High-ranking diplomats from China, Germany, France, Russia and Britain resumed talks Saturday focused on bringing the United States back into their landmark nuclear deal with Iran.The U.S. will not have a representative at the table when the diplomats meet in Vienna because former President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the country out of the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in 2018. Trump also restored and augmented sanctions to try to force Iran into renegotiating the pact with more concessions.U.S. President Joe Biden wants to rejoin the deal, however, and a U.S. delegation in Vienna is taking part in indirect talks with Iran, with diplomats from the other world powers acting as go-betweens.The Biden administration is considering a rollback of some of the most stringent Trump-era sanctions in a bid to get Iran to come back into compliance with the terms of the nuclear agreement, according to information from current and former U.S. officials and others familiar with the matter earlier this week.Ahead of the main talks, Russia’s top representative Mikhail Ulyanov said JCPOA members met on the side with officials from the U.S. delegation but that the Iranian delegation was not ready to meet with U.S. diplomats.“JCPOA participants held today informal consultations with the U.S. delegation at the Vienna talks on full restoration of the nuclear deal,” Ulyanov tweeted. “Without Iran who is still not ready to meet with U.S. diplomats.”The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, promised Iran economic incentives in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. The reimposition of U.S. sanctions has left the Islamic Republic’s economy reeling. Tehran has responded by steadily increasing its violations of the restrictions of the deal, such as increasing the purity of uranium it enriches and its stockpiles, in a thus-far unsuccessful effort to pressure the other countries to provide relief.The ultimate goal of the deal is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, something it insists it doesn’t want to do. Iran now has enough enriched uranium to make a bomb, but nowhere near the amount it had before the nuclear deal was signed.The Vienna talks began in early April and have included several rounds of high-level discussions. Expert groups also have been working on proposals on how to resolve the issues around American sanctions and Iranian compliance, as well as the “possible sequencing” of the U.S. return.Outside the talks in Vienna, other challenges remain.An attack suspected to have been carried out by Israel recently struck Iran’s Natanz nuclear site, causing an unknown amount of damage. Tehran retaliated by beginning to enrich a small amount of uranium up to 60% purity, its highest level ever.
 
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A total of 125 Europe-bound children were among those intercepted at sea this week by Libyan authorities off the Mediterranean coast, the United Nations child welfare agency said Friday, adding that most were brought to detention centers.The children, fleeing war and poverty across the perilous maritime route to Europe, included 114 unaccompanied minors, UNICEF added in a statement.”The majority of those rescued are sent to overcrowded detention centers in Libya under extremely difficult conditions and with no or limited access to water and health services. Nearly 1,100 children are in these centers,” read the statement.UNICEF urged the Libyan authorities to release all children and to put an end to immigration detention.In the years since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, war-torn Libya has emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants fleeing Africa and the Middle East.”The Central Mediterranean continues to be one of the deadliest and most dangerous migration routes in the world,” UNICEF said, adding that at least 350 people, including children and women, have drowned or gone missing in the Mediterranean since January.Last week, 130 Europe-bound migrants went missing in the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast, in the deadliest shipwreck since the beginning of the year.
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Six American oil executives jailed in Venezuela more than three years ago on corruption charges were granted house arrest on Friday in a gesture of goodwill toward the Biden administration as it reviews its policy toward the politically turbulent South American country.The partial release of the six employees of Houston-based Citgo was confirmed to The Associated Press by lawyers and family members of the men.Tomeu Vadell, Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo, Gustavo Cardenas and Jose Pereira were hauled away by masked security agents during a meeting in Caracas just before Thanksgiving in 2017. They had been lured to Venezuela to attend a meeting at the headquarters of Citgo’s parent, state-run oil giant PDVSA.The so-called Citgo 6 were granted house arrest once before — in December 2019 — only to be re-jailed two months later, on the same day that President Donald Trump welcomed opposition leader Juan Guaidó to the White House.In releasing the men, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro could be betting he’ll receive a better hearing from President Joe Biden, who on the campaign trail called Trump’s policy of regime change an “abject failure” that has served only to strengthen the socialist leader.Earlier this week, senior Biden officials from several federal agencies were scheduled to meet to weigh U.S. options, including whether to ease up on crippling oil sanctions it inherited and take steps to support an uncertain attempt at dialogue between Maduro and his opponents, according to two people familiar with the plans.However, the continued imprisonment of Americans is seen as a formidable obstacle to any outreach.In recent weeks, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was among those working behind the scenes to press Maduro’s government to release the men.”This is a positive and important step that should help secure their wellbeing during the COVID-19 outbreak in Venezuela,” said Richardson in a statement.Richardson, who has opened back channels to hostile governments in Iran, Cuba and North Korea to win the release of some 40 Americans, vowed to work tirelessly to bring the men back home.He also urged the release of Luke Denman and Airan Berry — two former Green Berets who participated in a failed raid last year staged from neighboring Colombia — and former U.S. Marine Matthew Heath, who is being held on unrelated allegations.
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A medical board appointed to investigate the death of Diego Maradona has concluded that the soccer star’s medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless manner,” according to a copy of the report shared with Reuters on Friday.Maradona’s death in November last year rocked the South American nation where he was revered, prompting a period of mourning and angry finger-pointing about who was to blame after the icon’s yearslong battle with addiction and ill health.Argentine prosecutors launched investigations shortly after Maradona’s death at age 60 from heart failure at a house near Buenos Aires, including ordering searches of properties of his personal doctor and probing others involved in his care.Maradona, nicknamed “D10S,” a play on the Spanish word for god, and “Pelusa” for his prominent mane of hair, had battled alcohol and drug addiction for many years and had undergone brain surgery in November.In March this year, a medical board appointed by the Justice Ministry met to analyze allegations that members of the health team who attended Maradona did not treat him adequately.”The action of the health team in charge of treating DAM [Diego Armando Maradona] was inadequate, deficient and reckless,” said the medical board report dated Friday and shared with Reuters by a source close to the investigation.The report said Maradona had become seriously unwell and was dying for around 12 hours before his death at around midday on November 25.”He presented unequivocal signs of a prolonged agonizing period, so we conclude that the patient was not properly monitored from 00:30 on 11/25/2020,” the report added.Reuters could not reach prosecutors and lawyers involved in the case for comment on Friday.Maradona, a champion with Argentina in the 1986 World Cup, played for Barcelona, Napoli, Seville, Boca Juniors and Argentinos Juniors, and is widely heralded as one of the greatest soccer players of all time.
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Russia on Friday barred eight officials from European Union countries from entering the country in retaliation for sanctions imposed on Russian citizens by the EU.Russia’s foreign ministry said those banned included Vera Jourova, vice president for values and transparency at the executive European Commission, David Sassoli, the president of the European parliament, and Jacques Maire, a member of the French delegation at the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly.”The European Union continues to pursue its policy of illegitimate, unilateral restrictive measures against Russian citizens and organizations,” the ministry said in a statement.It accused the EU of “openly and deliberately” undermining the independence of Russia’s domestic and foreign policy.Sassoli, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council chief Charles Michel said in a joint statement they condemned Russia’s “unacceptable” action in “the strongest possible terms” and said it showed Moscow had chosen a path of confrontation with the bloc.”The EU reserves the right to take appropriate measures in response to the Russian authorities’ decision,” they saidSassoli said in a tweet that no sanctions or intimidation would stop the parliament or him defending human rights, freedom and democracy.”Threats will not silence us. As Tolstoy wrote, there is no greatness where there is no truth,” his tweet read.Russia banned three officials from the Baltic states: Ivars Abolins, chairman of Latvia’s National Electronic Media Council, Maris Baltins, director of the Latvian State Language Center, and Ilmar Tomusk, head of Estonia’s Language Inspectorate.It also banned Jorg Raupach, Berlin’s public prosecutor, and Asa Scott of the Swedish Defence Research Agency.Scott was among officials who said Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny had been poisoned in Russia with a Soviet-era nerve agent.Navalny recovered from the poisoning in Germany and was detained upon his return to Russia in January, and sentenced in February to 2-1/2 years in prison for parole violations on an earlier embezzlement conviction that he says was politically motivated.The EU imposed sanctions in March on two Russians accused of persecuting gay and lesbian people in the southern Russian region of Chechnya. The EU also imposed sanctions on four senior Russian officials close to President Vladimir Putin in March.
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Russia’s defense ministry released video Friday of its warships firing rockets during military drills in the Black Sea, the Reuters news agency reported Friday.
 
The drills were conducted earlier this week amid rising tensions between Russia and the west over Russia’s military buildup near the border it shares with Ukraine.  
 
Russia said the troop buildup was part of drills it planned in response to what it said was NATO’s threatening behavior. Last week, Russia ordered a pullback of some troops from the border area.  
 
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy during a May 5-6 visit to Ukraine “to reaffirm unwavering U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression,” Blinken’s spokesman, Ned Price, said in a statement.
 Blinken Heads to Ukraine After Russia Sends 150K Troops to Border Trip aims to ‘reaffirm unwavering US support for country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in face of Russia’s ongoing aggression,’ State Department saysRussia began naval combat drills Tuesday as the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Hamilton was entering the Black Sea to work with NATO and other allies in the area.
 
Russia’s Black Sea fleet said its Moskva cruiser would participate in live-fire exercises with other Russian ships and military helicopters, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency.
 
The drill took place as fighting in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed troops escalated sharply since January, despite a cease-fire that took effect last July.
 
The conflict began when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, since killing some 14,000 people, according to Ukraine’s government.
 
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The Turkish government’s decision to ban alcohol sales as part of a nearly three-week lockdown to contain COVID-19 is causing a political storm, with opponents accusing the Islamic-rooted government of using the pandemic to pursue a religious agenda.   The alcohol ban is part of a national lockdown that took effect Thursday and will end on May 17. The ban is stoking tensions and suspicion over the Islamist roots of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who critics accuse of seeking to undermine the 90-year-old secular state, said columnist Mehves Evin of the Duvar news portal. “Erdogan’s regime, it’s like trying all the little ways to change the way, he thinks it’s the right way for people to live. Meaning, for example, the way they are building up the Imam Hatip religious schools. The way they are encouraging more and more students to go to those schools, actually is social engineering. So with the alcohol ban, it is actually also the same thing,” Evin said.  A customer shops for alcoholic beverages at a supermarket ahead of a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, in Istanbul, April 29, 2021.The government denies such accusations. But with the ban coinciding with the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, such denials have done little to quell the controversy.  The head of Turkey’s trader’s association, Bendeki Palandoken, called for the ban’s reversal, asking if is it possible to demand an alcohol ban in a developed and democratic country of law, which is integrated with Europe, and has many foreign customers, as well. The ban is also being challenged in Turkey’s high courts. But the government is vigorously defending the controls, noting that other countries, like South Africa, imposed similar restrictions.  Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said Thursday there would be no exemptions and no backing down. The alcohol shops will endure this sacrifice, as everyone else will, he added. But numerous shops are starting to challenge the ban by selling alcohol, with many people posting pictures of their purchases on social media. “Don’t touch my alcohol” is among this week’s Turkish Twitter top trending hashtags.   
 
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The remaining Catholic clergy who were kidnapped in Haiti earlier in April have been released, a missionary group said Friday.
 
The Society of Priests of Saint Jacques said the clergy were freed but did not say if a ransom had been paid.
 
A total of 10 people were abducted in Croix-des-Bouquets, a town northeast of the capital Port-au-Prince, on April 11, including the seven clergy — three of whom have already been released.  
 
The clergy members were a group of four priests and a nun from Haiti, as well as one priest and one nun from France. The three non-clergy were members of the family of a Haitian priest, who was not among those kidnapped.
 
“Our hearts are filled with joy because we have found our colleagues, the sisters and the family members of Father Jean Anel Joseph in good health,” the missionary society said in a statement, without specifying whether a ransom has been paid.
 
Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, is plagued by insecurity and natural disasters.
 
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 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.”
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to Ukraine next week as Washington coordinates closely with Kyiv over Russia’s recent military buildup along Ukraine border.  
 
Blinken will travel to Ukraine on May 5-6, “where he will meet with President Zelensky, Foreign Minister Kuleba, other officials, and representatives of Ukrainian civil society to reaffirm unwavering U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement Friday.
 
The United States is keeping a close watch on Russia’s movement after Moscow announced last Thursday that it would begin withdrawing its troops from the border of Ukraine.   
 
Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said this week it is too soon to tell and are taking at face value Russia’s claims they are pulling everybody back, while noting “some departure of some [Russia] forces away from Ukraine.”US Keeping Wary Eye on Russian Troops Near UkrainePentagon says too soon to know if the threat from Moscow’s largest military buildup since it seized Crimea in 2014 is truly over Senior American and European Union officials had said roughly 150,000 Russian troops massed along the border of Ukraine and in Crimea, more troops in the area than seven years ago when Russia invaded and seized Crimea in 2014.  
 
The U.S. has reaffirmed its support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrities, urging the Russian Government to immediately cease all aggressive activity in and around Ukraine.
 
Blinken’s trip to Ukraine would be his first as the U.S. secretary of state. In Kyiv, he “will also encourage continued progress on Ukraine’s institutional reform agenda, particularly anti-corruption action, which is key to securing Ukraine’s democratic institutions, economic prosperity, and Euro-Atlantic future,” said Price in the Friday statement.
Prior to traveling to Ukraine, the chief U.S. diplomat will attend a G-7 foreign ministers meeting in London from May 3-5, which is the first in-person such gathering in two years since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.  
 
“The United States will discuss how we can work with other countries to address the key geopolitical issues we face as we build back better from this pandemic,” said the State Department spokesman. “Tackling the COVID-19 and climate crises will feature prominently on the agenda, as will advancing economic growth, human rights, food security, gender equality, and women’s and girls’ empowerment.”
 
While in Britain, Blinken will also meet with Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Raab “to discuss shared U.S.-U.K. priorities.”
 
In addition to G-7 countries, officials from Australia, India, South Africa, South Korea, and Brunei, in its capacity as Chair of ASEAN, will join the G-7 Foreign and Development Ministers’ meeting as guests. Price said, “these meetings will lay the groundwork for the 46th Leaders’ Summit in Cornwall in June.”VOA’s Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.
 
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German officials say they have reached an agreement with Nigeria to return some of the famed Benin Bronzes that were looted from Nigeria in the 19th century.About 500 of the plundered artifacts are on display in several German museums.The handoff is expected to take place next year under an agreement reached between Germany and Nigeria on Thursday.The return of the artifacts is “a turning point in our approach to colonial history,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said.In 1897, British soldiers snatched thousands of exquisitely decorated bronze and brass plaques and sculptures created by guilds in the Kingdom of Benin in what is now Nigeria.  The objects have become known as the Benin Bronzes and are on display in museums around the world.The British Museum has more than 900 of the objects.  Germany’s agreement with Nigeria pertains only to the artifacts that are in Germany.
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Brazil on Thursday became the second country to officially top 400,000 COVID-19 deaths, losing another 100,000 lives in just one month, as some health experts warn there may be gruesome days ahead when the Southern Hemisphere enters winter.April was Brazil’s deadliest month of the pandemic, with thousands of people losing their lives daily at crowded hospitals.The country’s Health Ministry registered more than 4,000 deaths on two days early in the month, and its seven-day average topped out at above 3,100. That figure has tilted downward in the last two weeks, to less than 2,400 deaths per day, though on Thursday, the Health Ministry announced another 3,001 deaths, bringing Brazil’s total to 401,186.Local health experts have celebrated the recent decline of cases and deaths, plus the eased pressure on the Brazilian health care system — but only modestly. They are apprehensive of another wave of the disease, like those seen in some European nations, due to a premature resumption of activity in states and cities combined with slow vaccination rollout.Fewer than 6% of Brazilians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to Our World in Data, an online research site. President Jair Bolsonaro, who is now being investigated by a Senate panel over his administration’s handling of the crisis, has repeated he will be the last to get a shot, and he has attacked mayors and governors who enforce restrictions to control the virus’ spread.Shortly after the grim landmark was published, Bolsonaro said in a live broadcast on his social media channels that “a big number of deaths has been announced,” adding that he is “sorry for every death.” But he repeated his stance against social distancing measures.”I pray to God so there is not a third wave” of the coronavirus, the president said. “But if the lockdown policies continue, this country will be dragged to extreme poverty.”Epidemiologist Wanderson Oliveira, one of the Health Ministry’s top officials at the start of the pandemic, said he expects a third wave to hit by mid-June. He told radio station CBN on Tuesday that the country’s immunization effort won’t prevent a new surge because many people won’t receive shots before winter, when indoor gatherings and activities are more common even in the tropical nation.”Our vaccination is such that in 2022, maybe we will have a much less tragic summer than we did now,” he said, referring to the last few months.He added he expects limited help from local leaders’ partial shutdowns, which have yielded weaker results than European-style lockdowns. Many Brazilians flouted social distancing recommendations and partial shutdowns even in the throes of the pandemic’s peak.Brazil’s vaccination program, though a far cry from its triumphant campaigns of decades past, has slowed the pace of deaths among the nation’s elderly, according to death certificate data published on Monday. Younger people remain unprotected and have begun falling ill in far greater numbers as a more transmissible variant circulates in Brazil.Adding to concerns, Brazil’s Health Ministry has repeatedly cut its outlook for vaccines in the short term. The country’s two biggest laboratories are facing supply constraints for imports from producers in China and India, which has become the pandemic’s global epicenter.
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The trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin made headline news in France. But much of the reporting about the trial, and its underlying themes of police violence and racism, largely zoomed in on the United States.“I think it’s viewed as an American problem with some resonance in France,” said Steven Ekovich, a U.S. politics and foreign policy professor at the American University of Paris.American University of Paris professor Steven Ekovich says the French viewed the Derek Cauvin trial in the death of George Floyd as an American problem, but with some resonance in France. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)”It also feeds into a certain strain of French anti-Americanism, on the left and on the right, so that the French can moralize about the United States, and its difficulties and its flaws,” he said.That wasn’t the case last year, when George Floyd’s death caused many French to look inward. They joined spreading global protests for police accountability. Traore deathAlong with Floyd, many chanted the name of Frenchman Adama Traore, 24, whose family said he died under circumstances similar to Floyd’s, although that claim is disputed. The Black American’s death opened a broader spigot here of soul-searching about France’s colonial past and continuing injustices today.French authorities vowed zero tolerance of police racism and brutality and pledged to ban a controversial police chokehold. President Emmanuel Macron called racial profiling “unbearable.”Police representatives deny systemic racism. They say police are overworked and underappreciated as they tackle violence in tough neighborhoods, and they sometimes become targets of terrorism.David-Olivier Reverdy of the National Police Alliance union said the country’s police aren’t racist. To the contrary, he said, they’re Republican and diverse, from all ethnic origins and religions. There may be some problematic individuals, he added, but the force itself isn’t racist.Critics argue otherwise. A 2017 report by an independent citizens rights group found young Black or Arab-looking men here are five times more likely to be stopped for police identity checks than the rest of the population. Four Paris police officers were suspended last November after TV footage showed them punching a Black music producer. In January, six nongovernmental groups announced the country’s first class-action lawsuit on alleged racial profiling by police.’Struggling’ for a decade“We’ve been struggling with the state for 10 years,” said Slim Ben Achour, one of the lawyers representing the groups in the case.“The French Supreme Court convicted the state in November 2016 for discrimination, and after that we could have expected from the state … which should respect the rule of law — to do police reform. They have done nothing,” he said.Allegations of police violence and racism are an old story in France. In 2005, the deaths of two youngsters fleeing police sparked rioting in the banlieues — code word for the multicultural, working-class suburbs ringing cities here. Activists point to bigger, long-standing inequalities going far beyond policing.Some aren’t waiting for change from above. In the Paris suburb of Bobigny, youth group Nouvel Elan 93 is mentoring youngsters, helping them with schoolwork and giving them alternatives to hanging in the streets.Aboubacar N’diaye, left, helped launch a youth group in the Paris suburb of Bobigny. He says police profiling is something that could happen to him. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)One of Nouvel Elan’s founders, Aboubacar N’Diaye, said the group is trying to push youngsters to the maximum of their potential. They’re talented, he said, in sports, music, theater — everything.N’Diaye said Floyd’s death has resonated in this community and that it could happen to Blacks here like him. There’s a close relationship, he added, in the protests for Floyd and Traore.He and other activists said it would take time for the lessons from Floyd’s death — and France’s colorblind creed of liberty, equality and fraternity —to take hold.
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Reports of police violence and racial injustice resonate especially strongly in France, with its large population of ethnic Africans and Arabs. Yet cautious optimism by some in the United States and elsewhere that the guilty verdict in American former police officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial might trigger societal change is less shared in France. From the Paris suburb of Bobigny, Lisa Bryant reports for VOA.   Camera:   Lisa Bryant, Agencies  
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The World Health Organization’s Europe Regional Director Hans Kluge reported Thursday the number of new COVID-19 infections in the region dropped significantly in the last week for the first time in two months. Speaking from WHO regional headquarters in Copenhagen, Kluge said hospitalizations and deaths were also down in the past week. He also said as of Thursday, 7% of Europeans have been totally vaccinated, more than the 5.5% of the population that has contracted COVID-19. Kluge cautioned that while that is good news, the virus remains a threat, as infection rates remain high in several areas. He said individual and collective public health and social measures remain dominant factors in shaping the pandemic’s course. A man receives his first dose of the of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, at a vaccination center in Piraeus, near Athens, April 29, 2021.But he also noted that in those areas where high-risk groups such as health and other frontline workers were prioritized with vaccines, admissions to hospitals and death rates are falling. Kluge said in the context of the pandemic, it is a combination of vaccines and strong public health measures that offer the clearest path back to normal. But noting it is European Immunization Week, the WHO regional director said he wanted to send a message beyond COVID-19 and pressed the value of vaccines in general. He said before the pandemic, vaccines had protected the world against life-threatening diseases for more than 200 years. While vaccines bring the world closer to ending the pandemic, he said they could also end measles, cervical cancer and other vaccine-preventable diseases. He said when COVID-19 interrupted routine vaccine programs around the world, the results can be other severe infectious disease outbreaks just down the line. He urged public health systems to maintain routine primary health care while continuing to control the pandemic. “Once again, vaccines are about to change the course of history — but only if we act responsibly and get vaccinated when offered the opportunity to do so,” Kluge said. 
 
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In his first court appearance since ending a three-week hunger strike, Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny called Russian President Vladimir Putin a “naked, thieving king.” Navalny appeared Thursday in a video link from prison to a Moscow courtroom where he was appealing a guilty verdict for defaming a World War 2 veteran. According to news reports, Navalny appeared thin, and his head was shaved. “I looked in the mirror. Of course, I’m just a dreadful skeleton,” he said. Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, is seen in a courtroom, in Moscow, Russia, April 29, 2021, in this still image taken from video. (Press Service of Babushkinsky District Court of Moscow/Handout via Reuters)Navalny began his hunger strike March 3 and ended it April 23. Later in Thursday’s hearing, he took the opportunity to attack Putin. “I want to tell the dear court that your king is naked,” he said of Putin. “Millions of people are already shouting about it, because it is obvious. … His crown is hanging and slipping.” He also reiterated his claim of innocence on the embezzlement allegations that ostensibly landed him in prison. “Your naked, thieving king wants to continue to rule until the end. … Another 10 years will come, a stolen decade will come,” Navalny said referring to Putin. Last week, authorities in Russia disbanded several regional offices of Navalny’s anti-corruption group, the Anti-Corruption Foundation. A Russian court is considering branding the group extremist. FILE – Demonstrators march during a rally in support of jailed Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny, in Saint Petersburg, Russia, April 21, 2021.Last week, 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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Tens of thousands of protesters across Colombia took to the streets Wednesday in a nationwide strike that ended in violent clashes between riot police and demonstrators.The protests came at a time of soaring COVID infection rates in the South American country, where a third wave of the virus has threatened to overwhelm hospital intensive care units. Despite a court order to postpone the strike over concerns of the potential consequences on health systems, masses filled the streets of some of Colombia’s major cities.The strike, known as the Paro Nacional, was a reaction to proposed tax hikes by the administration of embattled Colombian President Iván Duque, but the marches soon became a backlash to tensions and economic turmoil caused by the pandemic. Demonstrators escape from tear gas during a national protest against President Duque’s proposed tax reform in Bogotá, Colombia, April 28, 2021. (Pu Ying Huang/VOA)Alicia Prieto, 59, walked among those crowds touting a surgical mask and a sign reading “the power of the people is growing.”“We’re more scared to stay at home and go hungry than of the pandemic, Prieto said. “We’re not scared of the pandemic anymore, we’re scared of the government.”More than 2.8 million cases of the virus have been reported and 72,000 people have died from the virus in the country of 50 million people.The widely unpopular tax reform would add a 19% tax on things like Internet service, gasoline, electricity, water, among other things, and impose income taxes on people who earn more than $700 a month.The money raised would go toward covering deficits caused by the pandemic, and providing small cash payments to households living in poverty and extreme poverty.Critics like Prieto are quick to say that at a time of surging poverty and when workers have been crippled by government-imposed lockdowns, corporations are the ones who should take on the brunt of the taxes instead of citizens. Small payments do little to tackle the depth of the crisis, she said.“We are already struggling to make ends meet. We’ve already been affected,” Prieto, a member of the middle class, said. “They keep us in our homes, but we don’t know how to economically survive. I’m talking about people like us in the middle class. Poorer people simply go hungry.”The pandemic has generated rising inequalities and poverty rates across the world. Though for Latin America, a region already grappling with such problems before the pandemic, the fallout has been devastating.Colombia saw its economy shrink an estimated 7% last year.Sergio Guzmán, director of Colombia Risk Analysis, said the protest was less about one specific policy and more about a general feeling of inequality that has permeated the country, especially since the onset of the pandemic.“I think there’s a lot of frustration. There’s been a year of lockdowns, a year of COVID,” Guzmán said. “People are fed up, people are tired. People need outlets to vent their frustration and outrage about the status quo.”Instability threatOthers, like 26-year-old Lorena Vasquez, came out to call against a surge of violence in Colombia. She and other protesters place the blame on right-wing Duque’s failures to follow through on key promises in Colombia’s peace pact with guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC.The 2016 peace accords ended more than a half century of war with the rebel group, and offered the nation a chance at peace. But power vacuums left by the government and failures to implement the accords have led to a surge of violence in large swathes of the country as rivaling armed groups fight for power. Massacres and targeted assassinations of human rights defenders and social leaders –people who often challenge the power of armed groups – have also risen across the country during the pandemic.“The number of social leaders being killed goes up every day, and they don’t do anything,” Vasquez said. “What they do is keep quiet about the reality that we’re living through: a huge massacre in our country.”Similar violence was what spurred on months of protest during the country’s first Paro Nacional in 2019.ClashesAs protests wound on Wednesday, violent clashes between police and protesters broke out in Bogotá, Cali and other major cities. Tear gas hovered over much of downtown Bogotá Wednesday night.  Demonstrators run away from tear gas during a national protest against tax reform in Bogotá, Colombia, April 28, 2021. (Pu Ying Huang/VOA)In the country’s third biggest city of Cali, public buses were burnt, and across the country windows were shattered, with reports saying rioters had broken into into stores and banks. In Bogotá, local officials reported that vandalism left 11% of the city’s transport system affected or in disrepair. By early Thursday, police and protesters reported nearly a hundred injured between officers and civilians, and officials confirmed that at least two protesters died during demonstrations.Organizers vowed to continue the protests. Duque responded to the strike, refusing to withdraw the proposal from Colombia’s Congress, but saying he hopes to open dialogues with protest leaders.“With us listening to everyone’s positions, we can find a solution and set goals,” the president said Wednesday night.While Guzmán said he thinks protests will continue to stretch on, fueled by festering discontent in the Latin American nation, he also said he doubts marches will end in any significant change.Meanwhile, 29-year-old Vasquez continued to hold onto hope that the marches would spark change.“I hope they hear us, I hope there’s no attacks or injuries,” she said as protesters milled by her. “And more than anything, I hope there’s justice in Colombia,” she said. 
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U.N. efforts to restart talks on reunifying the divided island of Cyprus have hit an impasse as Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders remain apart on the key issues. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres convened three days of informal meetings seeking a pathway to revive the dormant Cyprus reunification talks.  The Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders as well as the foreign ministers of Greece, Turkey and Britain shared their views. Despite great efforts, Guterres acknowledged not enough common ground was found to allow for the resumption of formal negotiations to resolve the Cyprus problem. “As you can imagine, this was not an easy meeting. And we conducted extensive consultations in a succession of bilateral meetings and plenary meetings in order to try to reach common ground,” he said. Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded the Mediterranean island, following a Greek-backed military coup aimed at uniting Cyprus with Greece.  Three U.N.-mediated negotiations to reunite the island since 2004 have failed. Guterres says the positions of the Turkish and Greek Cypriots remain far apart. He says the Turkish Cypriots oppose reviving past efforts to set up a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation in Cyprus.  Instead, he says they want Cyprus to have two separate, equal states cooperating with each other. The Greek Cypriots, he says, remain steadfast in their demand for a federation. While these contrary positions pose obvious difficulties, Guterres says he is not giving up efforts to reconcile the two sides. “My agenda is strictly to fight for the security and well-being of the Cypriots, of the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots, that deserve to live in peace and prosperity together,” he said. The U.N. chief says he got the parties to agree to meet again in the near future. In the meantime, he says, the U.N. will consult with the parties, in hopes of creating a better environment for the next meeting. That process, he says, is likely to take two to three months. 
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Turkey on Thursday starts a strict new three-week lockdown as COVID-19 infections surge. Initially, Turkish authorities claimed success in curbing the pandemic, but the country could be paying the price for a premature easing of restrictions.
 
It is the country’s most severe lockdown since the onset of the COVID pandemic, with schools closing, alcohol sales banned, and only essential businesses like food shops being allowed to remain open.    
 
For this Istanbul shoe shop, owner who asked to remain anonymous, there is fear for the future.
 
He said he does not want to call the 18-day shutdown unjust but he really sees it as “the end.” He said Turks are in a state of complete hopelessness.  “We are finished,” he said, adding one can endure this “only up to a point.”  
 
Compounding the economic pain for Turks is that the government has not announced any financial assistance for those suffering losses.  
 
Already Turkish media report unofficial levels of unemployment exceed 25%, while aid groups report a surge in poverty and warn that large sections of society are struggling to find enough to eat.
 
Intercity travel will only be permitted with special permission.  Already there was chaos, as those in other parts of the country scrambled to return home this week before the restrictions came into force late Thursday.
 
The draconian measures are in response to an enormous surge in COVID infections. Turkey reported 40,000 on Wednesday – the highest daily count in Europe.  
 
Sebnem Korur Fincanci, chair of the Turkish Medical Association, says Turkey’s hospitals are struggling.
 
“The hospital beds are already full, particularly the intensive care units. They have to open new COVID clinics. And, also, the health professionals will burn out. They [are] already burned out and with this new situation this will overburden the health system,” Fincanci said.
 
The surge in infections comes after the government eased restrictions in March.
 
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan even toured the country, holding party rallies in packed indoor stadiums – actions that drew strong condemnation from opposition parties.    
 
Erdogan announced the new restrictions Monday, warning Turkey could pay a heavy price if they fail.
 
At a time when Europe is entering a phase of reopening, Erdogan said, Turkey must rapidly reduce the number of cases to fewer than 5,000 a day and is not, he said, to be left behind. Otherwise, the Erdogan said, Turkey will face consequences in every field, from tourism to trade and education.
 
Tourism is vital for the Turkish economy, providing an essential source of foreign income and providing millions of urgently needed jobs.  
 
With hospitals filling up and the peak tourism period fast approaching, analysts see the latest lockdown as a sign that Ankara is aware time is running out. 
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For the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, crowds are expected to return on Sunday to Las Ventas bullring in Madrid, the spiritual home of this controversial spectacle. Six matadors will do battle with bulls in front of 6,000 cheering aficionados amid tight health restrictions that included limiting ticket sales to 25% of capacity.  However, for lovers of what is known in Spain as the fiesta nacional it will be a huge emotional boost after a year in which rings across the country have remained closed. The charity bullfight will raise money for matadors and some of the 200,000 people who work in this sector who have been hard-hit by the coronavirus. In normal times, the bloody spectacle generates $4.8 billion for the economy annually, almost 1% of GDP, according to the National Association of Organizers of Bullfights. Regarded as an art by admirers in Spain, bullfighting has met with increasing criticism in recent years from a growing animal rights lobby which has been supported by left-wing parties. Fighting back Now, after the pandemic has pushed the industry onto the ropes financially, the men who wear the colorful “suit of lights” are staging a fight back. “For bullfighting this will be hugely symbolic. It will be the first time we return to Las Ventas, the world home of bullfighting, since before the start of the pandemic,” Antonio Lorca, bullfighting critic of El País, one of Spain’s major newspapers, told VOA. “The hope is that this will be the start of many more fights. It will be in aid of those who work in the industry. They have all struggled to get through the past year.” Victorino Martín, president of the Foundation of Fighting Bulls that represents breeders, believes this weekend’s contest will mark the start of a recovery for an industry which, he says, has cultural as well as economic importance for Spain. “This bullfight will be strategically important as it will mark the start of a series of similar fights in Madrid next month,” he told VOA. “This industry has suffered economically but it is also a part of Spanish culture, a little like theatre.” Tradition and politics The pandemic has accelerated the decline of a spectacle which in the past has inspired artists including Francisco de Goya, Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso. In 2012, there were 1,997 fights but this fell to 1,425 by 2019, according to Spain’s ministry of culture which deals with bullfighting as it is considered an art form. After the financial crisis of 2008, many local councils, which traditionally pay for bullfights, cut their budgets. A younger generation are attracted as much to Tik Tok or YouTube as a paying to see a spectacle which is seen by some as old fashioned. Bullfighting has recently become an increasing political issue. Rocio Monasterio, the candidate for the far-right Vox party in regional elections in Madrid on May 4, took on a bull in the ring – with the aid of a real matador – to kick off her campaign. Vox, which is the third largest party in the Spanish parliament with 52 deputies, supports countryside pursuits. “I wasn’t scared at all. In fact, I enjoyed it a lot. It was great in spite of the nonsense of the totalitarians who oppose bullfighting,” she told VOA afterwards. Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the current conservative president of Madrid who polls suggest will win, has promised to organize 18 bullfights in small towns in coming months and pledged $3.63 million in subsidies. Spaniards have been split over the issue of bullfighting in recent years with some considering it an art, while others see it as cruelty. FILE – People hold banners reading in Spanish: “92% of Spain, don’t attend the bullfights” during a protest against bullfighting in downtown Madrid, Spain, Sunday, July 12, 2020.A 2019 poll for the online newspaper El Español found 56.4% of Spaniards opposed bullfighting while 24.7 per cent supported it and 18% were indifferent. José Zaldivar has been campaigning to ban bullfighting but holds out little hope of success – at least in the short term. He works from an office that contains an arsenal of the weapons which matadors use to battle with the bull, from the sword which ends the animal’s life to the banderillas which are punctured into its back to weaken it during the duel. “What the animal goes through in terms of stress and pain cannot be anything else but torture,” said Zaldivar, who is president of the Association of Veterinarians for the Abolition of Bullfighting. He believes as long as bullfighting is protected as part of Spain’s cultural heritage it will be impossible to deal the estocada – the sword thrust in which the matador kills the bull. In 2013, the then conservative government passed a law which established the “indisputable” cultural character of bullfighting. This meant that in 2016 the Constitutional Court was able to annul a ban on bullfighting by regional authorities in Catalonia and in the Balearic Islands. 
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The United States and the European Union are urging Albania’s leaders to set aside their differences and move forward toward establishing a stable democracy after elections Sunday that gave the ruling Socialist Party a third consecutive mandate.   Prime Minister Edi Rama’s party is the first to achieve the feat since the collapse of communism more than three decades ago. It secured 74 out of 140 seats in Parliament, more than enough to govern without coalition partners, if it chooses to do so.  However, the main opposition Democratic Party has not yet accepted the results, which follow a heated and occasionally violent campaign. What comes next may determine whether Albania can move forward toward becoming a full-fledged democracy and integrate in the European Union.   The United States — an ally and strong supporter of reforms in the country — recognized Rama’s win and called for the results to be respected.    “The U.S. congratulates the people of Albania on their recent elections. We look forward to continuing our close partnership with Prime Minister Rama and commend the opposition’s strong campaign. Respect for the results of legitimate elections strengthens Albania’s democracy,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price tweeted on Wednesday.Damon Wilson, executive vice president at the Atlantic Council in Washington, said the United States and the EU seem to be on the same page.  “I think the message that you’re hearing from Washington, Brussels, is let’s accept these results as they are confirmed by the Central Election Commission. Let’s play your democratic roles and parts expected in a modern European, a parliamentary democracy,” he told VOA. Rama declared victory and thanked party supporters at a rally in the capital, Tirana, on Tuesday, saying, “This was the most difficult, greatest and the most beautiful victory of the Socialist Party of Albania.”Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama speaks to his supporters during a rally in Tirana, Albania, April 27, 2021.He campaigned on promises to boost tourism, energy and infrastructure projects, among other things, and waved off criticism on a weak scorecard, saying back-to-back crises of a deadly earthquake in November 2019 and the coronavirus pandemic had hampered his program.  While Lulzim Basha, head of the right-wing opposition Democrats, conceded that his party had received fewer votes than the Socialist rivals, he has so far stopped short of acknowledging the results as legitimate.   “The election had nothing to do with democracy. We entered this battle not with a political opponent but with a regime that did the utmost to destroy a fair electoral race,” he said.  He is now under pressure from prominent members of his party to step down.   Improved elections, but problems remain  Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe noted improvements over past electoral contests, but with qualifications. “The Albanian parliamentary elections were characterized by a lively and inclusive campaign, thanks to a legal framework that helped ensure respect of fundamental freedoms,” said an OSCE preliminary report. “At the same time, the campaign saw authorities taking advantage of public office and allegations of pervasive vote-buying.” Daniel Serwer of Johns Hopkins University said this election seemed “better than some in Albania’s past.”  He said he is concerned about the allegations of vote-buying but added that is a “common problem in transitional democracies.” “The abuse of incumbency seems to me to be a much more profound criticism,” he added. “And we must somehow avoid capture of the state by political forces. And especially when you elect the same prime minister three times in a row, there’s a tendency for state capture to solidify a little bit.”   There were some serious issues in the days leading up to the election. A news site broke the news that a database with the personal data of over 900,000 Albanians might be in the hands of party officials. The database reportedly could have come only from a government agency. And a bitter political fight turned deadly when a Socialist Party activist was shot by someone whom police identified as a member of the Democratic Party.   Political tensions were amplified when President Ilir Meta accused Rama of usurping all powers and running a “kleptocratic regime.”   Meta’s former party, the Socialist Movement for Integration, which is run by his wife, Monika Kryemadhi, was a DP ally in the election but ran alone and lost seats. Meta said on Wednesday he plans to go back to the party when his term as prime minister expires next year.   Incomplete democracy  A 2020 report on human rights by the U.S. State Department said corruption in Albania is “pervasive in all branches of government.” The latest “Nations in Transit” report issued on Wednesday by Freedom House ranks the country as a transitional or hybrid regime and registered declines in the overall democracy score.   “It’s quite clear that in Albania, you need stronger institutions to consolidate democracy. And first and foremost among those institutions is an independent judiciary,” Serwer of Johns Hopkins said. While the Socialist Party sees its third mandate as validation, Wilson of the Atlantic Council said the government is being sent a signal “that it really needs to move on some of the key issues like rule of law and anticorruption measures to really get the EU accession process moving.”  But he said a signal is also being sent to Basha, who is blamed for his party and allies boycotting Parliament in 2017 and not participating in local elections two years later.   “People want to see democracy work, want to see the opposition participate in Albania’s parliamentary democracy and be that active opposition within the Parliament, supportive of the interests of the country and moving towards the EU but working through its democratic institutions,” he said. 
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