The European Medicines Agency predicted that there could be licensed drugs to treat the new coronavirus in the next few months and that a vaccine might even be approved in early 2021, in a “best-case scenario.”
Dr. Marco Cavaleri, who heads the European regulator’s vaccines department, told a media briefing on Thursday that approving medicines to treat COVID-19 might be possible “before the summer,” citing ongoing clinical trials. Recent early results for the drug remdesivir suggested it could help patients recover from the coronavirus faster, although longer-term data is still needed to confirm any benefit.  
Although it typically takes years to develop a vaccine, Cavaleri said that if some of the shots already being tested prove to be effective, they could be licensed as early as the beginning of next year.  
Cavaleri cautioned, however, that many experimental vaccines never make it to the end and that there are often delays.  
“But we can see the possibility that if everything goes as planned, vaccines could be approved a year from now,” he said.  Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyMore than 140 heads of states and health experts, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz issued an appeal Thursday calling on all countries to unite behind a “people’s vaccine” against COVID-19, to ensure any effective treatments and vaccines be available globally to anyone who needs them, for free.
At the moment, there are about a dozen vaccine candidates being tested in China, Britain, Germany and the U.S. The World Health Organization has estimated it could take about 12 to 18 months for an effective vaccine to be found.  
While some experts have proposed dropping the requirement for large-scale advanced clinical trials altogether, Cavaleri said that wasn’t currently being considered.  
“Our current thinking is all vaccines under development should undergo large phase 3 trials to establish what is the level of protection,” he said.  
But he acknowledged that could change if the situation worsened.  
“Things may evolve as the pandemic will evolve and we will see if we need to do something else,” Cavaleri said.
Some officials have warned that a vaccine might never be found; previous attempts to develop a vaccine against related coronaviruses like SARS and MERS have all failed. But Cavleri was optimistic an immunization against COVID-19 would eventually be discovered, as there are various technologies being tried globally.  
“I think it’s a bit early to say, but we have good reason to be sufficiently optimistic that at the end of the day, some vaccines will make it,” he said.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she has “hard evidence” that Russia hacked the website of Germany’s parliament in 2015 and allegedly stole documents from her own parliamentary office. German news reports said prosecutors had issued an arrest warrant for a suspected member of the Russian military intelligence agency GRU. “I can say honestly that this pains me,” Merkel said during a question-and-answer session with lawmakers Wednesday. “On the one hand, I work every day for a better relationship with Russia, and when you see on the other hand that there is such hard evidence that Russian forces are involved in acting this way, this is an area of tension.” Merkel said she was “very glad” investigators had identified someone she called a “concrete” suspect. When asked about what the Russians were looking for, Merkel said she got “the impression that they picked up relatively indiscriminately what they could get.” It was unclear what Russian was allegedly trying to find. German authorities would categorize it only as intelligence data on German organizations and institutions.Merkel said that the charges didn’t make efforts to keep good relations with Russia easier and that Germany had the right to take measures against Russia or anyone who carried out such spying.  Russia has consistently denied conducting cyberattacks on Germany, the United States or any other Western nation. A Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman has said the only time Russia broke into the German parliament was in 1945.  
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As people around the world wonder when the coronavirus might go away, experts say: Maybe never.The World Health Organization warned Wednesday that the new virus, which has infected 4.3 million people worldwide, may become endemic, just like the HIV virus, and that people may have to learn to live with it.It could stay embedded in communities even if a vaccine is found, said WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan during a virtual news conference from Geneva.”HIV has not gone away, but we have come to terms with the virus,” he said.About 100 organizations worldwide are working on developing a coronavirus vaccine. Even if they find one that works, containing the virus will take a “massive effort,” the WHO official said.Meanwhile, the California-based Gilead drug company has reached agreements with several companies to make its antiviral drug Veklury, the brand name of remdesivir, available in 127 countries to help treat COVID-19.After weeks or months under lockdown, people around the world are eager to return to their normal lives, but the pandemic is showing no signs of going away, at least for now. Some countries, like New Zealand and Thailand, reported no new cases Wednesday, and Australia came close. Once hardest hit, Italy and Spain have both slashed the number of new cases.An employee cleans the floor at Riverside Market in Christchurch on May 14, 2020. New Zealand will phase out its coronavirus lockdown over the next 10 days after successfully containing the virus.But Russia has reported more than 10,000 new infections per day for the past 11 days. It has the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases after the United States. The country’s prime minister and the president’s spokesman are being treated for COVID-19. There are fears the situation may worsen because the country’s official nonworking period ended Tuesday.Some countries that seem to have halted the spread, like Germany and South Korea, have seen a resurgence of cases. A spike of new infections in Lebanon prompted the government to reimpose a four-day lockdown Wednesday after it began gradually lifting restrictions earlier this month.Governments are struggling between the need to restart their economies and the necessity to contain the virus. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has instructed local governments to reinstate shutdowns if they record more than 50 new cases per 100,000 residents. Russian President Vladimir Putin left to local governors to decide whether to extend shutdowns or reinstate the ones that have been lifted.In the United States, the government’s top virology expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned the public and leaders of the dangers of reopening too soon. Fauci told a Senate committee Tuesday that premature lifting of restrictions could lead to an outbreak that could be impossible to control.But U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that people want the country reopened, including businesses and schools.“We have to open our country. Now, we want to do it safely, but we also want to do it as quickly as possible. We can’t keep going on like this,” Trump said.The mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser, extended the U.S. capital’s stay-at-home order, which was to expire Friday, until June 8. She said she wanted to see a steady decline of new cases over two weeks before lifting restrictions. Governors of neighboring states Virginia and Maryland are planning to ease their lockdowns in places where the spread of the virus has halted.Sheila Kelly, center, owner of Powell’s Steamer Co. & Pub, stands behind makeshift barriers as she helps patrons at her restaurant in the El Dorado County town of Placerville, Calif., May 13, 2020.Los Angeles County, California, the most populous county in the U.S., with 10 million residents, is expected to announce a three-month extension of its lockdown.The largest four-year public university system in the U.S., California State University, announced the cancellation of in-person classes in the fall at its 23 campuses, the first large U.S. university to do so. Almost all instruction will be moved online, Chancellor Timothy White said in a statement.Elsewhere in the world, Saudi Arabia announced Wednesday that it would go into complete lockdown for the end of the holy month of Ramadan after a sharp rise in new cases. The Interior Ministry said the measure would be in effect from May 23 through May 27.Worldwide, there were about 4.3 million confirmed infections and more than 297,000 deaths late Wednesday evening EDT, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. The United States was leading the world in the number of infections, with close to 1.4 million, and the number of coronavirus-related deaths, over 84,000. 
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The European Union Wednesday announced its plan to help European citizens salvage their summer vacations and resurrect Europe’s damaged tourism industry after months of coronavirus lockdowns.At a Brussels news conference, EU commissioners stressed safety as they announced their gradual, careful steps to restart travel and tourism among European countries.The commissioner’s over-arching advice is that EU countries with similar rates of coronavirus infections and comparably strong health care systems should begin lifting border measures between each other.Earlier Wednesday, Germany announced, after consultations with its neighbors, the opening of its borders with France, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Austria.  Tourists from outside Europe cannot enter Germany until at least June 15.The EU commissioners also announced guidelines for reimbursing consumers with vouchers for cancelled flights or other vacation plans that can be used for future travel plans. The vouchers, they said, would be preferable to cash reimbursements as they would encourage travel and not create a financial burden on cash-strapped airlines and travel companies.  Even with easing restrictions, social distancing rules would still apply, and Brussels is recommending that robust disease monitoring measures are put in place – including good testing capacity and contact tracing – so that people have the confidence to return to hotels and camping sites abroad. 
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Spain – one of the nations hardest hit by the pandemic – is seeing its daily coronavirus death rate drop this week.  That is allowing a limited number of businesses to reopen after weeks of paralysis. Although business owners are happy to be open again, they continue to see their losses mount – and normality seems distant. In a report narrated by Jonathan Spier, Alfonso Beato has the story from Barcelona
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Germany’s interior minister said Wednesday the country wants to end some COVID-19 checks at land borders by the middle of next month.Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told reporters Germany had set the goal of free travel in Europe by mid-June and would open borders with France, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Austria by Saturday.Seehofer said the plans are contingent on a continued favorable rate of COVID-19 infection.Seehofer said agreements on loosening the measures had been reached in bilateral talks with neighboring nations this week.He said that travel from non-EU countries such as the United States and Russia would remain restricted until at least June 15.German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the border openings before the German parliament Wednesday. She, like Seehofer, warned of complacency regarding the virus, saying it would be sad if Germans had to return to the restraints of full COVID-19 restrictions if the virus flairs up again. 
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Italy plans to reopen bars and restaurants after suffering one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks Europe has seen so far.  Getting around the country remains a concern, as social distancing guidelines all but forbid using mass transit.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports that Italy’s capital built a special bike lane to keep commuters safe.
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Turkey is starting to ease COVID-19 restrictions, as the government claims success in containing the coronavirus. While infection and death rates are falling, concerns remain, the move may be premature, driven more by economic rather than health considerations. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.”May God gives us good business and protect us from corona,” said Gul Ali Simsek as he opened his barbershop in Istanbul’s Moda district.Simsek’s business has been in lockdown since March, as part of a nationwide shutdown of barbers, cafes, bars, restaurants and numerous other establishments.But the lockdown was lifted on hairdressers and barbers, as the government lifted some COVID-19 controls.  “I am opening the shop with such excitement as if it is the first time. Because I missed it,” said Simsek, holding back tears. “I missed the people. I am so used to here,” gesturing to his barbershop.Even though it was seven in the morning, Simsek didn’t have to wait long for his regular customers.”Brother Ali is my barber for almost 40 years. Since I was a child, he has cut my hair,” said Yakup, who has a tailor shop nearby.Tailor Yakup, a customer of barber Gul Ali Simsek for forty years, welcomes the reopening but worries of a second lockdown if there are more infections. (D. Jones)”We waited for this day too long,” said Yakup, who asked that his last name not be used. “I hope it would be good for our nation, of course. With the condition that we all abide by the rules.”Simsek explains he has disinfected his shop and is wearing a mask and gloves following safety regulations issued by Turkey’s National Barber Association.  Both men say they have suffered substantial economic losses, while struggling to live with the uncertainty of when restrictions will end.On Monday, shopping malls opened for the first time since March. Customers entering some malls had their temperatures taken as part of efforts to contain the coronavirus.  Critics are questioning the opening of the malls, pointing out the health risks of confined places with large numbers of people.President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, pointing to declining COVID-19 infection and death rates, said the time is right to ease controls. On Sunday, people over the age of 65 were allowed out of their homes for four hours a day after a nearly two-month lockdown.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, listens during a teleconference with his cabinet in Istanbul, May 11, 2020.”Like all the countries in the world, they (the Turkish government) are caught between a rock and a hard place,” said international relations expert Soli Ozel of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University.   “How much should we engineer our policies that the health issues don’t get out of hand? Second, what do we do to avoid the devastation of the economy, which was already very weak?” he asked.Ozel says Turkey, through a combination of factors, including having Europe’s youngest population, appears less vulnerable to infection. He says the country has large numbers of intensive care facilities, along with well-trained doctors and is among the most successful in Europe in containing the virus.”Other than some major initial errors, the government has rather rapidly reacted to the threat,” said Ozel.”Turkey has done well, and in terms of the number of deaths per million inhabitants, it has done even better than Germany, which is the best western European country.”The Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus dashboard says Turkey currently has close to 140,000 infections and 3,841 deaths. On Monday, Turkey’s Health Ministry reported 1,114 new COVID-19 cases, 55 deaths and 3,089 people recovering.  The political opposition accuses the government of underreporting, a charge it denies. Observers point out similar claims have been made against many European countries.But fears of rising complacency are starting to be voiced within the government. Photographs Friday of Istanbul’s famous Istiklal shopping street crowded with people, many unmasked, alarmed Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.  Photos of Istanbul’s famous Istiklal shopping street Friday crowded with people, many unmasked, alarmed Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, warning of dangerous complacency. (D. Jones)”This is not a very good picture. It is too early for so many people to appear in a single photo frame. Let’s try to stay at home. If we go out, let’s wear face masks and adhere to social distancing rules,” Koca wrote on Twitter.Koca’s reputation has surged during the epidemic, with one poll naming him the country’s most popular politician.  Critics are warning the government’s easing of restrictions threatens to accelerate complacency within the population, risking a surge in infections. On Wednesday, people under 20 (those working are exempt) will be allowed out of their homes for four hours, for the first time since March.The government announced Monday the lockdown will end starting May 27 for people under 20 and over 65.Erdogan is voicing caution. “We have seen the examples in the world of how complacency could lead to big catastrophes,” he said Tuesday.The Turkish president announced a new nationwide lockdown from May 16 to 19 to coincide with a public holiday.Erdogan’s balancing act between health and economic concerns comes amid mounting criticism that not enough is being done to alleviate the financial fallout of the pandemic.”If Erdogan delivered 5,000 lira ($700) to every person at the beginning of the epidemic to help people get through, Erdogan would have been a national hero. But he didn’t. There is a lot of economic pain,” said analyst Atilla Yesilada of consulting group Global Source Partners.”The government’s allocation resources to the working population really wasn’t sufficient,” Ozel said. “It is also debatable whether small- and medium-size enterprises received enough support from the government. One of the most staunch supporters of the government is shopkeepers, and they have been hit very hard.”But even business owners like barber Simsek say the hope instilled by returning to work is tempered by fear that Turkey is taking a gamble.  “Of course, there is fear. There is fear. You can’t be without fear because this is not a matter of a joke. We have to be scared,” he said, while applying the finishing touches to the haircut for friend and life-long customer Yakup.Looking at his haircut, Yakup concurs.”The future is uncertain; the limitations can be introduced again. But we are putting up our own fight as much as we can. There is not much more we can do.”
 
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In an effort to try to prevent importing new cases of the coronavirus, Spain is requiring people arriving from abroad to go into quarantine for two weeks. The country has started to emerge from a seven-week, strict lockdown after an explosion of cases made it one of the world’s COVID-19 hot spots. A health ministry order published Tuesday said the quarantine rules will go into effect on Friday and will apply both to visitors from other countries as well as Spanish citizens who are returning home. People will be allowed only to go grocery shopping or to seek medical care during the 14-day period. China instituted a similar strategy as it saw its locally transmitted cases sharply decline and authorities began easing lockdown restrictions. Governments all over the world are currently weighing their strategies and whether it is time to impose new measures to stop the spread of the virus or allow people to resume parts of normal life. In Singapore, Tuesday brought a new phase in reopening with people allowed to get a haircut, visit bakeries or go to laundromats.   India is resuming some train service Tuesday for the first time since March.  Passengers must pass temperature checks and adhere to social distancing guidelines. South Korean authorities are worried about a resurgence of cases and are working to track down people who recently visited nightclubs in Seoul where a cluster of new infections has emerged.Quarantine workers spray disinfectants at night spots of Itaewon neighborhood, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Seoul, South Korea, May 11, 2020.Officials said Tuesday teams are using phone and credit card data to try to track down about 2,000 more people so they can be tested. So far, there are more than 100 confirmed cases linked to nightclubs. So-called contact tracing has been a major element as governments try to stop the spread of the coronavirus by finding who may have been close enough to someone who has tested positive. Those people can then be tested themselves, and isolated if necessary. Testing is a big focus in the United States, with the Trump administration saying about 9 million people have been tested and that the capacity for more tests is increasing. A senior administration official told reporters that a new antigen test will speed up the testing process further because it looks only for the presence of the viral protein in the nose, unlike the more complicated and time-consuming nucleic acid tests.     “The machines for these tests — there are already 20,000 of them out in the United States because they’re a commonly used platform for things like flu testing and strep throat,” the official said.  The World Health Organization is advising nations to ensure that the pandemic is under control before reopening. WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday that countries should also have surveillance systems in place to be able to detect and manage any resurgence of cases and ensure that their health systems can cope with a possible resurgence after reopening.   He also said there are about seven or eight of what he called “top” vaccine candidates among the many currently being developed around the world.  He said that while several months ago experts expected the process of getting a vaccine ready for public use would take 12 to 18 months, there are efforts to accelerate that process with the support of $8 billion in pledges made last week.   Worldwide, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases is about 4.2 million. The global death tally is more than 286,000, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. 
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In an effort to try to prevent importing new cases of the coronavirus, Spain is requiring people arriving from abroad to go into quarantine for two weeks. The country has started to emerge from a seven-week, strict lockdown after an explosion of cases made it one of the world’s COVID-19 hot spots. A health ministry order published Tuesday said the quarantine rules will go into effect on Friday and will apply both to visitors from other countries as well as Spanish citizens who are returning home. People will be allowed only to go grocery shopping or to seek medical care during the 14-day period. China instituted a similar strategy as it saw its locally transmitted cases sharply decline and authorities began easing lockdown restrictions. Governments all over the world are currently weighing their strategies and whether it is time to impose new measures to stop the spread of the virus or allow people to resume parts of normal life. In Singapore, Tuesday brought a new phase in reopening with people allowed to get a haircut, visit bakeries or go to laundromats.   India is resuming some train service Tuesday for the first time since March.  Passengers must pass temperature checks and adhere to social distancing guidelines. South Korean authorities are worried about a resurgence of cases and are working to track down people who recently visited nightclubs in Seoul where a cluster of new infections has emerged.Quarantine workers spray disinfectants at night spots of Itaewon neighborhood, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Seoul, South Korea, May 11, 2020.Officials said Tuesday teams are using phone and credit card data to try to track down about 2,000 more people so they can be tested. So far, there are more than 100 confirmed cases linked to nightclubs. So-called contact tracing has been a major element as governments try to stop the spread of the coronavirus by finding who may have been close enough to someone who has tested positive. Those people can then be tested themselves, and isolated if necessary. Testing is a big focus in the United States, with the Trump administration saying about 9 million people have been tested and that the capacity for more tests is increasing. A senior administration official told reporters that a new antigen test will speed up the testing process further because it looks only for the presence of the viral protein in the nose, unlike the more complicated and time-consuming nucleic acid tests.     “The machines for these tests — there are already 20,000 of them out in the United States because they’re a commonly used platform for things like flu testing and strep throat,” the official said.  The World Health Organization is advising nations to ensure that the pandemic is under control before reopening. WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday that countries should also have surveillance systems in place to be able to detect and manage any resurgence of cases and ensure that their health systems can cope with a possible resurgence after reopening.   He also said there are about seven or eight of what he called “top” vaccine candidates among the many currently being developed around the world.  He said that while several months ago experts expected the process of getting a vaccine ready for public use would take 12 to 18 months, there are efforts to accelerate that process with the support of $8 billion in pledges made last week.   Worldwide, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases is about 4.2 million. The global death tally is more than 286,000, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. 
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The United States, Britain and Russia are preparing to return their people to work despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday the country is conducting about 300,000 coronavirus tests a day and will soon pass a total of 10 million tests conducted, which he said was more than any other country.   A senior administration official told reporters that a new antigen test, approved by a company called Quidel, will speed up the testing process further because this test looks only for the presence of the viral protein in the nose, unlike the more complicated and time-consuming nucleic acid tests.  “The machines for these tests — there are already 20,000 of them out in the United States because they’re a commonly used platform for things like flu testing and strep throat,” the official said. The administration expects about 9 million new tests to be available every month.Materials for COVD-19 testing from Abbott Laboratories, U.S. Cotton, and Puritan are displayed as President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus during a press briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House, May 11, 2020.The White House shifted focus from reopening the country to testing after two West Wing aides tested positive for the coronavirus. Trump wants to reopen the country as soon as possible to halt the growing unemployment, which has already reached historic proportions, with more than 30 million people losing their jobs since mid-March. Some state governors have made testing one of the conditions for returning people to work. The United States tops the world with about 1,350,000 confirmed COVID cases and more than 80,000 coronavirus-related deaths. But many states are reopening or planning to do so, including the worst-hit New York and New Jersey. Britain, which ranks third in the world in the number of infections — close to 225,000 — and second in the number of deaths — more than 32,000 — also is taking steps to return people to work, even though infected people are still dying in thousands by day. Labor unions and leaders of the independent regions of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are balking at the three-step plan that Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled Sunday. Johnson spent Monday defending what he called his “baby-steps” approach to reopening the country, and he answered questions from the media and the public.  Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that the non-working period ends May 12 even though the country reported 11,656 new cases over the past 24 hours, a record number so far. In a televised address Monday, Putin told the nation that “it is in the interest of all of us for the economy to return to normal quickly.” Russian President Vladimir Putin, addresses the nation via video conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, May 11, 2020.Russia reported a total of more than 221,000 COVID cases on Monday and 2,009 coronavirus deaths. Putin said the ultimate decision on reopening remains with local governors, who he said can reinstate shutdowns if necessary. He said the doctors will have a final say. Putin said all sectors should return to work starting with construction, agriculture and energy.   Worldwide, many countries have relaxed COVID restrictions with mixed results. New Zealand is set to further ease measures Thursday, after no new cases emerged during the first phase of reopening. Its people are now allowed to go to restaurants, movie theaters and malls. But South Korea, Germany and China have seen a resurgence of cases after easing lockdowns. The World Health Organization is advising nations to ensure that the epidemic is under control before reopening. WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday that countries should also have surveillance systems in place to be able to detect and manage any resurgence of cases and ensure that their health systems can cope with a possible resurgence after reopening.  Worldwide, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases is more than 4.2 million. The global death tally is more than 285,000, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. 
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson sought to assure the public Monday that the government is taking “baby steps” toward leading the country out of the lockdown prompted by the coronavirus pandemic. Johnson answered the public and media questions during a daily briefing after critics called his new approach to COVID-19 vague and potentially dangerous. The United Kingdom has nearly 225,000 confirmed cases and 32,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Three-step roadmapEarlier Monday, Johnson presented his three-step roadmap out of the lockdown to the House of Commons, after unveiling it to the public on Sunday. He said the government is changing the message from “Stay at Home” to “Stay Alert.” According to his plan, people who cannot work from home, such as workers in construction and manufacturing, should be encouraged to go to work. He also announced more freedom for outdoor recreation. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks during a daily news conference to update on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, May 11, 2020.The other steps would follow “if and only if” the first phase proves to be successful, the prime minister vowed. Step two, potentially in June, and step three in July would include gradual reopening of shops, some encounters between students and teachers and possibly the reopening of some of the hospitality industry “if the numbers allow it,” he said. Regional leaders of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales said Johnson’s plan could endanger people’s lives and kept their shutdowns mostly in place for the time being. They generally ruled out reopening the primary and secondary schools in June or July.  Britain’s opposition Labor Party leader, Keir Starmer, said the government’s plan leaves “questions that need answering.” ‘Stay Alert’ message defendedJohnson, who is the only world’s leader to have been hospitalized for COVID-19, defended his “Stay Alert” message, saying it still requires most people to stay at home. Those who have to leave home for work are encouraged to walk, drive or ride a bike rather than use public transport, which is now limiting the number of passengers.  Seats display social distancing signs at Victoria Station, London, May 11, 2020, as the country continues in lockdown to help stop the spread of coronavirus.Workplaces will receive detailed new COVID-19 safety guidelines by the end of the week, he said. Judging by the previous guidelines, new measures could include a ban on sharing a workspace between different shifts and obligatory wearing of protective gear. The government is also asking people to cover their faces in enclosed spaces where social distancing is difficult.  The government’s oal is to return elementary-school children to schools on June 1 for a month if possible, but in smaller classes. Secondary schools and colleges should prepare for face-to-face contact with students who have key exams next year, but most of their classes will still be remote learning from home.  Cultural and sporting events will be allowed to take place behind closed doors for broadcast from June 1. Costly finesFines for breaking the guidelines will be increased. Violators could face charges of close to $4,000 to ensure compliance. Johnson said a COVID alert system with danger levels 1 to 5 will be established to help adjust the safety measures as needed. Level 5 in red indicates that health care services are being overwhelmed, while Level 1 in green signals an end to COVID-19 presence in Britain. The country is presently at Level 4, which means the virus transmission is high or rising. The prime minister said every step forward will be conditional on the coronavirus situation and taken with precaution. 
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British media are reporting that the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) has issued a wanted notice for a U.S. woman who is accused of killing a British teenager during a car crash last year.  A so-called “Red Notice” was issued for Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a U.S. diplomat, meaning she could provisionally be arrested if she leaves the United States. Such notices are usually initiated by a member country but are not the same as an international arrest warrant.  Sacoolas claimed diplomatic immunity after a deadly car crash in Britain last August and swiftly returned to the United States, setting off a diplomatic dispute between London and Washington.  Britain has requested her extradition, but U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rejected that request in January.   When asked Monday if Britain pushed for the Interpol notice, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said only that the British government continues to believe that Sacoolas should return to Britain to face judgment.  He said the U.S. decision not to extradite Sacoolas was a “denial of justice.” “She should return to the U.K. We have made this clear to the U.S., including the prime minister to President (Donald) Trump,” the spokesperson said. Sacoolas, 42, has been charged by British prosecutors in the death by dangerous driving of 19-year-old Harry Dunn, who was riding a motorcycle when Sacoolas’s car crashed into him.  The accident took place outside RAF Croughton, a British military base in central England used by U.S. forces. At the time, Sacoolas’s husband was an intelligence officer at the base.  Dunn’s parents urged Sacoolas to return to Britain to face justice. They met with Trump at the White House last October in an effort to bring about her extradition. Trump had hoped to persuade the family to meet with Sacoolas who was in another room, but they declined.  Dunn’s mother, Charlotte Charles, said on Twitter Monday that the Interpol development was “important news.”    “I just want to urge Mrs. Sacoolas to come back to the UK and do the right thing,” she added.  
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The red-light district is one of the main tourist attractions in Amsterdam. While coronavirus lockdown restrictions are starting to ease, sex work is not allowed to resume until September. Advocacy groups say the lack of support for sex workers has exposed how vulnerable they are under Dutch law.Hella Dee, not her real name, has been working in brothels in and around Amsterdam for the past 10 years, but she hasn’t had any income since COVID-19 restrictions were enforced in March.She started a fundraising campaign when she realized how many of her colleagues were in financial distress. “We need to take bigger risks because there’s hardly any clients out there and taking bigger risks leads to, you know, more people experiencing violence,” Dee said. “So we’ve been raising funds and distributing emergency fees … for people who need money today to pay for food, to pay for other basic expenses, medicine, transport.”FILE – A lone man walks past closed brothels in the capital’s famous red-light district on a weekend night in the center of Amsterdam, Netherlands, March 20, 2020.The campaign collected over $20,000 that was distributed to over 400 sex workers.Masten Stavast, who rents out 31 windows to sex workers in the famous red-light district of Amsterdam, doesn’t understand why massage parlors are operating again in the Netherlands, but sex workers will be the last group to resume work.Stavast is compiling a protocol with sex workers, club owners and other people from the red-light district to lobby policymakers on how sex work can safely resume before September.”The reason to put it on the last group is really strange, especially because it’s always one to one, and not in a crowd or whatever,” Stavast said. “If everything goes all right on July 1, there can be 100 people together, why not one to one then with all the protection that everybody has?”Many sex workers are excluded from the billions of dollars of government support offered to overcome economic hardship due to coronavirus lockdown measures. The reasons for their exclusion varies, from not being registered at the chamber of commerce, to working in private clubs that fall under different labor laws.The Netherlands was one of the first countries in the world to regulate sex work in 2000, but a new national proposed law would force sex workers to acquire permits. At the same time, the city of Amsterdam wants to limit window prostitution in the center.Yvette Luhrs, a sex worker who mostly works online, is also a rights activist aligned with the Prostitution Information Center in Amsterdam. Luhrs worries about the future of sex work in the Netherlands after coronavirus.”The city council of Amsterdam but also the national government, they’re both in the procedure of creating new laws and regulations around sex work and they turn out to be very restrictive,” Luhrs said. “And the fact that the brothels are closed now and people are in this corona scare, we assume they will use this crisis to push their new laws.”The United Nations stated in April that sex workers across the world are reporting a lack of access to coronavirus emergency social protection schemes, and urged countries to not leave sex workers behind in their response to the virus.The red-light district has been located along the canals of Amsterdam since the 15th century. It attracts millions of tourists each year. 
 
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Plastic barriers and millions of masks appeared Monday on the streets of Europe’s newly reopened cities, as France and Belgium emerged from lockdowns, the Netherlands sent children back to school and Greece and Spain further eased restrictions. All faced a delicate balance of trying to restart battered economies without fueling a second wave of coronavirus infections.
Social distancing was the order of the day but just how to do that on public transit and in schools was the big question.  
With Monday’s partial reopening,  the French did not have to carry forms allowing them to leave their homes but crowds quickly developed at some metro stations in Paris, one of France’s viral hot spots. A last-minute legal challenge emerged to the government’s practice of confining people to their own regions, further confusing the post-lockdown landscape.
Antoinette van Zalinge, principal of the De Notenkraker elementary school in Amsterdam, wore a wide white skirt and a hula hoop slung from her shoulders and carried a long stick with a hand at one end so she could shake hands with students while still keeping 1.5-meters (5-foot) apart.
In Paris, hairdressers practiced their new workflow over the weekend ahead of Monday’s reopening, and planned to charge a “participation fee” for the new disposable protective gear they’ll need for each customer. Walk-in customers will be a thing of the past, said Brigitte L’Hoste, manager of the “Hair de Beauté” salon, who expects the number of appointments to be cut in half.
“The face of beauty will change, meaning clients won’t come here to relax. Clients will come because they need to,” said Aurelie Bollini, a beautician at the salon. “They will come and aim at getting the maximum done in the shortest time possible.”  
Roughly half of Spain’s 47 million people stepped into a softer version of the country’s strict confinement, beginning to socialize, shop in small stores and enjoy outdoor seating in restaurants and bars. its biggest cities of Madrid and Barcelona remained under lockdown, however.
Fears about new waves of infection have been born out in Germany, where a new cluster was linked to a slaughterhouse; in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus started; and in South Korea, where a single nightclub customer was linked to 85 new infections.  
The South Korean government pushed back hard against that wave, halting the school re-openings that had been planned for this week and re-imposing restrictions on nightclubs and bars. It is now trying to track 5,500 people who had visited a popular Seoul entertainment district by checking credit-card transactions, mobile-phone records and security camera footage.
In Germany, gyms re-opened in the most populous state, but authorities there and in France have said any backsliding in the daily number of infections could lead to new restrictions.  
“We’re going to have to learn to live with the virus,” Health Minister Olivier Veran said on BFM television.
The hurdles ahead for tourism and the service industries were clear, even in places where infections are diminished. Shanghai Disneyland reopened to visitors, but let in limited numbers and demanded that they wear face masks and have their temperatures checked.  
“We hope that today’s reopening serves as a beacon of light across the globe, providing hope and inspiration to everyone,” the president of Shanghai Disney Resort, Joe Schott, told reporters.
In the U.K. — which has the second-most coronavirus deaths in the world behind the U.S. — Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a modest easing of the country’s lockdown  but urged citizens not to surrender the progress already made. Some people, however, were confused as the government shifted its slogan from “stay home” slogan to “stay alert” and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland stuck with the old slogan.
People in jobs that can’t be done at home “should be actively encouraged to go to work” this week, he said. He also set a goal of June 1 to begin reopening schools and shops if the U.K. can control new infections and the rate that each patient infects others. Johnson himself is the only world leader to recover from a serious bout of COVID-19.
“We will be driven not by mere hope or economic necessity,” Johnson promised. “We’re going to be driven by the science, the data, and public health.”
In the U.S., Trump administration officials spoke optimistically about a relatively quick rebound from the pandemic — but then had to announce that Vice President Mike Pence “self-isolating” after one of his aides tested positive.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin predicted the American economy would rebound in the second half of this year from unemployment rates that rival the Great Depression. Another 3.2 million U.S. workers applied for jobless benefits last week, bringing the total over seven weeks to 33.5 million unemployed.
The U.S. has seen 1.3 million infections and nearly 80,000 deaths, the most in the world by far, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, 4 million people have been reported infected and more than 280,000 have died, over 150,000 of them in Europe. Health experts believe all those numbers understate the true toll of the pandemic for different reasons.
The director of the University of Washington institute that created a White House-endorsed coronavirus model said moves by states to reopen businesses “will translate into more cases and deaths in 10 days from now.” Dr. Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation said states where cases and deaths are going up more than expected include Illinois, Arizona, Florida and California.
India reported its biggest daily increase in coronavirus cases Monday as it prepared to resume train service to ease a lockdown that has hit migrant workers especially hard by eliminating the daily wages they use to feed their families. The government reported 4,213 new cases for more than 67,000 total, including 2,206 deaths.
The railway system is India’s lifeline, transporting 23 million people across the vast subcontinent each day. When service restarts Tuesday, passengers must wear masks and pass health screenings before being allowed to board and the trains will make fewer stops than usual.
While unemployed workers in developed nations are temporarily buoyed by benefits and job-protection schemes, millions elsewhere are facing dire economic prospects. In a slum on the banks of a sewage-tainted river in Lebanon, Faiqqa Homsi feels that her family being pushed closer and closer to the edge.  
A mother of five, she was already struggling, relying on donations to care for a baby daughter with cancer. The coronavirus shutdown cost her husband his meager income driving a school bus and upended her hopes of earning money selling juice.  
“It is all closing in our face,” Homsi said.
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Eighty health care workers from Romania arrived in Vienna, Austria, Monday on a chartered train.The workers, mostly female, have been hired to care for elderly people who require around the clock attention.Austrian EU minister Karoline Edstadler said the negotiations to bring the workers to Austria were not easy and the logistics were time-consuming but the result would be positive.”We know there is a demand. We know that many care workers have been in Austria for many weeks. Of course, demand has to be evaluated constantly.  And when you start something it takes a while until it’s fully established.  During this crisis it wasn’t quite so easy to get all the necessary permits for the trains – especially inside Romania. Now the time has come and I expect that this opportunity will be used,” said Edstadler.Initially, the workers have to stay at a hotel and be tested for COVID-19. If the test results are negative, they will travel to various destinations in Austria, as needed.Another train bringing more health care workers to Austria is expected to arrive Thursday.The trains then will transport back to Romania care workers who have been stuck in Austria because of the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19.According to data collected by the Johns Hopkins University, Austria has more than 15,800 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 618 deaths. Romania has more than 15,300 and 961 respectively. 
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Public transport reopened Monday in France, with still some restrictions in place, especially for travel. Although a number of lockdown measures, enforced since March 17, were lifted, the situation is going to be is reassessed in early June. Meanwhile, people are required to wear masks on public transport and operators must ensure social distancing is observed. However, residents no longer need to fill out special permission slips to leave the house. Some small businesses were also allowed to resume activity on Monday, such as shops, hair salons and some others. According to data collected by John Hopkins University in the United States, France has recorded over 177,000 cases of infection with the coronavirus and more than 26,000 deaths. 
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson emphasized that Britain is not ending the lockdown but only modifying tough measures that had been imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.   In a televised address Sunday from his official London residence, Johnson announced three tentative steps toward reopening of the country. In Step 1, which starts Monday, people who cannot work from home, like construction workers or manufacturers, should be actively encouraged to go to work, but in a safe manner. That means, he said, that people should avoid public transportation and go to work by car, by bicycle or on foot.Johnson said the government has issued guidance to employers on how to make workplaces secure, including for public transport workers. Those measures will limit the capacity of the public transport.As of Wednesday, Johnson said people will be encouraged to go out and sit in the sun or exercise. They can drive out of town and even play group sports, but only with members of their own family.“You must obey the rules on social distancing and to enforce those rules we will increase the fines for the small minority who break them,” he said.People cycle through Westminster area of London, Sunday, May 10, 2020 during the nation-wide coronavirus lockdown.Johnson is the only world leader to have been hospitalized and treated for COVID, including having to spend a few days in intensive care.  Late Sunday, Bloomberg News reported that U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is self-isolating after one of his aides was diagnosed with the coronavirus. So far, the vice president has tested negative for the virus.An increase in infectionsSome countries that have relaxed their coronavirus measures, such as Germany and South Korea, have seen an increase in new infections after reopening.The British prime minister said the government will be monitoring the number of new infections and the progress made in containing the virus.He said if the conditions the government has set out are fulfilled, then in the next few weeks or months the country may be able to move to Step 2 on or around June 1.“We believe we may be in a position to begin the phased reopening of shops and to get primary pupils back into schools in stages, beginning with reception, Year 1 and Year 6.”   A man looks at the menu of a closed Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, in London, May 9, 2020.Johnson said the goal is to get the secondary school students facing exams next year to have at least some time with their teachers before the holidays. He said a detailed guidance for this phase is upcoming.Step 3 of Johnson’s blueprint is planned for July at the earliest and is subject to the fulfillment of the conditions from the first two steps, as well as scientific recommendations. The British leader said in that phase some of the hospitality industry and public places would reopen “if and only if the numbers support it.” Social distancing and other protective measures will still apply, he stressed, in order to avoid a new wave of infections. Mixed reactionsJohnson’s decision to modify the “stay at home” message to “stay alert” message has met with approval as well as criticism, notably from trade unions and regional leaders of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, said the message on recreation is too vague and she ordered the Scottish people to refrain from sunbathing, picnicking or barbecuing in public spaces until further notice. But walking and outdoor exercising will be allowed more than once a day starting Monday.With more than 220,000 COVID-19 cases, Britain is the world’s third most affected country after the United States and Spain. Britain’s coronavirus-linked death toll is close to 32,000 and is second only to the United States, which has more than 80,000 deaths. Britain has reported nearly 4,000 new cases in the past 24 hours.
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The head of Poland’s electoral commission said on Sunday that the parliament speaker had 14 days to declare the date of a new presidential election in place of a Sunday vote that while never officially canceled did not take place due to the coronavirus.The declaration appeared to draw a line under a tumultuous debate in recent weeks over when the vote should be held that has sown division within the ruling alliance and prompted the opposition to accuse the government of neglecting public health.The nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government had insisted the election take place as scheduled, but was forced to admit in the past week that it could not organize it during the pandemic.”In the … election scheduled for May 10, 2010, there was no possibility of voting for candidates,” the electoral commission said in a statement.Its chief, Sylwester Marciniak, told private broadcaster TVN24 that he expected a new election to be held within 60 days of the parliamentary speaker’s announcement of a new date. That would mean a vote would be held in late July at the latest.On Saturday, speculation was rife in the Polish media that PiS would seek to press ahead with a vote on May 23, turning its back on an agreement with junior coalition partner Accord, which had called for the vote to be delayed for a more substantial amount of time.Incumbent President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, is well ahead in opinion polls, but the party had been concerned that the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic could hurt his popularity and damage his chances of re-election if the vote was delayed.As of Sunday, Poland had reported 15,996 cases of the coronavirus and 800 deaths.
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The National Football League has time on its side as the sports world prepares to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and will use some it to observe German soccer’s Bundesliga as a potential blueprint on how to deal with the outbreak.The NFL, which is due to kick off on Sept. 10 and has not yet seen its schedule affected by the novel coronavirus, is paying close attention to protocols other leagues, particularly the Bundesliga, are putting in place in a bid to restart play, according to a report in Newsday.The top-flight Bundesliga season will restart on May 16, making it the first European league to resume amid the pandemic that has infected more than 3.95 million people globally and killed more than 270,000.”We’ve been in contact with all domestic leagues, but also sports organizations around the world,” Brian McCarthy, the NFL’s vice president of communications, told Newsday.“We have a number of protocols, see what works, see what can translate into our sport.”We’re all in the sports business, but every sport has its own matters to attend to.”Germany’s top flight will resume under strict health protocols, with no fans allowed in stadiums.All teams have had to go into a seven-day training camp in complete isolation with players tested before their inclusion in the camps to reduce the risk of any infection.About 300 people, including players, staff and officials, will be in and around the stadiums during matchdays.The NFL unveiled its 2020 schedule on Thursday with the expectation of playing games with fans in the stadiums but is approaching the season with some caution.League commissioner Roger Goodell has informed teams they will be required to have a ticket refund policy in place for canceled or disrupted games.McCarthy told Newsday: “We’re looking at what we can adopt, what we can modify that is working in other sports, sharing best practices.”
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A kidnapped Italian aid worker who had been held in an al-Shabab-controlled area of Somalia has been freed. Silvia Romano arrived in Rome on Sunday after being freed outside Mogadishu on Saturday. She spent overnight in a safe location in Mogadishu before being flown home. Security officials told VOA Somali that Romano was recovered from a forest near the town of Afgoye, 30 kilometers west of Mogadishu. The terms of her release are not known. 
 Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced the release in a tweet.Silvia Romano è stata liberata! Ringrazio le donne e gli uomini dei servizi di intelligence esterna. Silvia, ti aspettiamo in Italia!— Giuseppe Conte (@GiuseppeConteIT) May 9, 2020Romano, who was working for an Italian charity was abducted by gunmen in November 2018 in Kilifi County, Kenya. It’s not clear how the gunmen managed to transport her into Somalia. Somali security sources say they believe she was kidnapped by al-Shabab militants who previously abducted aid workers and demanded ransom. The abduction of two Spanish aid workers working for Doctors Without Borders in October 2011 was one of reasons Kenya government gave for its subsequent military intervention into Somalia that year. Al-Shabab also harbors bandits including pirates who abduct foreign sailors, and aid workers. Three Iranian sailors, two Cuban doctors, two Kenyans and a German nurse working for the ICRC are still being held in areas controlled by al-Shabab.     
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South Korea warned Sunday of the possibility of a second wave of COVID-19 infections. “It’s not over until it’s over,” President Moon Jae-in told the nation Sunday as it reported new coronavirus infections at a one-month high. The spike in cases comes as South Korea had begun easing some pandemic restrictions, including reopening bars and nightclubs. A man waring a face mask passes by the entrance of a temporary closed dance club in Seoul, South Korea, May 10, 2020.South Korea since shut down more than 2,100 bars and other establishments in Seoul after the new cases were linked to people who frequented nightclubs last weekend. Many of the infections were traced to a 29-year-old man who went to three nightclubs before testing positive.  Schools in South Korea were scheduled to begin reopening this week, but that may be delayed after the new outbreaks while officials say probes into the new cases would determine the next steps.   China also reported fourteen new cases Sunday — the first double digit rise in ten days. Germany, which began easing social restrictions last week, has seen some regional spikes in cases, particularly in nursing homes and slaughterhouses. Spain, France, and the United States are among the countries that are slowly reopening parts of their economies. Worldwide, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases has surpassed 4 million. The global death tally is nearly 280,000, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. The U.S. leads the world in the number of cases and deaths from the virus.  More than 1.3 million people in the U.S. have been infected and nearly 80,000 people have died. Former U.S. President Barack Obama says current U.S. President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been “an absolute chaotic disaster.”  In a conference call with former staff members, Obama said, “It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset of ‘what’s in it for me’  and ‘to heck with everybody else’ — when that mindset is operationalized in our government.”  
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Five players in Spain’s top two divisions have tested positive for COVID-19 since clubs began testing players and staff members last week, organizing body La Liga said in a statement on Sunday.La Liga said the players would remain at their homes where they would continue individual training before being tested again “in the next few days” to determine whether they can return to their club’s training ground.Many clubs including champions Barcelona have returned to individual training as part of the second stage of La Liga’s four-phase protocol for getting back to activity after play was halted in early March due to the pandemic.Real Madrid are due to resume training for the first time in two months on Monday, while La Liga has said it hopes matches will resume, without spectators, by June. 
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The Russian Imperial Movement (RIM), a white supremacist group based in St. Petersburg, is increasingly expanding its outreach beyond Russia through the establishment of transnational networks with like-minded neo-Nazis and white supremacist groups, experts on the group warn.RIM adheres to an ultranationalist ideology and aims to bring Russia’s tsarist rule back. The group is known for disseminating anti-Semitic and anti-LGBT rhetoric on its online networks.In April, the U.S. State Department listed three leaders of the group, Stanislav Anatolyevich Vorobyev, Denis Valliullovich Gariyev and Nikolay Nikolayevich Trushchalov, as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The move marked the first time the U.S. had labeled a white supremacist group as a terrorist organization.“The Russian Imperial Movement is an organization that has very likely thousands of members, an organization that trained two individuals who then later carried out terrorist attacks in Sweden,” said Jason Blazakis, the director of the Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California.Combat training in St. PetersburgOver the years, RIM has been able to persuade foreign white supremacists from various countries to visit the group’s camps in St. Petersburg for combat training, Blazakis told VOA. The group’s capacity and intent to carry out terrorist activities make it a major threat, he added.RIM was established in St. Petersburg by Vorobyev in 2002. The group reportedly has two training camps in St. Petersburg that are run by its paramilitary unit called Partisan. Neo-Nazis and white supremacists gain combat experience there before relocating to conflict zones.The group’s second paramilitary unit, the Imperial Legion, has been found fighting on the side of pro-Russia separatists in the war in eastern Ukraine. An April report by the Soufan Center concluded that the Imperial Legion has sent its fighters to other conflict areas, including Syria, Libya and the Central African Republic.“This group has innocent blood on its hands,” Nathan Sales, the coordinator for counterterrorism at the U.S. State Department, said during a teleconference following the U.S. ban on the group in early April.In 2016, two Swedish men, trained by RIM in St. Petersburg for 11 days, later that year conducted terrorist attacks in Gothenburg, Sweden, Sales said.Viktor Melin and Anton Thulin, identified as the two perpetrators of the Gothenburg bomb attacks, targeted asylum centers and seriously wounded a man. Swedish authorities said the men were members of the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), a neo-Nazi group aiming to create a pan-Nordic nation.RIM allegedly established contacts with NRM during a right-wing conference called the International Russian Conservative Forum in March 2015 in St. Petersburg. Rodina, a Russian political party, organized the conference.“At the conference, there was a resolution to try to coordinate Russian and European conservative elements,” Magnus Ranstorp, a research director at the Swedish Defense University, told VOA.“Later, Stanislav Anatolyevich Vorobyev, one of the leaders of the RIM, came to one of the social gatherings organized by the Nordic Resistance Movement called Nordic Days, and he spoke there. Also, he donated a sum of money to the Nordic Resistance Movement,” Ranstorp said.Visiting USSome observers of RIM claim the group has made similar moves elsewhere by sending its representatives to sympathetic foreign organizations. In 2017, RIM representative Stanislav Shevchuk reportedly visited Washington, D.C., and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to join a far-right rally.“It was the first time that we had a meeting on the U.S. soil of the American white nationalists and then the members of the Russian far right nationalist community,” Casey Michel, an investigative journalist who covered RIM’s American ties, told VOA.He said Shevchuk then met Matthew Heimbach, the head of the far-right Traditionalist Worker Party, in Washington. The two were seen in a photograph holding a Russian imperial flag in front of the White House.Contacted by VOA about the alleged ties between RIM and the Traditionalist Worker Party, Sales, of the State Department, said U.S. officials were aware of such reports, without providing more information.“Any group whose leaders or members have visited the United States or any group that has sought to recruit Americans into its twisted causes is a matter of grave concern,” Sales said.Russian officials have condemned the U.S. embargo on RIM, calling it a part of “the Russophobia of the U.S. establishment.”“Since Washington has not substantiated its decision with convincing and detailed information, we have the impression that it was made primarily for propaganda purposes and has little to do with cooperation in countering international terrorism,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a press briefing in April.Some experts said Russian intelligence units such as the Federal Security Service are likely aware of RIM activities but allow it to operate for short-term benefits.The “Kremlin knew what the Russian Imperial Movement was doing, and it never hid what they were doing,” Anton Shekhovtsov, a Vienna-based senior fellow at the Free Russia Foundation, told VOA.RIM’s recruitment efforts and pledge to send members to combat zones were “beneficial to the Kremlin in its aggression against Ukraine,” Shekhovtsov said. 
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