters ahead of the summit. “We Europeans need to be clear and firm” with the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about its “inadmissible behavior,” he said. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry characterized Macron’s statement as “arrogant” and in line with “old colonial reflexes.” It accused the French president of stoking tensions and putting the “greater interests” of Europe at risk.  “It is not for Macron to determine the maritime jurisdiction of any country in the Mediterranean” or anywhere else, the Turkish Ministry said in a statement. Speaking Thursday to EU lawmakers, Greek European Affairs Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis appealed for support from European partners, saying the tensions over energy rights “constitute by themselves a grave threat to our common security architecture.” He said that Turkey is looking beyond Greece and is “a major destabilizing factor in the wider area,” citing Turkish government actions in Libya, Syria and beyond. He said that Greece would not provoke conflict but wouldn’t just sit back waiting for European help to arrive.  “At the end of the day, we will defend ourselves, even alone,” he said. Separately from the diplomatic discussions, Turkish and Greek military officials met Thursday at NATO headquarters, as part of ongoing meetings aimed at reducing the risk of armed conflict. Greece and Turkey both are NATO members. The leaders also planned to discuss EU and NATO operations in the Mediterranean and their relation to Turkey during a dinner on Thursday evening. The seven countries are aiming for a united southern European front before a full EU summit later this month focused on the bloc’s strategy toward Turkey. FILE – Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu attends a press conference in Ankara, Turkey, Aug. 25, 2020.In a testy exchange with EU lawmakers, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu urged the Europeans to play the role of an “honest broker” in the maritime border and energy dispute, rather than take sides with member countries Greece and Cyprus. “By acting as an international court, defending one side’s claims over the issue, the EU has become a part of the problem, unfortunately,” Cavusoglu said by video link. “We are ready for dialogue without any preconditions. If Greece insists on preconditions, we will also insist on our preconditions,” Cavusoglu said.  He added, “We are not for tension. We are not for escalation.” European Council President Charles Michel will travel to Greece, Cyprus and Malta next week for talks with leaders.
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China has announced that its head of state will hold a FILE – German foreign minister Heiko Maas adjusts his glasses during a news conference in Athens, Aug. 25, 2020.“The Himalayas and the Malacca Strait may seem a long way away,” FILE – A man looks at a newsstand with a copy of the day’s Global Times displayed on a basket in Beijing, China, April 5, 2016.Kefferpuetz described the Global Times article as an attempt to accentuate differences among Germany, the EU and the U.S. while “belittl[ing] the EU.” “By doing so, it misses the bigger picture,” he said. “Several years back, China was expanding its influence in Europe — buying up companies, establishing a variety of political platforms and engaging with EU member states bilaterally and regionally. Now, the tables are turning,” Kefferpuetz said. Europe, he said, is increasingly wary of Chinese influence, and “relationships are souring.” Meanwhile, European powers are moving closer to China’s immediate neighborhood, Kefferpuetz said in a written interview with VOA. He cited Britain’s plan to send an aircraft carrier to patrol in the South China Sea next year, Germany’s just-announced Indo-Pacific strategy and a similar strategy that France published last year. “By claiming that the EU is weak, and the transatlantic alliance is divided, the Global Times article just highlights how nervous China must be, given Europe’s push into the Indo-Pacific alongside the United States,” Kefferpuetz said. Robert Spalding, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, has served in senior defense and diplomacy positions in the U.S. government, including senior director for strategy at the National Security Council under U.S. President Donald Trump. He told VOA in a phone interview on Thursday that the Global Times article’s emphasis on the relative importance of the United States in the region contradicted previous Chinese assertions. “They’ve been saying we’re not important, that the United States has ceased being relevant, hence the need for China to take over,” he said with a laugh. He added that Beijing appeared to have lost its footing in managing the increasingly complex global relationships.  “They don’t know what they’re doing,” Spalding said.
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Dual British-Iranian citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, jailed for five years in Iran on spying charges, will face a new trial in the coming days. Her sentence was to expire next April but she has been hit with new charges that have not been made public. The charity worker and her young daughter were detained at Tehran’s airport in 2016 after visiting her family. She strongly denies all the charges against her. As Henry Ridgwell reports, her family believes she is being used as a bargaining chip in a dispute over payment for tanks purchased before the Iranian Revolution but never delivered.
 
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The London hearing on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition from Britain to the United States was suspended Thursday because one of the lawyers may have been exposed to the coronavirus.
District Judge Vanessa Baraitser ordered the proceedings adjourned until Monday while a lawyer representing the U.S. government is tested for the virus.
Assange’s attorney, Edward Fitzgerald, said it had to be assumed that the lawyer had the virus and “COVID will be in the courtroom.”
“Court staff themselves would be at risk, and you yourself may well be at risk,” he told the judge.
“Finally, our client Mr. Assange, who is vulnerable you are aware, would be at risk in court.”
The judge asked for submissions from both legal teams about what to do if the lawyer is confirmed to have COVID-19.
Assange is fighting American prosecutors’ attempt to get the British government to send him to the U.S. to stand trial on spying charges.
U.S. prosecutors have indicted the 49-year-old Australian on 18 espionage and computer misuse charges over WikiLeaks’ publication of secret U.S. military documents a decade ago. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.
Assange’s lawyers say the prosecution is a politically motivated abuse of power that will stifle press freedom and put journalists around the world at risk.
The hearing started Monday at London’s Old Bailey criminal court and is scheduled to last about a month.
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Brexit negotiations hit a new low this week as the European Union’s top leaders in Brussels reacted angrily to British prime minister Boris Johnson’s plans to override a key part of Britain’s withdrawal agreement from the EU, which was struck only last year.They say any repudiation of the divorce deal will ruin the chances of a free-trade agreement being struck between Britain and the EU and will poison relations between London and Brussels for years to come.The British government’s plan included in draft legislation published Wednesday, to in effect repudiate parts of the exit deal, prompted European leaders to complain of an “unprecedented breach of trust” and to warn the move could wreck current fraught negotiations dealing with Britain’s future trade relationship with the bloc.Johnson Says UK Will Quit Brexit Talks if No Deal by Oct 15Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Britain is prepared to walk away and insists a no-deal exit would be a ‘good outcome for the UK’ Under the new legislation if passed, ministers would be able to pick and choose what customs checks, if any, are applied to goods transported between Northern Ireland and the British mainland. They would be able to ignore EU limitations on state aid to businesses in the British-ruled province. Northern Ireland was treated differently under the withdrawal agreement so as to avoid the necessity of a so-called hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, which many feel could undermine peace on the island of Ireland.EU warningsMicheál Martin, the Irish prime minister, said midweek the negotiations on Britain’s future relationship would go nowhere until Johnson’s ruling Conservative government withdraws the bill. Irish lawmakers were stunned when they heard news of the proposed legislation. “Any negotiation process can only proceed on the basis of trust,” he warned. British PM Defends New Brexit Bill to Protect UK’s ‘Internal Market’ EU officials demand emergency meeting with London over proposed legislation The EU’s top leaders chorused identical warnings. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said it showed the government’s “intentions to breach the withdrawal agreement.” In the wake of the publication of the controversial legislation, EU officials considered instructing Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, to walk out of talks that are under way in London to hammer out an agreement on Britain’s future trade relationship with the 27-member bloc. In the event they decided to keep the talks going, but the discussions are reportedly tense and tough with mounting expectations that a no-deal result will be the eventual outcome.British officials say the proposed legislation would clarify ambiguity in the withdrawal agreement, but on Tuesday Britain’s Northern Ireland minister admitted that technically the legislation would break international law. That view is shared generally by Britain’s legal establishment. In a letter to The Times newspaper, Edward Garnier, a former Conservative solicitor-general, said, the “admission by the Northern Ireland secretary that the government is prepared to break the law is shocking.”Future trade relationsThe move has provoked a sharp political response from senior U.S. lawmakers, mainly Democrats, who are largely fretful that the move might undermine peace on the island of Ireland. Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, warned a free trade deal between Britain and America would be jeopardized, saying a British violation would mean “there will be absolutely no chance of a U.S.-UK trade agreement passing the Congress.”Johnson defended the move in the House of Commons, saying, “We need a legal safety net to protect our country against extreme or irrational interpretations of the protocol which could lead to a border down the Irish Sea in a way.” His officials have suggested the withdrawal agreement, which Johnson concluded with the EU but was mainly the work of his predecessor, Theresa May, was negotiated at pace and maybe signed in haste. Theater, Brinkmanship Mark Brexit TalksNegotiators on both sides of English Channel say this week is ‘moment of reckoning’ for post-Brexit trade deal between European Union and BritainJohnson’s defense is not, so far, assuaging some senior Conservative lawmakers, including a few on the Brexit wing of the party. “Put simply, I will not vote to break the law,” said the pro-Brexit Roger Gale . “Why would any country want to strike a deal with Britain knowing that any agreement might not be worth the paper that it was written on?” he added.Johnson’s Conservative predecessors in Downing Street have also expressed disapproval of the government’s plan to repudiate the withdrawal agreement using domestic legislation to do so. “For generations our signature on any treaty or agreement has been sacrosanct,” said John Major. “Over the last century as our military strength has dwindled, our word has retained its power. If we lose our reputation for honoring the promises we make, we will have lost something beyond price.”Theresa May also condemned the mover and her aides say she is ready to lead a Conservative rebellion in the British parliament to defeat the proposed legislation. Some lawmakers and commentators are suggesting that the legislation may be part of a Johnson strategy to shock the EU into agreeing a free-trade deal more favorable to Britain than it would otherwise secure. A Trump approach?They point to comments Johnson made in 2018, before he was prime minister, in which he reportedly said Britain should be negotiating with the EU like U.S. President Donald Trump would. “I am increasingly admiring of Donald Trump,” Johnson is reported to have told a private gathering of Conservative lawmakers. “Imagine Trump doing Brexit,” Johnson continued. “There’d be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos. Everyone would think he’d gone mad. But actually you might get somewhere. It’s a very, very good thought.”Conversely, some uncompromising Brexiters in Johnson’s ruling Conservative party, who want a clean break from the EU, fear Johnson might be game-playing  and laying the ground to offer significant concessions to the EU to get a last-minute free-trade deal that he will advertise as a great win for Britain. They worry he’s engaging in a piece of theater. Brexiters point to what happened last year when he repudiated the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated by his predecessor in Downing Street, Theresa May, only to sign an almost identical divorce deal after he was elected her successor. 
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