The United States is working with the European Union (EU) and countries across the world on how to “safely reopen international travel” after months of COVID-19 lockdown and quarantine measures.   Draft recommendations and media reports that have emerged from the EU about reopening borders suggest Americans may be prevented from traveling to Europe because of the high number of coronavirus cases in the United States. US Citizens Likely to be Left Out as Europe Reopens Borders Brussels also says Europe’s borders should not be open to any country with a ban on European travelers”We have to make sure that we have all of the elements in place to reopen travel between the EU and the United States,” said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday in a press briefing.   “We’re working on finding the right way to do that, the right timing to do it, the right tactics to have in place,” Pompeo said. The top U.S. diplomat added he’s “very confident” that in the coming weeks they will work out “plans and methods” to “get global travel back in place.” European nations appear to be on track to reopen their borders, beginning in July. Draft internal EU recommendations suggest allowing entry by non-EU nationals from countries with stable or decreasing coronavirus infections. Wednesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported more than 34,000 new coronavirus cases, which brought the total to more than 2.3 million confirmed COVID-19 cases across the country.According to data published by the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, the U.S. has the most confirmed coronavirus cases, followed by Brazil and Russia. In March, U.S. President Donald Trump announced travel restrictions on 26 European countries in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus.  U.S. citizens are permitted to return from the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Schengen area that covers 26 European countries.
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A Hague-based special prosecutor indicted Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and nine others Wednesday for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during Kosovo’s 1998-99 war for independence from Serbia.In a press release Wednesday, the Special Prosecutor’s Office alleged that the 10 people charged were “criminally responsible for nearly 100 murders” during the war, which involved “hundreds of known victims of Kosovo Albanian, Serb, Roma, and other ethnicities and include political opponents.” Other crimes include forced disappearances, persecution and torture. “[The indictment] is the result of a lengthy investigation and reflects the SPO’s determination that it can prove all of the charges beyond a reasonable doubt,” the release said. The Office filed the indictments on April 24. A Kosovo Specialist Chamber pre-trial judge will decide whether to confirm the charges after reviewing the indictment. The Kosovo Specialist Chamber and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office were formally established in 2016 as a Kosovo court based in the Netherlands. It operates under Kosovo law but is funded by the European Union and staffed by international judges and prosecutors. The announcement Wednesday came three days before Thaci and Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti were scheduled to visit the White House for a summit with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Richard Grenell, President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Serbia and Kosovo, tweeted Wednesday that Thaci canceled his Washington trip.Hoti and Vucic will still attend, he wrote.We look forward to Saturday’s discussions which will be led by President Vucic and Prime Minister Hoti. https://t.co/j7KhhfbQX1
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) FILE – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks at a news conference in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 12, 2020.Speaking about the upcoming White House talks, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called it an opportunity to restart dialogue between all parties by “making a real effort to find a political solution for the situation in Kosovo.”  “And of course we would strongly welcome the resumption of talks between Belgrade and Pristina to try to find a solution. It is not for NATO or any other countries to dictate the outcome. But the fact that they meet is at least an encouraging first step to the resumption of talks,” Stoltenberg said in response to questions from VOA’s Serbian Service. He stressed that NATO has good relations with both sides. The Western Alliance also has a long history in the Balkans, helping to end wars in Bosnia-Herzegovina and in Kosovo, noted Stoltenberg.  VOA’s Serbian Service contributed to this report. 
 
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Russia has held its long awaited celebrations to mark the end of World War Two, with the Kremlin dismissing concerns over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic to hold a grand military parade on Red Square. As Charles Maynes reports from Moscow, it’s not the only sign of Moscow opening up.
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson sparred with opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer in Parliament Wednesday about Johnson’s strategies for dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in Britain.Considering Johnson’s announcement Tuesday that much of Britain would reopen, effective July 4, Starmer said local leaders across the country do not have the proper guidance or powers to implement lockdowns, should there be a spike in coronavirus cases. He asked Johnson to define what a local lockdown might look like and what guidance those leaders might expect to receive.Johnson dismissed Starmer’s criticism, saying the government had a “very effective cluster-busting operation” in place, and local governments understand how it works. Speaking about the National Health Service’s “track-and-trace” app, Starmer said 33,000 people are estimated to have COVID-19 in England, but only 10,000 people with the virus were reached by contact tracers. The opposition leader noted, “This is a big gap,” and warned that if the app isn’t running, “we can’t open the economy.”Johnson said the Labor leader was giving a “false impression” of what the NHS app is doing and said that it is a “formidable achievement.” He said “no country currently has a functioning track-and-trace app.”Starmer noted Germany’s app, which reports say has been downloaded 10 million times. Italy, Singapore and South Korea also have tracing apps in use.
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U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Polish President Andrzej Duda at the White House Wednesday, as Duda finds himself locked in a surprisingly tight race for reelection back home.Polish voters will decide in four days whether the right-wing president will serve a second term in office.Duda, a close ally of Trump, reportedly hopes that Trump will announce more U.S. military assistance for Poland, which has expressed a need for more military support since Russia’s 2014 annexation of nearby Crimea.The hastily arranged meeting comes after Trump’s sudden announcement earlier this month to cut U.S. troops in Germany from 34,500 to 25,000, triggering speculation that Trump could decide to reassign some of them to Poland.Polish media reports say the U.S. could also provide fighter jets and military cargo planes.A senior U.S. official said it would be premature to discuss troop deployment in Europe.Michal Baranowski, the director of the German Marshall Fund, a Washington-based non-partisan public policy think tank, said Duda hopes his meeting with Trump will increase his prospects of reelection.“President Duda will have an opportunity to look very presidential and that’s, I think a big part of this,” he said.Baranowski added that the meeting, Trump’s first with a foreign leader since the coronavirus pandemic was declared in March, could also bolster support for Trump in Polish American communities in swing states before the U.S. presidential election in November.While Duda is currently the frontrunner in the Polish election, Rafal Trzaskowski, a centrist opposition candidate, has been catching up in the polls.Commentator Boguslaw Chrabota wrote in the Rzeczpospolita daily newspaper that Duda was “desperately looking for a triumphant ending” to his campaign.But Chrabota also said the meeting with Trump carried “considerable risk” if he promises to use large amounts of taxpayers’ money to pay for U.S. military hardware.Poland has agreed in recent years to buy fighter jets, rocket launchers and missiles from the U.S. and has closely aligned itself with Trump. 
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U.S. and Russian negotiators signaled progress Tuesday in talks on a possible replacement to a nuclear arms reduction treaty due to expire next February. But there are significant hurdles ahead — including China’s opposition to being included in the talks.At issue is the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, restricting the number of deployed nuclear warheads held by the U.S. and Russia, the world’s two biggest nuclear powers.  U.S. negotiator Marshall Billingslea says working group discussions may take place in late July or early August, paving the way for a possible second round of talks in Vienna.  “We did indeed hold productive talks with Russia. Indeed, the talks were so productive that we found enough common ground to warrant the establishment of several technical working groups to dive further into the details of what a future trilateral arms control agreement should look like,” Billingslea said.But there are major sticking points moving forward. Washington wants any new deal to subject China to restrictions — and include all nuclear weapons, not just strategic weapons.  Beijing, with an estimated fraction of the U.S. and Russian arsenal, has repeatedly refused to join the talks. The differences between Washington and Beijing were highlighted this week in clashing Twitter postings and official comments by the two sides.  For its part, Russia says other nuclear powers, including France and Britain, should join future talks, but on a voluntary basis.  Heading the Russian delegation, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also noted progress in Vienna, according to Russia’s TASS news agency, but also that “substantial differences” remained.  The discussions in the Austrian capital are the first between Moscow and Washington on their nuclear arsenals after more than a year’s break.  President Donald Trump has withdrawn from several U.S. treaties with Russia, including those on overflights and intermediate-range nuclear forces.  The New START treaty can be extended another five years, if both sides agree. Experts say that could pave the way for a wider-ranging and more stringent deal. Without the treaty, Washington and Moscow could be left without any significant limits on their nuclear weapons for the first time in decades.  
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The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said Tuesday it is seeking to investigate record high temperatures reported from inside the Arctic Circle June 20.
 
At a news conference in Geneva, WMO spokeswoman Clare Nullis told reporters the U.N. weather agency is seeking to verify the reported 38 degrees Celsius temperature in the Russian town of Verkhoyansk, amid a prolonged Siberian heat wave and increased wildfire activity.
 
The WMO says it will confer with Russia’s weather agency, Roshydromet. If the temperature is confirmed, a team of investigators will then search the WMO’s archives to ensure it is indeed a record.
 
Nullis said the Russian weather agency reports that the region of Eastern Siberia where the record was reported “has very, very cold extremes in winter but is also known for its extremes in summer.”  
 
Even so, she said, Siberia has had a very warm spring, with temperatures running about 10 degrees Celsius above normal.  
 
Nullis said that heat helped drive May temperatures up globally, making it one of the highest temperatures ever.
 
The WMO reports the Arctic is among the fastest warming regions in the world and is heating at twice the global average. Annual surface air temperatures from 2016 to 2019 in the Arctic have been the highest on record.  
 
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Tuesday announced plans to further relax COVID-19 restrictions, including the opening of pubs, restaurants and hair salons beginning July 4.
 
Speaking before Parliament, Johnson said social distancing of two meters apart will be advised, but where they cannot, at least one meter is now acceptable, provided there are other “mitigations” such as masks.  He said hair salons will also reopen with appropriate precautions, including the use of visors.
 
Johnson said he would like to open other “close contact” services such as nail salons as soon as they show they can operate in a “COVID-secure way.”
 
The prime minister said beginning July 4, they will allow most “leisure facilities” and tourist attractions to reopen “if they can do so safely,” including outdoor gyms and playgrounds, movie theaters, museums, galleries, theme parks and arcades, libraries, social clubs and community centers.
 
Johnson said the National Health Service (NHS) will be conducting test-and-trace activities, and he encouraged businesses and citizens to cooperate with the effort and respond to any local outbreaks by collecting contact details from customers.  
 
Britain has had one of the highest death rates in the world during the pandemic, but the number of cases in the country has fallen steadily in recent weeks, allowing for the easing of restrictions.  
 
Johnson said the government will not hesitate to “apply the brakes” and reintroduce restrictions, even at a national level, should COVID-19 cases rise again.
 
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Novak Djokovic tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday after taking part in a tennis exhibition series he organized in Serbia and Croatia. The top-ranked Serb is the fourth player to test positive for the virus after first playing in Belgrade and then again last weekend in Zadar, Croatia. His wife also tested positive. “The moment we arrived in Belgrade we went to be tested. My result is positive, just as Jelena’s, while the results of our children are negative,” Djokovic said in a statement. Djokovic has been criticized for organizing the tournament and bringing in players from other countries amid the coronavirus pandemic. Viktor Troicki said Tuesday that he and his pregnant wife have both been diagnosed with the virus, while Grigor Dimitrov, a three-time Grand Slam semifinalist from Bulgaria, said Sunday he tested positive. Borna Coric played Dimitrov on Saturday in Zadar and said Monday he has also tested positive. There were no social distancing measures observed at the matches in either country. “Everything we did in the past month, we did with a pure heart and sincere intentions,” Djokovic said. “Our tournament meant to unite and share a message of solidarity and compassion throughout the region.” Djokovic, who has previously said he was against taking a vaccine for the virus even if it became mandatory to travel, was the face behind the Adria Tour, a series of exhibition events that started in the Serbian capital and then moved to Zadar. He left Croatia after the final was canceled and was tested in Belgrade. The statement said Djokovic was showing no symptoms. Despite the positive test, Djokovic defended the exhibition series. “It was all borne with a philanthropic idea, to direct all raised funds towards people in need and it warmed my heart to see how everybody strongly responded to this,” Djokovic said. “We organized the tournament at the moment when the virus has weakened, believing that the conditions for hosting the Tour had been met. “Unfortunately, this virus is still present, and it is a new reality that we are still learning to cope and live with.” Djokovic said he will remain in self-isolation for 14 days and also apologized to anyone who became infected as a result of the series.  
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The former CEO of German payment service provider Wirecard has been arrested, accused of inflating the company’s balance sheet in an accounting scandal that centers on a missing sum of 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion), prosecutors in Munich said Tuesday.
Markus Braun resigned on Friday after the company said that auditors couldn’t find accounts containing the money. On Monday, Wirecard said it has concluded that the money probably doesn’t exist.
Prosecutors said a court issued an arrest warrant shortly afterward and Braun, who had been in Vienna, turned himself in on Monday evening.
He is accused of inflating the company’s balance sheet and revenue using sham income from business with third-party acquirers, “possibly in collaboration with further perpetrators,” in order to “portray the company as financially stronger and more attractive for investors and clients,” they said in a statement.
Braun, an Austrian who had led Wirecard since 2002, was arrested on suspicion of incorrect statements of data and market manipulation.  
Prosecutor Anne Leiding said it remains to be seen whether the case may expand to include other offenses, and investigators have yet to determine “how often, for example, these incorrect results were used to obtain loans from other banks.”
After Braun turned himself in, “he pledged his cooperation” in a first meeting with investigators, Leiding told reporters.
Wirecard AG was once regarded as a star of the growing financial technology sector, but its shares have fallen sharply after the company became the subject of multiple Financial Times reports about accounting irregularities in its Asian operations. Wirecard disputed the reports, which started in February 2019, and said it was the victim of speculators.
On Monday the company fired its chief operating officer, Jan Marsalek, who had been suspended from the management board last week. German news agency dpa reported that Marsalek had been in charge of overseeing daily operations including in Southeast Asia, where the possible fraud occurred.
Two Philippine banks that were said to hold the missing money in escrow accounts said in recent days that they had no dealings with Wirecard, and the country’s central bank chief said none of the missing money entered the Philippines’ financial system.  
In the early hours of Monday, Wirecard said its management board “assesses on the basis of further examination that there is a prevailing likelihood that the bank trust account balances in the amount of 1.9 billion euros do not exist.”
Wirecard said it is in “constructive discussions” with banks on continuing credit lines, and is “assessing options for a sustainable financing strategy for the company.” It said it is examining other possible measures to keep the business going, including restructuring and disposing of business units.
After huge declines last week and on Monday, Wirecard shares rallied somewhat on Tuesday. They were up 19.8% in Frankfurt trading at 17.29 euros. 
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In January 2015, a stunned France reeled from the first of multiple terrorist attacks it would endure. The target: the saucy and irreverent Charlie Hebdo newspaper, known for poking fun at religions and just about everything else.    Brandishing pencils and banners, millions flooded the streets of Paris, defending the right to free expression.    Then came the troop and police patrols. And that November, after another deadly  terror strike on the Bataclan theater and other popular nightspots, a tough, months-long emergency law. Rights activists claimed free speech and other basic rights were slowly and enduringly eroding. Five years later – as France weathers another crisis and another state of emergency – they fear that is happening again, under the coronavirus pandemic.  “We think it could be durable, and that the COVID crisis is a pretext to push different surveillance technologies,” says Benoit Piedallu of digital rights group, La Quadrature du Net.   Critics point to a raft of areas where they believe personal freedoms have been compromised under the health emergency, which saw France imposing one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns.  Some – such as reports of racial profiling and police violence during confinement – are not new, but allegedly are heightened with the health crisis. Along with George Floyd’s killing in the United States, they are helping to fuel nationwide protests against police violence.    Other COVID-19-fighting measures – including the use of drones to police the lockdown and a new virus-tracing app – are sparking accusations of a creeping French surveillance state.  On June 17th, France’s CNIL data protection watchdog warned that new technology, including cameras and thermal scanners, to help track compliance with coronavirus rules, risked citizen fears of surveillance and undermining democracy. The organizations using these tools, including France’s RATP public transport firm and Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport, say they have taken measures to respect privacy rights.  To be sure, similar concerns are being echoed elsewhere around the globe as governments fight the pandemic. But in France – where authorities still promote the country’s revolution-era moniker as the “land of human rights” – activists say the new measures fit a years’-long pattern.  “The principle of a state emergency is exceptional restrictions to rights and freedoms to respond to a crisis,” said Anne-Sophie Simpere, spokeswoman for Amnesty France. “But by experience, each time we’ve had a state of emergency, we’ve never returned to the state of ‘before.’”    Liberty is the rule, government says French authorities argue otherwise, claiming the health restrictions are exceptional and basic liberties are the norm.  Daily death tolls are down to a few dozen at most from an April high of more than 800.  “Tens of thousands of lives have been saved by our choices, our actions,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a June 14 address to the nation announcing a further easing of restrictions.  With the government’s scientific advisory body claiming the pandemic under control, authorities plan to lift the state of emergency next month, although they warn that some measures may be reinstated if cases rise again.  French have sharply criticized the government for underfunded health services and a dearth of masks, yet there is much less opposition to the health restrictions.  A May survey by Harris Interactive, released just before France began unwinding lockdown, found nearly that two-thirds of respondents said they endured confinement “easily.”  “I didn’t think it was too strict, and I didn’t find my liberties infringed,” said Gilda, a Paris resident catching some sun in a newly opened park. Gilda declined to provide her last name, as did her husband, who said he found some measures a “bit overboard.” “They did it for us to avoid having more deaths,” said 19-year-old student Hanae Violay, who said she strictly followed the lockdown rules. “I think it was a good decision.”  Critics say the survey findings are no surprise. Polls showed similar approval for the 2015 emergency law, with two-thirds of French backing it early on.    “People want less democracy during these periods, because they are afraid,” said Arie Halimi, lawyer for the French Human Rights League. “And fear is the most important leverage for states.” The 2015 emergency measures – allowing police to conduct raids and impose house arrest without previous judicial green light – were extended several times. That year, Macron’s centrist government replaced them with a tough new anti-terror law, making permanent some of the exceptional powers.   Divided opinions: drones and tracing app    Rights groups fear a similar situation today. Last month, France’s highest administrative court barred the use of drones to monitor lockdown compliance, after the Rights League and the Quadrature du Net filed a privacy complaint. Authorities previously used drones to surveil yellow-vest protests and migrant movements, among other purposes.  The drone ban is not permanent; it is supposed to last only until technological or other ways to address the privacy concerns. “That doesn’t mean they can’t be used in the future,” said Halimi, of the Rights League, asserting that France risks entering an “Orwellian era.”   Also controversial is a virus-tracing app released earlier this month, making France the first major European country to use one. Dubbed “StopCovid,” the smart phone application aims to warn users if they have been around someone who later tested positive.  Downloading it is voluntary, and the government insists it will be temporary and fully respect privacy rights. “You have to be confident and trust your state,” French Digital Minister Cedric O told The Associated Press. “But we’re in a democratic state; we have checks and balances.”Authorities have claimed early success, with roughly 1.4 million French downloading the app within days after it was rolled out. Still, that amounts to less than 2 percent of the population. Surveys suggest fewer than half of all French plan to use it. That is not enough, many experts say, for it to work effectively.    Both data watchdog CNIL and the French parliament greenlighted the technology, but critics still worry about digital creep.  An April letter signed by hundreds of academics raised concerns that the data gathered by the app could be repurposed for mass surveillance ends, a fear also raised by rights advocates.    “Protecting health rights is also a fundamental right,” said Amnesty’s Simpere. “But today for us, the balance between efficiency of an application like StopCovid and fundamental rights isn’t respected.”   Scott Marcus, senior fellow at Brussels think-tank Bruegel, said the French app “looks reasonable,” and appears to reflect government promises to limit sharing health data, although he questions its effectiveness.    The more fundamental question, he said, for French and other Europeans to consider, is “How much do you trust your government?”   “Essentially the data collection shouldn’t be longer than absolutely necessary, and shouldn’t be retained longer than absolutely necessary,” Marcus said. “The COVID-19 problem could be with us for years. So it’s a genuine worry.” 
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French President Emmanuel Macron says he “won’t tolerate” the role that Turkey is playing in Libya, calling it an obstacle to peace. Turkey has been supplying arms to the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, which is fighting a rival administration headed by General Khalifa Haftar. At a news conference in Paris Monday with Tunisian President Kais Saied, Macron accused Turkey of ignoring a U.N. arms embargo against Libya and calls by the European Union for an end to all foreign intervention in Libya.  “I already had the opportunity to clearly say it to (Turkish) President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan: I consider today that Turkey plays in Libya a dangerous game and is in breach of all commitments it took during the Berlin conference,” Macron said. Relations between France and Turkey have become increasingly tense since an encounter between French and Turkish warships in the eastern Mediterranean two weeks ago.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan participates in a teleconference with European leaders, in Istanbul, Tuesday, March 17, 2020.France claims the Turkish ship flashed radar lights at a French vessel on a NATO mission to investigate whether the Turkish vessel was smuggling arms to Libya.  France accused Turkish sailors of taking up light weapons. Turkey called the French charges baseless. Libya has been in turmoil since longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi was toppled and killed in 2011.  The country is currently split between the government in Tripoli and Haftar’s eastern-based government, which is backed by Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates. After more than a year of fierce fighting for control of the capital, which has been largely stalemated, the Tripoli-backed forces appear to have secured control of the city, observers say, but not before sending thousands of civilians fleeing for their lives from the fighting.   
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Half-a-year ago Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron Soviet-style fist for a quarter of century, looked to be unassailable. But the former collective farm manager, whose aides and supporters like to dub him “father,” is now being widely labeled a “cockroach” — and his opponents are vowing to “squash the pest” come August when he faces a presidential election.
 
In the past, Lukashenko has managed elections in much the same way as Russian leader Vladimir Putin – disqualify serious opponents from running, fiddle the tallies and silence independent media, according to international election monitors. During the last poll in 2015, many Belarusians observed the upheaval in neighboring Ukraine and took fright, deciding they preferred the leaden, if impoverishing, stability of Lukashenko over unpredictable and possibly ruinous change, say analysts.
 
But this time, Lukashenko is threatened not by a so-called “color revolution” but with a “slipper uprising,” thanks to popular blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky, who was arrested at a rally last month after an alleged assault on a police officer.  
 
Tikhanovsky was behind the labeling of Lukashenko as a “cockroach,” saying he resembled the insect in a popular children’s poem called “The Mighty Cockroach.” He had taken to driving around Belarus campaigning with a giant slipper tied to the roof of his car — a signal of his intention to flatten Lukashenko.FILE – Blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky speaks during a rally of supporters of opposition politicians amid the coronavirus pandemic, in Minsk, Belarus May 24, 2020. Charged with public disorder and accused of being a foreign agent after the security services claimed to have unearthed $900,000 in cash during a subsequent search of his home, Tikhanovsky is blocked from running. His 38-year-old wife, Svetlana, has stepped up as a substitute to challenge Lukashenko.  
 
And she has become, on paper, the incumbent Lukashenko’s biggest threat, following the detention on Friday of another challenger, Viktor Babaryko, a 56-year-old former banker, who was arrested for alleged financial crimes, along with his campaign manager, his son. “Babaryko is detained because he was the organizer and leader of illegal activities,” Ivan Tertel, head of the state control committee, told AFP news agency.  
 
Tertel also accused Babaryko of conspiring with Russian “puppeteers.”
 
The arrests of Tikhanovsky, Babaryko and other Lukashenko critics— which have triggered street protests in the streets of Minsk, the Belarus capital, and earned a rebuke from the European Union  — puts Svetlana Tikhanovskaya even more in the spotlight.  
 
Even before Babaryko’s detention, 16% of Belarusians backed her candidacy, according to an unofficial poll run by the news site Tut.by. Police have told the website not to publish any more polls. And the signs are that she is unnerving the idiosyncratic authoritarian leader unaccustomed to challenge. Midweek she told reporters an anonymous caller told her to pull out of the election, warning the Tikhanovskys’ ten-year-old son and four-year-old daughter could be taken away from them if she refused.FILE – Supporters of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya collect signatures in support of her nomination as a candidate in the upcoming presidential election, in Minsk, Belarus, May 24, 2020.She says she had considered backing down, but has decided to continue, determined to be a champion for Belarusians, many of whom “don’t know that in Europe you can say what you think without fear.” She added, “I’ve never wanted to be a politician, let alone the president. This is just how things have turned out.”
 
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has become an unlikely revolutionary figurehead. She describes herself as just a stay-at-home mother and wife. One of the couple’s children has special needs. But the enthusiasm for change is clear. Towns across the landlocked country of nine million have seen protests and crowds appear to support her candidacy and the campaigns of other opposition candidates. She acknowledges “people at these rallies are supporting Sergei, not me.”
 
Her husband, who has been compared to Alexei Navalny, the blogger turned opposition leader in neighboring Russia, says he is playing “the main role in my wife Svetlana Tikhanovskaya’s election campaign; her role will be only a nominal one.” He has in the campaign team other popular bloggers.
 
Despite last week’s arrests people in Minsk are lining up again to sign the nomination papers of candidates opposing Lukashenko, according to Belarusian journalist Hanna Liubakova. She tweeted Sunday: “3 leading #Lukashenko’s rivals collected more than 730,000 signatures in less than a month. If you count 3 other alternative candidates, it is more than a million. This campaign has already shown that the level of activism and political engagement is incredibly high.”  
 
Candidates have to gather at least 100,000 signatures to be qualified to stand. FILE – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko chairs a meeting with officials in Minsk, Belarus, June 19, 2020.The opposition to Lukashenko is being fueled by an increasingly parlous economic situation, a coronavirus crisis, which the president downplayed from the start and cheerily told Belarusians to take saunas and drink vodka to avoid falling ill, and just a weariness with his rule and stagnation, analysts say. Younger Belarusians seem impervious to Lukashenko’s warnings of chaos, if he’s not reelected to his sixth term. And they are immune seemingly to the Soviet-like stability their elders favor.  
 
Lukashenko is not being helped in his political struggle by neighboring Russia. His relationship with Vladimir Putin has long been a fitful one with the two falling out frequently and then circling back for convenience sake. A senior Russian diplomat based in Minsk described to VOA once the “shouting match” he overheard during a phone conversation between the pair.  
 
Analysts say Putin’s major objective towards Belarus is to ensure — much as his goal is with Ukraine — that it doesn’t end up as a pro-Western enclave on Russia’s borders, say analysts. The Belarusian leader has long played the West against Russia and vice versa. He observed a neutral stance over Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and hosted peace talks in Minsk to try to find a solution to the war in eastern Ukraine.
 
But he has relied on Russia financially for help — and that has been less forthcoming with subsidies and oil supplies in recent months, punishment, analysts and diplomats say, for Lukashenko’s resistance to Putin’s efforts to draw Minsk deeper into the Russian orbit.
 
Few analysts predict that anyone other than Lukashenko will be allowed to win the Aug. 9 poll — and they warn that Belarus could quickly be plunged into a Maidan-like uprising that saw the 2014 ouster of Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine.  
 
Protests are spreading across Belarus as opposition to Lukashenko grows, local media and human rights organizations report. On Friday, more than 10 cities across the former Soviet republic saw protests with dozens of activists arrested by the security forces. The independent human rights group Viasna says least 120 people were detained.
 
Lukashenko appears to be preparing for the likelihood of a violent reaction to his seemingly inevitable electoral win, claiming on Friday that by arresting Babaryko and dozens of political activists he had foiled a Ukraine-style revolutionary plot hatched by foreign conspirators from “both the West and from the East,” who are intent on fomenting unrest in Belarus.
 
Former aide Alexander Feduta, now a political analyst, has warned that Lukashenko is ready to use force to stay in power. The arrests are an indication of that, he says.
 
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France has weathered multiple crises in recent years: terrorism, yellow protests, and now, coronavirus. Successive governments champion the country’s revolution-era moniker as the land of human rights – but critics say they don’t always live by it. That includes the response to COVID-19. For VOA, Lisa Bryant reports from Paris.
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Prosecutors have asked a Moscow court to sentence acclaimed theater and film director Kirill Serebrennikov to six years in prison on embezzlement charges he denies.Prosecutor Mikhail Reznichenko said at the trial as it resumed June 22 that it had been proven Serebrennikov and other defendants in the case had embezzled almost 129 million rubles (more than $1.86 million).All of the accused have denied the accusation.Reznichenko asked the Meshchansky District Court to sentence three other defendants to prison terms of between four years and five years.The 50-year-old Serebrennikov and the three other persons are accused of embezzling state funds that were granted from 2011 to 2014 to Seventh Studio, a nonprofit organization established by Serebrennikov, for a project called Platforma.Serebrennikov has taken part in anti-government protests and voiced concern about the growing influence of the Russian Orthodox Church.His arrest in August 2017 drew international attention and prompted accusations that Russian authorities were targeting cultural figures who are at odds with President Vladimir Putin and his government.Serebrennikov and two co-defendants — producer Yury Itin and former Culture Ministry employee Sofia Apfelbaum — were released from house arrest in April last year, but ordered to remain in Moscow.The other defendant, Aleksei Malobrodsky, was also barred from leaving Moscow. 
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Serbia’s Progressive Party and its coalition partners won over 60% of the vote in Sunday’s elections, boycotted by major opposition parties. President Aleksandar Vucic, the party leader, told jubilant supporters that he did not expect such a landslide victory.  “I have long been in politics, but I have never experienced such a moment. Tonight we have gained the tremendous trust of the people, the biggest ever in Serbia, under conditions where not many believed in it. We got a warning from the people that we have to be even more responsible, more serious, more diligent and that we have to make best possible results for our people and our citizens,” Vucic said.In the new parliament, the Serbian Progressive Party will hold about 190 out of 250 total seats. “We have won everywhere, where we have been losing (before). We have won in every place abroad, where we have never been winning in the past,” Vucic said.Serbia became the first country in Europe Sunday to hold general elections during the COVID-19 pandemic.   The elections, initially scheduled for April, were postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak.   The turnout among the 6.6 million voters eligible to cast ballots for the 250 seats in parliament and for local governing bodies was lower than in previous elections. Several main opposition parties boycotted the vote, claiming a lack of free and fair conditions and accusing Vucic of dominating the election campaign through his control of the mainstream media. Vucic denied the accusations.  However, some smaller groups decided to participate, saying the boycott would only help Vucic’s party.  
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Ratcheting up fresh pressure, Greece has blasted the British Museum for exhibiting the Parthenon marbles, calling the collection “stolen” treasures and demanding the masterpieces be returned to Athens. The call comes as Greece celebrates the 11th anniversary of the New Acropolis Museum, a four-story, state of the art edifice built to house the ancient treasures and weaken Britain’s claim that it is best able to look after the 2,500-year-old masterpieces. 
 
“Since September 2003 when construction work for the Acropolis Museum began, Greece has systematically demanded the return of the sculptures on display in the British Museum because they are the product of theft,” the country’s culture minister Lina Mendoni said. “The current Greek government – like any Greek government – is not going to stop claiming the stolen sculptures which the British Museum, contrary to any moral principle, continues to hold illegally,” she told the Athens daily Ta Nea. 
 
Depicting figures of ancient Greek mythology, the 75-meter frieze and its 17 statues were sawed off the Parthenon temple and shipped to London by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century, during his tenure as Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. 
 
Bankrupted by the venture, the British aristocrat sold them to the British Museum in 1816, where they became a major attraction and began one of the world’s longest running cultural disputes. 
 
Mendoni said “It is sad that one of the world’s largest and most important museums is still governed by outdated, colonialist views.” While successive governments in Britain have opposed calls for the return of the sculptures to Greece, pressure has mounted in recent years with a bandwagon of celebrities and politicians joining the repatriation campaign. 
 
Greece’s center-right government is also stepping up efforts to win back the treasures as the country gears up for its bicentennial independence anniversary next year.A municipal worker wearing a protective suit sprays disinfectant outside Acropolis museum as the Parthenon temple is seen in the background in Athens on March 24, 2020.While 50 meters of the 115-block Parthenon frieze is displayed in Athens, eight other museums scattered across Europe house fragments of it, including the Louvre and the British Museum. 
 
Last year, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis secured a key agreement from French President Macron to allow the Louvre to lend a small fragment of the Parthenon in light of those celebrations. 
 
Macron has become the first Western leader to initiate a comprehensive review of colonial looting, repatriating significant collections to Africa – a move traditionally resisted by leading museums in the West, including the British Museum. 
 
A similar loan request was made to the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson but it was quickly knocked down by the British Museum, saying any swap would require Athens to relinquish ownership claims to the prized treasures — a request Greece has emphatically refused. 
 
“Without the supreme symbol of culture, the Parthenon, Western Civilization cannot exist, and this symbol deserves to be reunited with its expatriate sculptures,” Mendoni told a local broadcaster in May. 
 
Government officials have refused to clarify whether Athens has followed up with any alternative proposal to the British Museum. Nor have they said whether Greece would resort to legal action against Britain in a bid to win back the marbles. 
 
“In law, a thief is not allowed to keep his or her ill-gotten gains, no matter how long ago they were taken, or how much he or she may have improved them,” said Geoffrey Robertson, a leading human rights attorney whom the government in Athens recruited in 2014 to consider legal action. 
 
“In the past, a lot of cultural property was wrongfully extracted from places that are now independent states. They want the loot sent back to where it was created and to the people for whom it has most meaning.” 
 
In its pamphlets, the British Museum argues that its free-of-charge entrance attracts millions of visitors every year from around the work, making the ancient Greek masterpieces available to the public within the context of a wide swath of human civilization — a claim Greece insists is now defunct with its $200 million mammoth museum. 
 
An austere building wedged within the chaotic sprawl of a crowded old neighborhood, the new Acropolis museum was initially scheduled to open in time for the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics. 
 
But legal fights over the expropriation of some 25 buildings, as well as archaeological findings unearthed at the site, derailed the project by more than 5 years. 
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One of the coldest places on Earth on Saturday became one of the hottest places on Earth. A Russian heat wave sent the thermometer in the Siberian town of Verkhoyansk soaring to 38 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). Meteorologists say that would be the highest temperature ever recorded north of the Arctic Circle.  Verkhoyansk is about 10 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. Temperatures in the town average 40 degrees below zero Celsius (-40 Fahrenheit) in winter, and it rarely gets warmer than 20 degrees (68 Fahrenheit) in summer.  Experts blame the unusual heat wave on a massive high-pressure system that has been stalled over Siberia for almost two weeks, preventing cooler air from flowing south. All of Russia has experienced an uncharacteristically warm winter and spring this year with average temperatures breaking records in the first five months of the year set in 2016.  
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Serbia’s ruling conservative party led by President Aleksandar Vucic is set for a landslide win in Sunday’s parliamentary election, results projected by Ipsos and CeSID pollsters showed.The projection shows the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) on track to win 62.5% of the votes, while the Socialist party, a junior coalition partner in the outgoing government, is seen coming in second with 10.7% of the votes.The center-right Serbian Patriotic Alliance led by former water polo player Aleksandar Sapic is seen in third place with 4% of the votes.A brass band orchestra at the SNS headquarters was playing traditional Serbian music before Vucic proclaimed victory.Dozens of smiling people crammed into a small room, hugged each other and few had their faces covered with masks, despite doctors warning to be cautious to avoid spreading the coronavirus.”Tonight people showed enormous trust in our team,” Vucic told journalists. “Serbian people have decided what kind of future they want.”Another Serbian pollster CRTA saw turnout at 48% compared to 56.7% in 2016. The State Election Commission is to announce preliminary results including turnout later in the evening.Turnout was hit by a boycott by some opposition parties, who say the vote will not be free or fair owing to Vucic’s grip on the media.Florian Bieber, a Balkan expert at Austria’s University of Graz, tweeted after seeing results: “It is a pyrrhic victory, without opposition in parliament the election is discredited and its rule less legitimate than ever before.”Voters largely back efforts by Vucic’s ruling coalition to push for Serbian membership of the European Union while maintaining strong ties with Russia and China.But the future government will face increasing EU and U.S. pressure to recognize the independence of Serbia’s former province of Kosovo, a move seen as key for regional stability.Serbia, which has a population of 7.2 million, has reported 12,894 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 261 deaths. It was among the first European countries to start opening its borders on May 22 and all lockdown curbs have since been lifted.Analysts and pollsters said that health concerns kept some voters at home, especially among higher-risk groups. About 1.2 million people on the electoral list have lived abroad for years and are unlikely to vote.”If we take into account number of votes (the SNS got) … we are heading to a North Korean or Chinese system,” said Slobodan Zecevic, a lecturer of international law with the Belgrade-based European University.   
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The coronavirus pandemic has prevented druids, pagans and party-goers from watching the sun rise at Stonehenge to mark the summer solstice this year.The ancient stone circle in southwestern England usually draws thousands of people to mark the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. But Britain has banned mass gatherings as part of measures to contain the spread of COVID-19.English Heritage, the body that oversees Stonehenge, livestreamed the sunrise instead. It said more than 3.6 million people watched as dawn broke at 4:52 a.m. Sunday (0352GMT, 11:52 p.m. EDT Saturday).Stonehenge, a World Heritage site, is believed to be 4,500 years old. It is known for its alignment with the movements of the sun.Some dedicated druids were determined to watch the sun rise in person, gathering in a field near Stonehenge despite the morning rain. Well-known druid King Arthur Pendragon said it had been “very wet,” but he was undaunted.“You can’t cancel the sunrise,” he told the BBC. “It’s going to happen, and we were there to celebrate it.” 
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Vladimir Putin is considering running for a new term as Russia’s president if voters approve constitutional changes that would enable him to do so, Russian news agencies quoted him as saying in an interview on Sunday.Russia will hold a nationwide vote from June 25 to July 1 on proposed changes to the constitution, including an amendment that would allow Putin to seek two more six-year terms as president when his current mandate ends in 2024.Opponents say the reforms are designed to allow Putin to keep power until 2036 and amount to a constitutional coup. The Kremlin says they are needed to strengthen the role of parliament and improve social policy and public administration.”I do not rule out the possibility of running for office, if this (option) comes up in the constitution. We’ll see,” Putin was quoted as saying in an interview with state TV that was shown in Russia’s far east before airing in western Russia. “I have not decided anything for myself yet.”The changes that Russians will vote on, already approved by parliament and the Constitutional Court, would reset Putin’s presidential term tally to zero. He would not be able to seek a new term under current constitutional limits.The changes are widely expected to be approved in the vote.Putin, who has been in power for two decades and is now 67, suggested the hunt for a candidate to succeed him could become a distraction if he does not run again.”If this doesn’t happen, then in about two years – and I know this from personal experience – the normal rhythm of work of many parts of government will be replaced by a search for possible successors,” Interfax news agency cited him as saying.”We must be working, not looking for successors,” he said. 
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Serbia is holding parliamentary and local elections Sunday expected to consolidate President Aleksandar Vucic’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party’s power.The opposition is partially boycotting the vote.”I fulfilled my citizen’s duty and that’s why I came to vote,” said Miroslav Krstic, a resident of Belgrade. “I think that is every citizen’s duty. But what I see is that we are divided.”The elections, initially scheduled for April, were postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but lockdown rules have now been completely relaxed and people are optimistic about what lies ahead.”I expect it to be far better, for Serbia to develop more economically,” said Petar Momcilovic, a Belgrade resident. “A lot has been done but I expect much more.”About 6.6 million voters are eligible to cast ballots for the 250 seats of the country’s parliament and for local governing bodies.Vucic’s party appears set for a landslide victory since it is facing a divided opposition.Several main opposition parties are boycotting the vote, claiming lack of free and fair conditions and accusing Vucic of dominating the election campaign on the mainstream media through his control. Vucic has denied the accusations.However, some smaller groups have decided to participate, saying the boycott would only help Vucic’s party. 
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce a new “one meter plus” social distancing rule to reopen the United Kingdom, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported late on Saturday.The announcement, to be made on Tuesday, will apply to all venues including offices, schools and pubs, the paper reported, adding that it will take effect from July 4.The move will allow people to remain a meter away from others if they take additional measures to protect themselves, such as wearing a mask, according to the report.Earlier on Saturday, culture minister Oliver Dowden said that Britain’s government will announce in the coming days whether it will reduce its two-meter social distancing rule for England.    
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Three people were killed, and three others were seriously injured in a stabbing incident in the British town of Reading on Saturday.Police said the attack is not being treated as a terrorism-related, however, the motive for it is unclear.Thames Valley Police said a 25-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, adding that they were not looking for anyone else.Matt Rodda, the member of parliament for Reading East, said the attack was shocking and happened in “a busy park in a beautiful historic part of the town” close to “the ruins of Reading Abbey and Reading jail,” both of which are historic buildings.”This is something that’s quite unheard of in Reading and I should just say that I am thinking about those who are affected and that this is quite a shocking and very sad development in our town,” he said.The incident came hours after a Black Lives Matter demonstration at the park, according to police sources, but they said there was “no indication” that the attack was linked to the protest.  
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