U.N. agencies have delivered 23 tons of hygiene items to civilians in the rebel-controlled part of eastern Ukraine, the United Nations said Friday.This was the second time this month that a U.N.-organized humanitarian convoy had been allowed to cross the 500-kilometer contact line, which separates Ukrainian government forces from the Russian-backed rebels. The first delivery on April 15 consisted of 18 tons of COVID-19 supplies.Jens Laerke, spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the one crossing point in the divided country had been closed since February 24 because of security concerns.“The reopening is welcome, as needs remain very high with nearly 1.7 million people in need of assistance in the non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk,” Laerke said. “The elderly, people with disabilities, female-headed households and children are among the most vulnerable.”Humanitarian access to the separatist area has been extremely difficult since March. The COVID-19 pandemic has severely restricted movement across the contact line. That has limited the ability of people in the east to go to the government side of the demarcation line to pick up their pensions and social welfare benefits.Laerke said restrictions on humanitarian access to the region had created great hardships for people suffering economic and health distress because of COVID-19, which is getting significantly worse.The World Health Organization said COVID-19 infections in Ukraine have risen to more than 2 million cases, including 41,700 deaths.“In March, Ukraine experienced a tripling of the number of COVID-19 cases nationwide, compared with February,” Laerke said. “So, the curve is going up and not down. … Of course, as there has been a long period of no deliveries, there is, if you like, a pent-up demand for relief. So we very much hope that this can continue and increase.”Laerke said humanitarian access to the Donetsk oblast was not the only requirement. He said money also was needed to provide lifesaving support to the nearly 1.7 million people. Unfortunately, he added, the U.N. is very short of cash as it has received only 13 percent of its $168 million appeal for Ukraine this year.
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U.S. President Joe Biden joined business and union leaders Friday in touting the economic benefits of addressing global warming when he delivered remarks from the White House on the last day of a two-day virtual climate change summit.“When we invest in climate resilience and infrastructure, we create opportunities for everyone,” Biden said. Biden’s remarks at a session on the “economic opportunities of climate action” came one day after he announced a new goal of cutting U.S. greenhouse gas pollution by 50-52% by 2030.Biden’s commitment is the most ambitious U.S. climate goal ever, nearly doubling the cuts the Obama administration pledged to meet in the Paris climate accord.The White House arranged for billionaires, CEOs and union executives to help promote Biden’s plan to reduce the U.S. economy’s reliance on fossil fuels by investing trillions of dollars in clean-energy technology, research and infrastructure while simultaneously saving the planet.Billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared “We can’t beat climate change without a historic amount of new investment,” adding “We have to do more, faster to cut emissions.” Biden climate change envoy John Kerry emphasized Biden’s call for modernizing U.S. infrastructure to operate more cleanly, maintaining it would provide long-term benefits for the U.S. economy. “No one is being asked for a sacrifice,” Kerry said. “This is an opportunity.”John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, looks up at a video screen while participating in a virtual Climate Summit with world leaders in the East Room at the White House in Washington, April 22, 2021.Leaders from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Spain, Nigeria and Vietnam are also participating in Friday’s session, along with representatives from the U.S. transportation, energy and commerce departments.The U.S. target is relative to 2005 levels and the White House says efforts to reach it, include moving toward carbon pollution-free electricity, boosting fuel efficiency of cars and trucks, supporting carbon capture at industrial facilities and reducing the use of methane.   U.S. allies have also vowed to cut emissions, aiming to convince other countries to follow suit ahead of the November U.N. climate change summit in Glasgow, where governments will determine the extent of each country’s reductions in fossil fuel emissions. Japan announced new plans to cut emissions by 46%, while South Korea said it would halt the investment of public funding of new coal-fired power plants. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would increase its cuts in fossil fuel pollution by about 10% to at least 40%.President Joe Biden speaks to the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate, from the East Room of the White House, April 23, 2021, in Washington.The two-day summit is part of Biden’s efforts to restore U.S. leadership on the issue after his predecessor, Donald Trump, withdrew the United States from the legally binding Paris Agreement on Climate Change in 2017. Biden reversed the decision shortly after taking office.  There is skepticism about the commitment announced Thursday by Biden and there is certain to be a partisan political battle over his pledge to reduce fossil fuel use in every sector of the U.S. economy.     “Toothless requests of our foreign adversaries and maximum pain for American citizens,” reacted the top Republican party leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, calling Biden’s climate plan full of “misplaced priorities.” World leaders agreed to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius in the 2015 U.N. Paris climate agreement and to aim for 1.5 degrees Celsius.    Averaged over the entire globe, temperatures have increased more than 1.1 degree Celsius since 1980. Scientists link the increase to more severe heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms and other impacts. And they note that the rate of temperature rise has accelerated since the 1980s.     
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Police officials in Rambouillet, France, say a man attacked and killed a police administrator Friday with a knife outside a police station in the southwest suburb of Paris.
The officials say at least one police officer at the scene opened fire on the assailant – identified as a 36-year-old Tunisian national living in France – and fatally shot him. The French news agency reports the man had no criminal record and was unknown to police.
Authorities say the victim was a 49-year-old female police administrator, who was returning to work after her lunch break, when she was attacked and stabbed in the throat. Witnesses say the attacker shouted “Allah Akbar” – “God is great” – as he stabbed her.
French Prime Minister Jean Castex, along with other officials, was at the scene of the crime in Rambouillet, an upscale suburb about 60 kilometers southwest of Paris in France’s Yvelines department ((region)). Castex, and France’s antiterror prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard, who also was at the scene, said the incident would be investigated as a terrorist attack.
On his Twitter account, French President Emmanuel Macron said the nation is at the side of the slain police administrator, her family, colleagues and the police. “In the fight against Islamist terrorism, we will not give up.”
The attack comes six months after another knife attack in the region when an Islamist teenager beheaded a schoolteacher in Conflans, another town outside Paris.
France has suffered a wave of attacks by Islamist militants or Islamist-inspired individuals in recent years that have killed about 250 people.
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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny announced Friday he is ending his hunger strike after he was examined by a panel of civilian doctors.  
Navalny made the announcement from his Instagram account. He began the hunger strike March 31 to protest what he said was a lack of medical care for severe back and leg pain.
In his post, Navalny said he had been seen twice by a panel of civilian doctors, who are doing tests and analysis and will give him “results and conclusions.”  
He wrote, “I am not withdrawing my request to allow the necessary doctor to see me – I am losing feeling in areas of my arms and legs, and I want to understand what it is and how to treat it, but considering the progress and all the circumstances, I am beginning to come out of the hunger strike.”
He said it would take 24 hours for him to fully come out of the hunger strike, and he thanked the “good people of Russia” for their support.  
Thursday, more than 1,900 Navalny supporters were detained during protests in cities across the country. From his Instagram account, he said he felt “pride and hope” after learning about the protests.
Navalny survived a near-fatal poisoning last year and was arrested when he returned to Moscow in January following lifesaving treatment in Germany. The Kremlin denies any role in the poisoning.
He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison in February on an embezzlement charge and was being held at the Pokrov correctional colony, which he described as “a real concentration camp.”
The United States and other countries have sanctioned Kremlin officials over the poisoning, and many are calling for Navalny’s release.
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Russian troops began pulling back to their permanent bases Friday after a massive buildup that has caused Ukrainian and Western concerns.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu declared Thursday that the sweeping maneuvers in Crimea and wide swaths of western Russia were completed, and he ordered the military to bring the troops that took part in them back to their permanent bases by May 1.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the announcement.
The Russian Defense Ministry said Friday its forces that took part in the massive drills in Crimea were moving to board trains, transport aircraft and landing vessels en route to their permanent bases.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv would await intelligence confirmation of the pullback.
“We want to see that Russian deeds match Russian words,” Kuleba said Friday during a visit to Romania. “What was said was not enough, we want to see that this will be implemented and all these forces will be removed from our border.”
He added that if the pullback is confirmed, “this would mean a real easing of tension.”  He thanked NATO and the EU countries for offering “very firm and immediate support to Ukraine”. 
While ordering the pullback of military personnel, Shoigu ordered their heavy weapons kept in western Russia for a massive exercise called Zapad (West) 2021 later this year. The weapons were to be stored at the Pogonovo firing range in the southwestern Voronezh region, 160 kilometers (100 miles) east of Russia’s border with Ukraine.  
The U.S. and NATO have said the troop buildup was the largest since 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and threw its support behind separatists in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland of Donbas. More than 14,000 people have been killed in seven years of fighting between Ukrainian troops and the Russia-backed separatists.
The concentration of Russian troops amid increasing violations of a cease-fire in the conflict in eastern Ukraine raised concerns in the West, which urged the Kremlin to pull its forces back.
Moscow rejected the Ukrainian and Western concerns, arguing it is free to deploy its forces anywhere on Russian territory. But the Kremlin also sternly warned Ukrainian authorities against trying to use force to retake control of the rebel east, saying it could intervene to protect civilians there.  
Asked if the Kremlin thinks that the Russian troop pullback could help ease tensions with the United States, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the issues were not connected.
“It’s not an issue for Russia-U.S. relations,” Peskov said in a call with reporters. “We have said that any movement of Russian troops on Russian territory doesn’t pose any threat and doesn’t represent an escalation. Russia does what it thinks is necessary for its military organization and training of troops.”
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The White House brought out the billionaires, the CEOs and the union executives Friday to help sell President Joe Biden’s vision of a climate-friendly transformation of the U.S. economy at his virtual summit of world leaders.The closing day of the two-day summit on climate change showcased Bill Gates and Mike Bloomberg, steelworker and electrical union leaders and executives for solar and other renewable energy, all arguing that pouring money now into emerging technology and efficient transport and electric systems will pay off in jobs and wealth long-term.Presidents and prime ministers from around the world joined in to describe their own investments and commitments to break away from reliance on climate-damaging petroleum and coal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking virtually like the dozens of other participating international officials, described scientists at hundreds of Israeli start-ups working hard to improve crucial battery storage for solar, wind and other renewable energy.President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta described Kenya leapfrogging its economy from coal, kerosene and wood fires to a leading user and producer of geothermal and wind.Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen renewed Denmark’s pledge to end oil and gas exploration in the North Sea, switching from offshore oil and gas rigs to wind farms.Bloomberg spoke from the U.S., declaring, “We can’t beat climate change without a historic amount of new investment.”“We have to do more, faster to cut emissions,” said Bloomberg, who’s donated millions to promote replacing dirty-burning coal-fired power plants with increasingly cheaper renewable energy.John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, looks up at a video screen while participating in a virtual Climate Summit with world leaders in the East Room at the White House in Washington, April 22, 2021. Biden envoy John Kerry stressed the political selling point that the president’s call for retrofitting creaky U.S. infrastructure to run more cleanly would put the U.S. on a better economic footing long-term. “No one is being asked for a sacrifice,” Kerry said. “This is an opportunity.”It’s all in service of an argument U.S. officials say will make or break Biden’s climate agenda: Pouring trillions of dollars into clean-energy technology, research and infrastructure will speed a competitive U.S. economy into the future and create jobs, while saving the planet.Republicans are sticking to the arguments that former President Donald Trump made in pulling the U.S. out of the 2015 Paris climate accord. They point to China as the world’s worst climate polluter — the U.S. is No. 2 — and say any transition to clean energy hurts American oil, natural gas and coal workers.FILE – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., turns to an aide at the Capitol in Washington. It means “putting good-paying American jobs into the shredder,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the Senate floor Thursday in a speech in which he dismissed the administration’s plans as costly and ineffective.“This is quite the one-two punch,” McConnell said. “Toothless requests of our foreign adversaries … and maximum pain for American citizens.”Much of the proposed spending to address climate change is included in Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure bill, which would pay for new roads, safe bridges and reliable public transit, while boosting electric vehicles, clean drinking water and investments in clean energy such as solar and wind power.Biden’s plan faces a steep road in the closely divided Senate, where Republicans led by McConnell have objected.The White House says administration officials will continue to reach out to Republicans and will remind them that the proposal’s ideas are already widely popular with Americans of all political persuasions.The urgency comes as scientists say that climate change caused by coal plants, car engines and other fossil fuel use is worsening droughts, floods, hurricanes, wildfires and other disasters and that humans are running out of time to stave off catastrophic extremes of global warming.The event has featured the world’s major powers — and major polluters — pledging to cooperate on cutting petroleum and coal emissions that are rapidly warming the planet.In an announcement timed to his summit, Biden pledged the U.S. will cut fossil fuel emissions as much as 52% by 2030.Allies joined the U.S. in announcing new moves to cut emissions. That’s ahead of November’s U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, where governments will say how far each is willing to go to cut the amount of fossil fuel fumes it pumps out.Japan announced its own new 46% emissions reduction target, and South Korea said it would stop public financing of new coal-fired power plants, potentially an important step toward persuading China and other coal-reliant nations to curb the building and funding of new ones as well. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his nation would boost its fossil fuel pollution cuts from 30% to at least 40%.President Joe Biden speaks to the virtual Leaders Summit on Climate, from the East Room of the White House, April 23, 2021, in Washington. Biden was scheduled to address the summit Friday at a session on the “economic opportunities of climate action.”Biden’s new goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to 52% from 2005 levels, announced Thursday at the summit, puts the United States among the four most ambitious nations in curbing climate change, the Rhodium Group, an independent research organization, announced overnight.Different nations use different base years for their emission cuts so comparisons are difficult and can look different based on baseline years. The Rhodium Group said using the U.S.-preferred 2005 baseline, America is in the top four, behind the United Kingdom but right with the European Union. It’s ahead of a “second tier” of countries that include Canada, Japan, Iceland and Norway.The Biden administration’s pledge would require by far the most ambitious U.S. climate effort ever, nearly doubling the reductions that the Obama administration had committed to in the Paris climate accord. 
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Pakistan’s parliament will resume debating the fate of the French ambassador Friday after the government appeared, for now, to put a lid on bloody anti-France protests that rocked the country for a week.A resolution calls for debate on whether to expel the French envoy, for the national assembly to condemn Western blasphemy, for Muslim nations to unite on the issue, and for authorities to provide space in cities for future protests.The resolution — put forward privately by a member of the ruling party — will likely be replaced by a more strongly worded one from the opposition, but will nevertheless be non-binding.Still, it appears to have taken the steam out of an anti-France campaign waged for months by the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) since President Emmanuel Macron defended the right of a satirical magazine to republish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed – an act deemed blasphemous by many Muslims.Supporters of the upstart radical party protested violently across the country last week when its leader was arrested after calling for a march on the capital to demand the French envoy’s expulsion.As the protests grew, the French embassy recommended all its citizens leave the country — a call that appeared to go largely unheeded.Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed — who negotiated an end to the protests with TLP leaders — said five police officers and eight protesters were killed.Protesters also held hostage 11 police officers and two special rangers for hours, before releasing them bruised and bloodied.Despite the TLP being banned last week under anti-terror laws — and its leader’s continued detention — party elders on Tuesday called off further action.”We have not given anything away,” Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry told a news conference Wednesday.”They have realized the state is serious,” added Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari.Prime Minister Imran Khan has in the past been accused of appeasing the TLP, fearful of antagonizing Pakistan’s conservatives.On Monday he had pleaded with the group to end its violent campaign to oust the French ambassador, saying the unrest was harming the nation.”It doesn’t make any difference to France,” he said in a national address broadcast on television.”If we keep protesting our whole lives we would only be damaging our own country and it will not impact (the West).”Few issues are as galvanizing in Pakistan as blasphemy, and even the slightest suggestion of an insult to Islam can supercharge protests, incite lynchings, and unite the country’s warring political parties.
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Three of seven Catholic clergy who were kidnapped in Haiti earlier this month have been released, a church spokesman told AFP on Thursday, as the island nation grapples with a rise in violence and an ongoing political crisis.A total of 10 people were abducted in Croix-des-Bouquets, a town northeast of the capital Port-au-Prince, in mid-April, including the seven clergy — five of them Haitian, as well as two French citizens, a priest and a nun.Father Loudger Mazile, spokesman for the Bishop’s Conference for the island nation, said “the French were not released. There were no lay people among those released.””Three of the seven clergy kidnapped on April 11 were released,” he told AFP.Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, is plagued by insecurity and natural disaster.Kidnappings for ransom have surged in recent months in Port-au-Prince and other provinces, reflecting the growing influence of armed gangs in the Caribbean nation.Haiti’s government resigned and a new prime minister was appointed in the wake of the clergy kidnappings, a move President Jovenel Moise said “will make it possible to address the glaring problem of insecurity and continue discussions with a view to reaching the consensus necessary for the political and institutional stability of our country.”The kidnapped victims were “on their way to the installation of a new parish priest” when they were abducted, Mazile had previously told AFP, with the kidnappers demanding a $1 million ransom for the group.Authorities suspect an armed gang called “400 Mawozo” — which is active in kidnappings — is behind the abduction, according to a police source.
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Drought conditions now cover 85% of Mexico, and residents of the nation’s central region said Thursday that lakes and reservoirs are simply drying up, including the country’s second-largest body of fresh water.The mayor of Mexico City said the drought was the worst in 30 years, and the problem can be seen at the reservoirs that store water from other states to supply the capital.Some of them, like the Villa Victoria reservoir west of the capital, are at one-third of their normal capacity, with a month and a half to go before any significant rain is expected.Isais Salgado, 60, was trying to fill his water tank truck at Villa Victoria, a task that normally takes him just half an hour. On Thursday he estimated it was taking 3½ hours to pump water into his 10,000-liter tanker.”The reservoir is drying up,” Salgado said. “If they keep pumping water out, by May it will be completely dry, and the fish will die.”Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said that as the drought worsened, more people tended to water their lawns and gardens, which worsens the problem.The capital’s 9 million inhabitants rely on reservoirs such as Villa Victoria and two others — which together are at about 44% capacity — for a quarter of their water; most of the rest comes from wells within city limits. But the city’s own water table is dropping, and leaky pipes waste much of what is brought into the city.Rogelio Angeles Hernandez, 61, has been fishing the waters of Villa Victoria for the past 30 years. He isn’t so much worried about his own catch; in past dry seasons, residents could cart fish off in wheelbarrows as water levels receded.But tourism at reservoirs, such as Valle de Bravo further to the west, has been hit by falling water levels.In the end, it is the capital that is really going to suffer.”Fishing is the same, but the real impact will be on the people in Mexico City, who are going to get less water,” Angeles Hernandez said.Further to the west, in Michoacan state, the country is at risk of losing its second-largest lake, Lake Cuitzeo, where about 70% of the lake bed is now dry. The main culprit is drought, but residents say that roads built across the shallow lake and diversion of water for human use have also played a role.Michoacan Governor Silvano Aureoles said so much of the lake has dried up that shoreline communities now suffer dust storms. He said communities might have to start planting vegetation on the lake bed to prevent them.In a petition to the government, residents of communities around the lake said only six of 19 fish species once present in Cuitzeo now remain. They said the dust storms had caused tens of thousands of respiratory and intestinal infections among residents.
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Athletes who make political or social justice protests at the Tokyo Olympics were promised legal support Thursday by a global union and an activist group in Germany.The pledges came one day after the International Olympic Committee confirmed its long-standing ban on “demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda” on the field of play, medal podiums or official ceremonies.Raising a fist or kneeling for a national anthem could lead to punishment from the IOC. The Olympic body’s legal commission should clarify what kind of punishment before this year’s games, which open on July 23.The IOC also said that slogans such as “Black Lives Matter” will not be allowed on athlete apparel at Olympic venues, though it approved using the words “peace,” “respect,” “solidarity,” “inclusion” and “equality” on T-shirts.Athletes’ support citedThe IOC’s athletes’ commission cited support to uphold Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter from more than two-thirds of about 3,500 replies from consulting athlete groups.”This is precisely the outcome we expected,” said Brendan Schwab, executive director of the World Players Association union. “The Olympic movement doesn’t understand its own history better than the athletes.”Speaking to The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Australia, Schwab said that “any athlete sanctioned at the Tokyo Olympics will have the full backing of the World Players.”The independent group representing German athletes pledged legal backing for its national team.”Should German athletes decide to peacefully stand up for fundamental values such as fighting racism during the Olympic Games, they can rely on the legal support of Athleten Deutschland,” Johannes Herber, the group’s chief executive, said in a statement.In a statement, another athlete group, Global Athlete, encouraged athletes to “not allow outdated ‘sports rules’ to supersede your basic human rights.” It said the survey’s methods were flawed.”These types of surveys only empower the majority when it is the minority that want and need to be heard,” said Ireland’s Caradh O’Donovan, a karate athlete who helped start Global Athlete.Famous salutes discouragedWhile the IOC said cases would each be judged on merits, athletes who follow the iconic salutes by American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics still could be sent home.The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) inducted Smith and Carlos into its Hall of Fame in 2019. It pledged in December not to take action against athletes protesting at their Olympic trials for Tokyo. On Thursday, it released a statement saying its plans to update its recently released policy over protests in response to the IOC’s decision have not changed.”Nor has our commitment to elevating athlete expression and the voices of marginalized populations everywhere in support of racial and social justice,” CEO Sarah Hirshland said.And the USOPC athletes’ group also put out a statement saying it was disappointed to see no “meaningful or impactful change to” Rule 50.”Until the IOC changes its approach of feeding the myth of the neutrality of sport or protecting the status quo, the voices of marginalized athletes will continue to be silenced,” the athletes’ group leadership said in a statement.Both Schwab and Herber said minorities would be protected from discrimination if the IOC recognized the human rights of athletes to express themselves.The IOC erred by trying to regulate the place where a protest might take place instead of the statement’s content, Schwab said, adding that athletes’ freedom of expression in Olympic venues “should be respected, protected and indeed promoted.”Athletes breaching Rule 50 can be sanctioned by three bodies: the IOC, their sport’s governing body and their national Olympic committee (NOC).Leaders of two of the biggest Olympic bodies — World Athletics President Sebastian Coe and FIFA President Gianni Infantino — have publicly opposed punishing their athletes for social justice statements. Coe gave his annual award last December to Smith, Carlos and the other sprinter on the 200-meter podium in Mexico City, Peter Norman of Australia.In the past, the NOCs have played a major role in sanctioning athletes who run afoul of Olympic rules. But with the USOPC taking itself out of that role, Schwab noted “there is enormous confusion over responsibility to sanction.”
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The killing of African American George Floyd in Minneapolis last year sparked Black Lives Matter protests around the world, alongside demands for a reexamination of injustice, racism and colonial history.Now, how will the guilty verdicts rendered this week against Floyd’s murderer — white former police Officer Derek Chauvin — influence those demands for change?Britain was among the first nations outside the United States to witness demonstrations demanding justice for Floyd. Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, a British racial equality activist and author, welcomed Chauvin’s conviction.”What we must do, those who are actively anti-racist, is to continue to push this. This is not a time to be quiet or to think that finally we’ve got a result. No, no, no,” Mos-Shogbamimu said Wednesday.”This does not even begin to deal with healing Black people. It’s a step in the right direction, but we must have real reform. You cannot reform racism. You can’t reform white supremacy. We must eradicate institutional racism. We must eradicate white supremacy. That is what must be done. We must call it out and stop excusing racism in our society.”But how can racism, with its roots in centuries of colonial history, be eradicated?FILE – People take to the streets to march in London, July 11, 2020, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis.In Britain and across Europe, colonial-era statues became the target. In Bristol, a port city in the west of England that made its fortune in the international slave trade, a monument to slave trader Edward Colston was torn down and thrown into the harbor.On the plinth that remains, local Black artist and activist Helen Wilson-Roe replaced the Colston statue with a portrait of Floyd.”Even though this is a victory in America and for Black people and for us in regard to George Floyd, having Derek Chauvin being convicted for the murder of another Black brother, we’ve got a long way to go. And we can’t stop here,” Wilson-Roe said.Marvin Rees was elected Bristol’s mayor in 2016, making Bristol the first major European city to elect a mayor of Black African heritage.”My reaction to the verdict is one of relief overwhelmingly, because it shows there can be accountability for police officers killing people in the United States, and relief because of what could have happened if he was found not guilty,” Rees said Wednesday.”But this image, this narrative around Black men being a threat, and their lives being of less value within the criminal justice system in particular, but in society as a whole, is still with us. And how we get beyond that after being built up after centuries … is a huge challenge for us. And I don’t think there are any easy answers,” he said.It is a challenge for minority communities across Europe.FILE – A man holds a placard reading “George Floyd, Herve Mandundu, Mike Ben Peter and Adama Traore” during a protest against racism and police brutality in Lausanne, France,  June 7, 2020.French citizen Adama Traoré of Malian descent died in French police custody in 2016 at age 24. His family said he suffocated when he was pinned down by officers, though French police strongly deny this. No one has been charged, and investigations are ongoing.Protests erupted across France last year, demanding justice for Floyd and Traoré. Traoré’s sister, Assa Traoré, said there is one key difference between the two deaths.”Clearly, if there had been a video [of Traoré’s death], the situation would have been different,” she said. “There is no video. How many cases are there in France, in the world, where there is no video? What should we do with these dead, these victims?”In South Africa, many Black communities say police brutality is endemic, though not necessarily driven by race. Diversity activist Asanda Ngoasheng said the conviction of Chauvin can have significance beyond the borders of the United States.”Does it mean Black people across the world are no longer going to be killed by policemen or other state apparatus? No. But what it does is it begins to send a message that the color of your skin should not and cannot be a reason for somebody to send you to your death,” she said,Ngoasheng said Floyd’s death resonated in a nation once under apartheid.”Globally, we feel the yoke of white supremacy. We feel the foot on our necks as Black people. And so, when incidents like this happen, they amplify, they remind us that globally, we have a common suffering as people of color in general,” she told VOA.”I’m hoping that as the United States reckons with its history of violence, it’s going to mean less emboldenment of white supremacists in South Africa in particular, and I think globally, as well.”Anita Powell contributed to this report.
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An ally of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has urged Navalny to end his hunger strike, which is in its third week.”To continue [the strike] would be dangerous for his life and health,” Anastasia Vasilyeva, head of the Doctors Alliance union, told Reuters. “We very much hope Alexei will end the hunger strike tomorrow.”The news comes a day after more than 1,900 Navalny supporters were detained during protests in cities across the country.In a Thursday Instagram post, Navalny said he felt “pride and hope” after learning about the protests.“Here it is — the salvation of Russia. You. Those who came out. Those who didn’t come out but supported it. Those who didn’t support it publicly, but sympathized,” Navalny wrote.On Sunday, Navalny, whose health reportedly is deteriorating, was moved from a penal colony east of Moscow to the hospital at a prison in Vladimir, which is 180 kilometers east of Moscow.Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny stands inside a defendant dock during a court hearing in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 20, 2021, in this still image taken from video. (Press Service of Babushkinsky District Court of Moscow/Handout)On Monday, Russia’s prison service said Navalny’s condition was “satisfactory,” but another one of his physicians, Dr. Yaroslav Ashikhmin, said Navalny was suffering from high levels of potassium, which could cause a heart attack, and increased creatinine levels, showing potentially weakened kidney function.Navalny, 44, began his hunger strike at the end of March to protest what he said was a lack of medical care for severe back and leg pain.Navalny survived a near-fatal poisoning last year and was arrested when he returned to Moscow in January following lifesaving treatment in Germany. The Kremlin denies any role in the poisoning.He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison in February on an embezzlement charge and was being held at the Pokrov correctional colony, which he described as “a real concentration camp.”The United States and other countries have sanctioned Kremlin officials over the poisoning, and many are calling for Navalny’s release.As Navalny’s health deteriorates, Russian authorities have asked the Moscow prosecutor’s office to declare Navalny’s organization, the Foundation for Fighting Corruption, an extremist organization. 
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Ukraine’s president said Thursday that Russia’s troop reduction near the Ukraine border was reducing tensions between the countries but cautioned his country must remain alert.Russia earlier ordered tens of thousands of troops to return to their home bases following large-scale drills.“The reduction of troops on our border proportionally reduces tension,” tweeted President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “Ukraine is always vigilant, yet welcomes any steps to decrease the military presence & deescalate the situation in Donbass.”Donbass is a region in southeastern Ukraine where conflict between the countries has persisted since 2014, when Russia seized Crimea and began supporting separatists in the region.The U.S. and NATO have said the recent Russian troop buildup was the largest since Russia’s annexation of Crimea.Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered the troop reduction after declaring an end to the maneuvers in Crimea and western Russia.“The troops have shown their capability to defend the country, and I decided to complete the drills in the South and Western military districts,” Shoigu said.While Shoigu ordered the troops back to their bases by May 1, he said they should leave their weapons near the border in western Russia for more exercises later this year.Russia’s troop buildup occurred as more frequent violations of a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine raised concerns in the West, which called on Russia to pull back its forces.Russia, in turn, has long criticized the deployment of NATO troops near its borders.The Kremlin began conducting more military exercises as relations with the West deteriorated to post-Cold War lows over its seizure of Crimea, its interference in foreign elections, global cyberattacks and other issues.
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France’s foreign minister is defending the takeover of Chad’s government by a transitional military council. Jean-Yves Le Drian said during a television interview Thursday that “exceptional circumstances” made it necessary for Chad’s military to dissolve the National Assembly and form an 18-month transitional council, following the death of President Idriss Deby this week.  The speaker of the National Assembly should have become president under Chad’s constitution, but speaker Haroun Kabadi issued a statement that he agreed with the council’s takeover “given the military, security and political context.” Le Drian said Kabadi’s position justified the military taking control.  Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, 37, the son of Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno, is seen during a military broadcast announcing the death of his father on state television, April 20, 2021.The council named Deby’s son, 37-year-old General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, as interim president of the central African nation.   The army said Tuesday the elder Deby died from injuries sustained while visiting troops on the front line. A rebel force known as the Front for Change and Concord in Chad, known by its French acronym FACT, has advanced from the north in recent days toward the capital, N’Djamena. The group had been based in neighboring Libya.    The rebel group released a statement Tuesday vowing to take the capital and depose the younger Deby.      “Chad is not a monarchy,” the statement read. “There can be no dynastic devolution of power in our country.”    A day before his death, the 68-year-old Deby was declared the winner of Chad’s April 11 election with 79 percent of the vote, giving him a sixth term in office. Most opposition groups had boycotted the poll, citing arrests and a government ban on opposition rallies.     Deby had ruled Chad since coming to power in a December 1990 coup, making him one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders. Opponents called him an autocrat and criticized his management of Chadian oil revenue. In 2008, a different rebel force reached N’Djamena and came close to toppling Deby before French and Chadian army forces drove them out of the city.   FILE – France’s President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Chad’s President Idriss Deby at the Elysee presidential palace for a lunch as part of the Paris Peace Forum, Nov. 12, 2019.In the West, however, Deby was seen as an important ally in the fight against Islamist extremist groups in West Africa and the Sahel, like Nigeria-based Boko Haram.    
The Libya-based FACT had attacked a border post on the day of the election and then moved hundreds of kilometers toward the capital. On Monday, the Chadian army said it had inflicted a heavy loss on the rebels, killing more than 300 of them.
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French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Thursday that Russia and President Vladimir Putin will face sanctions if opposition leader Alexey Navalny dies.
 
Speaking to France 2 television, Le Drian said, “We will take the necessary sanctions and it will be the responsibility of Mr. Putin and the Russian authorities. I hope we won’t go to that extreme.”
 
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan made similar comments to CNN Sunday, warning of unspecified “consequences” in the event of Navalny’s death.
 
Navalny was arrested in January after returning to Russia from Germany where he spent five months recovering from nerve agent poisoning.  Navalny blames the Russian government for the attack, while Russian officials deny the accusation.
 
The opposition leader and frequent critic of Putin has been in declining health since launching a hunger strike three weeks ago.
 
His supporters have turned out for rallies calling for his release.
 
Police arrested more than 1,700 protesters on Wednesday as demonstrations took place in dozens of Russian cities.
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A group of Haitian protesters is using Vodou and a battle tactic inspired by a Bible passage to get President Jovenel Moise to step down.About 20 demonstrators circled Haiti’s national palace seven times around midday Wednesday, a tactic taken from a Bible passage that was used by the Israelites to eliminate their first major obstacle on their path to the Promised Land — the fortified city of Jericho.In the Bible passage, the Israelites walked around the walls of Jericho once a day for six days and seven times on the seventh day, then shouted, causing the walls to come tumbling down.Haitian protest organizer Etzer Jean Louis explained why he took this tactic.“It represents seven tours of deliverance. Seven tours that broke the walls of Jericho. Seven tours that will eliminate the mafia (gangs). Seven tours that will eliminate the criminals (holding us hostage). Today, you can already see the miracles these seven tours have made happen,” he told VOA, without citing any examples.Vodou symbols were also drawn using a white substance on a street near the presidential palace. A bundle of firewood was placed to the side and then set on fire, as protesters standing in a circle watched.Haitian protesters used Voodoo and a battle tactic taken from the Bible to get president Jovenel Moïse to step down. #Haitipic.twitter.com/V7E5zbPGYM— Sandra Lemaire (@SandraDVOA) April 21, 2021“God will strike them down so the Haitian people can breathe freely. COVID-19 has not stricken us down, but we are struggling, nonetheless. We are climbing up a steep hill,” Jean Louis said. “Haiti must be liberated. And to make that happen, the first thing is to get Jovenel Moise out. We won’t back down.”Moise said he will step down when his term expires February 7, 2022. The international community supports that stance but urged him to organize legislative and presidential elections as soon as possible. A constitutional referendum is planned for June 27, followed by legislative and presidential elections in September and November.A spike in kidnappings during the past month has terrorized Haitians and threatens to derail the electoral process. Gangs are currently holding five Catholic priests, two nuns and three relatives of a priest they kidnapped on April 11. The abduction sparked national and international outrage and prompted condemnation from the religious sector.The Catholic Church called for a three-day closure this week of all its institutions, including schools across Haiti.VOA Creole’s reporter on the scene said the president’s motorcade arrived at the national palace as protesters were making their third round. National palace guards were in position outside the gates, preventing them from interacting with Moise.On their fourth circle around the palace, police fired tear gas to disperse them. Although some of the protesters ran away, the majority remained to finish as planned.Opposition politician Abel Loreston. (VOA/Renan Toussaint)It’s not the first time protesters have used this tactic to effect change, according to anti-corruption activist Reginald Dume.“On April 7, we circled the palace seven times, so today’s seven tours (and the seven tours we made in March) will make it 21 tours of the palace in total,” Dume told VOA. The activist said he also joined the protest to show support for the abductees.“We’re out here in a show of solidarity with all priests and nuns who are being subjected to a series of acts that people should never be subjected to. It’s important for the Haitian people to know we don’t have a choice. We should show the world that we are dignified people and continue mobilizing against the government,” Dume said.Opposition politician Abel Loreston, who participated in the protest, said progress has been made.“We’re advancing, we’re fighting against state-sanctioned kidnappings, planned acts of violence, human rights violations. Too much blood has been shed, too many people have died. The nation can’t take it anymore,” said Loreston, who spoke to VOA during his fourth march around the national palace.Moise denies having ties to gang members and has taken measures to shore up security in the capital.During a national speech in March, he warned kidnappers that they would be hunted down and severely punished. An anti-kidnapping cell has been established within the national police force, and a state of emergency has been declared in neighborhoods where gangs are most active, the president announced. Despite these measures, the kidnappings continue.A protester who declined to give his name said they know it won’t be an easy fight.“We knew the battle against Jovenel Moise and the PHTK (ruling party) wouldn’t be easy. But we can’t get discouraged. We must continue fighting. When you’re at war, you may not know how long the battle will last, but we will fight until we get a victory,” he said.“Everyone should find what is happening (in Haiti) today revolting,” Dume said.
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U.S. officials say President Joe Biden is preparing to recognize the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as genocide.The officials, who spoke to several news agencies on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the sensitive topic, said the move could come Saturday, an annual day of commemoration for the victims.During his campaign for president last year, Biden said he would “support a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide and will make universal human rights a top priority.”“I expect we will have more to say about Remembrance Day on Saturday,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday when asked about Biden’s commitment. “But I don’t have anything to get ahead of that at this point in time.”In a letter Wednesday, a bipartisan group of 100 members of the U.S. House of Representatives urged Biden to become the first U.S. president to recognize the killings as genocide.“The shameful silence of the United States Government on the historic fact of the Armenian Genocide has gone on for too long, and it must end,” the lawmakers wrote. “We urge you to follow through on your commitments, and speak the truth.”Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said this week a move by Biden to recognize the killings as genocide would harm relations between the NATO allies.Historians say an estimated 1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Empire — the predecessor to modern-day Turkey — between 1915 and 1923.Armenians say they were purposely targeted for extermination through starvation, forced labor, deportation, death marches, and outright massacres.Turkey denies a genocide or any deliberate plan to wipe out the Armenians. They say many of the victims were casualties of the war or murdered by Russians. Turkey also says the number of Armenians killed was far fewer than the usually accepted figure of 1.5 million.
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Police arrested nearly 1,500 people Wednesday during a day of demonstrations throughout Russia calling for freedom for imprisoned opposition leader Alexey Navalny, whose health reportedly is in severe decline after three weeks of hunger striking, according to a group that monitors political detentions.The largest of the protests took place in Moscow, where thousands marched through the center city. Some of the people arrested were seized before the protests even began, including top Navalny associates in Moscow.Navalny’s team called for the unsanctioned demonstrations after weekend reports that his health is deteriorating and his life was in danger.”The situation with Alexey is indeed critical, and so we moved up the day of the mass protests,” Vladimir Ashurkov, a close Navalny ally and executive director of the Foundation for Fighting Corruption, told The Associated Press. “Alexey’s health has sharply deteriorated, and he is in a rather critical condition. Doctors are saying that judging by his test (results), he should be admitted into intensive care.”Navalny’s organization called for the Moscow protesters to assemble on Manezh Square, just outside the Kremlin walls, but police blocked it off. Instead, a large crowd gathered at the nearby Russian State Library and another lined Tverskaya Street, a main avenue that leads to the square. Both groups then moved through the streets.”How can you not come out if a person is being murdered — and not just him. There are so many political prisoners,” said Nina Skvortsova, a Moscow protester.In St. Petersburg, police blocked off Palace Square, the vast space outside the State Hermitage Museum, and protesters instead crowded along nearby Nevsky Prospekt.Turnout, arrest estimatesIt was unclear if the demonstrations matched the size and intensity of nationwide protests that broke out in January after Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent, was arrested. Turnout estimates varied widely: Moscow police said 6,000 people demonstrated in the capital, while an observer told Navalny’s YouTube channel that the crowd was about 60,000.The OVD-Info group, which monitors political arrests and provides legal advice, said at least 1,496 people were arrested in 82 cities — the largest tally being nearly 600 in St. Petersburg.Navalny’s team called the nationwide protests for the same day that Putin gave his annual state-of-the-nation address. In his speech, he denounced foreign governments’ alleged attempts to impose their will on Russia. Putin, who never publicly uses Navalny’s name, did not specify to whom the denunciation referred, but Western governments have been harshly critical of Navalny’s treatment and have called for his release.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 10 MB480p | 14 MB540p | 18 MB720p | 38 MB1080p | 74 MBOriginal | 91 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioIn Moscow, Navalny spokesperson Kira Yarmysh and Lyubov Sobol, one of his most prominent associates, were detained by police in the morning.Yarmysh, who was put under house arrest after the January protests, was detained outside her apartment building when she went out during the one hour she is allowed to leave, said her lawyer, Veronika Polyakova. She was taken to a police station and charged with organizing an illegal gathering.Sobol was removed from a taxi by uniformed police, said her lawyer, Vladimir Voronin.OVD-Info reported that police searched the offices of Navalny’s organization in Yekaterinburg and detained a Navalny-affiliated journalist in Khabarovsk.In St. Petersburg, the State University of Aerospace Instrumentation posted a notice warning that students participating in unauthorized demonstrations could be expelled.The 44-year-old Navalny was arrested in January upon his return from Germany, where he had spent five months recovering from a nerve agent poisoning he blames on the Kremlin. Russian officials have rejected the accusation.Soon after, a court found that Navalny’s long stay in Germany violated the terms of a suspended sentence he was handed for a 2014 embezzlement conviction and ordered him to serve 2 ½ years in prison.Hunger strikeNavalny began the hunger strike to protest prison officials’ refusal to let his doctors visit when he began experiencing severe back pain and a loss of feeling in his legs. The penitentiary service has said Navalny was getting all the medical help he needs.Navalny’s physician, Dr. Yaroslav Ashikhmin, said recently that test results he received from Navalny’s family showed sharply elevated levels of potassium, which can bring on cardiac arrest, and heightened creatinine levels that indicate impaired kidneys and that he “could die at any moment.”On Sunday, Navalny was transferred to a hospital in another prison and given a glucose drip. Prison officials rebuffed attempts by his doctors to visit him there.Russian authorities have escalated their crackdown on Navalny’s allies and supporters. The Moscow prosecutor’s office asked a court to brand Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and his network of regional offices as extremist organizations.Human rights activists say such a move would paralyze the activities of the groups and expose their members and donors to prison sentences of up to 10 years.Navalny’s allies vowed to continue their work despite the pressure.”It is, of course, an element of escalation,” Ashurkov told the AP. “But I have to say we were able to regroup and organize our work despite the pressure before. I’m confident that now, too, we will find ways to work. … We have neither the intention nor the possibility to abandon what we’re doing.”
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Residents of small communities living around Guatemala’s Pacaya volcano wake each day wondering if the lava will reach their homes.A lava flow descending the volcano has advanced between El Patrocinio and San José el Rodeo. In the case of the latter, the lava has advanced to within two and a half blocks of the outermost homes.Emma Quezada, a 38-year-old homemaker in one of those houses, has lived there her entire life and said she’s used to the volcanic activity. Still, this time she’s afraid.”These last three days the lava stopped; we hope it stays there,” Quezada said.Local authorities had spoken to residents about moving the community to another location about 100 kilometers away, but without the space they have now, she said.”As if you’re going to go from here to a little piece of land!” she said. “Maybe we don’t have a great thing here, but we live in blessed peace. We don’t face any other danger, not even thieves. … The options they give you don’t compare with what we have here.”The Pacaya volcano rises about 2,552 meters between the departments of Guatemala and Escuintla south of the capital. It’s a popular tourist destination, and 21 communities surround it.In early February, a chasm opened in one of the volcano’s flanks, and lava began to flow. It now stretches at least 5 kilometers. Meanwhile, ash and gases spewed from its crater.Even if the lava doesn’t reach their homes, the ash has damaged their corn crops and the pastures where their cows graze.El Rodeo is home to 57 families, about 350 people, said Juventino Pineda, president of the Urban and Rural Development Community Council.Pineda, 67, can recall various eruptions during his lifetime. “One of the worst was 1962. I was a child, and lava also came out of a fissure in the volcano. That time it was 20 kilometers of lava,” he said.This time, Pineda said, “we believe that at least 50% of the homes in the community would be destroyed because of the lava’s path.” There is an evacuation plan if the situation worsens.”At night, when the volcano erupts, everything turns red, everything shines. It looks like day,” he said.Near the lava, the ambient temperature rises, and there’s a light sulfur smell. A crunching can be heard.”It’s important to know that we need help. Maybe someone can help us on the international level,” Pineda said.
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The United States is warning the Russian government that it is responsible for whatever happens to opposition leader Alexey Navalny, whose condition is reportedly deteriorating while in custody. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine has the story.
Camera: Natasha Mozgovaya and Ricardo Marquina Montañana 
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Catholic institutions including schools and universities closed Wednesday across Haiti in a three-day protest to demand the release of five priests, two nuns and two other people kidnapped more than a week ago amid a spike in violence that the government is struggling to control.Catholic officials also organized Masses to pray for those kidnapped — at least two of whom are French — as they tolled the bells at noon at St. Pierre church in Pétionville, where hundreds gathered to show their support.”No one is safe,” said 65-year-old Margaret Jean Louis. “I’m hoping the people kidnapped will make it out safely.”The April 11 kidnapping of the priests, nuns and three relatives of one of the priests in the capital of Port-au-Prince is one of the most shocking recent abductions in Haiti, which saw a 200% increase in kidnappings last year, according to the United Nations.Those kidnapped were identified as nuns Anne-Marie Dorcelus and Agnès Bordeau, priests Michel Briand, Evens Joseph, Jean-Nicaise Millien, Joël Thomas and Hugues Baptiste and three relatives of another priest. Briand was identified as French.One of the relatives was released because she was sick, according to a radio interview broadcast on Monday of a man who claimed to be the leader of the kidnap gang.The man, who identified himself as Lanmò San Jou of the 400 Mawozo gang, told Radio Mega that the French nationals are among the most important hostages: “If Haiti is like this, it’s because of the French.”Haiti won independence in 1804 from France, which demanded huge indemnity payments.The alleged gang leader said he wants restitution from France and that he would stop feeding the people he kidnapped. He declined to say how much ransom he was seeking.Church officials who organized the shutdown said Masses would be held on Wednesday and Thursday and that on Friday, church bells across Haiti would toll for the victims.”We, the Catholic bishops of Haiti, see with great sorrow that there has been no change in the situation of our brothers and sisters in the hands of the bandits,” the Conference of Catholic Bishops said in a Tuesday statement. “Ten days in the hands of kidnappers is too much.”One of the kidnapped priests had been working as a missionary in Haiti since 1985 and was assaulted and shot a couple of years ago, the Rev. Paul Dossous, superior general of the Society of Priests of Saint-Jacques, told Paris-based Franceinfo in an interview published last week.He said church authorities try to stay in touch with the kidnappers as much as possible, and that while he worries about those kidnapped because some of them are sick, he doesn’t foresee canceling any missions: “We are not men to run away from a situation, no, even if we are afraid anyway because we’re human.” 
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The police killing of 46-year-old Black man George Floyd in Minneapolis last year triggered Black Lives Matter protests around the world. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the murder conviction reached Tuesday against former officer Derek Chauvin has been welcomed in many countries — but equality activists say there is still much work to be done. 
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