European Union leaders took a break Monday morning on their fourth day of talks aimed at agreeing on a $2 trillion budget and funding to help member states cope with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The negotiations, which were originally meant to run only through Saturday, were due to resume Monday afternoon. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the leaders were making progress, and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said that while the negotiations have been tough, “we can be very satisfied with today’s result.”EU leaders summit in Brussels, July 19, 2020.The past few days have been defined by a divide that has pitted five wealthy northern European countries – Austria, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden – against southern nations that have been hit hardest by the coronavirus and which have the support of Germany and France. The northern countries have advocated instituting strict spending controls as part of any deal, while others such as Italy and Spain have sought to minimize such conditions. EU nations have experienced 135,000 deaths from COVID-19, with Italy, France and Spain having among the highest death tolls in the world. The lockdown orders instituted by many governments to stop the spread of the virus have hurt the EU economy, with economists forecasting an 8.3% contraction this year. 
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Canada’s Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the flight data recorders from a Ukrainian passenger plane downed by an Iranian missile are in Paris where they are expected to be taken to France’s Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authority for analysis Monday. Champagne said on Twitter that officials from Canada’s Transportation Safety Board will be present for the investigation. Most of the 176 people on board the plane were Canadian citizens or residents, or were traveling to Canada.People gather for a candlelight vigil to honor the victims of the Ukraine plane crash, at the gate of Amrikabir University, where some of the victims were former students, in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 11, 2020.Iran says its military accidentally shot down the Ukraine Airlines plane in January, shortly after it took off from Tehran’s airport, mistaking it for an incoming missile. The incident happened during a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the United States, just after Iran had launched missiles at several bases in Iraq in response to the U.S. killing of top Iranian general Qassim Soleimani. Canada, Ukraine and other nations whose nationals were on board the plane have demanded a thorough investigation, and the analysis of the so-called black box recorders recovered from the wreckage has been the subject of negotiation. The plane was manufactured by Boeing, a U.S. company, and due to U.S. sanctions on Iran the United States rejected sending Iran a piece of equipment needed to recover the data from the recorders. 
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The coronavirus outbreak in Florida grew more dire Sunday as nearly 50 hospitals throughout the state say they have no available beds in their intensive care units. The state is not only the COVID epicenter in the United States, it is one of the world’s hot spots, with more than 12,000 new cases reported Sunday – the fifth straight day that number exceeded 10,000. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is making mask wearing in public mandatory. Starting Monday, anyone without a face covering gets an immediate $50 fine. A third offense brings a $500 fine. Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber has issued an 8pm curfew for the famed South Beach area, home to countless bars and nightclubs.  “There has been some adherence to the mask rules, not nearly enough. At some points, it was resembling a bit of a party, an outdoor party. We can’t have anything resembling Bourbon Street (in New Orleans) right now in our community,” said Gelber.  In Europe, the focus is on recovery from the pandemic.   European Council President Charles Michel said Sunday that European leaders need to overcome their differences and agree on a budget and a continentwide COVID-19 recovery fund. The 27 European Union leaders appeared to be at an impasse Sunday night on a $2.1 trillion budget that includes $858 billion specifically earmarked to help businesses and others affected by the coronavirus pandemic. “Are the 27 EU leaders capable of building European unity and trust or, because of a deep rift, will we present ourselves as a weak Europe, undermined by distrust,” he implored, telling the leaders to think about the more than 600,000 COVID deaths worldwide.EU leaders meet on the sidelines of an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, July 19, 2020.Europe has more than 3 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus as of Sunday, according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), and more than 200,000 deaths. The coronavirus has pushed the EU into a deep recession, with economists predicting the bloc’s economy will shrink a staggering 8.3% this year. Reporters in Brussels say the dispute is between five wealthier northern EU nations, dubbed “the frugals,” who want stricter controls on spending than southern nations hit hardest by the pandemic, including Italy and Spain, are willing to accept. In the United States, where new COVID-19 case number records are set nearly every day, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti says he is “on the brink” of issuing another stay-at-home order in the country’s second biggest city. This would be the third time since March he made such a decision. Garcetti blames the White House for what he calls a lack of national leadership in battling the disease. “This was politicized when it should have been unified. We were left on our own when we should have had help,” he told CNN Sunday. “We know this will be a marathon. Stop telling people this will be over soon. … If we don’t come together as a nation with national leadership, we will see more people die.”  California Governor Gavin Newsome last week again closed bars and restaurants across the state because of the surge in new cases.  The U.S. reported 67,574 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of nearly 3.7 million confirmed cases, and nearly 140,000 deaths, according to data Sunday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  The president of Chile, the world’s largest producer of copper, has announced a five-part plan to reopen the country he calls “Step by Step.” “These five weeks of improvement allow us to start a new stage today,” President Sebastian Pinera said Sunday. “This plan, which will be step by step, cautiously, prudently, will be applied gradually and flexibly,” he said. Pinera announced plans to reopen Chile after some of the country’s regions have shown improvement in the rate of infections. According to the WHO, Chile had 2,300 new cases Sunday, more than 328,000 confirmed cases and nearly 8,500 deaths as of Sunday. Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama announced he has COVID-19 after his fourth test for the virus came back positive. He said he went for the test at the first sign of a throat irritation. He joins more than 36,000 of his countrymen who have tested positive, according to WHO data. Nearly 800 Nigerians have died of the disease, the WHO data says. Onyeama said he is going to be isolated in a health facility, but did not sound too worried, tweeting Sunday “That is life. Win some, lose some.”  One of life’s biggest winners revealed Sunday that he and his wife had COVID-19 when the pandemic started to take hold in April. Golf legend Jack Nicklaus told the TV audience watching the PGA Memorial tournament that he and his wife, Barbara, tested positive for the coronavirus but were “done with it” by the third week in April.  “It didn’t last very long, and we were very, very fortunate, very lucky,” Nicklaus said. “Barbara and I are both of the age, both of us 80 years old, that is an at-risk age. Our hearts go out to the people who did lose their lives and their families. We were just a couple of the lucky ones.” 
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Britain and China issued new salvos of criticism against each other Sunday, with the U.K. foreign secretary hinting that he may suspend the U.K.’s extradition arrangements with Hong Kong over China’s moves against the city-state.  
 
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab also accused Beijing of “gross and egregious” human rights abuses against its Uighur population in China’s western province of Xinjiang.
 
In response, the Chinese ambassador to Britain warned that China will deliver a “resolute response” to any move by Britain to sanction officials over the alleged rights abuses.  
 
The comments were the latest signs of sharply increased tensions between the U.K. and China. Issues include China’s treatment of its Uighur minority and a new, sweeping national security law that China imposed on Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous territory that Britain handed over to China in 1997.
 
Britain’s recent decision to prohibit Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from being involved in the U.K.’s superfast 5G mobile network has further frayed bilateral relations.  
 
Raab said Sunday that Britain’s government has reviewed its extradition arrangements with Hong Kong and that he plans to make a statement Monday in parliament on the topic.
 
Earlier this month, Australia suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong in response to China’s imposition of security legislation on the semi-autonomous territory. Critics see the new law as a further erosion of the rule of law and freedoms that Hong Kong was promised when it reverted to Chinese rule.
 
Raab added that while Britain wants good relations with China, it could not stand by amid reports of forced sterilization and mass education camps targeting the Uighur population in Xinjiang.
 
“It is clear that there are gross, egregious human rights abuses going on. We are working with our international partners on this. It is deeply, deeply troubling,” he told the BBC.  
 
Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese ambassador, denied there were concentration camps in Xinjiang during an interview with the BBC and insisted there are “no so-called restriction of the population.” When confronted with drone footage that appeared to show Uighurs being blindfolded and led onto trains, Liu claimed there are many “fake accusations” against China.
 
Beijing was ready to respond in kind should Britain impose sanctions on Chinese officials, Liu added.  
 
“If the U.K. goes that far to impose sanctions on any individuals in China, China will certainly make a resolute response to it,” he said. “You have seen what happened between China (and) the United States … I do not want to see this tit-for-tat between China-U.S. happen in China-U.K. relations.”
 
Liu also said Britain “should have its own independent foreign policy, rather than dance to the tune of the Americans like what happened to Huawei.”  
 
The criticism echoed comments this week by a Chinese government spokeswoman who accused Britain of colluding with Washington to hurt Huawei and “discriminate, suppress and exclude Chinese companies.” 
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Turkey has suspended flights to Iran and Afghanistan as part of measures against the coronavirus outbreak, the Transport Ministry said on Sunday.   Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that 25 million people may have been infected with the coronavirus in Iran, although health officials later sought to play down the estimate.   Turkish Airlines had gradually restarted international flights as of June 11. 
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Authorities in Catalonia on Sunday urged more than 96,000 people in three towns to stay at home, as coronavirus cases continued to rise in one of Spain’s worst-hit regions.This is in addition to some four million people in the region, including in its capital Barcelona, that were on Friday urged to stay at home as regional authorities toughened their response to the crisis.In a statement on Sunday, authorities urged people living in Figueres and Vilafant, in the province of Girona, and Sant Feliu de Llobregat, near Barcelona, to stay at home except for essential journeys.The latest figures from Catalonia’s regional health ministry on Saturday showed a daily increase of 1,226 cases.The stay-home call stops short of imposing a mandatory lockdown, but is the strongest measure taken to returning people to home confinement since Spain emerged from a nationwide lockdown last month.New measures include a ban on meetings of over 10 people. Bars and restaurants will be allowed to open, but at 50% capacity inside and with a 2-metre (6.5-foot) distance between tables outside.Spain, one of Europe’s hardest-hit countries with more than 28,000 COVID-19 deaths, emerged from a strict national lockdown on June 21. But since then more than 170 infection clusters have sprung up, prompting regional authorities to impose a patchwork of local restrictions. 
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For all its ancient glory, marvelous monuments and historic core, Athens is largely an ugly, 20th-century metropolis that grew rapidly and lawlessly in recent decades. Its population has tripled and the fleet of cars on its streets has surged to over 2 million, or about 20 times more than the tiny European capital’s roads can hold.But now, authorities are striking back, using the novel coronavirus pandemic to free up space and eliminate gas-guzzling cars, hoping to recreate Europe’s most ancient city while facilitating social distancing.Dubbed the Great Walk of Athens, the ambitious plan intends to reclaim almost half of the city’s main car lanes, turning them into about 7 kilometers of car-free pedestrian walkways and 3 kilometers of bicycle lanes, linking them to the capital’s main monuments, including the greatest landmark: the Acropolis.“For some 35 years there has been talk about the need to transform Athens,” said Mayor Kostas Bakoyiannis. “It took us a generation of efforts, but it is high time to actually do it.”“The project will not only enhance the city’s physical appeal, but most importantly, alter the lives of its residents,” he added.With Greece now open to international travelers, the project — among the largest urban initiatives in a European capital — is key to the country’s desperate drive to lure back tourists.Robust action and nationwide lockdowns taken by Greece at the start of the pandemic helped authorities quash the spread of the coronavirus, making this sun-soaked country a stunning success story in the way it handled the global health crisis.With just over 3,983 confirmed cases and 194 deaths, according to state statistics issued Sunday, the country’s casualty toll from COVID-19 is far lower than that of its European peers, positioning Greece as a safe choice for holiday travel.“From Berlin to Bogota, cities across the globe are dealing with a series of emergency measures to deal with the pandemic,” Bakoyannis said. “This is our answer, also, to the pressing need of helping safeguard public health.”By freeing up space, authorities anticipate the project will help avoid congestion in the Greek capital, allowing walkers to keep proper distance, containing the spread of the deadly virus.Under any other circumstance, most Athenians would be balking at the plan. But after rediscovering their city and the delight of taking morning, noon or afternoon strolls during the two-month-long lockdown, many seem receptive to the sustainable mobility project.Still, the $57 million price tag, including a spray of $5,700 steel benches, has come under fierce fire, with critics largely complaining about excessive costs and expenses that they anticipate will balloon as the project proceeds.What is more, critics accuse planners of proceeding with insufficient foresight, ultimately adding to, rather than alleviating, traffic congestion in Athens, home to half of the country’s population of 11 million.“No one objects to the need for more walkways and bicycle lanes,” said Nikos Sofianos, a leftist-leaning member of the Athens municipal council. “But this is clearly a hasty, slapdash decision planned and whipped up without a thorough study — all for the sake of serving the needs of Athens’ tourist image.”“The impacts are dire,” said Sofianos. “Businesses are suffering, unable to load their goods because of the traffic restrictions. Workers, too, are unable to get to their jobs.”Critics have also decried a lack of provisions for the handicapped after a cyclist rammed a blind man, injuring him seriously.While 30 percent more Athenians have gone afoot since the launch of the project last month, a study by the country’s top engineering school showed this week that the plan’s first-month trial run was having little immediate impact.Forecasts of a 30 percent increase in the use in public transport was met only by a 2 percent rise, while traffic congestion soared by as much 30 percent.“The first steps of every project are difficult,” said Giorgos Yiannis, a leading transportation expert. “Every change has a cost.”But, he said, planners anticipate congestion to ease up significantly by the end of the three-month trial period.Even so, municipal council members like Sofianos insist the mayor should pull the plug on the project entirely – a move Bakoyiannis has ruled out.The mayor has instead invited critics to help tweak the contentious plan, vowing to give Athens a long-overdue makeover by 2022. 
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Paris Plages (Paris Beaches) opened this year with an outdoor movie showing on the banks of the River Seine, as the city is coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.MK2 Cinemas partnered with the city of Paris to organize this year’s event.”It’s been years, we’re creating operations to take the cinema out of the cinema rooms as a promotion tool, and after the few months of confinement, we thought we needed a way to tell to the people and to tell to the world that cinemas are open in Paris, that Paris is one of the worldwide capital of cinema, and also to create a way for them to enjoy with their families a magnificent night, said Elisha Karmitz, CEO of MK2 Cinemas.On Saturday people watched the 2018 French comedy “Le grand bain” from boats or on deck chairs on the Seine’s banks. Some said they felt safer at an open-air screening.”I already went back to the cinema once, wearing a mask, but I have to admit there is still some apprehension to go back to cinema,” said Luc Bouvier, an attendee. “But here, since it is an open-air screening, there are less doubts, we feel safer.”Paris Plages is an annual event held in July and August during which roads along the River Seine are closed to turn the waterfront into beach front.The event was initiated in 2002 by the newly elected Socialist Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë, to help people cope with the hot summer in the city. 
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European Union leaders met face-to-face Friday in Brussels for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic emerged on the continent five months ago, but they didn’t see eye-to-eye, and most seasoned observers don’t think they will, even if the summit drags on until Sunday.
 
The need to maintain physical distance meant there could be no public back-slapping, no shaking of hands, no friendly hugs as the leaders wrangled — and face masks were de rigueur at the largest gathering of heads of government and state since the start of the global pandemic.
 EU Leaders Resume ‘Grumpy’ Summit on Budget, Virus FundTensions are running high, and a full day and night of discussions by the 27 leaders on Friday only added to the irritations over how the huge sums should be spent and what strings should be attachedThe absence of the normal bonhomie at EU summits further underscored the cracks in a 27-member alliance that still has not managed to bridge deep rifts triggered by the 2008 financial crash, the subsequent migration crisis, and ongoing disputes over rule-of-law standards that have seen Brussels clash repeatedly over the judicial reforms being pursued by populist governments in Poland and Hungary.Now the pandemic has widened some of those rifts and has given rise to new ones, as member states squabble over how best to recover from a virus that’s roiled the continent, left tens of thousands of dead, wrecked economies and left millions fearing for their livelihoods. The EU economy is projected to contract by 8.3 percent this year.
 European Union leaders during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, July 17, 2020. 
On Friday agreement remained elusive on a proposed €1 trillion ($1.1 million) seven-year budget for the EU and on an ambitious €750 billion ($826.5 billion) economic rescue plan for the hardest-hit countries. The recovery package is aimed at managing the biggest economic shock the bloc has ever had to confront in its history. In the run-up to the summit, negotiations over the plan, which were conducted for weeks via bilateral and group video conferences, became increasingly fraught.
 
Earlier this week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her doubts about a deal being struck at the summit, predicting negotiations would have to continue for weeks after the summiteers had packed their bags and headed back to their capitals.
 
And as Saturday dragged on, her gloomy forecast seemed likely as negotiations faltered, undermined the complex crisscrossing of rival regional and national economic and political priorities. That is complicating the European Commission’s bid, backed by Germany and France, to secure a mandate to borrow billions of euros on capital markets for the first time and to mutualize the debt. This is so all member states share responsibility to pay back the money funded mainly by future EU taxes, in addition to the customs duties and a small share of national sales taxes Brussels already receives.At its heart, the division this time pits a group of four small north European countries, nicknamed the frugal four, against the powerhouses of Germany and France, whose leaders, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, along with the hard-hit countries of southern Europe, are pushing for a recovery plan that would see states, mainly the southerners but also France, bailed out with grants drawn from the proposed $750 billion recovery fund.  
 Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, left, speaks with Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, right, and Malta’s Prime Minister Robert Abela, second right, during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, July 18, 2020.For weeks The Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden have argued that the fund is too large and the hard-hit countries should only receive repayable loans rather than grants. The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, also wants a veto on how the money is spent by the recipients, and all four states blocking a deal want structural reform conditions placed on the cash received and for its expenditure to be heavily monitored and policed by the finance ministers of the bloc.
“I’m doing this for the whole of Europe, because it is also in the interest of Spain and Italy that they emerge from this crisis with strength,” Rutte told reporters Saturday. European Council President Charles Michel, who is chairing the summit, circulated amended proposals overnight Friday trying to squeeze out a compromise, especially over the conditions the frugal four want attached to any financial assistance. A Dutch diplomat told Reuters: “The proposal on governance as put forward by Michel is a serious step in the right direction.” But he cautioned, “in the end, this is a package and there are many more issues to solve.” His boss, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte  repeatedly has told reporters that he believes there is a less than 50 percent chance of reaching an agreement on the recovery fund by Sunday.
 
For France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece, the likely main recipients, the frugal four’s demands amount to an incursion into their own national sovereign rights. Their diplomats warn that the summit is emphasizing the lack of European solidarity. “It is getting harder to believe the EU will ever live up to the motto of the Three Musketeers — all for one and one for all,” an Italian diplomat, and a member his country’s negotiating team at Brussels, told VOA.
 
Hungary, backed by its populist nationalist ally Poland, has been threatening to veto the whole recovery package because of a proposed condition that would see countries perceived as flouting democratic principles blocked from any bail-out cash. Poland and Hungary are in the doghouse in Brussels because of judicial reforms they are enacting that the EC and some other member states view as eroding the independence of judges.  
 
Hungary and Poland and some other central European states also fear that they will be short-changed and that Italy, France and Spain, the three European countries hardest hit by the virus, will receive the lion’s share of the grant money. They note all three have bigger economies than they do.
 
Some analysts — as well as some national leaders — insist a deal is essential for the bloc’s long-term survival. A view seemingly shared by Michel, who told the national leaders Friday the substance of the debate wasn’t just about money but of the future and unity of Europe.
 
Ill-natured squabbling leading up to the summit has prompted warnings from Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte that the EU project itself could be placed in jeopardy unless the richer northern states are generous in helping those in the south. His country is seeing a marked change in public attitudes toward the EU with many Italians expressing anger at the lack of support they received from their neighbors as the pandemic took its toll of Italians in the north of the country.
 From left, Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin, Belgium’s Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, July 17, 2020.Far from bringing Europe together in solidarity, the pandemic and its economic impact risk deepening fissures in a bloc already split over foreign, defense and migration policies and states’ rights. Economic inequality between member states also is likely to increase — whether the recovery package is agreed upon or not.
 
Richer states have been doling out huge amounts of state aid and subsidies to support their pandemic-struck businesses, giving them an even greater competitive edge over rivals in poorer countries, who can’t match the subsidies. That will aggravate, analysts say, the endemic imbalance within the eurozone between creditor countries in the north and debtor countries in the south.  
 
Additionally, an uneven economic recovery across the bloc risks fueling populist anger and anti-EU sentiment in the countries that lose out. The recovery package may help to blunt that, but an overly generous bail-out risks triggering a backlash in northern states, with taxpayers in the frugal four countries and Germany questioning why their money is heading south.
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European Union leaders hunted for compromises Saturday on the second day of a summit to reach a deal on an unprecedented 1.85 trillion euro ($2.1 trillion) EU budget and coronavirus recovery fund, with tensions running high among leaders weary after months of battling the pandemic in their countries.A full day and night of discussions by the 27 leaders on Friday only added to the irritations over how the huge sums should be spent and what strings should be attached.The atmosphere “was grumpier” as the talks went on, Dutch Prime Minister Rutte said after Friday’s marathon talks. “This is going to take a while, I think.”EU Leaders to Meet Face-to-Face at Summit to Carve Up $2.1 TrillionMeeting will be first direct encounter for 27 heads of state or government since February despite dangers of coronavirus pandemicThe EU executive has proposed a 750-billion euro fund, partly based on common borrowing, to be sent as loans and grants to the most needy countries. That comes on top of the seven-year 1-trillion-euro EU budget that leaders were fighting over when COVID-19 slammed their continent.The summit broke up around lunchtime Saturday so that each delegation could discuss the new proposals from host Charles Michel, according to a European diplomat.The new proposals reduce the proportion of straight-out grants in the rescue package and raise the proportion of loans that will need to be paid back, in an apparent nod to a grouping of “frugal” nations led by the Netherlands, the diplomat said.But the issue of how to track the rescue money remains the key sticking point, the diplomat said. Michel proposed a measure that would stop short of allowing any country a veto on how governments spend the money.Another diplomat described Michel’s new proposals as just the first step in what could be a long journey to agreement. Both diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the closed-door negotiations.Rutte is seen as a leader of four “frugal” nations that want conditions such as economic reforms attached to EU handouts to help countries recover from the hammer blow of the coronavirus.He met Saturday ahead of the summit for crisis talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Giuseppe Conte as well as the leader of the EU’s executive, Ursula von der Leyen, and Michel.One of Rutte’s allies, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, said the talks were not totally stalled. “There is more and more movement in our direction,” he told ORF television.The pandemic sent the EU into a tailspin with 27-nation bloc’s economy contracting by 8.3% this year, according to the latest predictions. Around 135,000 of its citizens have died from COVID-19.As leaders met in person for the first time since February, they wore face masks, bumped elbows and sat in a cavernous meeting hall so they could maintain social distancing. Many of their negotiating positions were further apart than their chairs.After two fruitless sessions Friday, summit host and European Council President Charles Michel met key players – Rutte, French President Emmanuel Macron and Hungary’s Viktor Orban – in an attempt to narrow the gaps between them. Orban does not want strings attached to EU funds, Rutte does and Macron is arguing that Europe must show solidarity to claw its way out of the crisis.Michel is expected to present leaders with possible compromises when the summit resumes, though it remains to be seen if they can reach agreement or will have to schedule another meeting.Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis was pessimistic after the first day.  “I don’t have the impression that we are getting close to an agreement,” he said.Rutte, however, said that despite the mounting acrimony, the talks were creeping forward.”You make a bit of progress during the day,” he said. “For a start, it helps if you better understand each other’s positions, then you can search for possible compromises.”
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Protesters are marching in a Paris suburb Saturday to mark the fourth anniversary of the death of a Black man in police custody, whose case has mobilized broad anger against police brutality and racial injustice.The demonstration in Beaumont-sur-Oise is honoring Adama Traoré, who died on his 24th birthday in July 2016 after an arrest in circumstances that remain unclear. But it’s also about broader anti-government grievances, and climate activists are co-organizing this year’s protest.Since George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police in May, campaigning by Traore’s family and other French activists against police violence targeting minorities has gained renewed attention and mobilized thousands in protests around France.On July 19, 2016, gendarmes approached Traore and his brother for an identity check in Beaumont-sur-Oise north of Paris. Traore ran away because he didn’t have his ID, but the gendarmes arrested him. Within hours he was declared dead.One gendarme initially said three officers jumped on Traoré to pin him down, but the gendarme later denied that. A dozen court-ordered medical reports found various cardiac diseases were responsible. The Traoré family countered those with an independent autopsy and medical reports pointing to asphyxiation.  The case is still under investigation, and lawyers for the officers deny police were at fault. No one has been charged.Traoré’s case has also shed light on the struggle of other French families who have lost a loved one in police custody, notably Black and North African men, who French researchers have found are disproportionately targeted by police. According to a nationwide tally by news website Basta Mag, at least 101 police-related deaths are under investigation in France.Traore’s sister Assa has led the family’s efforts for justice, and has been touring struggling French suburbs where most of the population is immigrant or non-white, and organized activists across racial, geographical and economic lines to try to get France to rethink its policing.”There’s a movement today. We call it the Adama generation, these people who are not afraid anymore, and these youth who will not shut up,” Assa Traoré, whose family is of Malian origin, told The Associated Press this week.She called for banning dangerous techniques that police use to immobilize people and wants France to scrap police oversight agencies, which are currently composed of police themselves, in favor of independent bodies. 
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Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the Russian city of Khabarovsk Saturday to protest the arrest of the region’s governor on charges related to multiple murders in 2004 and 2005.Local media reported that 15,000 to 50,000 people joined the rally in the Far East city, 6100 kilometers from Moscow.The protests of the arrest of Sergei Furgal have taken place every day this week in the city of 590,000 residents.Many of the demonstrators believe the charges are politically motivated. They have questioned why investigators waited so long to accuse a public official.Furgal, the popular Khabarovsk region governor and a member of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, has denied the charges. He was arrested two weeks ago and flown to Moscow where he was ordered jailed for two months.Russia’s Investigative Committee said he was suspected of involvement in several murders of businessmen, before his political career began.Furgal was elected governor in 2018. His unexpected victory was seen as a challenge to President Vladimir Putin’s policies and the main Kremlin party, United Russia.   
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Turkey’s decision to revert the historic landmark, Hagia Sophia, to a mosque has sparked global outrage. But perhaps more than anywhere else, it has touched a nerve in Greece. The government in Athens is trying to mobilize international support for sanctions to be imposed against Turkey.The Greek government has billed the move to turn Hagia Sophia a mosque again a provocation and a grave historic mistake. Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said leading diplomats are scrambling to block Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s decision and that the coming week will be pivotal in that pursuit.Dendias said it’s becoming increasingly clear that Erdogan is bent on reviving the Ottoman era, asserting himself and Turkey as the kingmaker of the region, and defying both international law and codes of conduct.He said Greek diplomats would be teaming up in a round of crisis talks in the next few days, to chart out a course of action on the recasting of Hagia Sophia.An architectural masterpiece, the massive 1,500-year-old structure was the seat of Eastern Christianity for a thousand years before Ottoman Turks conquered its host city, then known as Constantinople.The conquest marks one of the darkest moments of Greek history, leading to the persecution of thousands of Christian Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks. Hagia Sophia was converted to a mosque and many of its stunning religious mosaics were removed or painted over.Helene Ahrweiler, a Greek and world authority on Byzantine history said history is repeating itself.Erdogan’s decision, she said, marks a second fall of the Byzantine empire. Ahrweiler said the move is such an affront to Christianity that she would not be shocked to learn that the marvelous mosaics left on the temple’s walls have started shedding tears over it.From Pope Francis in the Vatican to Patriarch Kirill in Russia, to the White House, to the Kremlin, the move has sparked a huge outcry.But Greece is going a step further, trying to rally international support for sanctions against Erdogan and his government.Constantinos Filis, an expert in international relations, said it’s unlikely Athens will find the backing it wants from its U.S. and EU allies.He said it’s a Turkish domestic decision. And while Greeks may feel offended by it, he said, Athens cannot take any form of unilateral action — it needs a bloc of allies by its side.Fillis said it’s questionable whether the European Union or U.S. President Donald Trump would be willing to go to bat for Greece on this issue and risk a rift with Turkey’s leader.In recent days, though, leading European leaders have started to consider Greece’s call for sanctions, as Erdogan announced plans to proceed with controversial energy drilling in the eastern Mediterranean.Turkey said it may start the drilling in the next few days, just before it opens Hagia Sophia for public prayers.Greek government sources told VOA that Germany is trying to defuse the growing tensions by trying to bring Greek and Turkish representatives to the negotiating table.But the stakes remain high, and Greece isn’t taking any chances. Foreign Minister Dendias said the Greek military is already on high alert, fearing even a spark of conflict from Turkey.Greece is ready to defend its rights and sovereignty to the full, he said, adding that it’s not a matter for negotiation.  
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The British government’s decision to ban Chinese tech giant Huawei from its 5G telecom network beginning in 2027 is only the “opening salvo” of what is to come, according to a leading expert on U.S.-British relations. Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, thinks there is a “higher than 50% chance” that Huawei’s exit date will come two or even three years ahead of the announced date. The same hardline lawmakers in the governing Conservative Party who pushed for the rejection of Huawei consider seven years to be too long a period to completely disengage from the company, Gardiner said in a telephone interview, adding that these lawmakers may be able to push through legislation that would shorten the timeline. He pointed to statements made Tuesday by member of parliament Iain Duncan Smith immediately after the decision to cut Huawei out of the nation’s 5G plans was announced. FILE – Former leader of Britain’s ruling Conservative Party Iain Duncan Smith arrives for a meeting in London, February 4, 2019.“The head of [British Telecom] said ‘seven years, yes, but we can do it in five.’ So now let’s bring it forward to five and make sure it happens quickly; there’s no reason why they can’t,” Duncan Smith said in the House of Commons.  The former cabinet minister also urged the government to remove Huawei equipment from existing 3G and 4G infrastructure to prevent a scenario where the company’s software keeps getting upgraded, posing a continuing threat. “If they’re a risk in 5G, why are they not a risk to us generally?” he asked. Duncan Smith continued his urging with an op-ed the next day, in which he wrote, “Removing Huawei makes sense. Waiting seven years to do it does not.” Much of the concern about Huawei has centered on fears that its technology could be used by China to spy on countries that install it. In his op-ed, Duncan Smith wrote that “the bigger problem is the aggressive behavior of China and its crackdown on dissidents in China and elsewhere. We have become far too dependent on this powerful communist state and the free world needs to come together to resolve this issue.” He added: “End [Huawei’s] involvement earlier, in 2025 at the latest.” Gardiner, who predicted that Britain’s action would influence decision-making in other European capitals, believes the vision put forth by Duncan Smith could very well be realized. The cabinet is expected to introduce legislation, known as the Telecom Security Bill, to legalize the terms guiding the nation’s 5G network. Duncan Smith and “about 60” like-minded lawmakers in the Conservative Party, along with supporters in the opposition Labor Party, could attach amendments to the bill to advance the deadline for British companies to divest from Huawei, he said. Gardiner added that the legislators could set a date as early as 2024, when the next general election is due. Roger Garside, a former British diplomat whose postings included Beijing, told VOA from his home in London that he was “profoundly relieved that the British government is coming to its senses over Huawei.” “There has been a fundamental failure under successive British governments to appreciate the threat posed to our fundamental interests by the [People’s Republic of China]. Now we appear to wakening from that dream state.” Beijing, for its part, says it is “seriously evaluating the situation” before responding to the British decision. Huawei’s executives have denied they are obligated to share information with the Chinese government. Gardiner said British leaders were fully aware of the risk of retaliation when they made their decision, which he sees as a severe blow to both Huawei and its Communist Party backers, especially given “the vast inroads” the company had made in “the upper echelon” of British society and “vast amount of resources” Beijing poured into lobbying for Huawei to remain in Britain. He credits the sea change in British public opinion to a “perfect storm” created by China’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and its response to pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Had Margaret Thatcher, his former boss, “still been with us today, I’m in no doubt she would be standing up to Beijing, standing up for the rights of the people in Hong Kong,” he said. 
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EU leaders failed Friday to make headway in negotiations over a massive stimulus plan to breathe life into economies ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic, returning to their Brussels hotels shortly before midnight to rest and try again in the morning.Many of the 27 heads declared on arrival for their first face-to-face summit for five months that a deal was crucial to rescue economies in free fall and shore up faith in the European Union, which has lurched for years from crisis to crisis.But officials said a thrifty camp of wealthy northern states led by the Netherlands stood its ground on access to the recovery fund, in the face of opposition from Germany, France, southern nations Italy and Spain, and eastern European states.The proposed sums under discussion include the EU’s 2021-27 budget of more than 1 trillion euros and the recovery fund worth 750 billion euros that will be funneled mostly to Mediterranean coast countries worst affected by the pandemic.Diplomats said the 27 remained at odds over the overall size of the package, the split between grants and repayable loans in the recovery fund and rule-of-law strings attached to it.But the main stumbling block was over vetting procedures to access aid, an EU official said, with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte demanding that one country could block payouts from the fund if member states backslide on economic reform.”If they want loans and even grants then I think it’s only logical that I can explain to people in the Netherlands … that in return those reforms have taken place,” Rutte said, estimating the chances for a deal at 50-50.Polish premier Mateusz Morawiecki was even more gloomy.As the leaders broke up for the day, he tweeted that they were divided by a bundle of issues and said it was “highly probable” that they would fail to reach a deal on Saturday or even on Sunday if the summit drags past its scheduled two days.German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who celebrated her 66th birthday around the negotiating table in Brussels, was also cautious on chances for an agreement, envisaging “very, very difficult negotiations.”After initial elbow bumps between the leaders – all wearing face masks – and birthday gifts for Merkel and Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, tense meetings followed in the evening with Rutte and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.The world is watchingOrban, who critics accuse of stifling the media, academics and NGOs, threatened to veto the entire plan over a mechanism that would freeze out countries that fail to live up to democratic standards.With EU economies deep in recession and immediate relief measures such as short-time work schemes running out, the specter of an autumn of hardship and discontent is looming.The EU is already grappling with the protracted saga of Britain’s exit from the bloc and is bruised by past crises, from the financial meltdown of 2008 to feuds over migration.Another economic shock could expose it to more eurosceptic, nationalist and protectionist forces, and weaken its standing against China, the United States or Russia.”The stakes couldn’t be higher,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “The whole world is watching us.”Despite wrangling over medicines, medical gear, border closures and money, the EU has managed to agree a half-a-trillion-euro scheme to cushion the first hit of the crisis.Mediterranean countries now want the recovery financing to prevent their economies taking on ever-greater burdens of debt.”The big picture is that we are faced with the biggest economic depression since World War Two,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said. “We need … an ambitious solution because our citizens expect nothing less from us.” 
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Actor and activist Angelina Jolie urged the U.N. Security Council on Friday to fulfill its promise to hold to account perpetrators of sexual violence against children in conflict settings.“I have met child survivors of sexual violence – and domestic violence and trauma and abuse – everywhere,” Jolie said of her 20 years working with the U.N. refugee agency. “There is no continent untouched by these crimes.”She addressed a council session reflecting on the issue, one year after adoption of Resolution 2467, which strengthened prevention through justice and accountability mechanisms, empowered the council to impose sanctions on perpetrators, and opened the way for victims to seek reparations.Jolie gave the example of Yazidi children she had met in northern Iraq. Thousands of their mothers and female relatives have been abducted, enslaved and abused since 2014 by fighters with the Islamic State group. Many are still in captivity.“Many of the children witnessed the murder of their relatives, and the rape of their mothers,” she told the council in a virtual meeting. “One doctor who has provided medical care for hundreds of Yazidi women and girls said that almost every girl she had treated between the ages of 9 and 17 had been raped or subjected to other sexual violence. In some cases, victims were girls under the age of 9.”Specialized care neededShe said the children experience post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression, flashbacks and nightmares, yet these “invisible victims” are particularly overlooked when it comes to support services.“What few services there are have been largely focused on women survivors – who have immense trauma and unmet needs of their own,” Jolie said. “The reality is that no one is getting the care they need. But there is a specific lack of dedicated care for children.”Jolie said she has seen these problems in every conflict setting she has visited and urged the international community to step up its funding to address the needs of all survivors.Khin Ohmar, a peace activist from Myanmar, spoke on behalf of the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security. She said in her country, the military has long used rape as a weapon against ethnic communities.“The horrific accounts of Rohingya women during the 2016 and 2017 so-called ‘clearance operations’ remain urgent, shocking and unique in their ferocity,” she said. “They are also representative of the military’s pattern of using gender-based violence in their campaigns against other ethnic communities, including the Kachin, Shan, Ta’ang and Rakhine.”She said grave international crimes continue to be committed in Myanmar, and she urged the council to refer the file to the International Criminal Court, as domestic accountability is not possible.Sexual violence a tactic of warThe U.N. secretary-general’s envoy on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, said sexual violence is a tactic of war and a tool of political repression, used to dehumanize, destabilize and forcibly displace populations. It includes rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced abortion, enforced sterilization and forced marriage.“This is a crime that shreds the very fabric that binds communities together, leaving social cohesion and safety nets threadbare,” Patten told the council.She said the U.N. documented nearly 3,000 cases last year of conflict-related sexual violence but noted it is a crime that is underreported because of fear of reprisals and stigmatization. Nearly 90% of attacks targeted women and girls; 848 were on children. Hundreds of cases also targeted men, boys and LGBTQI persons.She noted that many victims are still seeking justice and support years later.“In post-conflict contexts, such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, survivors of sexual violence are still fighting to realize their rights and status as legitimate victims of war, in order to access reparations and redress,” Patten said.She urged the council to enforce its resolution and show perpetrators that there are consequences for violating it.
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British World War II veteran Captain Tom Moore, who became a national hero and international celebrity in April when he raised $41 million for Britain’s National Health service, received a knighthood Friday during a ceremony at Windsor Castle. While the ceremony was held in private, pictures released from the event show a broadly smiling Queen Elizabeth using a sword that belonged to her father to bestow the honor on Moore on the grounds outside the castle.Captain Sir Thomas Moore poses for the media after receiving his knighthood from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, during a ceremony at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, July 17, 2020.While the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the postponement of other official ceremonies schedule for June and July, a special exception was made for Moore. The COVID-19 disease is caused by the coronavirus. Moore received the honor after he started an online pledge drive to raise money for the National Health Service charities during the peak of the country’s COVID outbreak. He sought to complete 100 lengths of his garden, using his walker, before his 100th birthday in April. The pledges exceeded his expectations. His efforts touched people in Britain and beyond as it provided a heart-warming distraction from the adversity of the pandemic, prompting Prime Minister Boris Johnson to nominate Moore for the award. Moore, who has been made an honorary colonel and an honorary member of the England cricket team, said Friday he was “overwhelmed” by honor.  
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In Brussels, European Union leaders are holding their first face-to-face summit in months on two key issues that will shape the bloc in the years ahead— a massive coronavirus economic recovery plan and its next multi-year budget. But differences, especially over the fund, remain sharp. Many are downplaying chances of striking a deal this time around.Face masks firmly on, the 27 European heads of state started early on talks scheduled to end Saturday. But in a sign of the difficult negotiations ahead — and in hopes of a deal this weekend — Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said he had brought extra clothing should the meetings be extended by another day.German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country currently holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, acknowledged differences remained very wide. Merkel says she is not certain an agreement will be reached at this summit.Germany and France, the EU’s most powerful members, have teamed up to support a proposed $857 billion fund of grants and loans to reboot coronavirus-hit economies–especially those of southern European countries like Italy and Spain.But four northern countries are reluctant to offer non-repayable grants—and want strict governance criteria. Here’s Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands—considered to toe the hardest line among the so-called “Frugal Four,” meaning his country, along with Austria, Sweden and Denmark.European Union leaders during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, July 17, 2020.“If the South is needing help from other countries to cope with the crisis — I understand that because there is limited scope to deal with that financially themselves — then I think it is only reasonable for us to ask for a clear commitment to reforms. And if then, loans have to be converted to a certain extent to grants, then reforms are even more crucial — and the absolutely guarantee that they have taken place.”Italy’s economy minister, Giovanni Tria, told an Italian newspaper his country would fight any changes to the current recovery fund proposal. Still, many leaders and experts have voiced optimism a compromise will be reached — possibly later this month.Also up for discussion is the EU’s next seven-year budget.French President Emmanuel Macron called for more solidarity and ambition among leaders to tackle the post-coronavirus recovery. He said the coming hours would be decisive — adding he was optimistic, but prudent of a positive outcome.For Germany’s Merkel, currently the bloc’s longest-serving leader and staunchly pro-EU one, a successful outcome may be particularly important. Merkel steps down next year, and analysts say she has an eye on her legacy. She also turned 66 on Friday, and Luxembourg’s Bettel said a deal on the recovery fund would be a great birthday present. 
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Assa Traoré has been fighting for justice ever since her brother Adama died in the custody of French police on his 24th birthday four years ago. And she’s determined to keep fighting until “the end,” she says: until someone is convicted for his death.
But recently, her goal has grown larger. She’s now at the forefront of a new movement for Black rights, to wipe out systemic racism in policing and to challenge France’s official vision of itself as a colorblind society.
“We became soldiers in spite of ourselves,” Assa Traoré, whose family is of Malian origin, told The Associated Press this week. “There’s a movement today. We call it the Adama generation, these people who are not afraid anymore, and these youth who will not shut up.”
The 35-year-old, who gave up her job as a special education teacher in a small Paris suburb to lead a movement demanding justice for her brother, has renewed purpose since George Floyd died after being restrained by Minneapolis police.
“George Floyd is our brother here in France, too,” Traoré said in an interview ahead of a demonstration Saturday marking the anniversary of Adama’s death — her speech determined, her energy palpable. “When you see George Floyd’s death, you imagine the death of my brother Adama Traoré.”
It is not the first time that France has reckoned with its colonial history and relationship with its Black and North African citizens. Deaths involving police often lead to protests, most memorably in the form of nationwide unrest in 2005 sparked by the deaths of two boys who were electrocuted while hiding in an electric substation after fleeing police.
But now France is seeing a growing pushback against police violence, and against racism that many activists say is exacerbated by the country’s official doctrine of colorblindness, which encourages immigrants to integrate and bans the government from collecting census data on race.
While four officers involved in Floyd’s arrest have been charged — including one with murder who is behind bars — no one has been charged in Adama Traoré’s death. It wasn’t filmed, and the cause of death is still the subject of fierce debate.  
On July 19, 2016, police approached Adama and his brother for an identity check in the town of Beaumont-sur-Oise north of Paris, where the large family grew up. Adama fled on a bike because he didn’t have his ID. Gendarmes caught up with him and arrested him. Within hours he was declared dead.  
One gendarme initially said three officers jumped on Traoré to pin him down, according to early police reports. The gendarme later denied any of them pinned him down.  
The exact cause of death is not even clear. A dozen court-ordered medical reports found various cardiac diseases were responsible. The Traoré family countered those with an independent autopsy and medical reports pointing to asphyxiation instead. The case is still under investigation, and lawyers for the officers deny police were at fault.
In her quest for justice for her brother, Assa Traoré has met with families of those who died at the hands of police, toured struggling French suburbs where most of the population is immigrant or non-white, and organized activists across racial, geographical and economic lines.
In June, as France was reopening from virus lockdown and videos of Floyd’s killing circulated around the world, she rallied tens of thousands of protesters to call attention to French racial minorities’ own problems with police.
“We have to change everything, this systemic racism, we need to break it,” Traoré said. She called for banning dangerous techniques that police use to immobilize people that “overwhelmingly kill Black, Arabs and non-whites.”
She also thinks France needs to scrap the police oversight agencies, which are currently composed of police themselves, in favor of independent bodies.
In 2016, France’s top official for defending citizens’ rights reported that Black and Arab French people were 20 times more likely to be stopped by police than others were. In 2020, Jacques Toubon published a study detailing systemic racism in the Paris police. The government has pledged to root out racism in police forces but blames the problem on a few bad apples.  
Traoré has built bridges with other social movements — like the yellow vest one against economic injustice and the climate crisis movement.
“It’s been four years of going to every poor neighborhood in France,” Traoré said. “We’ve been in the most remote places in France, in small villages, it’s been four years of alliances with domestic workers, undocumented people, yellow vests, climate groups.”
This Saturday’s march was organized with climate activists under the slogan: “We want to breathe.”
“Today the fight for Adama Traoré does not belong to the Traoré family anymore,” Traoré said. “It’s representative of a big unease and dysfunction of the French state, so it’s a struggle we take on together.”
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The leaders of the European Union hold their first face-to-face summit in five months on Friday, but the reunion seems unlikely to bridge their divide over a post-virus economic rescue plan.Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel turns 66 on the day that she and her 26 colleagues return to Brussels, not to celebrate but to test whether in-person negotiations can answer a 750-billion-euro question.The EU has been plunged into a historic economic crunch by the coronavirus crisis, and EU officials have drawn up plans for a huge stimulus package to lead their countries out of lockdown.But a determined band of northern capitals, led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s Netherlands, are holding out against doling out cash to their southern neighbors without strict conditions attached.Friday’s talks are expected to run into Saturday and perhaps even Sunday, but few here are confident of a breakthrough, despite the tight timetable, so another summit may well follow later this month.’A deal is essential’Summit host Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, has tried to create a sense of momentum after previous coronavirus-era videoconferences served only to underline the leaders’ differences.”Finding agreement will require hard work and political will on the part of all. Now is the time. A deal is essential,” he wrote in his letter inviting the leaders back to Brussels.”We will need to find workable solutions and come to an agreement, for the greater benefit of our citizens.”But optimism was in short supply as the leaders gathered in the Belgian capital, some arriving early on the eve of the summit to hold private discussions ahead of the main event.European diplomats said the Netherlands would continue to insist that member states retain the right to veto any joint borrowing by the European Union to finance loans to members.And they want any loans or grants to come with strict conditions attached to ensure that heavily indebted countries like Spain and Italy carry out reforms, under European Commission oversight.This is furiously opposed by the south. Both Michel and Merkel, whose country has just taken on the rolling six-month presidency of the EU, will struggle to broker any compromise.”We’re open to reaching an arrangement this weekend, but if there won’t be an agreement, we are open to more negotiations later on,” Dutch foreign minister Stef Blok said on Wednesday.Loans or grants?The Netherlands has emerged as the most likely hold out, but Rutte’s position is backed to varying degrees by fellow members of the so-called “Frugal Four” — Sweden, Denmark and Austria.Michel’s draft plan foresees a 750-billion-euro recovery package, made up of 250 billion in loans and 500 billion in grants and subsidies that would not have to be repaid by the recipient member states.The Frugals oppose grants and want any loans to come with conditions attached.This package is in addition to the planned 1,074 billion-euro seven-year EU budget from 2021 to 2027 that the leaders must also agree in the coming weeks or months.”An agreement is not at all guaranteed. On the contrary, there remain large differences to get over,” a senior European official admitted.Aside from the governance of the recovery package, the leaders may also clash over efforts to make EU budget support contingent on member states respecting the rule of law.Hungary and Poland, which have been targeted by the European Commission over their alleged drift into authoritarianism, will fight to stop such a rule being written into the budget.  
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Saying Spain showed “strong resolve” that “changed the course” of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, the chief of the World Health Organization (WHO) said while paying tribute to the onetime COVID-19 hot spot for reversing “the trajectory of the outbreak.”WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday that “Spain has shown that with political leadership and action, backed by community support, that the coronavirus can be controlled, no matter at what stage virus transmission is at in a country. … From being greatly challenged, Spain has reversed the trajectory of the outbreak.”In late March and early April, Spain was reporting as many as 10,000 new cases a day.Tedros gave credit to both the Spanish government and people for adhering to tough restrictions including what the WHO says has been robust surveillance, testing, contact tracing, treatment and isolation.While hailing the success, Tedros also remembered the Spaniards and others worldwide felled by COVID-19 and warned that it remains a threat even where the emergency appeared to have abated.The coronavirus shows no sign of easing in Brazil, where the health ministry is reporting more than 2 million cases and more than 1,000 deaths a day.Brazilian health experts blame the federal government for the high toll.“The virus would have been difficult to stop anyway. But this milestone of 2 million cases, which is very underestimated, shows this could have been different,” said Dr. Adriano Massuda, a health care professor at Sao Paulo’s Getulio Vargas Foundation university. “There’s no national strategy for testing, no measures from the top … too little effort to improve basic care so we find serious cases before they become too serious, no tracking.”A health worker disinfects empty coffins that will be used to take the bodies of recently deceased residents of the San Jose nursing home in Cochabamba, Bolivia, July 16, 2020.Although the number of cases appears to be ebbing in some of the larger Brazilian cities, it is now starting to hit places that had been spared.Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who spent months minimizing COVID-19 as “a little flu,” has tested positive for the virus twice on the last two weeks.Bolsonaro has encouraged businesses to reopen and pushed local leaders to ease restrictions, saying the lockdowns and other measures are costing Brazilians their jobs.The government says lockdowns aimed at combating the spread of the virus have forced nearly 523,000 Brazilian businesses to temporarily or permanently close their doors in the first two weeks of June.Brazil trails only the United States in the number of cases and deaths. The A man is seen through a display of fun face masks for sale at a roadside stall in Jakarta, Indonesia, July 16, 2020.The country’s two largest brick-and-mortar retailers – Walmart and Kroger – announced the policy earlier this week.Without a national mandate from the White House to wear face coverings in public, it is up to states, cities and businesses to come up with their own policies.“To be clear, we’re not asking our store employees to play the role of enforcer,” CVS executive Jon Roberts says. “What we are asking is that customers help protect themselves and those around them by listening to the experts and heeding the call to wear a face covering.”Another trial of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine has proved to be ineffective as an early treatment for mild cases of COVID-19, researchers at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine have concluded.“There is not convincing evidence that hydroxychloroquine can either prevent COVID-19 after exposure or reduce illness severity after developing early symptoms,” said Caleb Skipper, lead author of the study. “While disappointing, these results are consistent with an emerging body of literature that hydroxychloroquine doesn’t convey a substantial clinical benefit in people diagnosed with COVID-19, despite its activity against the coronavirus in a test tube.”President Donald Trump hyped hydroxychloroquine as an effective treatment early in the pandemic and said he took the drug himself. He has tested negative for the coronavirus.After initially approving it as an emergency treatment, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reversed itself after doctors warned of potentially deadly side effects.The National Football League’s Players Association says 72 NFL players had tested positive for the coronavirus as of earlier this week.Team training camps are set to open July 28 with the first games of the season scheduled to be played September 10.Baseball, soccer, hockey, and basketball teams plan to resume or open their shortened seasons within weeks.But the nation’s top infectious disease specialist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has said it is impossible to predict if NFL teams can play a full 16-game season.Former TV game show host Chuck Woolery, who tweeted late Sunday that “everybody is lying” about COVID-19, including doctors and the media, now says the coronavirus is real after announcing that his son has the disease.Woolery says he feels for “those suffering and especially for those who have lost loved ones.”In his Sunday tweet, Woolery said that the news about the coronavirus is “all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I’m sick of it.”Trump retweeted it.Woolery was the original host of the TV game shows “Wheel of Fortune,” “Love Connection,” and “Greed” and has since become a conservative activist.  
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Military clashes between Armenia and neighboring Azerbaijan continued Thursday, further raising tensions between Turkey and Russia, which back opposing sides in the conflict.   The fighting erupted after a day of calm that had raised hopes of an end to the confrontation. At least 16 people have been killed since clashes started Sunday. What sparked the latest violence was not clear, but the two sides have blamed the other for the trouble. The two former Soviet Republics have been at odds for decades over Azerbaijan’s breakaway, predominantly ethnic Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh. In the 1990s, Armenia and Azerbaijan went to war over the disputed territory. Armenian servicemen transport used tires in the back of a truck to fortify their positions on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border near the village of Movses on July 15, 2020.According to the Reuters news agency, Armenia’s defense ministry accuses Azerbaijan’s army of moving positions and using people in one village as human shields. Azerbaijan denies the allegation and has made similar accusations against Armenia. The latest clashes indirectly pit Turkey against Russia. Turkey backs Azerbaijan, while Russia supports Armenia. “Turkey will never hesitate to stand against any attack on the rights and lands of Azerbaijan,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday. Erdogan suggested a wider conspiracy lay behind the latest fighting.  “This is not a border violation and conflict but a deliberate attack on Azerbaijan. Undoubtedly this attack shows Armenia is punching above its weight.” Turkish pro-government media have been quick to accuse Moscow of encouraging Armenia to attack Azerbaijan, albeit without substantiating the allegation. Moscow dismisses such accusations, with Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov on Tuesday calling for restraint on both sides and offering Russian mediation. Ankara and Moscow are already involved in proxy confrontations by backing rival sides in the Libyan and Syrian civil wars.  “Armenia and Azerbaijan are faced with the challenge of becoming the next spot, like Syria and Libya. The Russian military is already deployed in the region,” said Zaur Gasimov, a Russia expert at the University of Bonn.  “Turkey is the only player in the [Caucasus] region representing to a certain extent Western values and interests, and can prevent domination by Russia and Iran,” Gasimov added. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 2nd right, and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, 2nd left, along with Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic, right and Bulgaria’s PM Boyko Borisov left, symbolically open the TurkStream pipeline, Jan. 8, 2020.Energy interests Where the latest fighting between Armenian and Azeri forces is occurring is in itself cause for suspicion among observers.  “The location is very strange,” said Gasimov, referring to Azerbaijan’s remote Tovuz region, adding, “Normally fighting occurs in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh.”The Tovuz region is close to Azerbaijan’s crucial South Caucasia pipeline. The SCP channels natural gas to Turkey’s TANAP pipeline and is a key component of Ankara’s efforts to decrease its dependence on Russian energy. “Turkey is heavily dependent on Russia for gas supplies,” said Mehmet Ogutcu of the London Energy Club policy group.  “Turkey is paying almost twice the price of EU buyers for [Russia’s] Gazprom gas,” Gasimov said.  “Turkey is now trying to reduce its intake from Russia,” he added. “Azeri gas is coming through TANAP (pipeline), which is cheaper than Russian gas that Turkey is buying. Turkey depends on 98% of its gas on imports and 92% on oil. It’s a national security issue.” Azerbaijan, one of the major oil suppliers to the European Union, is Turkey’s biggest foreign investor — mostly in the energy sector. The Azeri-Turkish partnership could deepen further as a new opportunity arises in 2021, when a major gas deal between Turkey and Russia is up for renewal. The 25-year-old deal has obliged Turkey to buy a set amount of Russian gas annually, ensuring Russia’s dominance of the Turkish energy market.  “With the contract coming to an end, Turkey will use this opportunity to rebalance its energy relations with Russia,” said Ogutcu. Russian concerns  Leaders in Russia worry their country is losing ground in Turkey’s energy market.  “Russian-Turkish talks in April on gas prices ended without success,” Gasimov said. “Azerbaijan, Iran, and Qatar are set to become as prominent as Russia as gas providers [in Turkey].” Analysts say Ankara’s energy diversification efforts play favorably for the U.S. administration.  Washington has been intensively lobbying its European allies to curtail energy cooperation with Russia as part of the Trump administration efforts to curb the Kremlin’s economic leverage over Europe. The United States is also threatening sanctions over Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline serving Germany and TurkStream, opened in January by Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin. U.S. administration officials say both pipelines violate the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017.   FILE – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, speaks during a news conference at the State Department, July 1, 2020, in Washington.In remarks Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described the two projects as “the Kremlin’s key tools to exploit and expand European dependence on Russian energy supplies” that he said “ultimately undermine transatlantic security.” “It is a clear warning to the companies aiding and abetting Russia’s malign influence projects. Get out now, or risk the consequences,” Pompeo said.  The rift between Turkey and Russia has coincided with a rapprochement between Ankara and Washington, but analysts are not rushing to declare an end to the Russian-Turkish partnership.   While Ankara seeks to reduce its dependence on Russia’s energy, both Erdogan and Putin are aware of a mutual dependency between the two countries. “Turkish-Russian relations are not based only on Russian gas,” said Ogutcu.  “It’s a package. You have a [Russian] nuclear energy plant being (built) in Turkey, you have a security issue in Syria. Turkish construction exports to Russia and Russian tourists coming to Turkey,” Ogutcu said.  As some observers see it, Moscow is likely to avoid a rupture with Ankara and they warn the latest tensions in the Caucasus could be a message to Turkey that there is a cost to rebalancing ties with Russia. 
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The political future of Russian President Vladimir Putin would seem to be secure. A constitutional referendum in Russia ending July first gave the longtime leader a new mandate to stay in power for 16 more years. But in the days that have followed the vote, Russia’s security services have launched a series of arrests and detentions against perceived government opponents. From Moscow, Charles Maynes reports.VIDEOGRAPHER: Ricardo Marquina,
PRODUCER: Rod James
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Britain’s foreign ministry said Thursday Russia sought to interfere in Britain’s 2019 general election by illicitly acquiring sensitive documents relating to a planned free trade agreement with the United States and leaking them online.
 
In a statement submitted to the British House of Commons, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, “It is almost certain that Russian actors sought to interfere in the 2019 General Election through the online amplification of illicitly acquired and leaked Government documents.”
 
Raab said the documents relating to the British-U.S. trade deal were “illicitly acquired before the 2019 General Election and disseminated online via the social media platform Reddit.”
 
Raab said their investigation found that when the documents made little impact, further attempts were made to promote illicitly obtained material online before the election. He said Britain reserves the right to respond with appropriate measures in the future.
 
Russia’s Foreign Ministry declined requests for immediate comment but said it would respond later Thursday. President Vladimir Putin has laughed off similar allegations in the past.
 
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