Britain, Canada and the United States have accused Russia of trying to steal COVID-19 information from academic and pharmaceutical institutions.Britain’s National Cyber Security Center announced Thursday in coordination with the U.S. and Canada the attempts to steal vaccine and treatment research is being conducted by the hacking group APT29, which is said to be part of the Russian intelligence community.The NCSC said the hacking group, also known as Cozy Bear, is continuing its attacks with spear-phishing, custom malware and a variety of other tools and techniques.The U.S. and Britain said two months ago that networks of hackers were targeting organizations worldwide that were responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, but did not explicitly link the efforts to Russia.U.S. intelligence agencies widely suspect that Cozy Bear hacked Democratic Party computers before the 2016 election, with the intent of helping President Donald Trump win the election. 
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A suspected hacking attack caused the site of North Macedonia’s electoral commission to crash for hours after polls closed in national elections Wednesday, delaying preliminary results that showed the pro-Western Social Democrats narrowly leading the center-right opposition. The commission said early Thursday that with nearly 94% of the vote counted the Social Democrats have 36% and VMRO-DPMNE follow at more than 34%. The ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration was third at 11%, while a coalition of two smaller ethnic Albanian parties followed at nearly 9%. The Commission gave no projections on how many seats each party stood to win in the 120-member parliament. Shortly afterwards, Social Democrats leader Zoran Zaev declared victory. Addressing cheering supporters in the capital Skopje, he promised fast reforms to help the country’s European Union accession hopes end revive the battered economy. Electoral commission head Oliver Derkoski said the suspected hack affected the official website designed to give fast online results. Vote counting was proceeding normally as the commission’s central server was not affected, he said. Derkovski added that police have been informed and will investigate the attack and who might be behind it. Another official told The Associated Press that “an outside hacker attack spread a virus … so the public cannot see the results online.” “Our technical team is working to solve the problem,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media. The election — delayed for months due to the pandemic — was held amid a resurgence of the coronavirus in the small Balkan country, with voters donning obligatory masks. Polling stations closed later than usual to encourage turnout, and authorities also organized two days of advance voting to allow people in quarantine or at greater risk from the virus to cast their ballots from home. North Macedonia, a former Yugoslav republic with a population of around 2 million, reported more than 8,500 cases, including 393 deaths, as of Wednesday, with 198 new cases and four deaths reported over the previous 24 hours. The country saw new cases rise in recent weeks after infection-control restrictions were lifted. Election authorities said turnout had reached 50.8% half an hour before polls closed, which is lower than in previous elections. Zaev’s governing Social Democrats called the early parliamentary election when he resigned as prime minister in January after the European Union failed to give North Macedonia a start date for EU membership talks. Zaev faced a strong challenge from VMRO’s Hristijan Mickoski. The party has softened its earlier opposition to a landmark 2018 deal with Greece that saw the country change its name from Macedonia to North Macedonia, clearing objections for it to join NATO earlier this year. Zaev, 45, ran much of his campaign on the accomplishment of securing the agreement with Greece that ended a dispute of nearly 30 years. “I believe our positive campaign has won over citizens,” Zaev said after voting. North Macedonia has had a caretaker government since his resignation as prime minister in January. Election campaigns were limited by social distancing rules and calmer than in past elections, which produced vitriolic animosity between the two main parties. The Social Democrats have governed since 2016 after beating populist conservative Nikola Gruevski of VMRO-DPMNE, who fled to Hungary to avoid serving a two-year jail sentence for abuse of power and corruption. Gruevski’s successor, Hristijan Mickoski, moved the party toward the center-right but aimed his campaign at voters are still disappointed by the country’s name change. “People are going to the polls in large numbers from what we can see,” Mickoski said. “They are ready for a big change.” If neither party can achieve an outright victory, the winner will most likely have to seek a power-sharing deal with parties representing the country’s large ethnic Albanian minority. The election is being monitored by a team of international observers.  
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Russian police arrested more than 100 demonstrators protesting constitutional reforms that could keep Vladimir Putin in power for 16 more years, a human rights monitoring group said.About 500 people, many wearing face masks branded with the word “no,” marched down a major street Wednesday in the Russian capital.Some waved banners demanding that Putin resign, while others called the Russian president a “thief.”OVD-Info, an independent political monitoring group, reported more than 100 arrests, but police and Russian officials made no comments.“I came here to sign the petition against the constitutional reforms because I am a nationalist,” one protester told Reuters, while a teenage girl blamed Putin for “the poverty in our country.”Russian voters this month approved changes to the constitution that allow Putin to remain president until 2036. Without the amendment, he would have been required to step down in four years.The opposition said the vote to amend the constitution was rigged.Putin has been in control in Russia as president or prime minister for 20 years. 
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A Belarusian human rights group says police detained dozens of demonstrators in the capital and the city of Borisov on Wednesday as protests against the exclusion of two opposition candidates from the presidential ballot roiled the country. In Minsk, thousands of people stood in a 3-kilometer-long (2-mile-long) line outside the national elections commission to sign complaints about the removal of Viktor Babariko and Valery Tsepalko from the ballot for the Aug. 9 election.  The two candidates were seen as the strongest challengers to authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, who is seeking a sixth term. Police closed off the center of Minsk, and the human rights group Vesna said at least 20 people were arrested. Another 15 demonstrators were detained in the city of Borisov, the group said.  Belarusian police officers detain a man in Minsk, Belarus, July 15, 2020.Thousands of people also took to the streets of Minsk and other cities in protest on Tuesday, and police said 250 were detained. The central election commission of Belarus allowed five presidential candidates to be named on the ballot, denying spots to Tsepkalo, founder of a successful high-technology park and a former ambassador to the United States, and former banker Babariko. The decision eliminated any serious competition for Lukashenko, who is seeking reelection after already spending a quarter-century in power.  Lukashenko has ruled Belarus since 1994, stifling opposition and independent news media. He accused protesters of plotting a revolution and promised to protect the country from one. “We will be defending the country with any lawful means. We will not surrender our country to anyone,” he said. People stand in a line outside the national elections commission to sign complaints about the removal of Viktor Babariko and Valery Tsepalko from the ballot for the Aug. 9 election in Minsk, Belarus, July 15, 2020.Amnesty International on Wednesday condemned mass detentions as provoking violence and violating protesters’ rights in Belarus.  “The police sought to disperse peaceful gatherings, with excessive and unnecessary use of force and in many cases deploying police officers in plainclothes. This provoked violent responses from some protesters who tried to prevent others being arrested and beaten,” Aisha Jung, Amnesty International’s senior campaigner for Belarus, said in a statement.  “However, according to eyewitnesses and widely available video footage, the gatherings remained largely peaceful, and many of those arrested were peaceful protesters,” Jung said.  Belarusian Interior Ministry spokeswoman Olga Chemodanova said Wednesday that police demonstrated “self-restraint and high professionalism” despite “the aggression of certain individuals.” The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said in a statement that it won’t be deploying an election observation mission to Belarus due to a “lack of invitation” from the country’s government. 
 
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European heads of state will seek agreement over a proposed $856 billion pandemic recovery fund — and to discuss the bloc’s next multiyear budget — when they meet Friday in Brussels. Neither issue promises to be easily resolved. Backing the recovery package are hard-hit southern countries like Italy and Spain, which would benefit most from their proposed mix of loans, aid and grants. On the other side are the so-called “frugal four” — the Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden — which warn spending must be responsible.  German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting in Berlin, Germany, July 15, 2020.Europe’s traditional powerhouses, France and Germany, have joined forces to support the package. Even so, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany — which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency — expressed uncertainty earlier this week that a deal will be struck at the Brussels summit.”I think Angela Merkel is pretty determined to reach an agreement,” said Rosa Balfour, director of the Carnegie Europe research organization in Brussels. “What she has said to be cautious is that if it’s not this weekend, it will be in the coming weeks.”At stake are many things — European unity, the direction of financial markets, but also lightening up a heavy EU agenda that includes other key issues, such as finishing up Brexit, Britain’s departure from the European Union.Tara Varma, head of the Paris office for the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the final funding agreement may look quite different from the original proposal.”But if ultimately they make it, that is quite a breakthrough,” she said. “And honestly, it’s a big move forward for the Germans, to implement the rest of their agenda, which is quite massive.”There are other stumbling blocks. Some researchers warn the rescue fund will siphon green investments needed to meet the EU’s ambitious climate goals. And Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban said he may veto any deal linked to rule-of-law criteria.Analyst Balfour said EU leaders might bow to Hungary’s demands — at least this time.”But in the long term, I do think it’s an existential threat to the EU, because the EU is so tied to the fact it is formed by democracies,” she said.The two-day summit takes place amid EU estimates the bloc’s economy will shrink 8.3 percent this year, before growing in 2021.  
 
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Wednesday defended his government’s COVID-19 response and preparations for a potential second wave of the pandemic as he fielded pointed questions from opposition lawmakers in parliament.In the House of Commons, opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer, referring to a report commissioned by the Government Office for Science, asked Johnson about the report’s recommendation that tracking and tracing of COVID-19 cases be expanded throughout July and August to prepare for a possible winter surge.Johnson said they were preparing for the possibility of a second wave but did not say the government was specifically following the report’s recommendations. Starmer questioned if Britain’s track and trace program was up to the task.The prime minister insisted the track and trace program was “doing fantastic work” and is as equal to or better that any system in the world. He said the program has resulted in 144,000 people across the nation agreeing to isolate themselves to fight the spread of the coronavirus.Starmer noted the most recent statistics show the program is slipping, contacting 70 percent of the people it needs to, while it was at 90 percent just a few weeks earlier. He questioned whether Johnson had read his own government’s report, which set out the worst-case scenario for the pandemic in the months ahead and what to do about it.  Johnson said he was “aware” of the report and the government was taking every reasonable step to prepare.   The prime minister was asked if his government would commit to an independent public inquiry to access its response to the pandemic. He said certainly there would be an inquiry, but the middle of combating the pandemic was not the appropriate time for it.  Britain has reported one of the world’s highest numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths.On Tuesday Britain’s government said it will demand people wear face coverings inside shops.
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Turkey is marking the fourth anniversary of the July 15 failed coup attempt against the government, with ceremonies and events remembering its victims.
 
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday, accompanied by civilian “veterans” who fought against the coup, laid a wreath at a memorial in the presidential complex in Ankara and prayed. Erdogan was kicking off a series of events to commemorate the crushing of the coup, including one at parliament. Attendees were wearing masks as the event took place amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
On July 15, 2016, factions within the military used tanks, warplanes and helicopters to try to overthrow Erdogan’s government. A total of 251 people were killed and around 2,200 others were wounded as the coup plotters fired on people or bombed parliament and other government buildings. Around 35 alleged coup plotters were also killed.
 
Turkey has blamed U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former Erdogan ally, for the coup attempt. Gulen rejects the accusation. His network was designated a terrorist group and dubbed Fethullahist Terror Organization or FETO.
 
“We will continue our resolute fight inside our country and abroad until the last FETO member is brought to justice,” Erdogan said at a luncheon for the relatives of “martyrs” and the wounded.
 
The government declared a state of emergency after the coup attempt to crackdown on Gulen’s network.
 
Under emergency powers that were in place for two years, tens of thousands of people were arrested for alleged links to the coup and to Gulen and the trials continue. More than 130,000 people were fired from public service through emergency decrees, among them teachers and police officers.
 
Critics say the arrests and dismissals went too far, targeting all opposition to the government under Turkey’s wide terror laws.
 
Erdogan said more than 100 people with purported links to the cleric were caught abroad and brought back to Turkey to stand trial. Schools, cultural centers and associations set up across the world by Gulen’s transnational network were shuttered or transformed to institutions tied to the Turkish government.
 
The U.S. hasn’t extradited the 79-year-old cleric despite repeated requests.
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Treason in Russia can almost mean anything these days, say rights campaigners.  The high-profile arrest last week of former defense reporter Ivan Safronov on a charge of high treason has prompted an international outcry, but his detention is part of a Kremlin-sponsored “spy mania” that’s seeing the net being cast far and wide for traitors and spies and entangling not only reporters and academic researchers. FILE – Ivan Safronov, a former journalist who works as an aide to the head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, is detained on suspicion of treason and escorted before a court hearing in Moscow, Russia, July 7, 2020.The number of people charged and convicted of treason and espionage has jumped five-fold in Russia since 2011 — with a noticeable acceleration after the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Twelve people were convicted in 2009 compared with 62 last year, according to MediaZona, an opposition website. Of the more than 300 charged for treason or espionage — or for divulging state secrets — since 2011, only one of those accused managed to secure an acquittal. Russia’s FSB intelligence agency is under pressure from President Vladimir Putin to uncover spies, according to political activists and commentators. “Every day, without interruption, brings more searches, detentions, arrests and criminal charges,” said Ilya Klishin, an opposition journalist and one of the organizers of the 2011-’12 protests in Moscow against election fraud.  Instilling terror “Maybe there is no deeper logic behind all of this than the desire to intimidate the population, to instill terror — in the literal sense of the word,” he wrote in an opinion article for the English-language Moscow Times newspaper. “It has become a mechanical morning ritual: Wake up and scan the news to learn whom the authorities came for that day.” He said Russian authorities are targeting largely journalists and historians and that “the rest of us could be next.”  In fact, several people who would classify themselves as “the rest” have been charged with espionage in a series of bizarre arrests the past few years, including of a newly-married couple who have been in jail for a year.  Antonina Zimina was arrested in 2018, then last year her husband, Moscow-based lawyer Konstantin Antonets. Both are accused of blowing an FSB agent’s cover. Antonina’s father told Kommersant newspaper that during their 2015 wedding reception the agent, a friend, drank heavily, gossiped about his work and took photos with other guests. The happy couple sent copies of the wedding snaps to friends. These were posted on social media sites with the agent figuring in the photographs.   It is not clear whether the couple were targeted because of their work, but analysts say that is unlikely as Antonina worked as a consultant for a Russian think tank founded by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a Putin loyalist. FILE – Oksana Sevastidi, center, surrounded by journalists, leaves the Lefortovo prison in Moscow, Russia, March 12, 2017.Other arrests have included the detention of Oksana Sevastidi, a storekeeper from Sochi, in southern Russia, who was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for sending a text message to a friend in neighboring Georgia about a train she spotted carrying military equipment. Sevastidi served two years in prison before Putin pardoned her amid a public uproar. ‘No spy mania in Russia’ Last week, Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, dismissed claims that Moscow is in the grip of spy mania or that the rising treason and espionage arrests are a show of force aimed at intimidating critics. “Compared, for example, with the U.S. and the EU, there is no spy mania in Russia,” he said, adding that he was not aware there had been a rise in espionage cases in Russia. FILE – Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov listens during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual end-of-year news conference in Moscow, Russia, Dec. 19, 2019.He added, though, that foreign intelligence services are operating aggressively in Russia.”It is no secret that foreign intelligence services are not slacking off in Russia, they work day and night against Russian officials, and Russian intelligence officers,” he said, adding Russian counter-intelligence “is not sitting back either.” Russian journalists were shocked by the arrest of Ivan Safronov, now a communications adviser to Russia’s Roscosmos space agency. The thirty-year-old Safronov denies allegations of selling military secrets to the Czech Republic and the United States. For many years he was a highly respected military correspondent for leading Russian newspapers. So far, the authorities have no revealed evidence justifying the treason charge. Ivan Pavlov, the journalist’s lawyer, told independent broadcaster Dozhd that the charges were linked to Safronov’s past reporting and not his job at the space agency, which he joined in May. If convicted, Safronov could be sentenced to 20 years in jail. Since his arrest, dozens of journalists have been arrested protesting his detention, most have been released. “Now Vladimir Putin’s been in power for 20 years and he doesn’t care what anyone thinks,” said one of Safronov’s supporters, journalist Grigory Pasko. He told the BBC: “There are no brakes now; no restraints. They can do what they want, how they want and to whomever they want.” In 1997, Pasko was accused of treason. Safronov’s lawyer, Pavlov, says there appear to be trends when it comes to the FSB targeting. “A few years ago there was a trend [of going after] scientists, they started taking them in droves. Well now, it’s you [journalists],” he told the Meduza, an independent news site.  Echoes of the past The trends, though, start merging, according to Ilya Klishin. He said the Russian intelligence agencies seem even more emboldened since the amending this month of the Russian constitution allowing Putin to remain in office until 2036. They seem suddenly to have “redoubled their activity” and “things feel different.” For some, the rising treason arrests amount to an echo, albeit a faint one, of the blood-drenched 1930s, when communist dictator Joseph Stalin staged show trials of his enemies or those he perceived as potential threats, cowering an already terrified population. The Moscow show trials also helped to intensify nationalist feeling by making Russians feel their country was beleaguered — under threat not just from ideological foes abroad but from fifth-columnists at home as well. 
 
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Hundreds marched in Minsk Tuesday after Belarus’ election officials refused to register two top opposition candidates for the August 9 presidential election. “We are categorically for honest and fair elections,” said one protester. It is unclear how many people were arrested Tuesday. The election commission allowed five candidates to put their names on the ballot but denied spots to opposition candidates Valery Tsepkalo and Viktor Babariko. Both are seen as the only serious competitors to longtime incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko. Tsepkalo is a former Belarusian ambassador to the United States. Election officials claim most of the names on the petition to place him on the ballot are invalid.Police officers detain protesters during a rally against the removal of opposition candidates from the presidential elections in Minsk, Belarus, Tuesday, July 14, 2020.Babariko, the former head of a Russia-owned bank, was jailed last month for alleged money laundering, a charge he denies.  European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borell says excluding Tsepkalo and Babariko “limits the possibility for the Belarusian people to express their will and already undermines the overall integrity and democratic nature of the elections.” Political observers say leaving the two off the ballot assures Lukashenko of another term. He has ruled Belarus with an iron fist for 26 years, stifling free speech and cracking down on the opposition and independent media. Lukashenko has tried to overcome his image as an authoritarian by drifting away from Russia and seeking better ties with the United States and European leaders.  
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Spain’s Catalonia regional government pushed ahead Tuesday with FILE – Migrants who are seeking seasonal work stand in a square in Lleida, Spain, July 2, 2020.”What is proposed today goes far beyond a simple limitation of movement and seriously affects constitutionally recognized rights,” Judge Elena Garcia-Munoz Alarcos said. Quim Torra, president of Catalonia, stood firm and refused to accept the ruling. “We cannot understand that there are bureaucratic obstacles in decisions that are taken for the health and life of citizens,” Torra told a news conference. “It’s a luxury to lose time with legal resolutions. We cannot allow this.” The regional government approved a decree Monday giving it legal backing to enact coronavirus lockdown measures, resulting in Tuesday’s confinement orders. The mixed messages between the judge and the regional government have caused confusion among Lleida’s 160,000 residents, with the city’s mayor, Miquel Pueyo, being unsure as to whether to tell people to stay at home or uphold the judge’s decision. Regardless of the outcome, Lleida’s residents will still be prohibited from leaving the region, as per a travel ban implemented July 4. Everyone in Catalonia is also held to a compulsory mask-wearing mandate put in place in early July. Violations result in a $114 fine. As of Tuesday, Spain had the highest number of coronavirus cases in the European Union, with 65,086 in Catalonia alone, and nearly 256,000 in Spain overall. 
 
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France will soon require people to wear masks in enclosed public places to prevent a rebound in COVID-19 cases, French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday.After a two-month lockdown starting in March, France began easing restrictions in May, and reopened bars and restaurants in early June. But in recent weeks, France’s virus reproduction rate has crept up to a point each person with COVID-19 is infecting at least one other person. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.”We have some signs that it’s coming back a bit,” Macron said in an interview Tuesday with French broadcasters. “Faced with that, we must anticipate and prepare.”While reopening, France recommended people use masks but did not require them, except on public transit and in public spaces where social distancing is not possible — a requirement that did not apply to shopping in stores.”I want us, in the next few weeks, to make masks compulsory in enclosed public places,” Macron said. “I ask fellow citizens to wear masks as much as possible when they are outside, and especially so when they are in an enclosed space.”Around 30,000 people have died of COVID-19 in France, which has recorded close to 200,000 confirmed cases, according to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard.
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British officials are bracing for fierce Chinese government reaction and possible retaliation to Britain’s decision Tuesday to block Chinese tech giant Huawei from playing any role in the development of Britain’s next generation 5G phone network.
 
Britain’s culture minister, Oliver Dowden, told the House of Commons of the decision to banish Huawei from the network, saying any of the company’s components already installed will have to be removed from the network by 2027.  
 
The major policy U-turn is prompting fears in Downing Street that Britain may become the target of a possible China-sponsored cyberattack similar to one that struck Australia last month amid heightened tensions between Canberra and Beijing.
 
Chinese officials, including Beijing’s ambassador to London, have maintained a chorus of warnings in recent months, threatening serious consequences if Huawei, one of China’s flagship companies, is excluded from participation in developing Britain’s 5G network.
 A Trump victory
 
Tuesday’s announcement is seen by analysts and diplomats as a big win for the Trump administration which, along with other Western allies, has been lobbying Britain for more than a year to block Huawei from Britain’s 5G wireless network on security grounds.  
 
In January, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson decided to allow Huawei a role in the development of the fast-speed network, limiting the company’s participation to just 35%. But U.S. officials — as well their Australian counterparts — continued to lobby London to block Huawei altogether.  
 
U.S. officials say there is a significant risk that the company, which has close ties to the Chinese intelligence services and was founded by a former Chinese army officer, will act as a Trojan horse for Beijing’s espionage agencies, allowing them to sweep up data.
 
Dowden told British lawmakers: “We have not taken this decision lightly and I must be frank about the decision’s consequences for every constituency in this country; this will delay our roll-out of 5G.” The British government acknowledges the move will delay the rollout of 5G in the by two to three years and increase costs by at least $2.5 billion.  Huawei’s UK headquarters building is pictured in Reading, Britain, July 14, 2020.Acting on the guidance of Britain’s National Cyber Security Center, Johnson accepted that U.S. sanctions imposed on Huawei in May had become a “game changer.”  Previously the center, a department within Britain’s intelligence agency GCHQ, said the security risks posed by Huawei could be safely managed and mitigated, a view not shared by U.S. intelligence agencies. But the imposition earlier this year of new U.S. restrictions on Huawei altered the picture, the center warned.  
 
Britain’s cybersecurity chiefs concluded the U.S. sanctions, which block Huawei from using components and semi-conductors based on any American intellectual property, will mean the telecom giant will have to use “untrusted” parts, increasing security risks.  
 
Responding to the government’s announcement, Huawei UK spokesperson Ed Brewster said: “This disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone. It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide.” He added: “Regrettably our future in the UK has become politicized, this is about U.S. trade policy and not security.”
 
That view was not shared by former British Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, who has been at the forefront of a campaign to block Huawei. He says that it is impossible to separate Chinese firms like Huawei from the Chinese government. “Across the free world, more and more countries are now recognizing that they face a particular threat now from Chinese government intentions,” he said.  
 Big blow for Huawei
 
Britain’s decision is a big blow for Huawei. Europe accounts for 24% of the company’s sales and the British decision could have knock-on effects elsewhere on the continent, where other governments are currently assessing how much access to give Huawei.  British officials say the decision is bound to worsen already sharply deteriorating relations between the two countries. Chinese officials, including Beijing’s ambassador to Britain, Liu Xiaoming, have underscored for weeks that there will be repercussions in the event Huawei is excluded.Tensions have been escalating between London and Beijing quickly over a Chinese security clampdown on Hong Kong, a former British colony transferred to China in 1997. To Beijing’s anger, Britain announced Hong Kong residents would be allowed to move to Britain to escape the crackdown. The two governments have clashed also over Britain’s backing of an independent probe into the origins of the coronavirus.According to press reports, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison briefed Johnson recently on a massive cyberattack Morrison says was launched on his country last month. The incident, say Australian officials, targeted “government, industry, political organizations, education, health, essential service providers and operators of other critical infrastructure.”FILE – A sign reading “Boris Stop Huawei” is seen next to the M40 motorway, Tetsworth, Britain, May 1, 2020, in a reference to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.Australia and China’s communist government have been at loggerheads since Australia became the first nation to call for an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus.Critics have long alleged Huawei has close links to the Chinese Communist government and its equipment could be used for espionage purposes. The company denies the claim, describing Huawei as a private company “fully owned by its employees.”
 An ‘intimate part of the Chinese state’
 
Former British intelligence chief Richard Dearlove disputes that description. On Sunday, he said Huawei “is not an ordinary international telecommunications company. It is an intimate part of the Chinese state.” Dearlove added that a ban on Huawei would amount to “a reset of the whole of our relationship with the Chinese leadership.” He has long lobbied for Huawei’s exclusion, along with dozens of lawmakers from Johnson’s own ruling Conservative party.Last week, Ambassador Liu warned Johnson of the consequences of excluding Huawei, saying at a virtual press conference, “You cannot have a golden era if you treat China as an enemy.” A ban on Huawei, he said, would have many repercussions, including inflicting damage on Britain’s reputation as “a business-friendly, open, transparent environment.” Among other possible consequences, he said, China could disinvest from Britain’s energy sector.Fallout
 
Two studies, by British research groups and set for publication this week, warn that a major disruption in Britain’s trade relations with China sparked by a ban on Huawei would depress the British economy.Cambridge Econometrics says hundreds of thousands of British jobs depend on trade with China and that the relationship directly supports more than 100,000 jobs in sectors such as education and tourism. The study was commissioned by the China-Britain Business Council, a trade promotion association.Clive Hamilton, an Australian academic and co-author of “Hidden Hand,” a groundbreaking new book examining Chinese influence operations and networks in the West, says he expects “Beijing will react angrily” to Huawei’s exclusion.FILE – The British flag and a smartphone with a Huawei and 5G network logo are seen on a PC motherboard in this illustration picture taken Jan. 29, 2020.Hamilton’s book, co-authored with Marieke Ohlberg, a China scholar from Germany, has figured prominently in a fierce political debate raging in Britain about the future of Anglo-Chinese relations. The book has been cited by lawmakers who have been urging for Huawei to be banned from Britain’s 5G network.
 
In the book, Hamilton and his co-author accuse the CCP of intensive grooming of British politicians, business people and academics and warn that “so entrenched are the CCP’s influence networks among British elites that Britain has passed the point of no return, and any attempt to extricate itself from Beijing’s orbit would probably fail.”
 
Asked by VOA whether Tuesday’s decision to exclude Huawei would suggest that such a judgment is premature, Hamilton responded in an email exchange that he “expects the CCP’s powerful friends among Britain’s elites to re-emerge and lobby hard to give priority to economic relations and give way to Beijing on other issues.”  
 Losing friends  
 
Hamilton added, though, that the coronavirus pandemic, and increasing “public awareness of the nature of the CCP regime,” is hardening attitudes towards the Chinese government. “The pandemic, its origins in Wuhan and the early Chinese government handling of it have changed the international dynamic in ways that are still playing out.” He says the Chinese communist government has taken “a big reputational hit in many countries around the world. In Britain, the damage has been compounded by the events in Hong Kong, which looms large in Britain’s political consciousness for historical reasons.”
 
“Elsewhere in Europe, the picture is mixed. China retains warm ties with several nations in East and Central Europe and with Italy and Greece. But it is losing friends in nations like France and Sweden. Germany is the key, and it is wavering,” he added.
 
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The British government has banned China’s Huawei telecommunications equipment company from playing a limited role in Britain’s new high-speed mobile phone network.Britain’s Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden, said the country’s telecommunications operators have until 2027 to remove Huawei’s equipment that is currently used in Britain’s 5G network.Britain’s decision could have wide-ranging implications for relations between the two countries and signals that Huawei may be losing support in the West. Dowden said the ban was imposed after the U.S. threatened to cancel an information-sharing deal due to concerns Huawei’s equipment could allow the Chinese government to penetrate British networks.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed in January to give Huawei a limited role in Britain’s high-speed network, but the decision sparked a diplomatic disagreement with the U.S. 
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Several Azeri soldiers have been killed and Armenian soldiers and police wounded in border clashes, both countries said Monday, each accusing the other of encroaching on its territory. The two former Soviet republics have long been in conflict over Azerbaijan’s breakaway, mainly ethnic Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh, although the latest clashes occurred around the Tavush region in northeast Armenia, some 300km (190 miles) from the mountainous enclave. Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Feb. 13, 2020.The Azeri defense ministry said four of its soldiers had been killed and five wounded while Armenia’s ministry said three of its soldiers and two police officers had been wounded in the clashes. The exchanges of fire began Sunday and continued into Monday. The two sides traded accusations of cease-fire violations and shelling. Azeri President Ilham Aliyev accused the Armenian leadership of a “provocation.” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said the leadership of Azerbaijan would be responsible for “the unpredictable consequences of the regional destabilization.” The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a security watchdog that has tried to help find a solution to the conflict, urged the two countries to speak to each other to prevent any further escalation. The U.S. State Department condemned the violence, urged the two sides to stop using force immediately, and said it would “remain actively engaged in efforts” to achieve a peaceful settlement. Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous part of Azerbaijan, is run by ethnic Armenians, who declared independence during a conflict that broke out as the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991. Though a ceasefire was agreed in 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia continue to accuse each other of shooting attacks around Nagorno-Karabakh and along the separate Azeri-Armenian frontier. The frozen Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has concerned the international community in part because of its threat to stability in a region that serves as a corridor for pipelines taking oil and gas to world markets.  
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The legacy of former U.S. president Thomas Woodrow Wilson is going through a harsh re-examination by supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, but in at least one country abroad, his place in history is undisputed. Wilson, who occupied the White House from 1913 to 1921, “is being criticized for his allegedly racist views as far as I know,” said Zdenek Beranek, the Czech Republic’s second-ranking diplomat in Washington.  The Czech people do not approve of any form of racism, Beranek said in an interview with VOA, but “we appreciate what he did for our nation. … Wilson invested his political capital to the independence of my country.”   Wilson, known internationally for his role in reshaping world affairs after World War I, has recently come under scrutiny amid a national movement to remove statues of Confederate generals and other historic leaders accused of having owned slaves or supported racial segregation.  A statue of former US President Woodrow Wilson is unveiled in Prague, Czech Republic, Oct. 5, 2011.Princeton University, one of America’s leading educational institutions, recently removed his name from its school of public policy because of his support for segregationist policies. In a sign of how problematic his legacy has become, the governor of New Jersey has decided to not sit behind a desk used by Wilson when he held that office.  Wilson, described by some as the most highly educated of all American presidents, served as a professor for many years before rising to become president of Princeton, then governor of New Jersey and then president of the United States. Until recently, he was best known for his handling of the presidency during the First World War — a period that saw the rise of the United States as a political and military power. In January 1918, as the war was drawing to a close, Wilson announced the Fourteen Points and laid the foundation for the Treaty of Versailles, which ended the war.   During the war years, he was influenced by the entreaties of Czech exile Tomas G. Masaryk, a fellow academician-turned-politician who, with Wilson’s crucial help, would go on to help establish the new country of Czechoslovakia and become its first president.  Wilson is said to have been deeply moved when he learned that a document drafted by Masaryk and other leading figures to proclaim the right of the Czech and Slovak peoples to self-governance was modeled after the American Declaration of Independence.   “You could say our very independence was declared on American soil,” Beranek said. The Czechs honored Wilson with a larger-than-life full-sized statue erected in central Prague; they also named their main railway station after him.   The statue was knocked down and the railway station renamed when the country became a Soviet satellite after World War II. But after Moscow lost its grip on the region in 1989, a new statue was erected in its place. The train station was not renamed, but it stands on Wilsonova, or Wilson Avenue. 
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday it is not clear whether EU member states would reach an agreement on a COVID-19 recovery fund and multi-year budget at a summit this week, given that differences remain. The leaders of EU member nations are scheduled to gather in person on Friday and Saturday to work out a compromise on a multibillion-dollar stimulus package proposed by Germany and France. The debate has been linked to a discussion on the 27-country bloc’s long-term budget. Merkel spoke to reporters alongside visiting Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte at Meseberg Castle — the German government’s guest house, north of Berlin, where the two held talks. She said positions are still too far apart to make any predictions about how the negotiations will proceed. Merkel said what is important is the scope of the agreement.”What we want now, the recovery fund or the next generation EU program, it has to be staggering, something special. Because the task at hand is huge, and therefore the answer has to be big as well,” she said.Italian news reports quoted Conte as saying the EU should offer “solutions, not illusions and fears.” Much of the stimulus money would go to help countries that were hardest hit by the coronavirus, which causes the COVID-19 disease, and its economic impacts, such as Italy and Spain. Some fiscally conservative EU countries oppose the French-German plan because it would entail borrowing by the bloc as a whole for the first time. 
 
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Investigators of the Federal Security Service have formally charged an aide to the chief of Russia’s Roskosmos space agency, journalist Ivan Safronov, with high treason. 
 
Safronov’s lawyer Ivan Pavlov said his client was indicted on July 13, adding that he reiterated his previous not guilty plea. 
 
Moscow police on July 13 detained about 20 supporters of Safronov near the Lefortovo detention center in the Russian capital, where Safronov is being held. 
 
Among the detained supporters of Safronov were a member of the journalists’ labor union, Sofia Rusova, and reporters Pyotr Parkhomenko, Maria Karpenko, Olga Alenova, Alla Pugachyova and Taisia Bekbulatova. Safronov, who has worked since May as an adviser to Roskosmos head Dmitry Rogozin, is a prominent journalist who covered the military-industrial complex for the newspapers Kommersant and Vedomosti. Police detain RT television channel journalist Maria Sherstyukova during a rally to support Ivan Safronov near the Lefortovo prison in Moscow, Russia, July 13, 2020. Safronov, a former military journalist, was arrested and charged with treason.He was arrested on July 7 amid allegations that he had passed secret information to the Czech Republic in 2017 about Russian arms sales in the Middle East.
 
Safronov has rejected the accusations and many of his supporters have held pickets in Moscow and other cities, demanding his release. 
Human rights organizations have issued statements demanding Safronov’s release and expressing concerns over the intensifying crackdown on dissent in Russia. 
 
The chairman of the Union of Journalists of Russia, Vladimir Solovyov, said on July 13 that his organization will “continue to closely monitor Safronov’s case.” 
 
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Election officials in North Macedonia carried ballot boxes to the homes of voters suffering from COVID-19 or in quarantine Monday, at the start of three days of voting in a general election that was delayed for months by the pandemic. Wearing white coveralls and other protective gear, the officials were visiting the homes of some 700 people who registered to vote in the pandemic but were unable to travel to polling stations. It is the first time elections have been held on a weekday, with the date set after the original April 12 vote was postponed due to the pandemic.After the delays, special provisions were made for those quarantined due to the virus. Of the roughly 5,000 people quarantined, just over 700 have registered to vote. Prison inmates, the elderly and the ill vote on Tuesday before the polls open Wednesday.  North Macedonia is holding its first parliamentary election under its new country name, with voters heading to the polls during an alarming spike of coronavirus cases in this small Balkan nation.The country has been run by a caretaker government since January following the resignation of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev after the European Union failed to set a date for North Macedonia to begin accession talks. Parliament elected a temporary government consisting of members of both main parties, with the sole aim of organizing the election.  Opinion polls in the run-up to Wednesday’s vote indicate a close race between coalitions led by the former governing Social Democrats and the center-right opposition VMRO-DPMNE party. The opposition is eager to return to power after losing the last election in 2016 following a decade running the country.Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Social Democrat-led coalition “Mozeme” (We Can) and the VMRO-led coalition “Obnova” (Renewal) are campaigning mostly through small gatherings and video messages.The caretaker government handled the coronavirus outbreak relatively well until May, imposing a lockdown that kept the number of infections and deaths low. But after authorities eased restrictions and opened the borders, North Macedonia saw an increase in new cases and deaths that have placed it among the most badly affected European nations in terms of the number of deaths and confirmed cases per capita.With more than 8,000 infected people and about 380 deaths in this country of around 2 million people by Sunday, the pandemic and its devastating economic consequences have become the main election issue. The opposition accuses Zaev’s party of being unable to deal with the outbreak or pull the country out of recession.North Macedonia is one of the poorest countries in Europe with a per-capita GDP of about $6,100. About a half of its 2 million people live on the brink of poverty.Polls suggest neither party will win the 61 seats needed in the 120-member parliament to be able to govern alone, meaning a coalition government with a smaller ethnic Albanian party is likely. A total of 15 parties and coalitions are running.Zaev, the Social Democrat leader, has touted his success in securing the country’s NATO membership after sealing a historic 2017 deal with neighboring Greece over the country’s name. Greece had been blocking the country’s NATO accession for three decades, objecting to the use of the name “Macedonia” which it said harbored expansionist claims on its own province of the same name.Zaev also signed a friendship deal with Bulgaria, part of a push to resolve issues with neighboring countries and prepare for EU membership.  The Social Democrats beat the populist conservative VMRO-DPMNE party in 2016 after a decade of autocratic rule by its then-leader Nikola Gruevski, who fled to Hungary to avoid serving a two-year jail sentence for abuse of power and corruption. Hungary granted him political asylum and North Macedonia is seeking his extradition.Gruevski’s successor, Hristijan Mickoski, moved VMRO-DPMNE toward the center-right and is appealing to voters disappointed with the country’s name change and the deal with Bulgaria. He also accuses the Social Democrats of corruption, influencing the judiciary, nepotism and destroying the economy.”These are elections when we decide on the future of our families, elections in which we need to make our ancestors proud,” Mickoski said during a recent television debate with Zaev. “The choice now on July 15 is between injustice, humiliation, and on the other hand justice and dignity.”The Social Democrats point to their success in achieving NATO membership and promise EU accession and a revival of the economy with billions in foreign investments.  “We have proved that North Macedonia could be a friend with everybody, made smart deals that brought the country into NATO and enabled a green light for the start of accession talks with the EU after 15 years,” Zaev said.If neither party wins enough seats to form a government, the largest ethnic Albanian party, the Democratic Union for Integration, or DUI, is the most likely coalition partner.  DUI has been in coalition governments for the past 18 years, and now says it is “high time” for an ethnic Albanian to head the government.Its slogan “Pse Jo?” (Why not?) was chosen to challenge the last “remaining ethnic taboo” of an ethnic Albanian being named prime minister. DUI has already chosen a long-retired politician for the post.Ethnic Albanians make up about a quarter of North Macedonia’s population. They took up arms against government forces in 2001, and the six-month conflict ended with a Western-brokered deal granting them greater minority rights, including making Albanian the country’s second official language.  Both main parties have rejected DUI’s idea.Over 1.8 million people are eligible to vote at nearly 3,500 polling stations. About 2,000 domestic and 130 international observers will monitor the process.Masks are compulsory during voting, and a two-meter distance must be kept from election officials. Authorities are assuring voters the process will not endanger their health. 
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday it was important to wear face coverings in confined spaces such as shops and added that the government would be making an announcement in the coming days on possible steps to make them mandatory.Critics have accused Johnson’s government of failing to offer clarity on the mask issue in the days since he began backtracking on previous advice suggesting such coverings were not necessary.But Johnson says the scientific research is now showing that masks help stop the transmission of COVID-19. Talking to reporters Monday, during a visit to the London Ambulance Service, Johnson said “Just to be absolutely clear, face coverings do have a real value in confined spaces, and I do think the public understand that.”When pressed on whether it should be mandatory, Johnson said “we will be looking at the guidance, we will be saying a little bit more in the next few days.”He said he wants to see people who have been working at home for a long time talking to their employers about coming back to work “in a safe way.”Johnson also suggested British citizens plan “staycations” and take their holidays in the country rather than going overseas. He said he plans to stay within Britain when he takes time off but would not say where he was going. 
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Incumbent Polish President Andrej Duda has won the presidential election. With 99 percent of the ballots counted from Sunday’s runoff election, Duda won 51.2 percent of the vote. The narrow victory was announced early Monday.The right-wing Duda and liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski both had about 50 percent of the votes late Sunday night with one exit poll by a state-run Polish TV station giving Duda a very slight lead.The president claimed victory Sunday night. “Thank you to all my fellow Poles who voted for me and cast their votes. I want to thank you with all my heart,” he told a rally in Pultusk.Duda’s Law and Justice Party wants to extend its majority in parliament and implement conservative social, judicial and immigration policies that many in the European Union have criticized as anti-democratic.Those policies include Duda’s pledge to ban gay rights classes in schools. He has called homosexuality worse than communism.Trzaskowski, of the Civic Platform party, campaigned on promises to preserve the ruling party’s popular welfare programs but said he would block any legislation he says would be unconstitutional. He also wanted to restore good relations with the European Union.The coronavirus outbreak forced a nearly two-month delay in the first round of voting.Observers say the postponement hurt Duda, who had looked as if he would cruise to a first-round victory. But his popularity in the polls slipped after the Civic Platform party replaced a much less popular candidate with Trzaskowski and other candidates were allowed to get out and campaign more when COVID-19 restrictions were eased. 
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Thousands of Bulgarians gathered for a fourth day on Sunday in Sofia and other cities to protest against corruption and demand the resignation of the conservative government.Over 3,000 protesters shouted “Mafia!” and “Resign!” outside the government headquarters in Sofia and marched to parliament.The protests in the capital were sparked by an unprecedented raid by heavily armed police and prosecutors on the presidential headquarters on Thursday.President Rumen Radev’s legal affairs and anti-corruption secretary and his security and defense adviser were detained for questioning and their offices searched as part of two separate probes into influence-peddling and disclosure of state secrets.Protesters also gathered in at least 10 other towns on Sunday.The searches on Thursday sparked public anger and brought thousands of demonstrators onto the streets of Sofia to condemn the raids as an attack by the government and the chief prosecutor against the Socialists-backed Radev.The president is an outspoken critic of the cabinet of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, accusing it of “links with oligarchs.”Borisov on Saturday refused to resign but opponents launched an online petition aiming to gather as many as 1 million signatures to demand his ouster.The Socialist opposition in parliament also said Sunday that they would table a no confidence motion against the cabinet for “corruption” next Wednesday, appealing to protesters to back them.Friday’s rallies turned violent with 18 protesters arrested, including two men who were hospitalized after being beaten, prompting an even bigger turnout on Saturday when Radev joined protesters in their demand for the resignation of the cabinet and the chief prosecutor.Police had appealed for restraint ahead of Sunday’s demonstration and the interior ministry announced late Sunday that the rally had ended without incident.Thirteen years after joining the EU as its poorest country, Bulgaria has also remained the bloc’s most graft-prone member state, according to Transparency International’s corruption perception index.A new rally is scheduled for Monday afternoon and another nationwide protest for Thursday. 
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Iran claims “human error” was responsible for the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane earlier this year that killed all 176 people on board.The Iranian Civil Aviation authority said late Saturday, “A failure occurred due to a human error in following the procedure” for aligning the radar.The misalignment caused a “107-degree error” in the system, Iran said.On the same night of the plane downing, Iran had launched a ballistic missile attack targeting U.S. soldiers in Iran.The attack was in response to the killing of one of Iran’s top generals in a U.S. missile strike in Iraq.Scenes of Mourning, Anger in Wake of Ukraine Plane CrashIranian officials, after days of denials, admitted Jan. 11, 2020, that Tehran was responsible for mistakenly downing a Ukrainian airliner early on Jan. 8. Iran’s admission sparked anti-government protests in Tehran. Demonstrators gathered at two universities, where some called for the resignation of their country’s leaders.
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Voters in Poland are going to the polls Sunday for what most analysts say will be a close runoff election between right-wing President Andrzej Duda and centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski.In the first round of voting in late June, there was no clear winner.  Duda received 43 percent of the votes, while Trzaskowski obtained 30 percent.Duda’s nationalist Law and Justice Party is hoping to be able to extend its majority in parliament and implement conservative social, judicial and immigration policies that many others in the European Union have criticized as anti-democratic.They include Duda’s pledge to ban gay rights classes in schools. He has called homosexuality worse than communism.Trzaskowski, of the Civic Platform party, campaigned on promises to preserve the ruling party’s popular welfare programs but said he would block any legislation he says would be unconstitutional. He also says he would restore good relations with the European Union.The coronavirus outbreak forced a nearly two-month delay in the first round of voting.Observers say the postponement hurt Duda, who had looked as if he would cruise to a first-round victory. But his popularity in the polls slipped after the Civic Platform party replaced a much less popular candidate with Trzaskowski and other candidates were allowed to get out and campaign more when COVID-19 restrictions were eased.  
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Thousands of Bulgarians, frustrated with endemic corruption, protested Saturday for a third day in a row, demanding the resignation of the center-right government of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and the country’s chief prosecutor.Protesters, who chanted “Mafia” and “Resign” on Saturday, accuse Borissov’s third government and chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev of deliberately delaying investigations into links between graft-prone officials and local oligarchs.Protests against what many called “state capture” and “mafia-style” rule were held in several other cities in the Balkan country.Police arrested 18 people late Friday after scuffles during the anti-corruption protests, but the demonstration Saturday was largely peaceful.Bulgaria, the European Union’s poorest and most corrupt member state, has long pledged to root out graft but has yet to jail any senior officials on corruption charges.Public anger escalated following prosecutor raids on the offices of two of the Bulgarian president’s staff as part of investigations, which many saw as a targeted attack on President Rumen Radev, a vocal critic of the government.In an address to the nation Saturday, Radev said the protests showed that Bulgarians had had enough and called for the resignation of the government and the chief prosecutor.’We have done so much’Borissov, whose third government took office in 2017, prided himself on building new highways, boosting people’s incomes and getting the country into the eurozone’s “waiting room,” and said he does not plan to step down amid a looming coronavirus crisis.”We have done so much already, we have made so much efforts, nothing is keeping us in office except for responsibility,” Borissov said in a posting on his Facebook page.His GERB party said Radev, who was nominated for the post by opposition Socialists, was stoking a political crisis. GERB remains Bulgaria’s most popular political party, according to opinion polls. The next general elections are due in spring 2021.At another demonstration Saturday on the Black Sea coast near Burgas, hundreds of Bulgarians demanded access to a public coastline near the summer residence of Ahmed Dogan, a businessman and senior member of the ethnic Turkish MRF party. The demonstration was organized after the head of a small liberal party was denied access to the coast by armed guards of the National Protection Service, who were protecting Dogan.Protesters say the move was a sign of toxic links between the ruling elite and shady interests in the Balkan country.
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