In his second public — though limited — weekly general audience, Pope Francis Wednesday appealed to people to look out for the health of others as well as themselves during the coronavirus pandemic. The pope removed his face mask as he arrived at the Vatican’s San Damaso courtyard before an audience of about 500 people, compared to the tens of thousands who usually gather at St. Peter’s Square.  While chairs were spaced out in the courtyard, the limited crowd massed along the barriers as Pope Francis passed by, and some lowered their masks to call out to him. He urged the faithful to remain socially distant and not crowd themselves “to avoid the contagion.” During his remarks, Francis said the pandemic is affecting everyone and “we will emerge from it better people if we all seek the common good together.” He lamented, however, what he sees as “the emergence of partisan interests.”  “For example, there are those who want to appropriate possible solutions for themselves, such as [developing] vaccines, and then selling them to others,” the pope remarked.  He said some are taking advantage of the situation to foment divisions and seek economic or political divisions. The pope last week resumed his weekly public audiences after a nearly six-month COVID-19 shutdown, during which he gave his remarks virtually. Elsewhere in Rome Wednesday, several thousand right wing activists gathered from across Italy to protest measures to taken by the Italian government to fight the coronavirus pandemic, such as wearing masks and mandatory vaccination.  The protesters see such measures as violations of their personal liberty.  At least one protester was seen carrying a banner in support of U.S. President Donald Trump. More than 280,000 people have been confirmed to have had COVID-19 in Italy so far, and more than 35,500 people have died, according Johns Hopkins University data.     
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday the United States is deeply concerned about attempts by the government of Belarus to forcibly expel opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova. The top U.S. diplomat said the United States and other countries are considering bringing sanctions in response to recent events in Belarus. “We commend the courage of Ms. Kalesnikava and of the Belarusian people in peacefully asserting their right to pick their leaders in free and fair elections in the face of unjustified violence and repression by the Belarusian authorities, which included brazen beatings of peaceful marchers in broad daylight and hundreds of detentions (on) September 6, as well as increasing reports of abductions,” Pompeo said in a statement. He said the potential sanctions would be aimed at promoting “accountability for those involved in human rights abuses and repression in Belarus.” Kolesnikova was detained Monday along with two other opposition movement members, Anton Rodnenkov and Ivan Kravtsov, and on Tuesday they were driven to the border between Belarus and Ukraine where Kolesnikova tore up her passport and was held on the Belarusian side.FILE – Maria Kolesnikova, one of Belarus’ opposition leaders, gestures during a rally in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 30, 2020.Rodnenkov and Kravtsov did cross into Ukraine. “She was shouting that she won’t go anywhere,” Rodnenkov said at a news conference in Kyiv. “Sitting in the car, she saw her passport on a front seat and tore it into many small fragments, crumpled them and threw them out of the window. After that, she opened the back door and walked back to the Belarusian border.” A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a statement expressing his concern about “the repeated use of force against peaceful protesters, as well as reported pressures on opposition civil society activists.” Thousands of people have taken part in five weeks of protests following the August 9 election in which longtime President Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner, but opposition parties, the United States and European Union allege was rigged. More than 7,000 protesters have been arrested, and widespread evidence of abuse and torture has been reported in the month of protests. At least four people are reported to have died during the demonstrations. 
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Five years ago, a Belarusian teenager studying film in Poland set up a YouTube channel to show videos that he made and poke fun at his country’s longtime leader, Alexander Lukashenko.   After tangling with YouTube copyright laws, the student, Stsyapan Putsila, shifted his Nexta channel and his tactics in 2018 to Telegram, the messaging app. Its encryption technologies have made it wildly popular in Russia, Iran and other countries whose governments have suppressed independent media and communications.   Fast forward two years, and Putsila’s Nexta – taken from the Belarusian word for “someone” and pronounced “nekhta” — has grown in popularity, first and foremost among Belarusians seeking uncensored information in a country whose state-run media usually serve only as a mouthpiece for the government. A mix of user-submitted photos and videos, forwarded news items, biting opinion, and instructions for street protesters, the channel’s Telegram subscribers now total more than 2 million, making it one of the biggest information sources for Belarusians.   And with protests against Lukashenko showing no sign of relenting a month after a deeply disputed election in which he claimed to have won a sixth term, Nexta is at the vanguard – both in documenting the demonstrations and in encouraging them.   ‘A bit like revolutionaries’ “Even before the start of the Belarusian revolution, we were a nontraditional media [outlet],” Putsila, 22, said in a telephone interview with RFE/RL’s Russian Service Thursday. “We did not have a centralized website on the internet — we are a modern information channel, mainly for young people.” Since the protests began, “we have changed a little and become a bit like revolutionaries, because people want that from us,” he said. “We are asked to publish plans describing what to do, because there are simply no clear leaders in Belarus, especially ones with such an audience,” Putsila said. “If there had been, it is clear that they would have been immediately detained. Now we not only inform, but to some extent also coordinate people.”   With a team of six working out of a community center Warsaw, Putsila, who also uses the pseudonym Stepan Svetlov, pushes out dozens of items on the Telegram channel. On Monday, one day after tens of thousands of Belarusians surged into Minsk’s streets for the 29th day of protests, Nexta published — in Russian, which is spoken by nearly everyone in Belarus — a statement of support from European Union leaders and news items about the disappearance of one of the country’s leading opposition figures. Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya spoke via videolink to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Tuesday.Belusus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya takes part in an U.N. General Assembly online debate from Vilnius, Lithuania, Sept. 4, 2020.Mixed in were videos of the Sunday protest in Minsk, whose numbers Belarusian authorities said totaled just 30,000 — an estimate that Nexta and Belarusian opposition groups said was laughably low — as well as an aerial photo with a diagram showing which streets protesters could use to get around riot police blocking a key boulevard.   “We do not force anyone to protest,” Putsila said. “We tell people that they can go out, defend their rights. Belarusians come out on their own.”   A native of Minsk, Putsila went to the Polish city of Katowice to study film, and then moved to Warsaw, the Polish capital, after graduating. He has not been in his homeland since 2018, when Belarusian authorities opened a criminal investigation accusing him of “insulting the president” on YouTube. YouTube eventually pulled down Putsila’s channel after Belarusian authorities complained of copyright violations, prompting the move to Telegram. “We’ve received dozens of threats against us; we’ve even received threats that our office would be blown up,” he said. His parents and his younger brother have fled to Poland, fearing for their safety.   News reports say Polish police now guard the building where he has his offices; Putsila would not comment. In 2019, Nexta began publishing classified and confidential documents that purported to come from within Belarus; the channel gained new popularity after revealing that a traffic police officer whom authorities said had committed suicide was in fact the victim of a killing. “People have always been unhappy, especially in recent years, when they really became tired of him,” Putsila said of Lukashenko, who came to power in 1994 and has extended his rule though elections and other votes that international observers have called undemocratic.   ‘Great example’After the August 9 election, which opponents say was falsified to give Lukashenko more than 80% of the vote, “people managed to unite, and now they feel they are the masters of their own land,” Putsila said. “Nevertheless, there are also the ‘enforcers’ — this is how we call police and security officials, who are the foundation of Lukashenko’s regime. However, he no longer has support among many officials; they don’t support him, but only themselves,” he said.   Putsila said that Belarusians had genuine hopes in Lukashenko, but that his actions over 26 years in office have worn on them. And that the official election result and the harsh police crackdown — the violent arrest of hundreds of people and evidence that some have been tortured — was the last straw.   “Belarusians have set a great example for the rest of the world. During the protests, people even were taking off their shoes when they climbed onto benches, they brought each other water, food, flowers. This shows a high level of self-organization,” he said. “Lukashenko tells Belarusians that the state has raised them and made people out of them, and they are ungrateful,” he said. “However, it is the people themselves who are teaching children in schools, who are creating jobs, and the state, as represented by Lukashenko, does not respect these people.”   Written by RFE/RL senior correspondent Mike Eckel based on reporting by Daria Yurieva, a contributor to RFE/RL’s Russian Service. 
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British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was summoned by an Iranian Revolutionary Court on Tuesday and informed about a new charge, state television reported. “Branch 15 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court summoned Nazanin Zaghari and her designated lawyer this morning and informed her of a new indictment,” state television cited an unnamed official as saying on its website. Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was arrested in April 2016 at a Tehran airport as she headed back to Britain with her daughter after a family visit. She was sentenced to five years in jail after being convicted of plotting to overthrow Iran’s clerical establishment. Her family and the foundation, a charity that operates independently of media firm Thomson Reuters and its news subsidiary Reuters, deny the charge. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was temporarily released from jail in March amid concerns over the spread of the coronavirus in Iran’s prisons but is barred from leaving the country. The Thomson Reuters Foundation urged British Prime Minister Boris Johnson “to intervene promptly” to secure Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s permanent release. “The Thomson Reuters Foundation utterly condemns the latest move by the Iranian authorities to prolong Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s inhumane and unjust ordeal,” said Antonio Zappulla, Thomson Reuters Foundation CEO, in a statement. Britain’s Foreign Office said Iran’s action was unacceptable. “Iran bringing new charges against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is indefensible and unacceptable. We have been consistently clear that she must not be returned to prison,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. 
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A group of migrants being held at a dockside camp on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria chanted “freedom” on Tuesday as they tried to force open a police fence and the coast guard brought in more people rescued from boats on the Atlantic sea.Although sea-borne migration to Spain is down nearly 19% this year, arrivals to the Canary Islands have surged 573% to 3,933 migrants, data from Spain’s interior ministry shows.A coast guard spokeswoman said 81 North African men were rescued from three small boats and taken to the port of Arguineguin on Gran Canaria, while another 29 reached the island on their own by boat.A Spanish Red Cross spokesman said another boat with around 10 migrants had also arrived.At the crammed makeshift camp in Arguineguin, police with batons rushed to the area after a group of migrants moved a fence that encircles the camp, and made the protesters retreat without force. Some jumped the fence but were quickly told by police to go back into the camp.Migrant reception centers across the Canary Islands are stretched to capacity and around 420 people are being held at the camp, the Red Cross said. Some of them have been there for several days enduring hot temperatures, sleeping on blankets on the concrete floor, amid increasing despair.Analysts have suggested that beefed-up security in the Mediterranean is pushing more people to risk the perilous crossing to the Canaries, located around 60 miles west of Morocco.Following local politicians’ request for more help, the Spanish government said it plans to open more migrant centers on the island as the camp is meant to house migrants only for the first days, an immigration department spokeswoman said.An interior ministry source said the government had not been transferring migrants from the archipelago to mainland Spain for several years, and their deportation processes were mostly handled locally.
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Deirdre Carney suspected she might have COVID-19 when her temperature began to fluctuate above the normal 37 degrees Celsius.  “It was a bit of a shock when I was diagnosed. I could not believe that I had got it. I had not mixed with that many people,” Carney, an English teacher from California living in Madrid, told VOA. In the Spanish capital, which now has about a third of Spain’s coronavirus cases, authorities have been forced to impose several restrictions to try to halt the surge in infections. Since imposing one of the most draconian lockdowns in Europe, Spain became the first Western European country to report more than 500,000 cases, health authorities said Monday. With the number of infections reaching 525,000 Tuesday, Spain has 255.9 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to 35.2 in Britain, 125.2 in France and 30.6 in Italy, once one of the worst-affected European countries at the start of the pandemic. Spanish Civil Guards on a checkpoint for all residents of the small village of Alfaro, La Rioja Province, northern Spain, which has been placed in lockdown due to a coronavirus outbreak, Sept. 8, 2020.Fighting the disease in isolation, Carney said she was not contacted by case tracers — a key deficiency that experts say is part of the reason for the surge in infections. “The only people who carried out the tracing was my employer,” she said. New restrictions Madrid, a city of 6.6 million people who often live in densely populated neigborhoods, will limit social gatherings to 10 people inside or outdoors.  Many outbreaks have been linked to family gatherings or when young people get together for outdoor drinking sessions, known as botellones. Bars, restaurants, weddings and funerals will also face curbs on capacity.  A new wave of contagion has been less deadly than at the start of the pandemic, and the number of infections seems to have slowed from the daily peak of over 10,000 more than a week ago. The death rate also remains well below the peak in April when over 900 people died in one day. Nevertheless, many are asking why Spain has once again become the “Sick man of Europe.”  FILE – People wearing face masks walk along a boulevard in Barcelona, Spain, Aug. 30, 2020.Experts suggest a complex mixture of factors have conspired to bring the country back almost to square one just as 8 million children return to school and Spaniards head back to work. “We had a very strict lockdown then relaxed this too quickly in a country with a high propensity to socialize and for family networks to stay very close,” Ildefonso Hernández, a professor of public health at the University Miguel Hernández near Alicante in southeast Spain, told VOA in an interview. “The picture is not homogeneous, but some regions also failed to employ enough case tracers when outbreaks started. It also has to be said that the number of tests being carried out has increased dramatically since March and April, so we are seeing more positive diagnoses,” he said.  Hernández also said part of the blame lay with regional authorities’ responses to migrant fruit pickers who travel around the country getting work where there are harvests. Many are forced to live in cramped conditions in which social distancing is difficult, if not impossible. “Some authorities, in Catalonia and Aragon, failed to provide adequate accommodation for these people,” Hernandez said. FILE – Francisco Espana, 60, faces the Mediterranean from a promenade next to a hospital in Barcelona, Spain, Sept. 4, 2020. He spent 52 days in intensive care at the hospital, but was allowed by his doctors to spend 10 minutes outdoors for recovery.Worrying situation In Madrid, the number of hospital beds occupied with COVID-19 cases is approximately 18%, compared with the national average of 7%. “The situation in Madrid is worrying. The number of COVID-19 cases is putting pressure on the ability of some hospitals to carry out other operations,” Hernández said. Analysts also point to weaknesses in Spain’s system of governance as a factor. Spain is one of the most decentralized states in Europe, with responsibility for health care and education farmed out to the 17 regional governments. “At the start of the pandemic, the central government took control over the management of the crisis from the regions. Apart from ideological differences with the central government, some regional pride was peaked,” Miguel Otero-Iglesias, an economist at the Elcano Royal Institute, a think tank in Madrid, told VOA. “At the same time, the regions look to the center for leadership. Spain does not have a proper central government, and it does not have a federal state.” In order to improve infection tracing, Spain has called in the army, deploying 2,000 specialized soldiers to help regional authorities. Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa sought to calm fears. “The situation now is nothing like it was in March or April in terms of pressure on hospital beds or intensive care units,” he told reporters at a press conference. 
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Exiled Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has called the situation in her country “absolutely unacceptable” and pleaded for international pressure to dislodge embattled President Alexander Lukashenko who she said no longer represents Belarus.In a virtual appearance before the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on September 8, Tsikhanouskaya urged international pressure including sanctions on Lukashenko and his government.”My country, my nation, my people now need help,” she said. “We need international pressure on this regime, on this one individual desperately clinging on to power. We need sanctions on individuals who issue and execute criminal orders that violate international norms and human rights. We need an immediate release of all political prisoners and to start a civilized dialogue in order to find ways for our country to move forward.”Law enforcement officers scuffle with demonstrators during a rally in support of detained Belarusian opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova in Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 8, 2020.She added an appeal on behalf of Belarusians currently being victimized by the mass detentions, beatings at the hands of security forces, and apparent forced disappearances.”I refuse — as millions of Belarusians — to accept that this is the fate of my country,” she said. “I refuse, as do millions of Belarusians, to accept that the world will simply stand and watch these countless abuses of human rights, this blatant disregard for human dignity, this complete annihilation of any basic respect for human decency. I refuse, like millions of Belarusians, to stand down and give up.” Tsikhanouskaya told the PACE representatives that “countries and parties that make deals with Mr. Lukashenko do so at their own risk” and should not expect a subsequent, democratically elected government to uphold treaties “made against [Belarusians’] will by an illegitimate regime.” Tsikhanouskaya ran against Lukashenko in an August 9 election that the opposition says was rigged. She fled to Lithuanian days later amid massive protests and rumors she had been slated for arrest. Unprecedented daily protests have continued, calling for Lukashenko to resign and a new election to be held. Her PACE appearance comes just hours after Belarusian authorities said they had detained a Tsikhanouskaya ally after she and two other opposition organizers mysteriously appeared at a checkpoint on the Ukrainian border amid fears they had been abducted in Minsk a day earlier. FILE – Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko gestures as he delivers a speech during a rally held to support him in central Minsk, Aug. 16, 2020.Tsikhanouskaya was quoted by Reuters as saying that the apparent abductions of opposition Coordination Council members on September 7 looked like authorities were trying to stamp out protest momentum and intimidate the opposition. Tsikhanouskaya is scheduled to visit Warsaw later this week to hold meetings with top Polish officials.Lukashenko is doing his own travel, with plans to visit Russia “within days,” a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said on September 7. Dmitry Peskov reportedly told TASS that “preparations are in full swing.” 
 
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Prince Harry has repaid 2.4 million pounds ($3.2 million) in British taxpayers’ money that was used to renovate the home in Windsor intended for him and his wife Meghan before they gave up royal duties and moved to California.A spokesman for the couple said Monday that Harry had made a contribution to the Sovereign Grant, the public money that goes to the royal family. He said the contribution “fully covered the necessary renovation costs of Frogmore Cottage,” near Queen Elizabeth II’s Windsor Castle home, west of London.He said Frogmore Cottage will remain the home of Harry and Meghan, also known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, when they visit the U.K.Royal accounts for 2019 show that 2.4 million pounds was spent renovating the house, including structural work, rewiring and new flooring. Harry and Meghan agreed to pay back the money and start paying rent as part of the plans drawn up when they quit as senior working royals in March.They recently bought a house in Santa Barbara, California, and last week announced a deal with Netflix to produce a range of films and series for the streaming service.
 
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Negotiators on both sides of the English Channel say this week is the “moment of reckoning” for a post-Brexit trade deal between the European Union and Britain. But after six months of toxic wrangling the odds are mounting an agreement will not be struck, both British and European officials concede.That result that could poison relations between Britain and its near neighbors for years to come with far-reaching consequences, not only economic but impacted security and intelligence cooperation, too, say analysts.In the run-up to an eighth round of formal discussions that were to start Tuesday in London both sides were locked in an accelerating cycle of furious recriminations, accusing each other of negotiating in bad faith in talks about Britain’s future relationship with the bloc of 27 European countries.  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s chief Brexit negotiator, David Frost, said there needs to be “more realism” from Brussels about Britain’s “status as an independent country.”  Patience wears thinAides of the EU’s top negotiator, Michael Barnier, warned patience is wearing thin and that European officials are ready to abandon the meetings this week in the light of plans by Johnson to unveil new legislation that would override key parts of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, a framework treaty struck last year that set the terms of Britain’s departure from the EU.European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier speaks during a media conference after Brexit trade talks between the EU and the UK, in Brussels, Aug. 21, 2020.Johnson has said that unless there is an agreement by October 15, he will walk away from talks. “There is no sense in thinking about timelines that go beyond that point. If we can’t agree by then, then I do not see that there will be a free trade agreement between us, and we should both accept that and move on,” Johnson said in a statement last week. His threat worries many sectors of British business, whose bosses say Britain will be worse of without a trade deal.    Northern IrelandThe eve of the talks has been dominated by fallout from the proposed publication of the new legislation, which could result in aspects of the withdrawal deal being negated. They mainly concern Northern Ireland, which will remain within the EU’s internal market under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement, avoiding the necessity of a so-called hard border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, but requiring customs checks between Northern Ireland and the rest of Britain and for EU rules limiting state aid to businesses in the province to be observed.   Johnson’s plans to pick and choose about customs checks between Northern Ireland and the rest of Britain and he is keen to water down state aid rules. The disclosure about the proposed legislation, which is due to be published Wednesday, have added a new source of friction to the talks.  FILE – People wave the British Union Jack and England flags as they celebrate in Parliament Square on Brexit day in London, Britain, Jan, 31, 2020.But mistrusts runs deep in the British parliament, too. Some uncompromising Brexiters in Johnson ruling Conservative party, who want a clean break from the EU, fear Johnson might be laying the ground to offer significant concessions to the EU to get a last-minute deal that he will trumpet as a great win. They worry he is engaging in a piece of highly staged theater that he can parade as diplomatic triumph.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 as her successor. Some observers, though, hazard that Johnson may not have made up his own mind about whether Britain should go it alone without a trade deal or compromise. “My guess is that the really big decision government Brexiteers must take — between scary clean break and safety-first compromise — remains entirely unresolved because the prime minister’s mind cannot be read,” wrote commentator Matthew Parris, a former Conservative lawmaker, last week.
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Belarus border officials say Maria Kolesnikova, a leading member of Belarus’ opposition, was detained early Tuesday while trying to cross into neighboring Ukraine. The officials said Kolesnikova was traveling with two other opposition movement members, Anton Rodnenkov and Ivan Kravtsov, who both successfully entered Ukraine. The circumstances of how the group ended up at the border was not immediately clear. Monday brought calls from Germany and Britain demanding Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko disclose Kolesnikova’s location after reports she was seized by unidentified men in Minsk. Kolesnikova was the last of three women left inside Belarus who came together in the opposition coordination council to try to defeat Lukashenko in an August 9 election. He was declared winner, but opposition parties, along with the United States and the European Union, say the poll was rigged.Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, then presidential candidate (C), Veronika Tsepkalo, wife of opposition figure Valery Tsepkalo (L), and Maria Kolesnikova, campaign representative of another opposition candidate, gesture in Minsk, Belarus, July 30, 2020.Kolesnikova’s ally Olga Kovalkova went to Poland Saturday, saying authorities forced her out of the country, while Belarus’ main opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, has been in Lithuania with her children since the election for what she says is her own safety.     German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas tweeted that the European Union is “working flat out on a sanctions package. If #Lukashenko does not change course, we will respond.”     The EU is considering sanctions on 31 senior Belarus officials, Reuters reported Monday, citing three EU diplomats.     “The EU expects the Belarusian authorities to ensure the immediate release of all detained on political grounds before and after the falsified 9 August presidential elections,” its diplomatic head, Josep Borrell, said.    Further, the EU called Monday on Belarus to release the more than 600 people it said it arrested over the weekend for protesting what thousands of Belarusians believe was a rigged election.  “The EU will impose sanctions on individuals responsible for violence, repression and falsification of election results,” Borrell added.A man waves a flag during an opposition demonstration to protest against presidential election results at the Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus August 24, 2020.The demonstrations against Lukashenko entered their fifth straight week Sunday, again drawing tens of thousands of people into the streets, shouting slogans and waving red and white opposition flags.   More than 7,000 protesters have been arrested, and widespread evidence of abuse and torture has been reported in the month of protests. At least four people are reported to have died during the demonstrations.    In an interview with VOA, Tsikhanouskaya said she is working to organize new elections despite Lukashenko’s refusal to do so.    “Our plan is absolutely clear. It’s organization of new elections, fair and transparent,” she said.      Lukashenko has been in power since 1994. 
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Amnesty International condemned Malta on Tuesday for using what it described as “illegal tactics” in the Mediterranean against immigrants making the dangerous crossing from North Africa. The approach taken by the Maltese government might have led to avoidable deaths, it argued, in a report that alleged a string of human rights abuses against illegal immigrants. Amnesty’s report was released hours after U.N. rights agencies on Monday called on Malta and the European Union to end the latest humanitarian crisis on board a cargo ship off the Maltese coast. “The Maltese government has resorted to dangerous and illegal measures for dealing with the arrivals of refugees and migrants at sea,” Amnesty said. “This escalation of tactics included arranging unlawful pushbacks to Libya, diverting boats towards Italy rather than rescuing people in distress and illegally detaining hundreds of people in ill-equipped ferries off Malta’s waters,” Amnesty said. MaltaThe signing of an agreement between Valletta and Tripoli in late May “to prevent people from reaching Malta” further exposed them to brutal treatment upon return to Libyan refugee camps, Amnesty said in the 34-page report. “Some of the actions taken by the Maltese authorities may have involved criminal acts being committed, resulting in avoidable deaths, prolonged arbitrary detention and illegal returns to war-torn Libya,” it said.   Malta PM rejects responsibility Malta and Italy in April closed their ports to migrants as the coronavirus pandemic closed its grip on the two countries, with Malta saying it needed all its resources to fight the disease. Since the start of the year Malta has received 2,161 illegal immigrants “and the resources and efforts necessary to ensure reception, access to protection and protection from COVID-19 are undoubtedly considerable for such a small country,” said Amnesty. That did not however “relieve Malta of the responsibility to indicate a place of safety for the people rescued under its coordination,” Amnesty said. The Amnesty report came as yet another cargo ship carrying rescued migrants was being denied permission to dock, its shipping company said this week. The Maersk Etienne on August 4 rescued the 27 migrants at the request of the Maltese authorities, which has since declined to let it into port. The U.N.’s refugee agency (UNCHR) as well as International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the International Chamber of Shipping “called for the immediate disembarkation … of the people trapped on board the ship.” The Maltese government did not immediately comment on the Amnesty report, but Prime Minister Robert Abela said Sunday the situation on the Maersk Etienne “was not Malta’s responsibility,” as the ship was sailing under a Danish flag. “While I understand the humanitarian aspect of migration, I have to understand the interests of the Maltese,” Abela told the Malta Today online newspaper. Amnesty’s report is titled “Waves of impunity: Malta’s violations of the rights of refugees and migrants in the Central Mediterranean.” 
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Maria Kolesnikova, a leading member of Belarus’ opposition, was reportedly seized Monday by unidentified men in Minsk, and Germany and Britain are demanding that President Alexander Lukashenko disclose where she is.   Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called for “clarity on the whereabouts and the release of all political prisoners in Belarus,” in comments tweeted by the foreign ministry.  FILE – A handout image released by 10 Downing Street, shows Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab speaking during a remote press conference to update the nation on May 5, 2020.Dominic Raab, Britain’s foreign secretary, tweeted: “Seriously concerned for the welfare of Maria Kolesnikova in #Belarus. Lukashenko’s regime must make her safe return their highest priority. The regime must cease brutalising protestors, release political prisoners and begin dialogue with the opposition.”A witness identified as Anastasia told Belarusian website Tut.by Monday that she saw Kolesnikova being forced by men in civilian clothing into a minibus and driven away.  Kolesnikova is the last of three women left inside Belarus who came together in the opposition coordination council to try to defeat Lukashenko in the August 9 poll. He was declared winner in the election, but opposition parties, along with the United States and the European Union, say the poll was rigged.  Kolesnikova’s ally Olga Kovalkova went to Poland on Saturday, saying authorities forced her out of the country, while Belarus’ main opposition leader, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, has been in Lithuania with her children since the election for what she says is her own safety.  FILE – German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas addresses the media during a statement at the foreign ministry in Berlin, Germany, June 3, 2020.Maas, the German foreign minister, also tweeted that the European Union is “working flat out on a sanctions package. If #Lukashenko does not change course, we will respond.”The EU is considering sanctions on 31 senior Belarus officials, Reuters reported Monday, citing three EU diplomats.  “The EU expects the Belarusian authorities to ensure the immediate release of all detained on political grounds before and after the falsified 9 August presidential elections,” said its diplomatic head, Josep Borrell. Further, the EU called Monday on Belarus to release the more than 600 people it said it arrested over the weekend for protesting what thousands of Belarusians believe was rigged elections. People take cover from rain under umbrellas during an opposition rally to protest against police brutality and to reject the presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 6, 2020.”The EU will impose sanctions on individuals responsible for violence, repression and falsification of election results,” Borrell added. The demonstrations against Lukashenko entered their fifth straight week Sunday, again drawing tens of thousands of people into the streets, shouting slogans and waving red and white opposition flags.  More than 7,000 protesters have been arrested, and widespread evidence of abuse and torture has been reported in the month of protests. At least four people are reported to have died during the demonstrations.   In an interview with VOA, Tsikhanouskaya said she is working to organize new elections despite Lukashenko’s refusal to do so. “Our plan is absolutely clear. It’s organization of new elections, fair and transparent,” she said.   Lukashenko has been in power since 1994. 
 
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The health of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is improving, and he now has been taken out of an induced coma and is responsive, the German hospital treating him said Monday.Navalny, a sharp critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was flown to Berlin on August 22, two days after falling ill on a domestic flight in Russia. German chemical weapons experts said tests showed he had been poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent from the Novichok group, a claim Russia has rejected.Germany Threatens Sanctions on Russia over Navalny PoisoningForeign minister has held out possibility of sanctions on Russia if Kremlin does not provide information soon about suspected poisoning of opposition leader Alexey NavalnyBerlin’s Charite hospital said the 44-year-old Navalny’s condition has improved, allowing doctors to end the medically induced coma he had been in and gradually ease him off mechanical ventilation.The hospital statement said Navalny was responding to speech but that “long-term consequences of the serious poisoning can still not be ruled out.”Germany said last week that laboratory tests showed “proof without doubt” that he had been poisoned with the chemical nerve agent. British authorities identified Novichok as the poison used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England in 2018.Germany has demanded an explanation from Moscow about Navalny’s poisoning. But the Kremlin has rejected claims by Navalny’s allies that the government was involved as “empty noise.”As the Navalny case plays out, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office indicated Monday that she might be willing to reconsider its support for a controversial German-Russian gas pipeline project, which would bring Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea, bypassing Ukraine.Previously, Merkel had insisted on “decoupling” the Navalny case from the pipeline project.
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Maria Kolesnikova, a leading member of Belarus’ opposition, was reportedly seized by unidentified men in Minsk on Monday as demonstrations against President Alexander Lukashenko entered their fifth straight week.A witness identified as Anastasia told Belarusian website Tut.by Monday that she saw Kolesnikova being forced by men in civilian clothing into a minibus and driven away.Kolesnikova is the last of three women left inside Belarus who came together in the opposition coordination council to try and defeat Lukashenko in the August 9th poll.  He was declared winner in the election but opposition parties, along with the United States and the European Union, say the poll was heavily rigged.Kolesnikova’s ally Olga Kovalkova went to Poland Saturday, saying authorities forced her out of the country, while Belarus’ main opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has been in Lithuania with her children since the election for what she says is her own safety.In an interview with VOA, Tsikhanouskaya said she is working to organize new elections despite Lukashenko’s refusal to do so.“Our plan is absolutely clear. It’s organization of new elections, fair and transparent,” she said.Protests over the weekend once again drew tens of thousands of people, shouting “go away” and “you’re a rat,” members of the crowd waved red and white opposition flags.Large Protests Against Belarus’ Lukashenko PersistTens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets Sunday across Belarus calling for Lukashenko to resign Police and army troops cordoned off the center of Minsk, but it did not stop demonstrators from marching to the vicinity of the president’s residence, about three kilometers outside the city center.Using military vehicles and water cannons, as well as pepper gas, riot police and plain clothes officers wearing masks and wielding truncheons tried to disperse the demonstrators.More than 200 protesters were detained throughout Belarus Sunday, including more than 100 in the capital, the Minsk-based Viasna Human Rights Center and local media reported.More than 7,000 protesters have been arrested, and widespread evidence of abuse and torture has been reported in the month of protests. At least four people are reported to have died during the demonstrations.Lukashenko has been in power since 1994.
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A British judge on Monday rejected a request by lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to delay his extradition hearing until next year to give his lawyers more time to respond to U.S. allegations that he conspired with hackers to obtain classified information.
The adjournment request came on the first day of a London court hearing where Assange is fighting American prosecutors’ attempt 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 U.S. Justice Department expanded its case against Assange in a new indictment announced in June, though it did not introduce new charges. But Assange attorney Mark Summers said it was “an impossible task” for the legal team to deal with the new allegations in time for Monday’s court hearing, especially since they had only “limited access” to the imprisoned Assange.
He said District Judge Vanessa Baraitser should excise the new American claims, which he said were sprung on the defense “out of the blue.”
The judge said no, saying she had offered the defense the chance in August to postpone the hearing, and “they declined to do so.” The defense then asked for the case to be adjourned until January. Baraitser refused, saying Assange’s lawyers had had “ample time” before Monday to make the request.
The case has already been held up for months because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Assange, who has spent 16 months in a British prison, sat in the dock at the Old Bailey criminal court and formally refused the U.S. extradition demand. Assange, who lawyers say has suffered physical and mental ill-health because of his ordeal, spoke clearly to confirm his name and date of birth.
Several dozen supporters, including fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and Assange’s partner, Stella Moris, gathered outside the courthouse, chanting, banging drums and calling his prosecution a threat to press freedom.
“Julian Assange is the trigger, he is shining the light on all the corruption in the world,” Westwood said.
American authorities allege that Assange conspired with U.S. army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into a Pentagon computer and release hundreds of thousands of secret diplomatic cables and military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The new June indictment accuses Assange of recruiting hackers at conferences in Europe and Asia, and of conspiring with members of hacking groups known as LulzSec and Anonymous. U.S. prosecutors say the evidence underscores Assange’s efforts to procure and release classified information, allegations that form the basis of criminal charges he already faces.
Summers accused U.S. prosecutors of filing the new indictment “in desperation” because “they knew that they would lose” with their existing case.
Assange’s lawyers argue that he is a journalist entitled to First Amendment protection and say the leaked documents exposed U.S. military wrongdoing. Among the files released by WikiLeaks was video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack by American forces in Baghdad that killed 11 people, including two Reuters journalists.
Assange’s legal troubles began in 2010, when he was arrested in London at the request of Sweden, which wanted to question him about allegations of rape and sexual assault made by two women. He refused to go to Stockholm, saying he feared extradition or illegal rendition to the United States or to the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
In 2012, Assange sought refuge inside the Ecuadorian Embassy, where he was beyond the reach of U.K. and Swedish authorities — but also effectively a prisoner, unable to leave the tiny diplomatic mission in London. The relationship between Assange and his hosts eventually soured, and he was evicted from the embassy in April 2019. British police immediately arrested him for jumping bail in 2012.
Sweden dropped the sex crimes investigations in November 2019 because so much time had elapsed, but Assange remains in London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison as he awaits the extradition decision.
Supporters say the ordeal has harmed Assange’s physical and mental health, leaving him with depression, dental problems and a serious shoulder ailment. The hearing is expected to include expert psychiatric evidence about his mental state.
Journalism organizations and human rights groups have urged Britain to refuse the extradition request. Amnesty International said Assange was “the target of a negative public campaign by U.S. officials at the highest levels.”
The extradition hearing opened in February but was put on hold when the U.K. went into lockdown in March to slow the spread of coronavirus. It is resuming with social distancing measures in court and video feeds so journalists and observers can watch remotely.
The case is due to run until early October. The judge is expected to take weeks or even months to consider her verdict, with the losing side likely to appeal.
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson talked tough on Sunday ahead of a crucial round of post-Brexit trade talks with the European Union, saying Britain could walk away from the talks within weeks and insisting that a no-deal exit would be a “good outcome for the U.K.”With talks deadlocked, Johnson said an agreement would only be possible if EU negotiators are prepared to “rethink their current positions.”The EU, in turn, accuses Britain of failing to negotiate seriously.Britain left the now 27-nation EU on Jan. 31, 3½ years after the country narrowly voted to end more than four decades of membership. That political departure will be followed by an economic break when an 11-month transition period ends on Dec. 31 and the U.K. leaves the EU’s single market and customs union.Without a deal, the new year will bring tariffs and other economic barriers between the U.K. and the bloc, its biggest trading partner. Johnson said the country would “prosper mightily” even if Britain had “a trading arrangement with the EU like Australia’s” — the U.K. government’s preferred description of a no-deal Brexit.British chief negotiator David Frost and his counterpart Michel Barnier are to meet in London starting Tuesday for the eighth round of negotiations.The key sticking points are access for European boats to U.K. fishing waters and state aid to industries. The EU is determined to ensure a “level playing field” for competition so British firms can’t undercut the bloc’s environmental or workplace standards or pump public money into U.K. industries.Britain accuses the bloc of making demands that it has not imposed on other countries it has free trade deals with, such as Canada.Frost told the Mail on Sunday newspaper that Britain was “not going to compromise on the fundamentals of having control over our own laws.””We are not going to accept level playing field provisions that lock us in to the way the EU do things,” he said.The EU says a deal has to be struck before November to allow time for parliamentary approval and legal vetting before the transition period expires.Johnson gave an even shorter deadline, saying an agreement needed to be sealed by an EU summit scheduled for Oct. 15.”If we can’t agree by then, then I do not see that there will be a free trade agreement between us, and we should both accept that and move on,” he said.Barnier said last week he was “worried and disappointed” by the lack of progress and said the U.K. had not “engaged constructively.”Without a deal, British freight firms have warned there could be logjams at ports and supplies of key goods in Britain could be “severely disrupted” starting Jan. 1.French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Sunday that talks were “not going well” and dismissed British attempts to drive a wedge between EU nations on issues such as fishing. Le Drian said the 27 nations remained united.”We would prefer a deal, but a deal on the basis of our mandate,” he told France Inter radio. “There is room for action, but the whole package, including the fishing package, needs to be taken up in order to avoid a ‘no deal.'”
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Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets Sunday of major Belarusian cities in the latest weekend of demonstrations following disputed elections that left longtime President Alexander Lukashenko in power.Shouting “go away” and “you’re a rat,” members of the crowd waved red and white opposition flags.At least 100 people were detained, the Russian news agency Interfax quoted the government as saying, while the Minsk-based Viasna Human Rights Center put the figure at more than 200. Protests and detentions in other cities were shown on local media.Large Protests Against Lukashenko Persist  Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets Sunday in Minsk, continuing what is now nearly a month of pressure on the government Using military vehicles and water cannons, riot police and plain clothes officers wearing masks and wielding truncheons tried to contain the demonstrators, Reuters reported.Footage from local media outlet TUT.BY showed a masked man beating a protester as he lay on the ground. Plain clothes officers could be seen smashing the glass door of a cafe to get at protesters sheltering inside, Reuters said.”We ran into a cafe to hide from the riot police, they broke the glass, burst inside, pulled out three people, beat at least one,” Evgeny, a 28-year-old protester, told Reuters while waiters cleaned up the glass.Internal Affairs Minister Yuri Karayev defended the actions of the security forces.”They talk about the brutality of the Belarusian police, and I want to say this: there are no more humane, restrained and cool-headed police anywhere in the world,” he said, according to the official Belta news agency.Lukashenko, in power since 1994, claimed victory in elections August 9. Opposition parties, along with the United States and the European Union, say the poll was heavily rigged.   More than 7,000 protesters have been arrested, and widespread evidence of abuse and torture has been reported in the month of protests. At least four people were reported to have died during the demonstrations.  Belarus’ main opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has been in Lithuania since the election for what she says is her own safety.In an interview with VOA, Tsikhanouskaya said she is working to organize new elections despite Lukashenko’s refusal to do so.“Our plan is absolutely clear. It’s organization of new elections, fair and transparent,” she said.
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Greece is beefing up land patrols to stem a rising tide of illegal migrants trickling in from neighboring Turkey. With tensions between the two NATO allies at their highest in years, Athens fears Ankara may move to weaponize refugees, sparking a fresh migration crisis on top of a lingering energy dispute. Greek authorities say they are mobilizing scores of special border guards to scour sprawling fields and marshland along the Evros region that divides Greece and Turkey.Hundreds more will also be deployed on Greece’s Aegean islands to stop illegal sea crossings.United Nations statistics show that illegal land entries into Greece from Turkey, have doubled in the last month alone, stoking concerns of a new migration crisis as tensions between the feuding countries have flared over energy rights in eastern Mediterranean Sea.Migration Minister Notis Mitarachis explains the Greek position.”We want Turkey to conform to agreements it has signed to stem the flow of illegal immigration,” he said. “Any attempt to weaponize the suffering of refugees for geopolitical interests will not be tolerated.” FILE – Migrants walk in Edirne at the Turkish-Greek border, Monday, March 9, 2020.Greece fended off a major migration push from Turkey earlier this year after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan temporarily lifted his country’s border controls, allowing refugees and migrants to make their way freely into Europe. Greece claimed to have thwarted what it called “an enemy invasion” of hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers into the country earlier this year and has kept its defenses on alert in the Evros region since then.The border reinforcement also comes amid a flurry of media reports saying that Turkey was withdrawing 40 tanks from Syria, moving them instead to the Greek-Turkish border.Turkey has not explained the deployment but Kostas Lavdas, a professor of international relations at Panteon University in Athens, says Greece must be ready for war.It may be a simple rotation of forces, he said, because Turkey has several military fronts open. Regardless the reason, he said, Turkey has repeatedly shown that it wants to be ready for all scenarios relating to Greece, including war.Greece, he said, may want to avoid that but it also needs to be prepared for it.FILE – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks with Turkish drilling ship, Fatih, in background, in Istanbul, Aug. 21, 2020.Relations between the two countries have deteriorated dangerously in the past month as Turkey has sent an exploration ship near a cluster of Greek islands, to hunt for undersea oil and gas in a patch of the eastern Mediterranean which Athens says only it has the right to survey.Turkey rejects the claims, saying islands are not entitled to what is known as an exclusive economic zone …. Ankara instead believes it has the right to explore the oil and mineral rich East Mediterranean seabed after a recent maritime agreement it concluded with Libya.Erdogan has agreed to engage in talks with Greece to over decades-old differences over air and sea rights but said this weekend he would do anything to defend his country’s interests.He said, either Athens will heed to diplomacy or it will re-live bitter memories of war.Greece has sought recourse with the United Nations, submitting what it called a bulky dossier of alleged violations by Turkey in recent weeks. The United Nations has made no response. 
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Several thousand people protested Sunday for the independence of Hungary’s University of Theatre and Film Arts following the imposition of a government-appointed board, which they say will undermine its autonomy.The management of the school, which nurtured many of Hungary’s most famous directors and filmmakers, resigned Monday in protest over the changes, which have also prompted several top theater directors to quit their teaching roles.Attendants of the rally formed a chain in the streets of central Budapest before the crowd gathered at a main square outside Parliament, demanding autonomy for the school and freedom for artistic endeavor and education.Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s supporters have long argued that it was time for a shift in culture towards conservative values to end what they call the domination of the arts in Hungary by liberals and left-wingers.”For a university to be able to operate autonomously is the foundation of democracy,” said Marta Barbarics, who attended the rally. “If a university cannot teach in a way as its citizens deem appropriate then there are serious problems, and the leadership of a university does not quit for no reason.” 
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Protesters once again took to the streets of Belarus Sunday, the latest in nearly a month of demonstrations following disupted elections that left longtime president Alexander Lukashenko in power. Tens of thousands took to the streets of Minsk Sunday in numbers comparable to previous weekends, waving red and white opposition flags and chanting slogans. Human rights groups have said at least 70 protesters were detained Sunday. A police barricade with two water cannons is set blocking a street during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 6, 2020.Lukashenko, in power since 1994, claimed victory in elections August 9. Opposition parties, along with the United States and the European Union, say the poll was heavily rigged.     More than 7,000 protesters have been arrested, and widespread evidence of abuse and torture has been reported. At least four people were reported to have died during the demonstrations.  FILE – Belurus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya takes part in an U.N. General Assembly online debate from Vilnius, Lithuania, Sept. 4, 2020.Belarus’ main opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has been in Lithuania since the election for what she says is her own safety. In an interview with VOA, Tsikhanouskaya said she is working to organize new elections despite Lukashenko’s refusal to do so. “Our plan is absolutely clear. It’s organization of new elections, fair and transparent,” she said. 
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President Milos Zeman sought on Sunday to defuse a row with China over a visit by the head of the Czech Senate to Taiwan, calling the speaker’s trip a “boyish provocation”.  
 
Senate speaker Milos Vystrcil grabbed headlines last week when he told Taiwan’s parliament “I am a Taiwanese” in a speech that echoed the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s defiance of communism in Berlin in 1963.   In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, the Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil is presented a medal by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen during a meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, Sept. 3, 2020.Vystrcil’s trip did not have the backing of the Czech government, which sets foreign policy, and angered China, which said the Czech speaker would “pay a heavy price” for visiting the democratic island it sees as its own territory.  
 
This prompted Prague to summon China’s ambassador.  
 
Zeman has sought closer business and political ties with China since taking office in 2013, but his efforts have been hit by failed investment plans and have divided politicians.  
 
Zeman said in an interview on broadcaster Prima on Sunday he would stop inviting Vystrcil to meetings of the state’s top foreign policy officials and said his trip could be damaging for firms but that China’s comments were exaggerated.  
 
“I consider it boyish provocation,” Zeman said of the trip.  
 
Prime Minister Andrej Babis said later on the same debate show he would fight to prevent fallout for Czech companies.  
 
The Czech Republic, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan although Taiwan is a large investor in the country.  
 
Many Czech companies operate in or export to China, the world’s second-largest economy. The richest Czech Petr Kellner’s Home Credit is a major consumer lender in China while the country is also the largest single market for Skoda Auto, the Czech car unit of Volkswagen.    
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Facebook on Saturday blocked live broadcasts from a bedridden, chronically ill man who appealed to French President Emmanuel Macron for a medically assisted death and who wanted to show what he expects will be a painful end to his life after he announced that he was stopping all food and drink.Prostrate on his bed, Alain Cocq posted video of himself Friday after taking what he said would be his last liquid meal.”I know the days ahead are going to be very difficult,” he said. “But I have taken my decision and I am serene.In a letter this week, which Cocq also posted, Macron said that French law forbade him from granting his request for the “right to leave with dignity,” with a medically assisted death.”With emotion, I respect your approach because it speaks to the very intimate relationship that each of us builds with the end of our life and our death,” Macron said in the letter dated Thursday, sent after one of his aides spoke at length with Cocq by telephone in August.But Macron added that “because I am not above the law, I am not in a position to grant your request.”In a handwritten addition at the end, Macron signed off the letter with the words, “With all of my personal support and my profound respect.”French media have reported that Cocq, a 57-year-old former plumber, suffers from a long-term and incurable degenerative illness. He says that he has lived in great pain for 34 years and that after multiple operations, he prefers to die. In his Facebook post on Friday evening, he said the alternative would be “the degradation of my body.””I am going to stop hydrating myself when I turn off the lights,” he said. “Given my general condition, it’s likely to be quick, which is what I hope for, because I’m not a masochist.”He said he would keep taking painkillers.”The path to my deliverance is starting and, believe me, I am happy about it,” he said. “To those I won’t see again, I say goodbye. Such is life.”Cocq had planned to subsequently broadcast live the end of his life that he expects will follow within days of his decision to stop all food, liquids and medicines. But a message Saturday on Cocq’s account said that Facebook has blocked him from posting videos until Tuesday.Facebook confirmed that it had blocked Cocq’s live broadcasts.”Our hearts go out to Alain Cocq and those who are affected by this sad situation,” it said in a statement. “While we respect his decision to draw attention to this complex and difficult issue, based on the guidance of experts, we have taken steps to keep Alain from broadcasting live, as we do not allow the depiction of suicide attempts.” 
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In the pubs of Dunmore in the west of Ireland, the Guinness glasses gather dust and the kegs are stacked dormant. Among the locals, a sober mood has taken hold.The lengthy coronavirus shutdown of pubs in Ireland has hit the 3,000 or so people in the village and surrounding area particularly hard.Five out of its six village pubs have been shut since March, depriving the community of institutions that act as pillars of rural life.Publican Joe Sheridan unbolts the door of Walsh’s Bar in the County Galway village.”They drink their pints along counters like that with their peers to discuss politics, to discuss the news of the day, to understand what’s going on in their own life,” he told AFP.”I have people that would confide in me here in the bar that may not necessarily say to their GP [doctor] what’s going on with them,” he said.With bars shut, “you can see the people carrying the woes of life on their faces,” said Sheridan, a seventh-generation publican.Inside his wood-paneled pub, he finds a pile of unopened mail and the musty smell of inactivity.Walls are jammed with group photos, sports memorabilia and dusty bottles.It is testament to the pub’s fluid role as community hall, museum and an understated sort of group catharsis in the village.”The lights are going out in rural Ireland,” he said.Publican Joe Sheridan is pictured at his closed pub, Walsh’s Bar, in the rural village of Dunmore, Ireland, Sept. 3, 2020.Dry spellIrish pubs shut on March 16 as the nation braced for the coronavirus, which has so far claimed 1,777 lives.After a 15-week hibernation, those serving food were permitted to reopen.But so-called “wet pubs” serving drink only remained shut, with the government repeatedly pushing back reopening.Restrictions are to expire on September 13 in what the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland has called the “longest lockdown in the EU.”Industry bodies estimate that around half of the republic’s 7,000 pubs are still shuttered.”The vast majority of these pubs are small rural outlets run by families who are on first-name terms with their customers,” said Vintners Federation of Ireland chief Padraig Cribben in July.In rural Ireland, pubs have a particular character. They are modestly sized, humbly decorated and staffed by friends and family.Many are not equipped for restaurant food service.One Dunmore pub has reopened under government guidelines by pairing with a local takeaway to provide sit-in meals.The closed Thomas Byrne bar is pictured in the rural village of Dunmore, Ireland, Sept. 3, 2020.’Meitheal’With population flight, a declining agriculture industry and scant alternative social outlets, pubs in rural Ireland play a role that is hard to overstate.Many people in the countryside still eat their main daily meal at lunchtime, reserving a stretch of uninterrupted evening for the pub.Historically, pubs have acted as hardware stores, grocery shops and drapers, filling the void of state infrastructure with small business and mutual aid.In Dunmore, three pubs still act as undertakers when regulars die, organizing the funeral and arranging for fellow drinkers to dig the grave.”It’s the thing of a ‘meitheal,’ ” Sheridan said. “It’s an Irish word for a group coming together to work voluntarily.”But the lockdown is “messing with traditions that have been built up over generations,” he said.Dunmore village, nested in improbably green fields laced by gray stone walls, is home to just 600.An outsider may think its six pubs existed in fierce competition. But Sheridan views them each as nodes in an ecosystem of support with subtly different vibes and navigated by locals according to need and preference.Alcohol seems almost besides the point.”It’s nearly like the jungle grapevine,” said the 49-year-old, who also serves as a councilor for the center-right Fianna Fail party currently in government.”The public house acts as a conduit for communities.”While rural decline is nothing new, coronavirus closures are “throwing petrol on the fire,” he said.An estate agent’s board reads “Public House For Sale” above the closed-down Tery’s bar in the rural village of Dunmore, Ireland, Sept. 3, 2020.Moths and light bulbsHomes scattered outside Dunmore are now where Sheridan’s customers, many of them older, single men, spend time siloed alone.Days are broken up by sprawling countryside walks — with slim chance of social interaction — and the clockwork visit of the postman.”Here you have nothing to look at but the light bulb, like a moth,” said Brendan Jordan, 51.His three or four weekly visits to the pub gave respite from the care he gives his disabled sister.”They are segregating us out here in the countryside and nobody cares,” said bachelor farmer John Hussey, 52.”They have everything killed in the rural areas.”
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Six Belarusian journalists detained earlier this week while covering an anti-government protest in Minsk were sentenced to three days in jail, as authorities continued their crackdown on dissent and media freedom following a disputed election that gave President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth-straight term.
 
The verdicts came just ahead of a scheduled address by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the self-exiled presidential candidate who has become a leader of the Belarusian opposition, to the U.N. Security Council later on September 4.
 
The journalists were covering a student rally demanding the resignation of Lukashenko on September 1 when they were detained by police near the Dinamo district stadium.
 
A district court in the capital sentenced the journalists to three days’ administrative arrest after finding them guilty of participating in an illegal rally, an accusation they denied.
 
They were later released having already served their terms while in pretrial detention.
 
The reporters work for the Belarusian independent news website Tut.by, the local Komsomolskaya Pravda v Belarusi daily, and the independent news agency BelaPAN.
 
Hundreds of thousands of citizens have taken to the streets across Belarus to protest the “rigged” results of the August 9 vote.Belarus Opposition Leader Appeals to UN to Stop Human Rights Abuses in Her CountrySviatlana Tsikhanouskaya tells UN that ‘a nation cannot and should not be a hostage to one man’s thirst for power’The protesters are calling on the 66-year-old Belarusian leader to step down after 26 years in power, release all political prisoners, and hold free and fair elections.
 
The authorities have tried to halt the protest movement with threats and the prosecution of protesters, political activists, and journalists covering the demonstrations.
 
On September 4, police detained several student protesters gathered inside the Minsk State Linguistic Institute. A witness said the students started singing the French national anthem La Marseillaise, which contains words about the fight against tyranny, when riot police entered the building and dragged the students away.
 
Officials at the institute had warned students it would call in the police unless they halted their protests.
 
Those detained were later released from police custody after reportedly being charged with taking part in illegal rallies.
 
The Interior Ministry earlier said that a total of 26 people were detained during protests in Minsk on September 3 for violating the law on public events, adding that seven of them will remain in pretrial detention.
 
A photographer working for the news outlet Tut.by., Zmitser Brushko, was detained for a few hours and charged with petty hooliganism for allegedly pushing a police officer.
 
The crackdown on protests, strikes, and the media has drawn condemnation from human rights groups, media freedom watchdogs, and the international community.
 
On September 3, Britain and Canada said in a joint statement to the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that they were “extremely concerned” by the treatment of journalists and independent media in Belarus.
 
“Though the strain faced by independent media has been made evident before, during, and after the presidential elections, in the past week Belarusian authorities have made greater moves to hinder the free press,” the statement said, adding that more than 70 independent news websites had been blocked.
 
About 50 journalists were detained on August 27-28 for accreditation checks and some foreign reporters were subsequently deported and banned from Belarus for five years, it also noted.
 
At least 17 journalists, including four from RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, had their accreditations revoked. 
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