Rail officials say thousands of passengers were trapped overnight on high-speed TGV trains that were halted by electrical problems in southwestern France. SNCF, the national rail authority, apologized Monday for what it called “a series of electrical supply incidents” that started Sunday afternoon and disrupted service to Paris.  SNCF officials said a train from Hendaye, a popular tourist destination on the border with Spain, was carrying about 1,000 vacationers back to Paris when electrical issues halted it in the remote Landes region. Officials say those passengers were transferred to another train bound for Bordeaux in the middle of the night. Four high-speed trains connecting Bordeaux with other cities in the region were also stuck on tracks into the night, resulting in delays on other routes.  Frustrated travelers posted images on social media of children sleeping on floors, and described the challenges of wearing face masks for as long as 20 straight hours.  French media reported that several people were evacuated for medical reasons. SNCF Strategic Crisis Director Jérôme Attou told reporters in Bordeaux that authorities were still inspecting the tracks and the catenaries — power lines that deliver electricity to the trains — and getting the network back in working order. Attou said he expected trains to be running normally by Tuesday. France’s junior minister for transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, said all passengers will be reimbursed three times the cost of their tickets.    
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High-profile COVID-19 vaccines developed in Russia and China share a potential shortcoming: They are based on a common cold virus that many people have been exposed to, potentially limiting their effectiveness, some experts say. CanSino Biologics’ vaccine, approved for military use in China, is a modified form of adenovirus type 5, or Ad5. The company is in talks to get emergency approval in several countries before completing large-scale trials, the Wall Street Journal reported last week. A vaccine developed by Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, approved in Russia earlier this month despite limited testing, is based on Ad5 and a second less common adenovirus. A scientist works inside a laboratory of the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology during the testing of a coronavirus vaccine, in Moscow, Russia, Aug. 6, 2020. (Russian Direct Investment Fund/Handout via Reuters)”The Ad5 concerns me just because a lot of people have immunity,” said Anna Durbin, a vaccine researcher at Johns Hopkins University. “I’m not sure what their strategy is … maybe it won’t have 70% efficacy. It might have 40% efficacy, and that’s better than nothing, until something else comes along.” Vaccines are seen as essential to ending the pandemic that has claimed over 845,000 lives worldwide. Gamaleya has said its two-virus approach will address Ad5 immunity issues. Both developers have years of experience and approved Ebola vaccines based on Ad5. Neither CanSino nor Gamaleya responded to requests for comment. Researchers have experimented with Ad5-based vaccines against a variety of infections for decades, but none are widely used. They employ harmless viruses as “vectors” to ferry genes from the target virus — in this case the novel coronavirus — into human cells, prompting an immune response to fight the actual virus. But many people already have antibodies against Ad5, which could cause the immune system to attack the vector instead of responding to the coronavirus, making these vaccines less effective. FILE – Screen grab taken from video issued by Britain’s Oxford University, showing a person being injected as part of the first human trials in the UK to test a potential coronavirus vaccine, untaken by Oxford University in England, Apr. 23, 2020.Several researchers have chosen alternative adenoviruses or delivery mechanisms. Oxford University and AstraZeneca based their COVID-19 vaccine on a chimpanzee adenovirus, avoiding the Ad5 issue. Johnson & Johnson’s candidate uses Ad26, a comparatively rare strain. Dr. Zhou Xing, from Canada’s McMaster University, worked with CanSino on its first Ad5-based vaccine, for tuberculosis, in 2011. His team is developing an inhaled Ad5 COVID-19 vaccine, theorizing it could circumvent pre-existing immunity issues. “The Oxford vaccine candidate has quite an advantage” over the injected CanSino vaccine, he said. Xing also worries that high doses of the Ad5 vector in the CanSino vaccine could induce fever, fueling vaccine skepticism. “I think they will get good immunity in people that don’t have antibodies to the vaccine, but a lot of people do,” said Dr. Hildegund Ertl, director of the Wistar Institute Vaccine Center in Philadelphia. In China and the United States, about 40% of people have high levels of antibodies from prior Ad5 exposure. In Africa, it could be has high as 80%, experts said. HIV risk  Some scientists also worry an Ad5-based vaccine could increase chances of contracting HIV. In a 2004 trial of a Merck & Co Ad5-based HIV vaccine, people with pre-existing immunity became more, not less, susceptible to the virus that causes AIDS. FILE – Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 30, 2020.Researchers, including top U.S. infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, in a 2015 paper, said the side effect was likely unique to HIV vaccines. But they cautioned that HIV incidence should be monitored during and after trials of all Ad5-based vaccines in at-risk populations. 
“I would be worried about the use of those vaccines in any country or any population that was at risk of HIV, and I put our country as one of them,” said Dr. Larry Corey, co-leader of the U.S. Coronavirus Vaccine Prevention Network, who was a lead researcher on the Merck trial. Gamaleya’s vaccine will be administered in two doses: The first based on Ad26, similar to J&J’s candidate, and the second on Ad5. Alexander Gintsburg, Gamaleya’s director, has said the two-vector approach addresses the immunity issue. Ertl said it might work well enough in individuals who have been exposed to one of the two adenoviruses. Many experts expressed skepticism about the Russian vaccine after the government declared its intention to give it to high-risk groups in October without data from large pivotal trials. “Demonstrating safety and efficacy of a vaccine is very important,” said Dr. Dan Barouch, a Harvard vaccine researcher who helped design J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine. Often, he noted, large-scale trials “do not give the result that is expected or required.”  
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Italian Police say at least three migrants were killed, six were injured and one is missing after their boat caught fire in the Ionian Sea, off the coast of Italy Sunday. Coast Guard video shows the boat in flames and sailors frantically yelling instructions as they try to rescue the migrants in the water. Police say the ship’s engine reportedly caught fire and exploded, as it was being navigated into port. It is unclear exactly how many migrants were originally on the boat. Media reports about 21 migrants were on board the boat when it arrived but 13 of them had already been escorted on shore by the Italian police before the fire.  ANSA news agency reported that the police were escorting the boat with the remaining migrants to the port of Crotone in Calabria when the fire occurred. Several migrants suffered serious burns and were taken to the hospital in Crotone. Meanwhile, the recent increase in migrant arrivals in Italy has sparked protests on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, which bears the brunt of the landings. Mayor Toto Martello called for a “general strike” demanding more assistance from the Italian government on Sunday after a rusty fishing boat landed during the night allowing 450 migrants to disembark on the island. Italian officials have responded by sending three more COVID-19 quarantine ferries to the island, with one due to arrive on Monday and two more on Wednesday. 
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In Montenegro, pollster CEMI forecast that the pro-Western Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) of President Milo Djukanovic is narrowly ahead of the pro-Serbian and pro-Russian alliance For the Future of Montenegro after Sunday’s parliamentary election.As neither of the two main political parties will secure the necessary simple majority of 41 deputies in the 81-seat parliament to govern alone, they each will need to seek the support of smaller parties in hopes of forming a coalition government.Speaking to supporters, Djukanovic said the DPS remains the strongest party in the parliament.“Such a result means that the Democratic Party of Socialists is the strongest party in Montenegro and in these elections (supporters cheering and applauding) – not only in terms of votes, but also in terms of the mandates,” he said.Djukanovic said the DPS is waiting for the official results and will “unconditionally comply” with the outcome.Meanwhile, the leader of For the Future of Montenegro alliance, Zdravko Krivokapic, claimed victory.“People of Montenegro, freedom has happened!” Krivokapic said. “Good things come to those who wait. After 31 years of an absolute power, this had to happen.The state election commission is expected to announce the results of Sunday’s parliamentary elections in the coming days.Montenegro, under the DPS and Djukanovic, broke with Serbia and Russia to join NATO in 2017 after declaring independence from Serbia in 2006.Internally, DPS and Djukanovic, have faced accusations of an autocratic rule, as well as of widespread graft and criminal links.  
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The pro-Western Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) of President Milo Djukanovic was narrowly ahead of Montenegro’s pro-Serbian and pro-Russian alliance in parliamentary elections Sunday, pollster CEMI said in a preliminary forecast.On the basis of 89% of ballots from a sample of polling stations, CEMI forecast the DPS secured 34.8% of votes, while the alliance of mainly Serb nationalist parties, For the Future of Montenegro, which wants closer ties with Serbia and Russia, was just behind with 32.7%.As neither of the two largest contenders will secure the 41 deputies in the 81-seat parliament needed to rule alone, they would need to seek coalition partners.The Peace is Our Nation, an alliance of centrist parties also opposed to the DPS, came third with 12.5% of the votes, CEMI said. Another alliance led by the green United Reform Action (URA) party received 5.7% of the votes.The result was a major setback for the DPS, which has been in power for three decades, and Djukanovic, who led the country through the violent collapse of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, the dissolution of a state union with Serbia in 2006 and steered it into NATO in 2017.A pro-Serb government might move the country closer to Serbia and Russia, but it is not expected to lead it out of NATO and to abandon its EU membership bid.Nela Savkovic, a DPS official, told reporters that the party had secured enough votes to form a coalition with “traditional partners” that include national minorities and some smaller parties.At the headquarters of the Democratic Front, which is the mainstay of For the Future of Montenegro, the leader of the pro-Serb alliance, Zdravko Krivokapic, claimed victory.”Dear citizens, we are expressing our gratitude for your perseverance and dignity … the regime has fallen,” Krivokapic, a university professor, told his jubilant backers.Krivokapic’s alliance and the DF are backed by the powerful Serbian Orthodox Church, which holds daily protests against a law adopted last December that allows the state to seize religious assets whose historical ownership cannot be proven.Politicians from the DF were also implicated in a failed 2016 election day plot staged by Russian agents and a group of Serb nationalists aiming to topple the government, assassinate Djukanovic, who then served as the prime minister, and halt the country’s accession to NATO.Opposition leaders and democracy and rights watchdogs have long accused Djukanovic and his party of running Montenegro for three decades as their own corrupt fiefdom with links to organized crime.The DPS denies this. Djukanovic, who faces re-election as the country’s president in 2023, and his top associates have in turn accused Serbia and Russia of using the Church and the pro-Serb opposition to undermine the independence of the mountainous coastal republic, its NATO membership and its EU membership bid.Any future government must tackle an economic downturn that started in 2019 and was aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic, which gutted revenues from tourism that is a key driver of the economy.According to the International Monetary Fund, Montenegro’s economy is forecast to contract by nearly 9% this year and recover in 2021. 
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The Vatican has announced that the faithful will be readmitted to the general audiences Pope Francis holds on Wednesday as the Holy See slowly begins easing restrictions imposed by COVID-19. Francis has spoken about the pandemic on various occasions including the past week when he said it has both “exposed and aggravated” social inequalities. Sabina Castelfranco has more for VOA.For more than six months, due to COVID-19, Pope Francis has been holding his customary Wednesday general audiences in his private library inside the Vatican and the faithful all over the world were able to receive his message streamed online, but no one was present.   The Vatican announced that as it begins easing restrictions imposed by the coronavirus, a limited number of faithful would start to be readmitted to the papal audiences starting Wednesday. The audiences will not be held in Saint Peter’s Square as in the past, but in a closed courtyard of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace. There will be a maximum number of 500 seats available in the courtyard and entry to the area will open two hours ahead of the scheduled start of the audience. FILE – A bar employee wears a protective face mask while standing at St. Mark’s Square amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Venice, Italy July 9, 2020.Italy was the first country in Europe to be hard hit by COVID-19, which killed more than 35,000 people on its territory. The situation improved significantly over the summer but the number of infected people over the past week has started to grow again with more than 1,000 daily cases being reported.  This has led authorities to warn there could be new closures and new measures implemented if the numbers cannot be contained.  FILE – Pope Francis reads his “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the City and the World”) message in St. Peter’s Basilica with no public participation due to an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Easter Sunday at the Vatican.Due to the virus crisis, Pope Francis was forced to celebrate Easter this year in solitude, in front of an empty Saint Peter’s Square. The Pope has spoken on numerous occasions about the sorrow and hardship caused by the pandemic during these months and the consequent economic difficulties faced by many. Pope Francis has said that the pandemic has both “exposed and aggravated” social inequalities. He added that not everyone can work from home and that school was “abruptly interrupted” for some children. He added that while “some powerful nations can issue money to deal with the crisis,” that would mean “mortgaging the future for others.” He said, “these symptoms of inequality reveal a social illness; it is a virus that comes from a sick economy.” FILE – Pope Francis poses with a baby as her mother (L) takes a picture, during a visit to parish San Gregorio Magno in Rome, April 6, 2014.Pope Francis has always been fond of direct contact with people and shook the hands of many and hugged children and kissed babies in his audiences before the pandemic. He was fond of travelling both in Italy and abroad. It remains unclear if and when the 83-year-old pontiff will be able to return to those habits.  
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Tens of thousands protested in the Belarusian capital of Minsk Sunday, the president’s birthday, demanding he resign. Alexander Lukashenko, who turned 66 Sunday, was declared the winner of an August 9 election, amid widespread allegations of voter fraud. Lukashenko, in power for 26 years, denies any election irregularities. The main opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said she would never accept the elections results before fleeing to Lithuania for what she said was her children’s safety.    Protesters rally against elections results they say were rigged, in Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 27, 2020.Protests have rocked the country since the election results were announced. On Sunday, protesters convened around Lukashenko’s residence, facing security forces carrying shields and backed by prisoner vans and water cannons. At least 125 people were detained Sunday, Russia’s RIA news agency quoted the Interior Ministry as saying. Russian President Vladimir Putin called Lukashenko Sunday to wish him a happy birthday and invite him to Moscow. Putin has repeatedly offered support to Lukashenko as Belarus faces sanctions from the West. 
 
 
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German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday condemned an attempt by protesters to break-in to storm the Reichstag, Germany’s parliament building, as an “unacceptable attack on the heart of our democracy.”    “We will never accept this,” Steinmeier said in an Instagram message. The incident took place on Saturday evening after some 38,000 protesters gathered in Berlin during the day to protest against the country’s coronavirus  restrictive measures. After about two hours, police dispersed the protesters, citing disregard of social distancing rules. The German president called the protesters a “right-wing extremist rabble,” while praised the security forces who “acted extremely prudently in a difficult situation.” “The Reichstag building is the seat of our Parliament and thus the symbolic center of our democracy,” German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told the newspaper Bild am Sonntag. “The fact that sowers of chaos and extremists are abusing it for their own purposes is unacceptable,” Seehofer added. 
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Montenegrins vote Sunday in parliamentary elections, choosing between the path toward EU membership, led by the long-ruling pro-Western party, or closer ties with Serbia and Russia advocated by a coalition of opposition groups.The elections are being held as a dispute over a religious property law opposed by the influential Serbian Orthodox Church brews.The church argues the law permits Montenegro to confiscate its property in efforts to create a separate Montenegrin church, the government has denied the claim.The main pro-Serb and -Russian opposition alliance, For the Future of Montenegro, backs the church.Polls predict the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, a strong Western ally, in power for about 30 years, will finish first but may not have the votes to form a government alone.Montenegro under the DPS and Djukanovic, broke with Serbia and Russia to join NATO in 2017, after declaring independence from Serbia in 2006.Internally, DPS and Djukanovic, have faced accusations of an autocratic rule, as well as of widespread graft and criminal links.Some 540,000 Montenegrins are eligible to vote in the Balkan country for the 81-seat Skupstina, or Assembly.
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India reported 78,761 new coronavirus infections in 24 hours on Sunday, the highest single day rise in the world since the pandemic began, while the county is continuing to open its economy.It was the fourth consecutive day that India has registered more than 75,000 infections.With a population of 1.4 billion people, India is the third most infected nation in the world, behind the United States and Brazil, with 3.5 million cases and more than 63,000 deaths, according to official statistics provided by the country’s health ministry.In several European cities Saturday demonstrators rallied against restrictions that have been imposed since the COVID-19 outbreak began.Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Berlin to march against mask-wearing and social distancing rules. Police say they arrested about 300 protesters. In London, demonstrators in Trafalgar Square rallied against what they said is the “medical tyranny” that has been placed on them by masks and distancing.A man with a placard reading in German: ‘Watch out! Covidiot’ takes part in a protest against the increasing coronavirus preventative measures in Zurich, Switzerland, Aug. 29, 2020.A few hundred protesters in Paris demonstrated against the capital’s mandatory mask-wearing mandate.In Zurich, about 1,000 demonstrators skeptical of COVID-19 rules called for a “return to freedom.”U.S. President Donald Trump said in a statement Saturday night that he is extending the federal cost-sharing for the deployment of the National Guard in Louisiana to help with the state’s response to COVID-19 and to help facilitate the Southern state’s economic recovery.Public health departments throughout the United States are calling on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reverse changes the federal agency recently made to its public coronavirus testing guidelines.The Big Cities Health Coalition and the National Association of County and City Health Officials, which represent thousands of local departments, sent a letter Friday to the heads of the CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services requesting that the agencies reverse a decision to stop testing people who have been exposed to the virus but are asymptomatic.The organizations called on the government agencies to reinstate recommendations that people who have been exposed to the virus be tested even if they are asymptomatic.At least 33 states are not following the new CDC guidelines and continue to recommend testing for all people who have been exposed to COVID-19 regardless of symptoms, according to an analysis by Reuters news agency.Johns Hopkins University reports there are more than 25 million COVID-19 cases worldwide. The United States has almost 6 million infections, followed by Brazil with 3.8 million and India with 3.5 million.   
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Demonstrators in several European cities Saturday rallied against restrictions that have been imposed since the COVID-19 outbreak.Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Berlin to march against mask-wearing and social distancing rules. Police say they arrested about 300 protesters.In London, demonstrators in Trafalgar Square rallied against what they said is the “medical tyranny” that has been placed on them by masks and distancing.A few hundred protesters in Paris demonstrated against the capital’s mandatory mask-wearing mandate.In Zurich, about 1,000 demonstrators skeptical of COVID-19 rules called for a “return to freedom.”U.S. President Donald Trump said in a statement Saturday night that he is extending the federal cost-sharing for the deployment of the National Guard in Louisiana to help with the state’s response to COVID-19 and to help facilitate the Southern state’s economic recovery.Public health departments throughout the United States are calling on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reverse changes the federal agency recently made to its public coronavirus testing guidelines.The Big Cities Health Coalition and the National Association of County and City Health Officials, which represent thousands of local departments, sent a letter Friday to the heads of the CDC and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services requesting that the agencies reverse a decision to stop testing people who have been exposed to the virus but are asymptomatic.The organizations called on the government agencies to reinstate recommendations that people who have been exposed to the virus be tested even if they are asymptomatic. At least 33 states are not following the new CDC guidelines and continue to recommend testing for all people who have been exposed to COVID-19 regardless of symptoms, according to an analysis by Reuters news agency. Johns Hopkins University reports there are nearly 25 million COVID-19 cases worldwide. The United States has almost 6 million infections, followed by Brazil with 3.8 million and India with 3.4 million.
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The Italian coast guard sent help Saturday to a rescue boat funded by British street artist Banksy after the vessel issued urgent calls for assistance, saying it was stranded in the Mediterranean and overloaded with migrants. The coast guard said a patrol boat dispatched from the southern Italian island of Lampedusa had taken on board 49 of “those considered most vulnerable” among the 219 migrants picked up by the ship since Thursday off the coast of Libya. Named after a French feminist anarchist, the Louise Michel started operating last week. Despite the help from Italy, it has still not found a safe port for the rest of the mainly African migrants on board. In this undated handout photo, people pose after being rescued by the Louise Michel, a migrant search-and-rescue ship operating in the Mediterranean and financed by British street artist Banksy, at sea. (MV Louise Michel/Handout via Reuters)The 49 people who were transferred off the ship included 32 women and 13 children, the Italian coast guard said. The Louise Michel, a German boat manned by a crew of 10, issued a series of tweets overnight and Saturday saying its situation was worsening and appealing for help from authorities in Italy, Malta and Germany. “We are reaching a state of emergency. We need immediate assistance,” said one tweet, adding that it was also carrying a body bag containing one migrant who had died. Another tweet said the boat was unable to move and “no longer the master of her own destiny” because of her overcrowded deck and a life raft deployed at her side, “but above all due to Europe ignoring our emergency calls for immediate assistance.” Before Italy’s coast guard intervened, an Italian charity ship, the Mare Jonio, said it was leaving the Sicilian port of Augusta, much farther away than Lampedusa, to offer assistance. Two U.N. agencies called for the “urgent disembarkation” of the Louise Michel and two other ships carrying a total of more than 400 migrants in the Mediterranean. About 200 are on the Sea Watch 4, a German charity ship, while 27 have been on board the commercial tanker Maersk Etienne since their rescue on August 5. The International Organization for Migration and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said in a joint statement they were “deeply concerned about the continued absence of dedicated EU-led search-and-rescue capacity in the Central Mediterranean.” “The humanitarian imperative of saving lives should not be penalized or stigmatized, especially in the absence of dedicated state-led efforts,” they said. In this still image taken from video, a Banksy graffiti in seen on the Louise Michel, a migrant search-and-rescue ship operating in the Mediterranean, Aug. 17, 2020. (MV Louise Michel/Reuters)Italy is the destination of most migrants who have departed from Libya across the Mediterranean in recent years. The influx has created political tensions in Rome and fueled the success of Matteo Salvini’s right-wing League party. The 30-meter long (98-foot) Louise Michel, a former French Navy boat painted in pink and white, was bought with proceeds from the sale of Banksy artwork. The side of the vessel’s cabin features a picture of a girl holding a heart-shaped life buoy in Banksy’s familiar stenciled style. Bristol-born Banksy, who keeps his identity a secret, is known for his political or social-commentary graffiti that has popped up in cities around the world.
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Far-right extremists tried to storm the German parliament building Saturday following a protest against the country’s pandemic restrictions but were intercepted by police and forcibly removed.The incident occurred after a daylong demonstration by tens of thousands of people opposed to the wearing of masks and other government measures intended to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. Police ordered the protesters to disband halfway through their march around Berlin after participants refused to observe social distancing rules, but a rally near the capital’s iconic Brandenburg Gate took place as planned.Footage of the incident showed hundreds of people, some waving the flag of the German Reich of 1871-1918 and other far-right banners, running toward the Reichstag building and up the stairs.Police confirmed on Twitter that several people had broken through a cordon in front of Parliament and “entered the staircase of the Reichstag building, but not the building itself.””Stones and bottles were thrown at our colleagues,” police said. “Force had to be used to push them back.”Germany’s top security official condemned the incident.”The Reichstag building is the workplace of our Parliament and therefore the symbolic center of our liberal democracy,” Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said in a statement.”It’s unbearable that vandals and extremists should misuse it,” he said, calling on authorities to show “zero tolerance.”People gather at the Victory Column as they attend a protest rally in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 29, 2020 against new coronavirus restrictions in Germany. Police in Berlin requested thousands of reinforcements from other parts of Germany.Earlier, thousands of far-right extremists had thrown bottles and stones at police outside the Russian Embassy. Police detained about 300 people throughout the day.Berlin’s regional government had tried to ban the protests, warning that extremists could use them as a platform and citing anti-mask rallies earlier this month where rules intended to stop the virus from being spread further weren’t respected.Protest organizers successfully appealed the decision Friday, though a court ordered them to ensure social distancing. Failure to enforce that measure prompted Berlin police to dissolve the march while it was still in progress.During the march, which authorities said drew about 38,000 people, participants expressed their opposition to a wide range of issues, including vaccinations, face masks and the German government in general. Some wore T-shirts promoting the “QAnon” conspiracy theory while others displayed white nationalist slogans and neo-Nazi insignia, though most participants denied having far-right views.Uwe Bachmann, 57, said he had come from southwestern Germany to protest for free speech and his right not to wear a mask.”I respect those who are afraid of the virus,” said Bachmann, who was wearing a costume and a wig that tried to evoke stereotypical Native American attire. He suggested, without elaborating, that “something else” was behind the pandemic.Another protester said he wanted Germany’s current political system abolished and a return to the constitution of 1871 on the grounds that the country’s postwar political system was illegal. Providing only his first name, Karl-Heinz, he had traveled with his sister from their home near the Dutch border to attend the protest and believed that the coronavirus cases being reported in Germany now were “false positives.”Germany has seen an upswing in new cases in recent weeks. The country’s disease control agency reported Saturday that Germany had almost 1,500 new infections over the past day.A protester is held by German riot policemen in front of the Reichstag building, which houses the Bundestag lower house of parliament, at the end of a Berlin demonstration called by far-right and COVID-19 deniers on Aug. 29, 2020.Germany has been praised for the way it has handled the pandemic, and the country’s death toll of some 9,300 people is less than one-fourth the amount of people who have died of COVID-19 in Britain. Opinion polls show overwhelming support for the prevention measures imposed by authorities, such as the requirement to wear masks on public transport, in stores and some public buildings such as libraries and schools.Along the route were several smaller counter-protests where participants shouted slogans against the far-right’s presence at the anti-mask rally.”I think there’s a line and if someone takes to the streets with neo-Nazis then they’ve crossed that line,” said Verena, a counter-protester from Berlin who declined to provide her surname.Meanwhile, a few hundred people rallied Saturday in eastern Paris to protest new mask rules and other restrictions prompted by rising virus infections around France. Police watched closely but did not intervene.The protesters had no central organizer but included people in yellow vests who formerly protested economic injustice, others promoting conspiracy theories and those who call themselves “Anti-Masks.”France has not seen an anti-mask movement like some other countries. Masks are now required everywhere in public in Paris as authorities warn that infections are growing exponentially just as schools are set to resume classes.France registered more than 7,000 new virus infections in a single day Friday, up from several hundred a day in May and June, in part thanks to ramped-up testing. It has the third-highest coronavirus death toll in Europe after Britain and Italy, with over 30,600 dead.In London, hundreds of people crowded into Trafalgar Square for a “Unite for Freedom” protest against government lockdown restrictions and the wearing of face masks. The Metropolitan Police warned demonstrators that anyone attending a gathering of more than 30 people may be at risk of committing a criminal offense.
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Belarusian authorities stripped accreditation from at least 17 journalists from major foreign news organizations who have been covering the country’s turmoil following the disputed presidential election.
 
The move, taken on August 29 by a commission of the national Security Council, was a major escalation by President Alexander Lukashenko’s government as it continues to face popular protest and international condemnation for the August 9 election, and for the harsh police crackdown on opposition protesters.
 
The journalists targeted include employees of major Western news organizations including RFE/RL, the BBC, the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence-France Presse, Germany’s ARD television, Deutsche Welle, and Radio France. Without accreditations, journalists are not legally permitted to gather news within the country.
 
No reason for the government’s decision was provided.
 
It was not immediately clear if journalists from Russian state-run and state-funded news media, such as the TASS news agency, Vesti TV, or the RT channel, faced a similar loss of accreditation.
 ‘Desperate, ominous move’
 
At least 17 journalists had their accreditations canceled, the Belarus Association of Journalists reported.
 
“Stripping our journalists of accreditation on grounds of ‘extremism’ is a desperate and ominous move by an authoritarian government to stifle the independent media and ruthlessly control the availability of credible information inside Belarus,” acting RFE/RL President Daisy Sindelar said in a statement. “It’s a violation of international standards and an assault on the Belarusian people who rely on us.”
 
Four journalists from RFE/RL’s Belarus Service were hit by the move, and one from Current Time, the Russian-language TV network run by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA.
 
Others include two from the BBC, two from AP, two from AFP, two from ARD, and two from Reuters.
 
Many of those affected are Belarusian citizens.
 
Reuters journalist Tatyana Melnichuk told RFE/RL that she had been informed that her accreditation had been revoked via a telephone call from the Foreign Ministry.
 
“They told us that our accreditation, like the accreditations of the BBC journalists, had been revoked and that we had to return them today or on Monday,” Melnichuk said. “They didn’t give any reason.”Detained Journalists in Belarus Face Charges for Covering Post-Election ProtestsAt least 35 journalists, and more than 260 people overall were detained during Aug. 27 protests in Minsk, according to a list compiled by the human rights center Vyasna US calls for ‘restraint’
 
The U.S. Embassy in Minsk called on Belarusian authorities to “demonstrate restraint.”
 
“We stand by our long-term commitment to support Belarus’ sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the aspirations of the Belarusian people to choose their leaders and to choose their own path, free from external intervention,” the statement said.
 
Two days earlier, around 50 journalists were detained while covering postelection protests in Minsk; the group included employees from Belarusian outlets such as TUT.BY, BelaPAN, and Belsat.
 
In all, more than 260 people were detained during at the time, according to the human rights center Vyasna.
 
The Belarusian Association of Journalists said most of the journalists detained at the time were released after police checked their documents.
 
Four journalists who refused to hand over their smartphones for police to check were charged with participating in an unauthorized protest, the association said. A Swedish journalist will also be deported, it added.
 
The detentions came after nearly three weeks of protests against the official results of the election, which gave Lukashenko a landslide victory.
 
Demonstrators and opposition leaders are contesting those results, charging that the vote was rigged in Lukashenko’s favor.
 
During their detention on August 27, RFE/RL journalists were searched by police, who appeared to be looking for recording equipment. Their laptops and cameras were seized, and they were ordered to open the photo galleries and other information on their mobile phones. In at least one case, a journalist was told to delete images of riot police.
 
One RFE/RL photographer was threatened with misdemeanor charges if he refused to comply with police orders.
 
Meanwhile, many websites of news organizations have seen curtailed access within Belarus amid reports that of sporadic Internet access.
 
Several bloggers also remain in prison, including a consultant for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service on digital strategy. His detention in Zhodzina prison outside of Minsk has been extended to October 25.
 
Protesters, who are planning another demonstration in Minsk on August 30, have been largely defiant despite a brutal police crackdown, and widespread evidence of beatings and torture of detained protesters.
 
The leading opposition candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, told the European Parliament this week that at least six people have been killed in the crackdown and dozens of protesters have gone missing after being detained by authorities.
 With reporting by Current Time. 
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A close ally of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says authorities in Moscow are reluctant to investigate Navalny’s alleged poisoning, because the Kremlin was behind it, despite its denials.
 
Lyubov Sobol, a lawyer at Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation and a prominent opposition activist, said in an interview that all the existing evidence points to the Kremlin.
 
“For me, it’s absolutely obvious, I’m not afraid to speak it out loud, that behind the poisoning is exactly the Kremlin,” said Sobol. Simply, nobody else could do it. Again, the method of the poisoning is the sign of that. Neuroparalytic poison is something that you can’t buy at a pharmacy. It’s a combat substance. And because of that, they will not investigate it,” Sobol said.FILE – Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, center, his wife Yulia, right of him, and opposition activist Lyubov Sobol, second from left, take part in a march in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 29, 2020.Navalny’s associates made a request to Russia’s Investigative Committee for authorities to launch a criminal investigation that could lead to charges of an attempted assassination of a public figure, but say they got no response.
 
“They understand that any investigation will lead to the Kremlin,” Sobol said. “They’re not launching a criminal probe because they will have to answer at some point what the results of the investigation of this criminal case are.”
 
Russia’s Prosecutor General office said Thursday the inquiry launched last week did not find any indication of “deliberate criminal acts committed against” Navalny.
 
The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said last week he saw no grounds for a criminal investigation before the cause of Navalny’s condition was fully established.  
 
Navalny, a well-known critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and a corruption investigator, fell ill August 20 while flying to Moscow from Siberia, prompting an emergency landing in Omsk.
 
His personal doctor and aide said Navalny had drunk black tea at an airport café, which she believed was laced with poison.Last weekend, Navalny was transferred to the Charité Hospital in Berlin, Germany, for an “extensive medical diagnosis.” Doctors there found traces of “cholinesterase inhibitors,” a neuroparalytic substance, in his system. He reportedly remains on a ventilator in a medically-induced coma.  German doctors describe his condition as serious but not life-threatening. 
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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday threatened to cut European transit routes through Belarusian territory if sanctions are imposed on his country.Speaking while visiting a dairy factory, Lukashenko said he would block neighboring European countries from shipping goods to Russia over Belarusian territory and divert Belarusian exports now shipped through ports in neighboring EU member Lithuania to other outlets.”If they, Poles and Lithuanians, used to fly through us to China and Russia, now they will fly through the Baltic or through the Black Sea to trade with Russia, and so on, and they can only dream of sanctioned products, those products on which Russia has imposed an embargo,” he said.Lukashenko also said he had ordered half the country’s army to be at combat preparedness and had agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin that troops of both countries could unite against a potential Western threat.A woman carries a historical white-red-white flag of Belarus during an opposition demonstration against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 28, 2020.“If they (NATO troops) don’t hold still, it’s necessary to use a joint grouping of armed forces, the basis of which is the Belarusian army,” Lukashenko said. “The Russians must support us and follow us.”Lithuania, Poland and Latvia have called for Europe to take stronger action against Lukashenko, in face of a nearly three-week popular uprising since the August 9 election, which the opposition maintains he rigged to prolong his 26-year rule. Lukashenko has denied the accusations.Since the Monday after the election, when Belarusian Central Election Commission declared Lukashenko received over 80% of the votes and opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya about 10%, thousands have taken to the streets demanding Lukashenko’s resignation. Lukashenko has said the protests are encouraged and supported by the West and accused NATO of moving forces near Belarusian borders. The alliance has denied the accusations.  
 
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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is still in an induced coma from a suspected poisoning but his condition is stable and his symptoms are improving, the German doctors treating him said Friday. Navalny, a politician and corruption investigator  who is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critics, fell ill on a flight back to Moscow from Siberia on Aug 20 and was taken to a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk after the plane made an emergency landing.  Last weekend, he was transferred to the Charité hospital in Berlin, where doctors found indications of “cholinesterase inhibitors” in his system.  FILE – German army emergency personnel load into their ambulance the stretcher that was used to transport Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny on at Berlin’s Charite hospital, Aug. 22, 2020.Found in some drugs, pesticides and chemical nerve agents, cholinesterase inhibitors block the breakdown of a key chemical in the body, acetycholine, that transmits signals between nerve cells. Navalny, 44, is being treated with the antidote atropine. Charité said “there has been some improvement in the symptoms caused by the inhibition of cholinesterase activity.” “While his condition remains serious, there is no immediate danger to his life,” the hospital said. “However, due to the severity of the patient’s poisoning, it remains too early to gauge potential long-term effects.” FILE – Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, speaks with the media outside a hospital, where her husband is receiving medical treatment, in Omsk, Russia, Aug. 21, 2020.Navalny’s wife Yulia has been visiting him regularly at the hospital and Charité said physicians remain in close contact with her. Navalny’s allies insist he was deliberately poisoned and say the Kremlin was behind it, accusations that Russian officials rejected as “empty noise.”  Western experts have cautioned that it is far too early to draw any conclusions about what may have caused Navalny’s condition, but note that Novichok, the Soviet-era nerve agent used to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Britain, was a cholinesterase inhibitor.  The Russian doctors who treated Navalny in Siberia have repeatedly contested the German hospital’s conclusion, saying they had ruled out poisoning as a diagnosis and that their tests for cholinesterase inhibitors came back negative.  Help from GermanyNavalny was brought to Germany for treatment after Chancellor Angela Merkel personally offered the possibility of him being treated in Berlin. “We have an obligation to do everything so that this can be cleared up,” Merkel told reporters at her annual summer news conference on Friday. “It was right and good that Germany said we were prepared … to take in Mr. Navalny. And now we will try to get this cleared up with the possibilities we have, which are indeed limited.” When there is more clarity about what happened, Germany will try to ensure a “European reaction” to the case, Merkel said. She cited the poisonings of Skripal and his daughter two years ago, which prompted many European countries to expel Russian diplomats and vice-versa. Calls to investigateFollowing a meeting in Berlin with his counterparts from 26 European Union countries, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said forcefully that Russia had an obligation to carry out a thorough investigation, something many countries have called for. FILE – Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny takes part in a rally, in Moscow, Feb. 29, 2020.”Russia must contribute more to clearing up the Navalny case, and the investigations that we expect must not remain a fig leaf,” Maas told reporters. “The background to this act must be investigated comprehensively and transparently, and those responsible — directly and indirectly —brought to account.” So far, Russian authorities appear reluctant to investigate the politician’s condition. Navalny’s team submitted a request last week to Russia’s Investigative Committee, demanding authorities launch a criminal probe on charges of an attempt on the life of a public figure and attempted murder, but said there was no reaction.  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he saw no grounds for a criminal case until the cause of the politician’s condition was fully established. Russia’s Prosecutor General’s office said Thursday that a preliminary inquiry launched last week hasn’t found any indication of “deliberate criminal acts committed against” Navalny. Growing supportThe dissident’s supporters are not surprised at the Kremlin’s reaction. “They understand that any investigation will lead to the Kremlin,” Lyubov Sobol, a prominent opposition politician and one of Navalny’s closest allies, told The Associated Press on Friday. “They’re not launching a criminal probe … because they will have to answer at some point what the results of the investigation are.”FILE – Russian opposition activist Lyubov Sobol speaks during an interview with the Associated Press in Moscow, Russia, Aug. 15, 2019.Sobol says while Navalny’s condition hasn’t prompted big protests in Russia, it has stirred the outrage brewing there. “I saw a lot of comments from well-known public figures in Russia who have never spoken out for Alexei Navalny before, (but now) spoke their minds and said that this was outrageous, it shouldn’t be this way,” Sobol said. “It’s a turning point.” Even with their leader in the hospital, Navalny’s team continues its work on corruption investigations and regional election campaigns in Moscow and dozens of other regions. Navalny’s most recent project, Smart Voting, identifies candidates that are most likely to beat those from Putin’s United Russia party and his supporters actively campaign for them.  According to Sobol, the team is used to working in his absence — frequently arrested, Navalny has spent more than a year in jail in recent years.  “So we know how to work without direct orders from Navalny. We understand what we need to do,” Sobol said.  
 
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The British government announced Friday plans to fast-track any viable COVID-19 vaccine, allowing the emergency use of the drug before it goes through the formal licensing process, if it meets certain safety and quality standards.In a statement the British government, said if a viable vaccine is discovered before the end of the year, the proposals will bolster existing powers that allow the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to consider approving its use, before a full product license is granted, provided it is proven to be safe and effective.The measures are necessary because during the transition period, a new potential COVID-19 vaccine must be granted a license after a review by the European Medicines Agency a process than can often take months.A handout image released by 10 Downing Street, shows Britain’s new Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England Jonathan Van-Tam speaking at a remote press conference, May 30, 2020.Britain’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said in the statement, “If we develop effective vaccines, it’s important we make them available to patients as quickly as possible but only once strict safety standards have been met.”The new guidelines also call for expanding the number of trained health care workers who can administer any potential COVID-19 vaccines as well as flu vaccines.The government said a three-week “consultation” is being launched immediately for health experts and key stakeholder groups to consider the new proposals. If approved they could be in place as early as October.Britain has had the worst COVID-19 death toll of any European country.
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The Russian navy conducted major war games near Alaska involving dozens of ships and aircraft, the military said Friday, the biggest such drills in the area since Soviet times.  
 
Russia’s navy chief, Adm. Nikolai Yevmenov, said that more than 50 warships and about 40 aircraft were taking part in the exercise in the Bering Sea, which involved multiple practice missile launches.  
 
“We are holding such massive drills there for the first time ever,” Yevmenov said in a statement released by the Russian Defense Ministry.
 
It wasn’t immediately clear when the exercises began or if they had finished.
 
Yevmenov emphasized that the war games are part of Russia’s efforts to boost its presence in the Arctic region and protect its resources.
 
“We are building up our forces to ensure the economic development of the region,” he said. “We are getting used to the Arctic spaces.”
 
The Russian military has rebuilt and expanded numerous facilities across the polar region in recent years, revamping runways and deploying additional air defense assets.
 
Russia has prioritized boosting its military presence in the Arctic region, which is believed to hold up to one-quarter of the Earth’s undiscovered oil and gas. Russian President Vladimir Putin has cited estimates that put the value of Arctic mineral riches at $30 trillion.
 
Russia’s Pacific Fleet, whose assets were taking part in the maneuvers, said the Omsk nuclear submarine and the Varyag missile cruiser launched cruise missiles at a practice target in the Bering Sea as part of the exercise.
 
The maneuvers also saw Onyx cruise missiles being fired at a practice target in the Gulf of Anadyr from the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula, it added.
 
As the exercise was ongoing, U.S. military spotted a Russian submarine surfacing near Alaska on Thursday. U.S. Northern Command spokesman Bill Lewis noted that the Russian military exercise is taking place in international waters, well outside U.S. territory.
 
Lewis said the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command were closely monitoring the submarine. He added that they haven’t received any requests for assistance from the Russian navy but stand ready to assist those in distress.
 
Russian state RIA Novosti news agency quoted Russia’s Pacific Fleet sources as saying that the surfacing of the Omsk nuclear submarine was routine.
 
It cited former Russian navy’s chief of staff, retired Adm. Viktor Kravchenko, as saying that by having the submarine surface in the area the navy may have wanted to send a deliberate signal.
 
“It’s a signal that we aren’t asleep and we are wherever we want,” RIA Novosti quoted Kravchenko as saying.
 
The presence of Russian military assets in the area caused a stir for U.S. commercial fishing vessels in the Bering Sea on Wednesday.
 
“We were notified by multiple fishing vessels that were operating out the Bering Sea that they had come across these vessels and were concerned,” U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Kip Wadlow said Thursday.
 
The Coast Guard contacted the Alaskan Command at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, which confirmed the ships were there as part of a pre-planned Russian military exercise that was known to some U.S. military officials, he said.
 
The Russian military has expanded the number and the scope of its war games in recent years as Russia-West relations have sunk to their lowest level since the Cold War after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, and other crises.
 
  
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One of six RFE/RL journalists detained while covering post-election protests in Minsk on Aug. 27 is facing a charge of being a participant in an unauthorized mass demonstration.
 
He is among at least 35 journalists, and more than 260 people overall, who were detained during Aug. 27 protests in Minsk, according to a list compiled by the human rights center Vyasna.
 
The charge filed against Andrey Yaroshevich, a freelance camera operator working for Current Time, is an administrative offense that can result in a fine or a jail sentence. His case was being heard at a Minsk court on Aug. 28.
 
A total of six journalists working either for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service or Current Time — the Russian-language network led by RFE/RL in cooperation with VOA — were detained while covering demonstrations in two different Minsk locations on Aug. 27.
 
The Belarus Service’s Aleh Hruzdzilovich, Andrey Rabchyk, and Ales Dashchynski were detained on Independence Square. Uladzimer Hrydzin, a correspondent for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, was detained during a demonstration on Freedom Square in Minsk.
 
All but Yaroshevich were later released.
 
In addition to Yaroshevich, three journalists who work for other media outlets also remained in the custody of Belarusian authorities on Aug. 28.
 
They also face charges of participating in an unauthorized mass rally — a violation of Article 23.34 of Belarus’s Administrative Offenses Code.Protesters rally against elections results they say were rigged, in Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus, Aug. 27, 2020.The detentions came after nearly three weeks of protests against the official results of the August 9 election — which gave President Alexander Lukashenko a landslide victory. Demonstrators and opposition leaders are contesting those results, charging that the vote was rigged in Lukashenko’s favor.
 
The demonstrations have been met with a brutal police crackdown, with widespread evidence of beatings and torture of detained protesters.
 
The leading opposition candidate, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, told the European Parliament this week that at least six people have been killed in the crackdown and dozens of protesters have gone missing after being detained by authorities.
 
But the roundup of journalists who are covering the crisis appears to signal a new strategy by Belarusian authorities.
 
Demonstrators on Aug. 27 first assembled in the capital’s Freedom Square to continue their calls for Lukashenko’s resignation and fresh elections. Vyasna says 17 journalists working for Belarusian and foreign media were detained there.
 
Another 18 journalists were detained after the demonstration moved to Independence Square, where police dispersed a crowd of about 1,000 and detained more than 260 people.
 
The Interior Ministry says detained journalists were put on a minibus and transported to a police station where officers checked whether they had valid accreditation to work legally in the country.
 
All but four were reportedly released the same evening.
 
Belarus has received international criticism for the way its Aug. 9 election was conducted, and for the harsh treatment of post-election demonstrators.
 
The official vote tally showed that Tsikhanouskaya finished a distant second to Lukashenko, but she says she is the rightful winner of the vote.
 
Belarusian prosecutors have jailed two leading members of Tsikhanouskaya’s recently formed Coordination Council.
 
Other leading opposition figures also have been summoned for questioning as part of what authorities in Minsk have called a “criminal investigation.”
 
The Coordination Council’s stated aim is to negotiate with Lukashenko’s government for new elections, the release of political prisoners, and a peaceful transition of power.
 With reporting by Current Time and RFE/RL’s Belarus Service.
 
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday she expects managing the COVOD-19 pandemic will become more difficult as the year progresses. Speaking to reporters in Berlin at her annual summer news conference, Merkel said dealing with the coronavirus has dominated her work as chancellor and will continue to do so in the months ahead. She said coping with the pandemic is easier in the summer when people can be outdoors.German Chancellor Angela Merkel holds her annual summer news conference in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 28, 2020.She anticipated it would be more difficult when people must be indoors.”I’m thinking of older people, those who need care and their relatives, families with children in cramped living conditions, students who have lost their part-time jobs, the unemployed — of whom there are now more and for whom it’s now harder,” Merkel said Friday, noting the plight of the unemployed and small-business owners must be addressed.The German leader also said there are many unknown aspects of the coronavirus, marking the coming months with uncertainty.”In such an unprecedented challenge we can only make decisions based on what we know today,” she said.Merkel called for continuing to build on what researchers already know, for example, taking measures such as increasing ventilation to keep fresh air circulating, as the cooler months approach.Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, wearing a face mask,walks after his press conference in Tokyo, Aug. 28, 2020.The chancellor also expressed regret about Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who announced his resignation Friday due to health concerns. She said she had not had a chance to speak with him personally but has always worked well with him. She said Germany-Japan relations have developed very well during his tenure.She wished him all the best from her heart and thanked him “for his good cooperation.”During the wide-ranging news conference, Merkel also commented on the unstable political situation in Belarus and the need for ongoing communication with Russia, as well as climate change action goals ahead of next year’s U.N.-sponsored climate conference in Glasgow. 
 
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The people in Latvia have been closely following the crisis in Belarus, their neighboring country to the southeast, and “are deeply concerned about the situation,” Maris Selga, Latvia’s ambassador to the United States, said in an Maris Selga has served as Latvia’s ambassador to the United States since September 2019. (Photo courtesy Latvia Embassy)Latvia, along with its Baltic Sea neighbors Estonia and Lithuania, regained its independence with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the memory of that time remains strong in families and in schools.“The time of the Baltic Way and the entire independence movement in Latvia laid the cornerstone for the country we have today,” Selga said. The Baltic Way refers to the peaceful united front put up by the people of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to successfully demand a restoration of their sovereignty.Recalling that critical time, Selga said, “Everyone came together for the same goal — a free and independent Latvia.”He added that the support of the international community — including support from the overseas Latvian community — was also critical to his nation’s regaining its freedom.“We are also grateful for the efforts of our Latvian diaspora abroad who advocated for Latvia’s independence all throughout the Soviet occupation and helped fuel the independence movement from abroad.”One action taken by the American government in 1940 stood out, Selga said. “The Sumner Welles Declaration of 1940, which condemned the forced annexation and occupation of the Baltics, was monumental.”The declaration, initially a one-page press statement issued by then-Acting Secretary of State Benjamin Sumner Welles, rejected the legitimacy of the Soviet Union’s annexation of the three Baltic states and laid a foundation of moral support for the Latvians and their neighbors.The nation’s appreciation was formalized in 2012 when the street that runs by the American embassy in Latvia’s capital city was named after Sumner Welles.“Watching the situation unfold in Belarus, Latvians can once again feel reassured and grateful to be living in a free and democratic country,” Selga said, adding that the unrest now unfolding in Belarus “highlights the importance of human rights, including the freedom of expression, and the rule of law.”Selga says his country’s leadership and members of its parliament, known as the Saeima, have joined their counterparts in other European countries to call for a peaceful resolution of the Belarus protests and to condemn violence against peaceful demonstrators. Many citizens have expressed support for the people of Belarus, including by organizing various peaceful protests.Latvia has also gathered and allocated resources to help the people of Belarus.Expanding support to civil society in Belarus “is vital,” the ambassador said. To that end, Latvia has put aside more than $175,000 for legal, medical, counseling and other practical assistance to “victims of human rights abuse that occurred after the August 9 election, as well as assisting with documenting the abuse.”Belarus “is and will remain an important neighbor” and Latvia will continue to maintain friendly neighborly relations with the people of Belarus, Selga said.“If not for the independence movement as a whole, not only would I not be an ambassador, there perhaps would be no Latvia and no Latvian ambassadors” anywhere, he reckoned.“We all serve our country, whether as ambassadors or through other vocations. Above all, I am grateful that I can serve an independent and free Latvia.”Selga was appointed Latvia’s ambassador to the United States in August 2019. He began his diplomatic career in 1994. Previously, Selga served in various diplomatic posts, including in Denmark and Egypt, most recently as Latvia’s top diplomat stationed in the People’s Republic of China. 
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Maris Selga has served as Latvia’s ambassador to the United States since September 2019.He began his diplomatic career in 1994. Prior to Washington, Selga served in various diplomatic posts, including in Denmark and Egypt, most recently as Latvia’s top diplomat stationed in the People’s Republic of China.He discussed the situation in Belarus in a recent written interview with VOA.VOA: How do Latvians feel about what’s happening in Belarus?Selga: Latvians are deeply concerned about the situation in Belarus. The government has called for a peaceful and lawful resolution of the current crisis while emphasizing that the use of force against peaceful protesters is unacceptable. The leadership of Latvia and members of Saeima (parliament) have joined their counterparts in other European countries to call for a peaceful resolution and condemn violence against peaceful demonstrators. Additionally, the government has agreed to strengthen Belarusian civil society by allocating 150,000 euros ($174,000) to it.The “Latvian Platform for Development Cooperation” along with the civil society organization “MARTA Center” in cooperation with NGOs working in Belarus, will provide legal, psychological [counseling], other medical and practical assistance to victims of human rights abuse that occurred after the August 9 election, as well as assist with documenting the abuse. Additionally, “MARTA Center” will provide qualification-enhancing training to Belarusian psychologists. Meanwhile the “Baltic Centre for Media Excellence” will implement projects that support independent media in Belarus.Latvian society has been following the crisis closely. Many have expressed support for the people of Belarus, including by organizing various peaceful protests.Belarus is and will remain an important neighbor and Latvia will continue to maintain friendly neighborly relations with the people of Belarus.VOA: Is Belarus facing an entirely different set of challenges than Latvia due to its geographic position?Selga: It is difficult to speculate about the role of our geographic position. Achieving independence was not easy and many Latvian’s sacrificed their lives for Latvia to be the free and democratic country it is today.Watching the situation unfold in Belarus, Latvians can once again feel reassured and grateful to live in a free and democratic country, where the elections are fair and free. This unfortunate crisis highlights the importance of human rights, including the freedom of expression, and the rule of law. It is a reminder to all Latvians about how fortunate we are to not have to face the challenges Belarusian society is currently dealing with.VOA: Why does Belarus matter?Selga: Like all people, the people of Belarus deserve to live in a democratic country, with fair elections, where human rights are respected. It is vital to support people striving for democracy and condemn the use of force and violence against peaceful demonstrators.A positive development of relations between the EU and Belarus is only possible through observing fundamental democratic rights and freedoms. Latvia, being a neighbor to Belarus, is interested in such a development.VOA: What would it take for Belarus to join the “western,” democratic camp – what will it take for the “Baltic Way” to work its miracles in Belarus?Selga: It’s important to note that the tools to achieve such a “miracle” are already available to Belarus. International norms and regulations serve as an important guide for such processes to take place. For example, Belarus is a member of the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe], and the OSCE’s principles, if implemented, provide support for democratization. Also, the OSCE provides election observation, which Belarus should utilize in the current situation.Right now, it is vital that the Belarusian Government and law enforcement authorities respect civil liberties of Belarusian people and their right to freely express their political opinion. The use of force against peaceful protesters is unacceptable.The elections of 9 August 2020 were neither free nor fair. To resolve the situation, new presidential elections should be held, organized by a new Belarusian election commission and in the presence of international observers.VOA: What prevented Belarus from joining the democratic camp at the time Latvia did?Selga: This is a difficult question that is better posed to Belarus. Of course, we wish that Belarus would have followed Latvia down the road to democracy. There are some historical and cultural differences between our countries that may have played a role. Latvia was a free and democratic country from its conception in 1918 and, unlike Belarus, had the fortune to remain free and independent for more than twenty years. Latvia also continued to exist de jure throughout the Soviet occupation. Once independence was restored, Latvia reinstated its constitution of 1922, which upheld the values of Western democracy and the rule of law. Further, throughout history in terms of culture and cooperation, Latvians have been more aligned with Europe than with Russia. Additionally, soon after independence was restored, Latvia strived to join the European Union and NATO, which further motivated society and government to fully implement the values of democracy and human rights.VOA: What are the potential scenarios out of the current situation? The best, the worst, the so-so? And what does each scenario/potential outcome mean for Latvia?Selga: I would like to focus on the best scenario and not speculate on other outcomes – right now, we wish to see a new presidential election in Belarus, organized by a new Belarusian election commission and in the presence of international observers.VOA: What is the Ambassador’s relationship with his counterparts from Belarus and Russia like, compared to ambassadors from other Baltic and European countries?Selga: As an ambassador, I try to keep an open dialogue with all of my colleagues. Of course, it is very easy to work with colleagues who share the same priorities and have many of the same positions. In the case of the European Union, we prioritize having unified positions whenever possible and we share the same fundamental values, most of which are also enshrined in our respective national legislation. With both my Belarusian and Russian colleagues, I aim to keep an open dialogue and am always open to meet and discuss matters. I make it clear when our views and values don’t align, but I am always open to having conversations, even if they are difficult.VOA: How influential are EU sanctions?Selga: The targeted individual sanctions are against Belarusian officials responsible for falsifying presidential elections in Belarus and exerting excessive force against peaceful protesters in the streets of Belarusian cities.It is important to hold these officials responsible and sanctions are a tool through which we can do so.It is too early to judge how influential they will be, but I am hopeful they will motivate these and other officials to uphold human rights and the principles of democracy.VOA: What more can the EU and the US do?Selga: It is important that we continue to follow [monitor] the crisis, pressure the authorities to uphold human rights, including through the use of targeted sanctions, and express support to the people of Belarus as they strive towards freedom and democracy. Further, it is vital to expand support to civil society in Belarus.VOA: Can the Ambassador share with us where he was at the time of the Baltic Way? How did events then influence the Ambassador’s life and career choices? Is the Baltic Way still much talked about in Latvia, say in textbooks/at schools, also by parents to their kids?Selga: The time of the Baltic Way and the entire independence movement in Latvia laid the cornerstone for the country we have today. My family, friends and I were involved, but so was the majority of Latvian society.The movement was fueled by Latvians from all regions of Latvia, everyone came together for the same goal – a free and independent Latvia. Latvians continue to remember this and learn about it from family and in school.We are also grateful to the efforts of our Latvian diaspora abroad who advocated for Latvia’s independence all throughout the Soviet occupation and helped fuel the independence movement from abroad.In the United States, the Sumner Welles declaration of 1940, which condemned the forced annexation and occupation of the Baltics, was especially monumental in acknowledging the Soviet Union’s forced incorporation of the Baltic States and their legitimate strive for independence.Undoubtedly, if not for the independence movement as a whole, not only would I not be an ambassador, there perhaps would be no Latvia and no Latvian ambassadors. We all serve our country, whether as ambassadors or through other vocations. Above all, I am grateful that I can serve an independent and free Latvia.
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Grainy surveillance video shows a person walking toward a car belonging to Ukrainian investigative news team Schemes moments before the vehicle ignites.Police on Wednesday arrested two suspects in connection with the August 17 fire in Brovary, a city near the capital, Kyiv, and continue to investigate, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov FILE – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy IS pictured during a news conference in Kyiv.President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on law enforcement to find the attackers quickly. He added that journalists, including his critics, should be protected.An Interior Ministry spokesperson told RFE/RL’s Radio Svoboda that police were looking for at least two other suspects in connection with the arson.In the alleged wiretap incident, police carried out a basic search but left without securing the scene, Natalie Sedletska, editor in chief of Schemes, said in a Facebook post.The post added that to prevent evidence from being damaged or tampered with, members of the news team kept vigil until police could return. Ukraine’s national police did not reply to VOA’s email requesting updates in the two investigations.Schemes showed video of the holes to independent experts who agreed they were evidence of an attempt to install a recording device. The experts differed on whether the device had been installed and later removed, or whether these marks were signs of preparation.In a statement, RFE/RL’s acting president, Daisy Sindelar, said she was distressed by the attacks.“We are relieved that no one was hurt but concerned that this incident appears aimed at intimidating RFE/RL’s reporters and contributing to a threatening environment for journalists across Ukraine,” Sindelar said, and she called for a speedy investigation.Other incidentsSchemes journalists have been targeted previously. They have been attacked, harassed and followed, and they have had personal information shared online.Local and international journalism rights groups said they thought the latest attack was an attempt to silence investigative outlets.Scott Griffen, deputy director of the International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of journalists, said investigative journalists are at risk of physical attack and intimidation through legal pressure.“The attacks and surveillance witnessed by Schemes are reflective of a wider environment in which journalists are not sufficiently protected,” he said.Describing the incidents as “blatant acts of intimidation” aimed at watchdog journalism, Griffen told VOA via email, “Unfortunately, all too often these kinds of attacks go unpunished in Ukraine, resulting in a lingering climate of impunity for attacks on the press.”The Ukrainian journalism coalition, Media for Conscious Choice, also condemned the attack in a statement, saying it was “unacceptable to monitor and interrogate journalists,” especially those reporting on high-level government corruption.Ukraine Media Leaders Sound Alarm on Oligarchical Control at Virtual VOA Town HallJournalists, media experts say Kyiv’s improved global media ratings don’t tell whole storyAttacks and pressure on journalists, particularly those investigating endemic corruption in Ukraine, is common, U.S. based research group Freedom House said. The nonprofit, which ranks Ukraine only “partly free” on its Freedom in the World Index, noted a failure by police to investigate and bring to justice those who attack or kill reporters.A fatal attack on an investigative journalist in the city of Cherkasy last year remains unsolved. Vadym Komarov, a reporter for a local publication, died from head injuries a few weeks after being found unconscious on a street. He was attacked the day after announcing on social media that he planned to publish an article on local graft, IPI reported.The press freedom group said impunity in these cases sends a signal to attackers that they will get away with their actions, which further endangers reporter safety.
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