The Czech Republic is urging European and NATO allies to take joint retaliatory action against Russia. It follows accusations that Russian spies were behind a huge explosion at a Czech arms depot in 2014 – and were part of a special unit that also carried out an attempted assassination in Britain. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.Camera:  Henry Ridgwell  
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The Czech Republic is urging European and NATO allies to take joint retaliatory action against Russia following accusations that Russian spies were behind a huge explosion at a Czech arms depot in 2014. They claim the spies were also part of a special unit that tried to assassinate a double agent in Britain.The central European country evicted 18 Russian embassy staffers over the weekend, saying they were identified as intelligence officers. “We succeeded in breaking up both of the big Russian (spy) operation cells, and for the Russian side, it will be very complicated to put them together again,” Acting Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said Monday.Moscow has denied involvement in the 2014 explosion, which killed two workers at the site. The Kremlin expelled 20 Czech diplomats and other staff in retaliation for this week’s action.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 | 17 MB720p | 34 MB1080p | 74 MBOriginal | 255 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioSpeaking at a televised press conference Tuesday, Hamacek said, “We will call for collective action by European Union and NATO countries that will be aimed at a solidarity expulsion of identified members of Russian intelligence service from EU and NATO member states.”The explosion at the arms depot was initially thought to be an accident. Czech investigators, however, recently revealed they had discovered an email that had been sent to “Imex Group,” the company that operated the depot, prior to the blast. The message asked that two men be allowed to visit the site. The email was sent from an address, purporting to be from the National Guard of Tajikistan, which was later shown to be fake.
Subsequent investigations found the two men were traveling under false documents. They have since been identified as the suspects in the 2018 nerve-agent poisoning in Britain of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, who barely survived. A local woman died after being exposed to the nerve agent.Suspects identified 
The investigative website Bellingcat identified them as Anatoly Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin, both officers in Russia’s GRU military intelligence. Their unit, 29155, is believed to focus on sabotage and subversion, says Russia analyst Ian Bond of the London-based Center for European Reform.
“They seem to be extremely active in a number of parts of Europe, and of course apart from them, we have seen the assassination of the Chechen-Georgian exile (Zelimkhan) Khangoshvili in Berlin, for which a Russian is on trial in Germany, and we’ve still got the MH17 trial going ahead in The Hague, and we’ve had other Russian citizens assassinated elsewhere in the EU,” Bond told VOA.
MH17 refers to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH-17. The aircraft was shot down July 17, 2014, by a Russian-made Buk missile fired from territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists. The Russian military has said the missile that downed the aircraft, killing all 298 people on board, came from the arsenals of the Ukrainian army, not from Russia.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, expressed support Monday for the Czech Republic’s expulsion of Russian diplomats. “These diplomats have been identified by the Czech intelligence to be Russian military service agents, and the European Union stands united and in solidarity with the Czech Republic.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called the Czech accusations “groundless” and accused the West of “a massive anti-Russian psychosis.”
Tensions between Moscow and the West have deepened in recent weeks, as Russia has deployed military hardware and tens of thousands of troops along the Ukrainian border. The European Union has called for de-escalation.Escalation risk in Ukraine”The Russian military buildup at the Ukrainian border is very concerning. It is more than 150,000 Russian troops massing on the Ukrainian borders and in Crimea. The risk of further escalation is evident. We have to commend Ukraine for its restrained response, and we urge Russia to de-escalate and to defuse tensions,” the EU’s Borrell told reporters Monday.
Russia also has jailed the main opposition leader, Alexey Navalny. Doctors say he is in critical condition in a prison hospital after going on a hunger strike when he was denied urgent medical treatment. Navalny survived a near-fatal poisoning last year and was arrested when he returned to Moscow in January following lifesaving treatment in Germany.The Russian president is trying to whip up support at home, says analyst Bond.”Putin hasn’t had a particularly good 12 months. Russia has one of the highest excess death rates from COVID-19 in the world. The economy is pretty stagnant, and the IMF is forecasting that it will stay pretty stagnant for a while. And the protests about the arrest of Navalny in January were the largest Russia had seen in quite a long time.”The United States imposed new sanctions on Russia this month over alleged cyberattacks and other “malign” acts. U.S. President Joe Biden has proposed a summit with his Russian counterpart.Europe must act fast in imposing its own measures, Bond said. “It’s hard to know what would jog Europe to impose further sanctions if it weren’t an example of state-sponsored terrorism of this kind. I can’t describe it in any other way — arranging the explosion of an ammunition dump which killed two people — it’s hard to see that as anything other than state terrorism.”That also sends a signal to Putin that there isn’t unity yet, even within the EU, about the need to take really firm measures to deter the sorts of activities that he has been authorizing in Europe over the last several years. And I think that will only embolden him unfortunately.”Russia has repeatedly denied involvement in the attacks on European soil and says its troop buildup on the Ukrainian border is in response to what it claims is increased military activity by the United States and NATO forces.   
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The prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines appealed for international help Tuesday as the Caribbean island nation begins to tackle the daunting cleanup from a series of volcanic eruptions that have not stopped. ”The lives and livelihoods of our people have been terribly affected,” Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves told reporters in a video press conference. ”We are in a dire situation, frankly.” About 20,000 people were evacuated from the area nearest to La Soufrière volcano on the north side of St. Vincent after it began erupting on April 9 for the first time in 42 years. The island nation has a population of about 110,000. In some areas, ash is a meter deep, and it has given the normally green and lush island an apocalyptic appearance. No one was killed in the eruptions, which the prime minister said have spewed more than 100 million cubic meters of ash on the island and into the sea, and has been carried as far away as India. But damage has been extensive to agriculture, homes and the island’s tourism industry.”The humanitarian relief for the prolonged period is going to be huge,” Gonsalves said. “The cost is massive, no question about that, before we reach reconstruction.”He estimates that rebuilding will run to the hundreds of millions of dollars.The United Nations launched a humanitarian appeal for $29.2 million on Tuesday to assist the most vulnerable with basic needs, including clean water, food and shelter, as well as to help initiate recovery. Last Thursday, the United Nations released $1 million from its emergency fund to help with urgent needs.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 18 MB480p | 25 MB540p | 33 MB720p | 72 MB1080p | 134 MBOriginal | 778 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioUnited Nations Barbados and Eastern Caribbean visit the volcano Red Zone in St. Vincent. (Video courtesy of United Nations)The world body is also deploying a team of a dozen experts this week to work with the government to assess what is needed to clean up and safely dispose of the massive amounts of ash, as well as to evaluate the ecological impact, Didier Trebucq, U.N. resident coordinator for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, said.Trebucq added that there is still a lot of uncertainty as eruptions continue.”We felt a tremor this morning,” he told reporters. “Two days ago, we could see another eruption.”Gonsalves said when La Soufrière last erupted in 1979, it did so over a period of about seven months. Prior to that, in 1902, it went on even longer.But should the volcano cease erupting sooner, the island nation will not be entirely at ease. Hurricane season starts in six weeks, and this year, it is forecast to be very active.
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The pandemic has boosted audiences for Europe’s public service media, with Europeans turning to fact-based news, according to the broadcasters’ trade association and academic studies.  Television, radio and digital channels all have shown upswings, especially in western Europe. But while the public has appeared to have been appreciative, the continent’s public broadcasters are facing a twin threat. Central Europe’s populist governments have been or are seeking to reduce their editorial independence, transforming them into official mouthpieces, warn rights campaigners and journalists.  And in western Europe, center-right governments are coming under mounting pressure from conservative lawmakers and populists to defund public broadcasters. FILE – Czech Republic’s Prime Minister Andrej Babis makes a statement during a media videoconference at an EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, July 20, 2020.Attention in recent weeks has focused on Czech Television, and what critics of the populist government of Prime Minister Andrej Babis say are efforts to politicize its governing board and undermine the broadcaster’s senior management team ahead of October’s parliamentary elections.  Last week, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), a trade association, urged Czech lawmakers to protect the independence of the country’s public broadcaster, saying Ceska Televize is “the most used news brand in the Czech Republic, with 60 percent of everyone in the country using the service at least weekly.”  The EBU’s president, Delphine Ernotte Cunci, and the association’s director general, Noel Curran, noted it also was “trusted by more Czechs than any other news brand.” They based their assertions on data and surveys compiled by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford.  “In recent months, it has become alarmingly clear that the Czech Republic’s government is trying to exert pressure on that very independence, directly and indirectly,” they said.  FILE – An operator works in the master room of the European Broadcast Union (EBU) in Geneva, Nov. 13, 2007.Last November, the broadcaster’s supervisory council — which oversees operations, appoints the broadcaster’s director-general and approves the budget — was abruptly removed. The country’s parliament voted last week on a slate of new council members, all affiliated with the ruling ANO party.   The broadcaster’s current, and embattled, director-general, Petr Dvořák, told local media, “The aim is not to change one person in a leading position, but to change the whole Czech Television, its behavior and functioning.”  He warns the populist plan is to keep the broadcaster formally looking like an independent one, but it will be made to reflect the views of the ruling party. “The same has happened in Poland,” he added. Dvořák expects to be ousted soon.  Krzysztof Bobinski of the Society of Journalists in Poland worries that public broadcasters in 11 European Union member states are at high risk of coming under control of ruling parties.  Bobinski is urging the European Commission, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to work more closely together to highlight how “too many EU governments are using public media to skew public debate in their favor and thus threaten the quality of the democratic processes and the rule of law.”  Babis’s moves to change public broadcasting in the Czech Republic are mirroring actions elsewhere in the young democracies of Central Europe. After it won power, Poland’s Law and Justice Party clipped the wings of the country’s public network, TVP. The OSCE’s observation mission of Poland’s 2019 parliamentary elections noted in its report of “a lack of impartiality in the media,” especially of TVP’s coverage. FILE – Polish Television (TVP) studios and headquarters are seen in in Warsaw, Poland, May 17, 2015.Reporters Without Borders says Poland’s public media outlets “have been transformed into government propaganda mouthpieces.” The group has raised similar concerns about public media in Hungary. During the country’s 2019 elections, leaked audio recordings emerged of editors instructing reporters to favor Viktor Orban’s ruling Fidesz party in their coverage. Populist leaders say the criticism is unfair and that public broadcasters have been the mouthpieces of liberals and the left for years. Slovenia Prime Minister Janez Jansa accuses his country’s public service media of regularly dishing out “fake news.”  FILE – Slovenia’s Prime Minister Janez Jansa attends a news conference in Vienna, Austria, March 16, 2021.He has dubbed the Slovenian Press Agency a “national disgrace” and says reporters working for public broadcaster Radiotelevizija Slovenija are paid too highly and spread “lies.” His government wants to amend the country’s media laws so they can increase state influence over public-service media. The criticism in Central Europe by populists of public broadcasters is echoed by counterparts in western Europe, who identify public media as liberal and accuse it of being hostile towards them and of being dominated by a metropolitan mindset out of step with the lives and thinking of millions of ordinary Europeans, especially those living in rural and de-industrialized areas. Germany’s populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) has been locked in a war of words for years with the country’s public broadcasters. In 2017, it went to the courts to try to get more airtime for its representatives, accusing the broadcasters of routinely shunning them.  Executives of German public-service television broadcaster ZDF have admitted they often have been too focused on covering issues and events in the country’s large metropolitan areas and have not been providing enough coverage of the rural east. They say that’s something they are seeking to rectify.  FILE – German television network ZDF crew members dismantle their setup in Marseille, July 18, 2007.In Britain, the ruling Conservatives have long had a strained and ambivalent relationship with the BBC, which they accuse of liberal bias. Libertarians object in principle to public funds being used. The BBC is funded largely by an annual television license fee charged to all British households, businesses and organizations using any type of equipment to receive or record live television broadcasts and iPlayer catch-up.  The Conservatives pledged in 2019 to reform the BBC and review its funding. There has been a growing movement in recent years to abolish license fees, and a growing number of Britons have been refusing to pay it.  FILE – Pedestrians walk past a BBC logo at Broadcasting House in London, Britain, Jan. 29, 2020.”There’s no need for the BBC,” according to Alex Deane, a PR consultant and former Conservative government adviser. He says resentment toward the BBC is not based on right or left politics but instead is rooted in “cultural issues and topics like Brexit and patriotism.” And he says in the digital age, there are plenty of commercial news and entertainment sources. But the BBC’s defenders say it is respected both in Britain and around the world for its reliability, the strength of its journalism and its impartiality, and they highlight how in times of crisis, it is the preferred source of news for Britons over commercial rivals.  Ninety-three percent of the British population tuned in to BBC television or radio during the first two weeks of the 2003 war in Iraq, according to surveys. At the start of the pandemic in March 2020, when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the start of strict new coronavirus restrictions, more than 15 million viewers watched the BBC’s coverage, double the number who turned to commercial rivals.  
 
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Europe’s drug regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said Tuesday it found a possible link between the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and rare forms of blood clots, but that the drug’s benefits outweigh its risks.
In its statement Tuesday, the EMA said that its drug safety group, the Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC), after reviewing all available evidence, concluded that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine’s product information should include a warning about unusual blood clots with low blood platelets.
The committee concluded that the events should be listed as very rare side effects of the vaccine.
The EMA gave a similar assessment of the AstraZeneca vaccine which also was found to have a possible link to rare blood clots.
The EMA reviewed the Johnson & Johnson vaccine following a small number of reports from the United States of serious cases of unusual blood clots associated with low levels of blood platelets among people who had received the vaccine – one of which had a fatal outcome. As of April 13, more than 7 million people in the U.S. had received Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine.
All cases occurred in people under 60 years of age within three weeks of vaccination, the majority in women.
The reports prompted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration to recommend a “pause” in the use of the vaccine in the United States while further evaluations were carried out.  
On Monday, top U.S. immunologist and Chief Presidential Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci told reporters the pause on the use of the vaccine could be lifted as early as this week.
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The U.N. World Food Program says it has reached a deal with the Venezuelan government to provide daily school meals to 185,000 of the country’s most vulnerable children by the end of the year.The deal was sealed with a handshake by WFP Director David Beasley and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Monday in the capital, Caracas. The school feeding program initially will take place in areas where food shortages are most severe.But, WFP spokesman Tomson Phiri says his agency aims to expand the operation over the coming two years to reach 1.5 million students, who often miss out on meals during the day. He says the operation will be conducted without state interference.“Our school meals program will be independent and separate from the national social protection programs,” said Phiri. “In Venezuela and across the world, WFP’s operations follow the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and operational independence.”Past efforts by WFP to provide food assistance to Venezuela’s hungry have been rebuffed. Opposition critics have accused the government of wanting to control aid distribution and using it as a political tool, a claim denied by Maduro.In finalizing the agreement, WFP Director Beasley thanked Maduro for allowing his agency to be independent and free of politicization.Venezuela has been in economic free-fall for years. The United Nations reports 5.6 million people have fled the country because of political repression and economic hardship.A World Food Program assessment of conditions in the country finds one in three Venezuelans are food insecure and in need of assistance. This includes 2.3 million people who are severely food insecure and do not know from where their next meal is coming.
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Party leaders with Germany’s Christan Democratic Union (CDU) party voted late Monday to make North Rhine-Westphalia State Governor Armin Laschet their candidate to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor in elections later this year.  
 
CDU party senior leaders selected Laschet over Bavarian Governor Markus Soeder after six hours of debate. Soeder is the leader of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU), and the two parties make up the Conservative Union bloc, which has supported Merkel for the past 16 years.  
 
The vote puts Laschet a step closer to being formally named as the candidate for the conservative alliance.
 
Monday’s CDU vote came after Laschet and Soeder each expressed interest in succeeding Merkel. Soeder has much better overall poll ratings, but Laschet was elected in January to lead the CDU, by far the bigger of the sister parties. It was primarily a conflict of personality and style rather than policy.
 
Soeder said the bigger party of the coalition should decide the matter and that he would respect a “clear decision.” He did just that Tuesday, telling reporters, “The die is cast; Armin Laschet will be the chancellor candidate of the Union.” Soeder said he and his party would support him “without grudge” and with all its strength.
 
Laschet called Tuesday for unity and said he and the CDU were grateful for the CSU’s fair dealings in the decision. He said the two parties must work as a team going into the election campaign.  
 
Laschet is widely seen as a candidate who would continue Merkel’s legacy, although he has clashed with her over coronavirus restrictions.
 
While the conservatives’ popularity has been sagging in recent months, due to perceptions it has mishandled the pandemic and allegations of corruption among some Union members, recent polls show they hold a slight lead over main rival, the Green party.
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Greece has lifted quarantine restrictions for travelers from the United States and a number of other countries as it prepares to reopen tourism services next month. But with the COVID pandemic still raging across the country and cases once again rising in parts of the United States, critics worry the Greek government may be acting too quickly.Greece’s new measures were effective immediately after they were announced Monday.  It is the first time U.S., British and EU travelers are allowed to visit this sun-kissed nation and its white-washed islands without quarantine requirements since March 2020 when the global pandemic brought international travel to a grinding halt.Travelers from Israel, Britain, the United Arab Emirates, as well as all European Union member states nationals will be allowed to vacation here, bypassing strict seven-day quarantine rules on the condition that they have either been vaccinated against COVID-19 or tested negative 72 hours before their arrival here.The move makes Greece one of the first major European destinations to reopen to tourists ahead of the summer season — a crucial head start the country wants in its bid to secure a sizeable slice of the travel market, to boost its battered tourism industry.But with intensive care facilities still close to capacity, just over 10 percent of the country’s 11 million people inoculated, and the pandemic still raging here, pundits and political opponents are already accusing the government of ignoring warnings by the nation’s health commission to proceed with caution.Government spokeswoman Aristotelia Peloni denies accusations that officials are acting recklessly.Any such suggestion she said is insulting. But speaking to reporters at a daily government press briefing, Peloni said it was the administration that was responsible for instituting the COVID rules, not the health commission overseeing the pandemic in the country. She said Greece’s decision to allow U.S. travelers and others to visit the country from this week would be closely monitored.Peloni described the exercise as a trial run and said qualifying visitors will be able to check into hotels to enjoy Greece’s sun, sea, and fun but they will also be subject to the same restrictions and lockdowns as locals, meaning restaurants and bars will remain off limits, except for takeaways.Nearly 200 Dutch tourists are already here as part of an experiment.They are part of an ambitious exercise in which they traded lockdown in their country, in exchange for eight days of voluntary confinement at a hotel resort on the island of Rhodes.Dutch tourists, who will spend a week long holiday in isolation in their tourist resort as part of an experiment, arrive at the Rhodes International Airport on the island of Rhodes, Greece, amid the COVID-19 outbreak, April 12, 2021.The setup allows participants to access the pool, restaurants, and other facilities at the resort only, but many, like this young man, are ecstatic. He said he does not have a pool at home and cannot go to his local pub for a beer, so this deal is great.But for a country growing increasingly frustrated from months of on-again, off-again lockdowns and restrictions, many Greeks are watching such experiments and defying local lockdowns, taking to the streets and staging so-called “corona-parties.”Many of those who are staying away from the block parties and observing restrictions say they find it unfair the government is allowing foreigners to come and visit, while keeping Greeks confined and unable to travel even beyond the counties they live in, even briefly for the upcoming Greek Orthodox Easter break.Health officials warn a nationwide easing of restrictions could spark a fresh spike in covid infections.To appease the growing resentment and lockdown fatigue, Greek government officials are now suggesting they may move to lift local restrictions by mid May – around the same time they hope the first big waves of tourists will start to arrive. 
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The hulking, horned bison has long been an iconic symbol for people from the United States to eastern Europe. They were worshipped as deities by the Native Americans and for the Polish, they are the most important animal after the double-headed eagle which adorns the national flag. Cave paintings in Spain show they were an essential part of life on the Iberian Peninsula about 1.2 million years ago. After being hunted nearly to extinction in the United States and Europe alike, the bison is undergoing a resurgence in terms of numbers. Conservationists now believe that far from being a historical symbol, the bison may play a role in tackling some of the side-effects of the biggest problem facing mankind in the future– climate change. Bison are herbivores that naturally feed on the undergrowth which fuels forest fires, a natural hazard as the world heats up. Rising temperatures and rural depopulation among factors which are driving a rise in forest fires. In Spain, wildfires have destroyed about 741,000 hectares of forest over the past ten years, according to government estimates. FILE – A military police officer stands by his motorcycle next to flames from a forest fire near Mazagon in southern Spain, June 25, 2017.Huge blazes are also becoming more common elsewhere in Portugal, California and Australia. Since the 1950s, Spain has seen a slow drain of population from rural to urban areas that has left fewer flocks of sheep to eat the highly flammable scrubland as farms have been abandoned. However, a new program to reintroduce bison, which were driven into extinction about 10,000 years ago, may hold out hope of a way to reverse this trend. There are 18 centers breeding bison in Spain and over the past ten years their numbers have risen from 22 to just over 150. The way the bison eats shrubs helps to open up dense parts of the forest, which lets in light and allows grass to grow instead of scrub which helps forest fires spread. “These animals naturally eat the vegetation and this could act as a natural fire break. With less and less flocks of sheep or cows being farmed in open ground, bison would fill this gap,” Fernando Morán, a veterinarian who is director of the European Bison Conservation Center of Spain, told VOA. European bison can weigh up to one ton and eat around 30 kilograms of vegetation per day. When they were released into a 20-hectare oak forest in 2010, seven bison cleared the undergrowth, saving about $72,000 which it would have cost to pay engineers to do the same job. No status But, as bison have been extinct for so long, they are not recognized as an endangered species and so there is no state funding in Spain for these schemes which depend on donations. The animals are also not permitted to roam wildly as they are not considered as an indigenous species in Spain so are kept in large parks. Morán says politicians in Spain and beyond should realize the potential of the bison to restore the ecosystem and change the law so they can roam free once more. “At present there is not the political will to make this change at present despite the pressure we have put on the government to do this,” he said. Jesús Gonzalez was a miner who worked in the coalfields of northern Spain but now dedicates himself to promoting the cause of the bison at a reserve in San Cebrián de Muda, a tiny village of 162 inhabitants. “This part of Spain has changed from an area which used to produce coal — which damages the environment – to one which nurtures animals like the bison which could play a role in helping the environment,” he told VOA in an interview from the reserve. In eastern Europe, the bison is allowed to roam freely in Poland, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Slovakia, Romania and Lithuania. There is also state funding for its nurture in Romania and Poland. FILE – Britain’s Prince Charles views bison at a reserve in Poland’s Bialowieza forest in Bialowieza, Poland, March 16, 2010. Seven young bison females were sent from Białowieża to farms in northern Spain to boost the herd there.Wanda Olech, a founder of the European Bison Friends’ Society based in Warsaw in Poland, believes this animal, like all grazing animals, could help combat climate change. She said the European bison has made such a recovery from the face of extinction that she advocates planned culls to prevent disease spreading. “In Poland alone there are 2,300 bison alone, of which about 50 are blind so we must control these animals with professionally organized culls,” Olech, who is a professor of animal genetics, told VOA. “This is not cruelty but should be professionally organized with hunters who could pay as they do in African countries.” Projects to export the European bison to Chile were rejected as it was believed the animal would not adapt, so bison are not present in Latin America or Africa.  
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The U.S. ambassador in Moscow said Tuesday he will head home for consultations — a move that comes after the Kremlin prodded him to take a break as Washington and Moscow traded sanctions. Ambassador John Sullivan said in a statement that he is returning to the United States this week to discuss U.S.-Russian ties with members of President Joe Biden’s administration. He emphasized that he would come back to Moscow within weeks. “I believe it is important for me to speak directly with my new colleagues in the Biden administration in Washington about the current state of bilateral relations between the United States and Russia,” Sullivan said in a statement issued by the embassy. “Also, I have not seen my family in well over a year, and that is another important reason for me to return home for a visit.” Sullivan’s departure comes after Russia on Friday stopped short of asking Sullivan to leave the country, but said it “suggested” that he follows the example of the Russian ambassador to Washington who was recalled for consultations last month after President Joe Biden’s description of President Vladimir Putin as a “killer.” Russia has set no time frame for Anatoly Antonov’s return to Washington. On Thursday, the Biden administration announced sanctions on Russia for interfering in the 2020 U.S. presidential election and involvement in the SolarWind hack of federal agencies — activities Moscow has denied. The U.S. ordered 10 Russian diplomats expelled, targeted dozens of companies and people and imposed new curbs on Russia’s ability to borrow money. Russia denounced the U.S. move as “absolutely unfriendly and unprovoked” and retaliated by ordering 10 U.S. diplomats to leave, blacklisting eight current and former U.S. officials and tightening requirements for the U.S. Embassy operations. While ordering the sanctions, Biden also called for de-escalating tensions and held the door open for cooperation with Russia in certain areas. Biden emphasized that he told Putin that he chose not to impose tougher sanctions for now and proposed to meet in a third country in the summer. Russia said it was studying the offer. “I will return to Moscow in the coming weeks before any meeting between Presidents Biden and Putin,” Sullivan said in Tuesday’s statement. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that “we are in the very beginning of analyzing the situation” regarding Biden’s summit proposal and no specifics have been discussed yet. “A big question is what course the U.S. will take,” Ryabkov said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies. While the new U.S. sanctions further limited Russia’s ability to borrow money by banning U.S. financial institutions from buying Russian government bonds directly from state institutions, they didn’t target the secondary market. The Biden administration held the door open for more hard-hitting moves if need be. Fyodor Lukyanov, a leading Moscow-based foreign policy expert, said while the Kremlin’s advice to Sullivan to leave for consultations stopped short of expulsion, it reflected Moscow’s dismay about the new sanctions. “If the political contacts have been reduced to zero, and economic ties never were close enough, why have so many people in the embassies?” Lukyanov said in a commentary. He predicted that ties will continue to deteriorate despite Biden’s offer to hold a summit. “During the past Cold War, the Soviet Union and the United States at least shared a certain mutual respect and a recognition of each other’s political legitimacy, and it’s no longer the case,” Lukyanov observed. “Each party sees the other as heading toward decay and lacking the moral and political right to behave as it does.” 
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Peru began new nationwide restrictions for one month Monday, a day after reaching a new record of COVID-19 deaths. The country’s health ministry registered 433 COVID-19 related deaths on Sunday, following a steady increase in deaths this month. Under the new government order, residents cannot use private vehicles on Sunday, but public transportation will be available. The order also places limits on the size of gatherings and the mandatory social curfew accordance comes with threat alert levels, beginning with moderate, high, very high, and extreme risk.  The capital, Lima, is listed at the extreme risk level, meaning residents are prohibited from going outside on Sundays, the state run Andina News Agency reported. The curfew hours vary based on levels set for social curfew from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., and to 4:00 a.m. from Mondays through Sundays. People performing essential duties, such as healthcare workers, supermarket workers and financial services are exempt. Under new international travel restrictions through May 9, non-resident foreigners from the United Kingdom, South Africa, or Brazil, or those who have made a stopover in any of said places during the last 14 calendar days are prohibited from entering the country. The decree also extends the national state of emergency for 31 days (about one month), beginning May 1. Peru has one of the highest COVID-19 totals in Latin America, with more than 1,697,000 cases and 56,797 deaths, according to Johns Hopkin University Covid Resource Center. 
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Cuba’s president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, will become the leader of country’s communist party, two days after Raul Castro said he was retiring from the position.  The announcement was made on Monday, making it the second time Miguel Diaz-Canel has followed in the footsteps of Raul Castro. The first time as president and now with more influential position of becoming the leader of the party. Diaz-Canel, 60, took over the presidency from his mentor, Raul Castro, in 2018. But during Castro’s retirement speech, part of which was televised, Castro fell short of announcing who would succeed him as party leader. Diaz-Canel, who turns 61 Tuesday, has begun to open the state-dominated economy, something that many young Cubans support.Cuban President Diaz-Canel made Communist Party leader, ending Castro era, April 19, 2021.His appointment ends the rule of the Castros but hardly their influence. The Castros led a revolution that overthrew the authoritarian rule of Fulgencio Batista in 1959. The Cuban Communist Party was formed six years after with Fedel Castron, Rau’s older brother, as its leader. Fidel Castro held the country under his tight control until his health forced him to cede the presidency to Raul in 2006. In 2011, Fidel Castro handed over the leadership of the communist party to his younger brother to continue their legacy. Four years later, in 2016, Castro died. Although he was born a year after the revolution, Diaz-Canel has always been in the shadow of the Castros. He was appointed a minister of higher education in 2009, rose through the ranks until his appointment in 2012 as first vice president. Diaz-Canel, a one-time youth non-conformist is an engineer by profession but has mostly been a politician who worked his way to the top. 
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The European Union says roughly 150,000 Russian troops are massed along the border of Ukraine and in Crimea — calling it the highest such military deployment.EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described Russia’s military buildup on the Ukraine border and annexed Crimea as very worrying.”The military deployment of Russian troops, with all kinds of materials — deploying campaign hospitals and all kinds of warfare — has been continuing. I cannot tell you where this figure comes from, but it is my reference figure. It is the highest military deployment of Russian army in Ukrainian borders ever,” he said.But Borrell said for now — and despite separate accusations by the Czech Republic that Russia was behind explosions in 2014 at an ammunition depot— the 27-member bloc is not planning more sanctions against Moscow.”At the time being there is no move on the field of more sanctions to Russia. Things can change, but the situation is the way I am explaining,” he said.A Ukrainian soldier is seen at fighting positions on the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels near Donetsk, Ukraine, April 19, 2021.The Czech Republic has expelled 18 Russian diplomats accused of being spies in the case related to the explosion. In a tit-for-tat move, Moscow ordered 20 Czech diplomats out of Russia.The EU has followed Washington in warning Moscow about another key issue — the deteriorating health of opposition activist Alexey Navalny, who began a hunger strike last month demanding better medical care. Navalny reportedly has now been moved to a military hospital.“They are responsible for Navalny’s safety and health, and we will hold them to account for it,” said Borrell.The prison service said at the present time, Navalny’s health is deemed satisfactory, and that he is being examined daily by a physician. Officials also say he agreed to take vitamin therapy.FILE – 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)Russia was the top item at Monday’s EU foreign ministers meeting — held by video link because of the coronavirus pandemic. Experts say tensions between Russia and the West are at their highest point since the Cold War. Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France also held four-way talks in Kyiv.Senior analyst Amanda Paul, of the Brussels-based European Policy Center, said she is not surprised the EU isn’t taking bolder action against Russia, which annexed Crimea in 2014.“The problem is, like always, you don’t have one voice. Obviously, there’s some member states that would like the EU to respond with a much tougher narrative or tougher steps. But you have the other part that is more cautious and wants to wait and see,” she said.On other hotspots, the EU adopted a new round of sanctions against Myanmar following the February coup there. It also criticized the lack of progress on Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where fighting between the federal government and the region’s former ruling party erupted last year.A burned tank stands near the town of Adwa, Tigray region, Ethiopia, March 18, 2021.The EU says troops from Eritrea have not withdrawn and human rights violations continue. Eritrea had been fighting on the side of the Ethiopian federal forces. Eritrea previously denied being in the Tigray region.On a positive note, Borrell was upbeat about progress between Washington and Tehran at indirect nuclear talks in Vienna.“I think both parts are really interested in reaching an agreement,” she said.The Reuters news agency cites a Russian diplomat saying negotiations to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal were in a drafting stage, although solutions to issues were still far away.
 
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Russia is continuing to build up its naval presence in the Black Sea, and The Sunday Times newspaper, quoting British naval sources, said Britain is also deploying two warships to beef up NATO’s presence, as tensions over Ukraine escalate.Access to the Black Sea is through Turkey’s Bosphorus and Dardanelles waterways which are controlled by the 1936 Montreux Convention.Retired Turkish Ambassador Mithat Rende, a maritime law analyst, said the current tensions underlines the treaty’s importance.“Maritime powers, which are not are riparian states, they have limited access to the Black Sea,” Rende said. “Because of the limited tonnage that each country cannot keep more than thirty thousand of tonnage capacity in the Black Sea and for a period for only 21 days. So, it probably desirable for certain countries, like the United States to have an alternative to Montreux.”Earlier this month, news reports said Russian President Vladimir Putin pressed his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to ensure NATO fully comply with the Montreux convention.Huseyin Bagci of the Foreign Policy Institute in Ankara said Moscow sees the convention as key to Russian Black Sea hegemony.“This is (the) only way which makes Black Sea at the same time a Russian sea, because the Russian navy is there dominating,” Bagci said. “And the American warships are limited there. And so, it’s good for Russia to have Montreux, maybe more than Turkey.”But the future of the 80-year-old convention could be in question.A Turkish commercial extolls the virtues of the Istanbul canal that would run parallel with the Bosphorus, offering a faster and safer passage for ships. The canal — whose construction is due to start in the coming months — is causing concern in Moscow.Erdogan said this month the canal is not covered by Montreux, opening the door to potential unlimited use by any nation’s warships. Turkey-Russia relations analyst Zaur Gasimov at Bonn University said deliberations over Montreux gives Ankara leverage over Moscow.“The Montreux agreement and how Turkey deals with it, that gives also a new possibility for Ankara to promote its interests in its interaction with Russia,” Gasimov said. “That gives also certain leverage for Ankara to influence the situation the dynamics around the Black Sea region and even also to deepen the cooperation with the United States.”But Erdogan’s plan is facing pushback. More than 100 retired Turkish admirals issued a statement this month, defending Montreux, claiming it guarantees Turkish control over the Bosphorus. The Turkish authorities put the admirals under investigation, accusing them of threatening the government.
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Fans of the Premier League clubs named as part of the breakaway Super League launched on Sunday have joined forces to condemn the move with Chelsea’s Supporters’ Trust describing it as the “ultimate betrayal.”
 
The Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust said it was “deeply concerned” at their club’s involvement while Arsenal’s Supporters’ Trust described it on Twitter as “the death of the club as a sporting institution.”
 
Manchester United’s Supporters’ Trust (MUST) also stood firm against the Super League which would have the club’s co-chairman, American Joel Glazer, as it’s vice-chairman.
 
“These proposals are completely unacceptable and will shock Manchester United fans, as well as those of many other clubs,” it said in a statement.
 
“When Sir Matt Busby led us into the European Cup in the 1950s, the modern Manchester United was founded in the tragedy and then triumph that followed. To even contemplate walking away from that competition would be a betrayal of everything this club has ever stood for.”
 
Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham were named as six of the 12 founders of the Super League which has been widely condemned across the game and beyond and is likely to spark a bitter battle for control of the game in Europe.
 
In statement the Chelsea Supporters’ Trust (CST) said: “Our members and football supporters across the world have experienced the ultimate betrayal.
 
“This is a decision of greed to line the pockets of those at the top and it has been made with no consideration for the loyal supporters, our history, our future and the future of football in this country.
 
“This is unforgivable. Enough is enough.”
 
Unlike Chelsea, Tottenham’s record of winning silverware has been lamentable over the past few decades and they have not won the English title since 1961.
 
Their last trophy was in 2008 and while they have a state-of-the-art 60,000-seater stadium regarded as one of the best in Europe, they are unlikely to qualify for the Champions League next season. On Monday they sacked manager Jose Mourinho.
 
“The Board of Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust is deeply concerned by rapidly escalating reports linking Tottenham Hotspur Football Club with a breakaway European Super League: a concept driven by avarice and self-interest at the expense of the intrinsic values of the game we hold so dear,” a statement on the THST website said.
 
“Along with fan groups at Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea, we wholeheartedly oppose the move to create a closed shop for Europe’s elite.”
 
“We call on (owners) ENIC, the temporary custodians of our great club, to distance themselves from any rebel group and to consider the implications fully before making decisions that will fundamentally change the course of history for Tottenham Hotspur forever,” it said.
 
“The future of our Club is at stake.”
 
Manchester City Official Supporter’s Club (OSC) also voiced its opposition.
 
“This proposed new competition has no sporting merit and would seem to be motivated by greed,” it said. “Those involved have zero regard for the game’s traditions.”
 
Responding to the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust post on Twitter, Liverpool’s Spirit of Shankly group replied: “Solidarity needed now more than ever.”
 
In a further Tweet SOS said: “Embarrassing as fan representatives we are appalled & completely oppose this decision. (Owners) Fenway Sports Group have ignored fans in their relentless and greedy pursuit of money.”
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Russian prison officials said Monday that hunger-striking, jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny has been transferred to a prison hospital. “At the present time, Navalny’s health is assessed as satisfactory, and he is being examined daily by a physician,” the federal penitentiary service said in a statement.  “With the patient’s consent, he was prescribed vitamin therapy.” Navalny’s allies did not have an immediate response to the opposition leader’s move to the hospital at a high security prison east of Moscow. Earlier Monday, a Navalny ally had warned that there was no hope of receiving good news about his health. FILE – Russian opposition activist Lyubov Sobol speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Moscow, Russia, Aug. 28, 2020.Lyubov Sobol told Ekho Moskvy radio on Monday that Navalny’s allies expect to receive an update about the politician’s health status later in the day, according to the Reuters news agency. Allies of Navalny announced nationwide protests after the opposition figure’s family and personal doctors released blood analysis results that suggested he was at high risk of cardiac arrest or kidney failure.  The planned protests are scheduled for Wednesday and fall on the same day that President Vladimir Putin delivers his annual State of the Nation address from just outside the Kremlin — all but ensuring a tense standoff between Navalny supporters and police in the capital, Moscow. Over the weekend, Navalny’s doctors said that blood tests — provided by the opposition figure’s lawyers to his family — showed his potassium count had reached a “critical level.” “This means both impaired renal function and that serious heart rhythm problems can happen any minute,” said the letter, which was signed by Navalny’s personal physician, Anastasia Vasilyeva, and three other doctors. “If they don’t start treating Navalny, he will die within days,” warned his other physician, Alexander Polupan. FILE – A still image from CCTV footage published by Life.Ru shows what is said to be Alexey Navalny speaking with a prison guard at the IK-2 corrective penal colony in the town of Pokrov, Russia, in this image released Apr. 2, 2021.Navalny, 44, is currently on the third week of a hunger strike in an effort to gain access to medical treatment. He is serving a 2½-year sentence in a prison 100 kilometers from Moscow. On Friday, the opposition leader said prison authorities were threatening to force-feed him. Previously, he has detailed efforts by prison authorities to lure him out of his hunger strike — including slipping candy into his pockets and grilling chicken in the prison barracks. For several weeks, Navalny has described acute pain in his back that caused a loss of sensation in his legs and arms. Through his lawyers, he has also complained of a severe cough and dizziness. Navalny maintains that his ailments are linked to an August 2020 poisoning attack with a military-grade nerve agent that nearly took his life, and that he and Western governments blame on the Russian government. The Kremlin has denied any involvement but also refused to investigate the incident — saying that there is no definitive proof Navalny was ever poisoned. The government has also deployed state media to Navalny’s prison to film reports that portray conditions at the penal colony as near ideal, and Navalny as seeking special treatment by faking his symptoms. Yet the latest blood results suggested Navalny’s very survival was at stake, said his press secretary, Kira Yarmysh, on social media.  A poisoned affair  Navalny was sentenced to prison in February for violating parole obligations dating back to a 2014 fraud conviction he argues was politically motivated to disqualify him from taking part in Russia’s political space. The parole violation charges appeared only after Navalny had spent months recovering in a German hospital from the poison attack. The action was widely seen as an effort by the Kremlin to strongly encourage the opposition figure to remain in exile.  Instead, Navalny announced he was returning home to Moscow, where he was promptly detained at the airport by police in January. FILE – Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is seen at the passport control point at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, Jan. 17, 2021.Following his conviction, it later emerged he would be serving out his sentence at the IK-2 facility in the town of Pokrov, a high-security prison known for imposing a strict regime of psychological pressure on prisoners, say former inmates. The United States and its European allies have demanded Navalny’s release and issued sanctions against top Russian government officials and state entities involved. The Kremlin has rebuffed Western demands and sanctions as attempts to interfere in Russia’s internal affairs. Fern Robinson contributed to this report.   
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Twelve of Europe’s top football clubs launched a breakaway Super League on Sunday, in what is certain to be a bitter battle for control of the game and its lucrative revenue.The move sets up a rival to UEFA’s established Champions League competition and was condemned by football authorities and political leaders.Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus are among the leading members of the new league, but UEFA has threatened to ban them from domestic and international competition and vowed to fight the move.French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson both issued statements condemning the breakaway and supporting UEFA’s position.Along with United, English Premier League clubs Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have signed up to the plans.Barcelona and Atletico Madrid from Spain join Real. AC Milan and Inter Milan make up the trio from Italy along with Juventus.The Super League said they aimed to have 15 founding members and a 20-team league with five other clubs qualifying each season.The clubs would share a fund of 3.5 billion euros ($4.19 billion) to spend on infrastructure projects and to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”We will help football at every level and take it to its rightful place in the world. Football is the only global sport in the world with more than 4 billion fans and our responsibility as big clubs is to respond to their desires,” said Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, the first chairman of the Super League.No German or French clubs have yet to be associated with the breakaway.World soccer’s governing body, FIFA, expressed its “disapproval to a ‘closed European breakaway league’ outside of the international football structures.”But there was no mention of a previous threat from FIFA to ban any players taking part in a breakaway from participating in World Cups.The announcement came just hours before UEFA is to sign off on its own plans for an expanded and restructured 36 team Champions League on Monday.UEFA issued a strong statement jointly with English, Spanish and Italian leagues and football federations, saying they were ready to use “all measures” to confront any breakaway and saying any participating clubs would be banned from domestic leagues, such as the Premier League.”The clubs concerned will be banned from playing in any other competition at domestic, European or world level, and their players could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams,” UEFA said.”We thank those clubs in other countries, especially the French and German clubs, who have refused to sign up to this. We call on all lovers of football, supporters and politicians, to join us in fighting against such a project if it were to be announced. This persistent self-interest of a few has been going on for too long. Enough is enough.”The moves were condemned by football authorities across Europe and former players such as Manchester United’s ex-captain Gary Neville who called it “an absolute disgrace” and said the club owners were motivated by “pure greed.”France’s Macron raised his voice against the breakaway.”The president of the republic welcomes the position of French clubs to refuse to participate to a European football Super League project that threatens the principle of solidarity and sporting merit,” the French presidency said in a statement sent to Reuters.”The French state will support all the steps taken by the LFP, FFF, UEFA and FIFA to protect the integrity of federal competitions, whether national or European,” the Elysee added, citing the national, European and globally soccer governing bodies.Britain’s Johnson also opposed the move.”Plans for a European Super League would be very damaging for football and we support football authorities in taking action,” he tweeted.”They would strike at the heart of the domestic game and will concern fans across the country. The clubs involved must answer to their fans and the wider footballing community before taking any further steps.”There have been reports of a breakaway for several years and they returned in January with several media reported a document had been produced outlining the plans.In October, then Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu said the club had accepted a proposal to join a breakaway league.Those reports led FIFA and UEFA to warn that they would ban any players involved in a breakaway from playing in the World Cup or European Championship.
 
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Twelve of Europe’s top football clubs launched a breakaway Super League on Sunday, launching what is certain to be a bitter battle for control of the game and its lucrative revenue.The move sets up a rival to UEFA’s established Champions League competition and was condemned by football authorities and political leaders.Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus are among the leading members of the new league, but UEFA has threatened to ban them from domestic and international competition and vowed to fight the move.French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson both issued statements condemning the breakaway and supporting UEFA’s position.Along with United, English Premier League clubs Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have signed up to the plans.Barcelona and Atletico Madrid from Spain join Real. AC Milan and Inter Milan make up the trio from Italy along with Juventus.The Super League said they aimed to have 15 founding members and a 20-team league with five other clubs qualifying each season.The clubs would share a fund of 3.5 billion euros ($4.19 billion) to spend on infrastructure projects and to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”We will help football at every level and take it to its rightful place in the world. Football is the only global sport in the world with more than 4 billion fans and our responsibility as big clubs is to respond to their desires,” said Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, the first chairman of the Super League.No German or French clubs have yet to be associated with the breakaway.World soccer’s governing body, FIFA, expressed its “disapproval to a ‘closed European breakaway league’ outside of the international football structures.”But there was no mention of a previous threat from FIFA to ban any players taking part in a breakaway from participating in World Cups.The announcement came just hours before UEFA is to sign off on its own plans for an expanded and restructured 36 team Champions League on Monday.UEFA issued a strong statement jointly with English, Spanish and Italian leagues and football federations, saying they were ready to use “all measures” to confront any breakaway and saying any participating clubs would be banned from domestic leagues, such as the Premier League.”The clubs concerned will be banned from playing in any other competition at domestic, European or world level, and their players could be denied the opportunity to represent their national teams,” UEFA said.”We thank those clubs in other countries, especially the French and German clubs, who have refused to sign up to this. We call on all lovers of football, supporters and politicians, to join us in fighting against such a project if it were to be announced. This persistent self-interest of a few has been going on for too long. Enough is enough.”The moves were condemned by football authorities across Europe and former players such as Manchester United’s ex-captain Gary Neville who called it “an absolute disgrace” and said the club owners were motivated by “pure greed.”France’s Macron raised his voice against the breakaway.”The president of the republic welcomes the position of French clubs to refuse to participate to a European football Super League project that threatens the principle of solidarity and sporting merit,” the French presidency said in a statement sent to Reuters.”The French state will support all the steps taken by the LFP, FFF, UEFA and FIFA to protect the integrity of federal competitions, whether national or European,” the Elysee added, citing the national, European and globally soccer governing bodies.Britain’s Johnson also opposed the move.”Plans for a European Super League would be very damaging for football and we support football authorities in taking action,” he tweeted.”They would strike at the heart of the domestic game and will concern fans across the country. The clubs involved must answer to their fans and the wider footballing community before taking any further steps.”There have been reports of a breakaway for several years and they returned in January with several media reported a document had been produced outlining the plans.In October, then Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu said the club had accepted a proposal to join a breakaway league.Those reports led FIFA and UEFA to warn that they would ban any players involved in a breakaway from playing in the World Cup or European Championship.
 
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Israel and Greece have signed their biggest ever defense procurement deal, which Israel said Sunday would strengthen political and economic ties between the two countries as their air forces launched a joint exercise.The agreement includes a $1.65 billion contract for the establishment and operation of a training center for the Hellenic Air Force by Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems over 22 years, Israel’s defense ministry said.The training center will be modeled on Israel’s flight academy and will be equipped with 10 M-346 training aircraft produced by Italy’s Leonardo, the ministry said.Elbit will supply kits to upgrade and operate Greece’s T-6 aircraft and also provide training, simulators and logistical support.”I am certain that (this program) will upgrade the capabilities and strengthen the economies of Israel and Greece and thus the partnership between our two countries will deepen on the defense, economic and political levels,” said Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz.The announcement follows a meeting Friday in Cyprus between the UAE, Greek, Cypriot and Israeli foreign ministers, who agreed to deepen cooperation.The Israeli and Greek air forces on Sunday launched a joint exercise in Greece, the Israeli military said.In at least one past exercise over Greece, Israeli fighter planes practiced against an S-300 posted on Crete. The Russian-made air defense system is also deployed in Syria and Iran, Israel’s foes.A source in the Hellenic National Defense Command said the S-300 had not been activated in the joint exercise that began Sunday.
 
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Moscow expelled 20 Czech diplomats on Sunday in a confrontation over Czech allegations that two Russian spies accused of a nerve agent poisoning in Britain in 2018 were behind an earlier explosion at a Czech ammunition depot that killed two people.On Saturday, Prague ordered 18 Russian diplomats to leave the country, prompting Russia to vow Sunday to “force the authors of this provocation to fully understand their responsibility for destroying the foundation of normal ties between our countries.”Moscow gave the Czech diplomats just a day to leave, while Prague had given the Russians three days.The Czech Republic said it had informed NATO and European Union allies that it suspected Russia of causing the 2014 blast, and European Union foreign ministers were set to discuss the matter at their meeting Monday.The U.S. State Department commended Prague’s firm response to “Russia’s subversive actions on Czech soil.”The row is the biggest between Prague and Moscow since the end of decades of Soviet domination of eastern Europe in 1989.It also adds to growing tensions between Russia and the West in general, raised in part by Russia’s military buildup on its western borders and in Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, after a surge in fighting between government and pro-Russian forces in Ukraine’s east.Russia said Prague’s accusations were absurd as it had previously blamed the blast at Vrbetice, 300 kilometers (210 miles) east of the capital, on the depot’s owners.It called the expulsions “the continuation of a series of anti-Russian actions undertaken by the Czech Republic in recent years,” accusing Prague of “striving to please the United States against the backdrop of recent U.S. sanctions against Russia.”Arms shipmentCzech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the attack had been aimed at a shipment to a Bulgarian arms trader.”This was an attack on ammunition that had already been paid for and was being stored for a Bulgarian arms trader,” he said on Czech Television.He said the arms trader, whom he did not name, had later been the target of an attempted murder.Bulgarian prosecutors charged three Russian men in 2020 with an attempt to kill arms trader Emilian Gebrev, who was identified by Czech media as the same individual. Reuters was unable to reach Gebrev for comment.Czech police said two men using the names Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov had traveled to the Czech Republic days before the arms depot blast.FILE – A still image taken from video footage and released by Russia’s RT international news channel Sept. 13, 2018, shows two Russian men identified as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov during an interview at an unnamed location.Those names were the aliases used by the two Russian GRU military intelligence officers wanted by Britain for the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok in the English city of Salisbury in 2018. The Skripals survived, but a member of the public died.The Kremlin denied involvement in that incident, and the attackers remain at large.Czech Interior and acting Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said police knew about the two people from the beginning, “but only found out when the Salisbury attack happened that they are members of the GRU, that Unit 29155.”Hamacek said Prague would ask Moscow for assistance in questioning them but did not expect it to cooperate.‘Dangerous and malign’British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab tweeted that the Czechs “have exposed the lengths that the GRU will go to in their attempts to conduct dangerous and malign operations.”A NATO official said the alliance would support the Czech Republic as it investigated Russia’s “malign activities,” which were part of a pattern of “dangerous behavior.””Those responsible must be brought to justice,” added the official, who declined to be named.The United States imposed sanctions against Russia on Thursday for interfering in last year’s U.S. election, cyber hacking, bullying Ukraine and other actions, prompting Moscow to retaliate.On Sunday, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Washington had told Moscow “there will be consequences” if Alexey Navalny, the opposition figure who almost died last year after being given a toxin that Western experts say was Novichok, dies in prison, where he is on hunger strike.The 2014 incident has resurfaced at an awkward time for Prague and Moscow.The Czech Republic is planning to put the construction of a new nuclear power plant at its Dukovany complex out to bid.Security services have demanded that Russia’s Rosatom be excluded as a security risk, while President Milos Zeman and other senior officials have been supporting Russia’s case.In a text message, Industry Minister Karel Havlicek, who was previously in favor of including Russia, told Reuters: “The probability that Rosatom will participate in the expansion of Dukovany is very low.” 
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