European markets are mixed Monday as investors pull back in response to last week’s dismal U.S. retail figures, along with the worsening COVID-19 pandemic and the aftermath of the January 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol building.   
 
Britain’s FTSE index is down 0.3% at midday.  France’s CAC-40 index is also 0.3% lower, while the DAX index in Germany is up 10 points but unchanged percentage-wise (+0.08%).   
 
Asian markets began the trading week on a downward spiral hours earlier.  Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index fell 0.9%.  Australia’s S&P/ASX index closed down 0.7%.  The KOSPI index in South Korea plunged 2.3%, while Taiwan’s TSEC lost just over 4 points, but was virtually unchanged percentage-wise (0.03%) and the Sensex in Mumbai was down 0.9%.
 
Shanghai’s Composite index closed 0.8% higher and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose just over one percent, spurred by news that China’s economy grew 2.3% in 2020, overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic that has shattered much of the global economy.   
 
In commodities trading, gold is up 0.1%, selling at $1,831.80.  U.S. crude oil is selling at $52.19, down 0.3%, and Brent crude is selling at $54.82, down 0.5%.    
 
All three major U.S. indices are closed in observance of the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. federal  holiday.  
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Roughly 100 Honduran migrants were met with tear gas and struck by police with batons when they tried to pass through a roadblock on the border with Guatemala.
 
The group of migrants were part of roughly 2,000 Hondurans who stopped Saturday night behind the roadblock.
The majority stayed behind Sunday morning when the clashes between some members of their group and police began. None of the migrants made it through the roadblock.
 
Hundreds of migrants later sat in the roadway, refusing to move and attempting to appeal to Guatemalan authorities as fellow Central Americans.
 
The Associated Press reported that many migrants showed visible injuries from batons after the clash.
 
At least 9,000 migrants from Honduras had crossed into Guatemala Saturday in a caravan that began one day earlier, hoping to reach the United States in the early days of the new presidential administration.
 
The Guatemalan government issued a statement Saturday calling on Honduran authorities to “contain the massive departure of its inhabitants, through permanent preventive actions.”
 
Few of the migrants possessed the negative COVID-19 tests Guatemala requires upon entry.
 
Traveling on foot, the migrants say they are willing to brave a journey of thousands of kilometers through Guatemala and Mexico to reach the U.S., escaping poverty, unemployment, gang and drug violence and natural disasters in their country.What appears to be the first migrant caravan from a Central America country this year includes women and young children. Coming less than a week before U.S. President-elect Joe Biden takes office, some migrants say they hope that the new administration with be more sympathetic than the Trump administration to their plea for a better life.Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico have said they are collectively taking security and public health measures because of the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent unauthorized border crossings.Mexican officials said Thursday, they had discussed migration with Biden’s nominee for national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and raised “the possibility of implementing a cooperation program for the development of northern Central America and southern Mexico, in response to the economic crisis caused by the pandemic and the recent hurricanes in the region.”Last month, Honduran authorities stopped a caravan before it reached the Guatemalan border. Last year, other caravans were broken up by Guatemala’s authorities before reaching Mexico.
 
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A leading Greek sporting official has resigned over allegations that he sexually assaulted Olympic sailing champion Sofia Bekatorou. The revelation has sparked an urgent judicial investigation, prompting more alleged victims to speak out about similar sexual assaults. But prosecuting the alleged offenders may prove impossible due to ineffective laws. 
Greeks are already calling her the silence breaker. And 23 years after the alleged rape took place during qualifying matches for the 2000 Games in Sydney, Sofia Bekatorou now says she wants more women victims to speak out.   “The messages I am receiving are hugely positive and supportive,” she said. Bekatorou says she knows more victims are out there in the field of sport and is calling on them all to make their accusations known.   A gold medalist at the 2004 Olympics in her homeland, Bekatorou referred to the alleged rape during an online conference organized by the Greek Sports Ministry over the weekend. She refused to name the official at the time, but when a local prosecutor called her in during an urgent probe, she is said to have identified Aristides Adamopoulos, then a senior member of the Hellenic Sailing federation. He is also a local official of the ruling New Democracy party.   Bekatorou is due to reappear before the prosecutor by Tuesday to provide additional details – accusations that Adamopoulos has not denied. Adamopoulos has urged he public to refrain from reaching what he called any rash decision.   Andonis Dimitrakopoulos, the president of the federation, said he pushed Adamopoulos to resign over the weekend to clear his name. Dimitrakopoulos said the sporting organization was not aware of the alleged assault and more importantly, would have helped put a lid on the entire affair if Adamopoulos had sought out the support of the federation. Bekatorou says the admission left her stunned. “That the federation would respond to such a serious accusation in such a way is just regrettable,” she said.   Two other leading athletes have since spoken out about similar alleged assaults, including national water polo champion Mania Bikoff, who alleges her team doctor sexually harassed her decades ago. The doctor, who was not named, did not respond to the accusation.    “I was going in for shoulder treatments and he was asking me to instead pull down my pants. He never did anything but would sit there and observe me naked,” said Bikoff. The Hellenic Olympic Committee has also opened an investigation.   For a small, close-knit society like Greece, public revelations of this sort are uncommon, even as #MeToo movements grip countries across the globe.     But even if a subtle change in the country’s cultural mindset is starting to take form, pundits warn that laws lag far behind.   Rape offenders in Greece can face between five and 20 years in prison if convicted. A statue of limitations has already expired in the case of Adamopoulos.   Legal experts contacted by VOA say related laws should now be revised to have the timing on the statute of limitations begin when alleged victims like Bekatorou report the offense.  
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Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday dismissed a claim by France that Tehran was in the process of building up its nuclear weapons, calling it “absurd nonsense”. French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche published on Saturday, said Iran was building up its nuclear weapons’ capacity and it was urgent that Tehran and Washington return to a 2015 nuclear agreement.”Dear colleague: You kick-started your cabinet career with arms sales to Saudi war criminals. Avoid absurd nonsense about Iran,” Zarif said in a Twitter post, in which he tagged his French counterpart @JY_LeDrian. French President Emmanuel Macron’s government has drawn criticism from some countries and rights groups over its support of Saudi Arabia’s actions and allowing weapons it has sold to Riyadh potentially to be used in its Yemen operations. “Reality check: YOU are destabilizing OUR region. Stop protecting criminals who chainsaw their critics and use YOUR arms to slaughter children in Yemen,” Zarif tweeted, referring to Le Drian’s previous post as French defense minister. Iran, which denies seeking to make nuclear bombs, rejected a statement on Saturday by three European powers party that warned the Islamic Republic against starting work on uranium metal-based fuel for a research reactor, saying it violated the nuclear pact and had serious military implications. Zarif criticized France, Germany and Britain — which remain in the deal with China and Russia – for failing to enforce the agreement since 2018, when U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the deal and restored harsh economic sanctions on Iran. “E3 leaders — who rely on [the] signature of OFAC functionaries to carry out their obligations under JCPOA [the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] have done ZILCH to maintain JCPOA [the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action]. Remember @EmmanuelMacron’s stillborn initiative or UK non-payment of court-ordered debt? JCPOA is alive because of Iran and not E3,” Zarif tweeted. U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office on Jan. 20, has pledged to return the United States to the deal “if Iran resumes strict compliance” with the agreement that imposed strict curbs on its nuclear activities in return for the lifting of sanctions. In reaction to Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy, Iran has gradually breached many of the deal’s restrictions. But Tehran says it could quickly reverse those steps if Washington first lifts its sanctions. 
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Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny is on his way back to Russia from Germany despite the Russian authorities’ stated desire to arrest him and potentially jail him for years.Navalny is flying to Moscow from Berlin, where he has received months of medical treatment for a poisoning that he has blamed on the Russian authorities.The outspoken Kremlin critic announced on January 13 that he would return to Russia despite having received a notice that the country’s Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) would seek his arrest.His return sets the stage for a potentially dramatic new showdown between the Kremlin and Navalny, one of President Vladimir Putin’s most outspoken foes.Police patrol the arrival hall of Vnukovo airport outside Moscow, Russia, prior to opposition figure Alexei Navalny’s arrival, Jan. 17, 2021.Late last month, FSIN demanded Navalny return immediately from Germany or face jail in Russia for violating the terms of a suspended prison sentence relating to a 2014 fraud conviction and for evading criminal inspectors.According to court documents, he could face a jail sentence of as much as 3 1/2 years.“The question ‘to return or not’ never stood before me as I didn’t leave on my own. I ended up in Germany in an intensive care box. On January 17, Sunday, I will return home on a Pobeda flight,” he said in a tweet on January 13, referring to a Russian airline whose name means Victory.His supporters plan to meet him at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport. About 2,000 people have used a Facebook page to say they plan to be there, with another 6,000 expressing an interest. Pro-Kremlin activists are also expected to turn up.The Moscow Prosecutor-General’s Office has said the event is illegal because it is not sanctioned by the authorities.Citing COVID-19 restrictions, the airport has said it will not allow media inside.ComaNavalny fell ill on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow and was treated and placed in an induced coma in a Siberian hospital before being transferred to a medical facility in Germany.Lab tests in three European countries, confirmed by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, established Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent of the Novichok class. The findings led the European Union to imposed sanctions on six Russian officials and a state research institute.Russian authorities have claimed that no trace of poison was found in Navalny’s body before he was airlifted to Germany, and have refused to open a criminal investigation into the incident.FILE – Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny poses for a selfie picture with his family at Berlin’s Charite hospital, Germany, Sept. 15, 2020. (Credit: Instagram @navalny)On the eve of his return, Navalny thanked the German people in a Facebook post and said they don’t fit the stereotype that they are unfriendly and only want to give and follow orders.“The five months I’ve been here, I’ve been amazed how much the Germans don’t match the stereotypical idea of them,” Navalny wrote. “These are really the sweetest people with a great sense of humor, always trying to help.””Thank you friends!” he wrote in German.Earlier on January 16, Germany demanded that Moscow carry out a full investigation into the poisoning and sent to Russia the transcripts of interviews its authorities conducted with him.The German Justice Ministry said that, with the sending of the information requested by Moscow — including blood and tissue samples — the Russian government now has all the information it needs to carry out a criminal investigation.A ministry spokesman said Berlin expects that “the Russian government will now immediately take all necessary steps to clarify the crime against Mr. Navalny.””This crime must be solved in Russia. This requires investigations commensurate with the seriousness of this crime,” the spokesman added. 
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At least 9,000 migrants from Honduras crossed into Guatemala on Saturday in a caravan that began one day earlier, hoping to reach the United States in the early days of new administration.Initially, police at checkpoints set up along the highway in both Honduras and Guatemala asked for identification documents but made no attempt to stop the migrants.On Saturday, however, Guatemalan soldiers blocked part of the migrant caravan close to a point of entry on a highway in Chiquimula, near the Honduras border.The Guatemalan government issued a statement calling on Honduran authorities to “contain the massive departure of its inhabitants, through permanent preventive actions.”Traveling on foot, the migrants say they are willing to brave a journey of thousands of kilometers through Guatemala and Mexico to reach the U.S., escaping poverty, unemployment, gang and drug violence, and natural disasters in their country.This, the first migrant caravan from a Central America country this year, includes women and young children. Coming less than a week before U.S. President-elect Joe Biden takes office, the migrants apparently hope that the new administration with be more sympathetic than the Trump administration to their plea for a better life.Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico have said they are collectively taking security and public health measures due to COVID-19 pandemic to prevent unauthorized border crossings.Mexican officials said Thursday, they had discussed migration with Biden’s nominee for national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and raised “the possibility of implementing a cooperation program for the development of northern Central America and southern Mexico, in response to the economic crisis caused by the pandemic and the recent hurricanes in the region.”Last month, Honduran authorities stopped a caravan before it even reached the Guatemalan border. Last year, other caravans were broken up by Guatemala’s authorities before reaching Mexico.
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Turkey has often been described as the gateway between Asia and Europe and because of its location, millions of refugees have arrived in the country as a way station in their effort to migrate to Europe. VOA’s Hilmi Hacaloglu and Umut Colak filed this report on how Afghan refugees are struggling to survive in Istanbul. Bezhan Hamdard narrated their report. 
Camera: Umut Colak         Producers: Hilmi Hacaloglu and Umut Colak
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Germany, France and Britain pressed Iran on Saturday to back off the latest planned violation of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, saying that Tehran has “no credible civilian use” for uranium metal.The International Atomic Energy Agency said Thursday that Iran had informed it that Iran began installing equipment for the production of uranium metal. It said Tehran maintained its plans to conduct research and development on uranium metal production were part of its “declared aim to design an improved type of fuel.”Uranium metal can also be used for a nuclear bomb, however, and research on its production is specifically prohibited under the nuclear deal — the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — that Tehran signed with Germany, France, Britain, China, Russia and the United States in 2015.Since the unilateral American withdrawal from the deal in 2018, the other members have been working to preserve the accord. Iran has been using violations of the deal to put pressure on the other signatories to provide more incentives to Iran to offset crippling American sanctions reimposed after the U.S. pullout.’Grave’ implicationsA joint statement from the German, French and British foreign ministries said they were “deeply concerned” by the latest Iranian announcement.”Iran has no credible civilian use for uranium metal,” it said. “The production of uranium metal has potentially grave military implications.””We strongly urge Iran to halt this activity and return to compliance with its JCPoA commitments without further delay if it is serious about preserving the deal,” the statement added.The ultimate goal of the deal is to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, something Iran insists it does not want to do.President-elect Joe Biden, who was vice president when the deal was signed during the Obama administration, has said he hopes to return the U.S. to the deal.
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Germany’s ruling Christian Democrats (CDU) Saturday chose Armin Laschet, premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state, as their new leader. The pick suggests the party favors continuing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s middle-of-the-road policies when she steps down in September after 16 years in office.Laschet’s win puts him in position to succeed Merkel when the CDU and its sister party, the Christian Social Union, decide in March who should become the center-right bloc’s candidate for chancellor in national elections.The CDU has led Germany’s federal government for 52 of the past 72 years.Laschet, 59, now replaces as chair of the party Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the defense secretary whom Merkel had been grooming as her successor. Kramp-Karrenbauer largely failed to assert her authority over the party and announced her resignation in February after blaming Merkel for not being supportive enough.A longtime Merkel loyalist — some see Laschet as the male version of her — he said during the campaign that a change of direction for the party would “send exactly the wrong signal,” as he touted himself as the continuity candidate in a contest that saw him pitched against corporate lawyer Friedrich Merz, a far more conservative figure and Merkel critic, and Norbert Röttgen, chairman of the Bundestag’s foreign affairs panel.Röttgen, also a centrist, was eliminated in the first round of voting. The party’s 1,000 delegates, who voted in a virtual conference, then gave Laschet his win in a runoff that saw him beat Merz by 55 votes.’Stick together’“I want to do everything so that we can stick together through this year,” he told his CDU colleagues after his win. ” … And then make sure that the next chancellor in the federal elections will be from the [CDU/CSU] union.”For months, Laschet, who’s pro-immigrant, was Merkel’s preferred candidate. He defended her during the 2015 refugee crisis. But their relations turned frosty earlier this year when he pressed for an early relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions, forcing him to scramble to repair the political damage he sustained inside and outside the CDU.New Christian Democratic Union (CDU) leader Armin Laschet, left, and German Health Minister Jens Spahn bump fists as Deputy CDU Chairman Thomas Strobl watches at the end of the party’s 33rd congress, in Berlin, Germany, Jan. 16, 2021.During his campaign he repeatedly stressed the importance of continuing with Merkel’s overall approach of expanding the CDU’s voter base, dismissing suggestions the party needs to be fearful of conservative voters defecting to the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD.“We will only win if we remain strong in the center of society,” Laschet said Saturday, emphasizing the dangers of perpetuating political polarization.Party leaders across the political spectrum joined Merkel in speedily offering congratulations.So, too, did Laschet’s rivals, Merz and Röttgen.“Now there is no competition within the CDU anymore but with others,” Röttgen said, adding that now is the time to “build a team with team spirit.” Merz thanked party members for “good cooperation over the past 10 months,” admitting he had not made life easy for Kramp-Karrenbauer.“It’s going to be an enormously trying time for all of us now over the next few weeks and months,” Merz said.Some criticsOther German politicians were not so favorable. AfD’s Jörg Meuthen said the result was “bad news for Germany” because Laschet’s selection would see a continuation of Merkel’s centrist policies.The co-leader of the left-wing Die Linke, Katja Kipping, said Laschet’s victory didn’t mean he would become the CDU’s chancellor candidate, adding: “No matter who wins the race for the CDU candidate for chancellor, the CDU will not be ready to set the course to get us out of the crisis in a fair manner.”Laschet’s speech Saturday in the run-up to voting attracted a positive response from many German commentators.Thorsten Benner, director of the Global Public Policy Institute, an independent think tank in Berlin, tweeted: Candidate speeches: Laschet clear winner. He had compelling personal narrative & presented it well. Also one that works in September 2021. Merz incredibly flat. Röttgen surprisingly non-personal. He could have presented compelling story of picking yourself up but didn’t.Newly elected Christian Democratic Union leader Armin Laschet, center, is pictured with delegates following his election during the second day of the party’s 33rd congress in Berlin, Germany, Jan. 16, 2021.An aide to U.S. President-elect Joe Biden said he predicted the incoming administration could clash with Laschet on Russia and China if he’s elected chancellor.“Laschet favors a less confrontational approach to Moscow and Beijing,” said the aide, who asked not to be identified.But, the Biden aide noted, Laschet favors maintaining very close transatlantic relations.“The U.S. is our most significant partner outside the European Union,” Laschet said in 2019. “It is the world’s leading technology nation, and it is of critical importance to security in Europe.”Laschet did, however, prompt anger in 2014 in Washington and was accused of trading in conspiracy theories when he criticized the Obama administration for its support of rebels in Syria, tweeting to then-U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry: “You supported ISIS and Al-Nusra against President Assad in Syria. And they are financed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.”Analysts are divided on whether the CDU can win the September election under Laschet’s leadership.“While Laschet has convinced a majority of delegates at the party congress, it’s questionable whether this message of pragmatism and continuity will be enough to win national elections,” tweeted Ulrich Speck, senior visiting fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Berlin. “And more important: whether it will be enough to make sure that Germany’s success story continues.”But Peter Neumann, a professor at King’s College, University of London, said Laschet is a gifted politician.“Often underestimated, he’s smarter, more skillful, and tenacious than people think,” he tweeted.
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India began its COVID-19 vaccine campaign Saturday.   Frontline workers are slated to receive the first inoculations.  The campaign began after Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a nationally televised speech. “We are launching the world’s biggest vaccination drive and it shows the world our capability,” Modi said. COVID-19 deaths worldwide exceeded 2 million Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University, a year after the coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan, China. “Behind this terrible number are names and faces, the smile that will now only be a memory, the seat forever empty at the dinner table, the room that echoes with the silence of a loved one,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Friday. Worldwide COVID-19 Deaths Top 2 MillionUN secretary-general says death toll worsened by lack of global coordination   Guterres also said the death toll “has been made worse by the absence of a global coordinated effort,” and added that, “science has succeeded, but solidarity has failed.”  The United States remains at the top of the COVID case list with the most cases and deaths. Johns Hopkins reports more than 23 million COVID-19 cases in the U.S., with a death toll rapidly approaching 400,000.  Some states, having vaccinated their front-line workers, have opened vaccinations to older people but have been overrun with requests. Medical facilities are on the verge of running out of vaccines. In many instances, the technology used to take the requests has crashed.   President-elect Joe Biden unveiled a plan Friday to speed up the U.S. COVID-19 vaccine rollout, including increased federal funding, setting up thousands of vaccination centers, and invoking the Defense Production Act to expand the production of vaccination supplies.Biden Will Seek to Increase Federal Support to Speed Up Vaccine Rollout President-elect says he will invoke Defense Production Act The wide-ranging plan is part of Biden’s effort to achieve his goal for 100 million Americans to be vaccinated within 100 days. “You have my word: We will manage the hell out of this operation,” he told reporters near his home in Wilmington, Delaware. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Friday that a newly detected and highly contagious variant of the coronavirus may become the dominant strain in the U.S. by March.  The variant, first detected in Britain, threatens to exacerbate the coronavirus crisis in the U.S., where daily infection and hospitalization records are commonplace. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 9 MB480p | 12 MB540p | 16 MB720p | 29 MB1080p | 59 MBOriginal | 75 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioCampaign Aims to Convince Americans COVID Vaccine SafeThe CDC said the variant apparently does not cause more severe illness but is more contagious than the current dominant strain. Later Friday, the Oregon Health Authority reported that an individual with “no known travel history” had tested positive for the British variant.   “As we learn more about this case and the individual who tested positive for this strain, OHA continues to promote effective public health measures, including wearing masks, maintaining six feet of physical distance, staying home, washing your hands, and avoiding gatherings and travel,” the agency said in a statement.  Also Friday, some U.S. governors accused the Trump administration of deceiving states about the amount of COVID-19 vaccine they can expect to receive. Government officials say states were misguided in their expectations of vaccine amounts. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told NBC News on Friday that the U.S. does not have a reserve stockpile of COVID vaccines as many had believed. However, he said he is confident that there will enough vaccine produced to provide a second dose for people.Biden Announces $1.9 Trillion Coronavirus Relief PackageTransition team describes plan as ‘ambitious but achievable’The two COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in the U.S. — made by Pfizer and Moderna – are designed to be given in two doses several weeks apart.Pfizer said in a statement Friday that has been holding onto supplies of second doses for each of its COVID-19 vaccinations shipped so far, and anticipates no problems supplying them to Americans.  As of Friday, the U.S. government said it had distributed over 31 million doses of the vaccine. The CDC said about 12.3 million doses had been administered.Earlier on Friday, Pfizer announced there would be a temporary impact on shipments of its vaccine to European countries in late January to early February caused by changes to its manufacturing processes in an effort boost output.The health ministers of six EU countries — Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – said the Pfizer situation is “unacceptable.””Not only does it impact the planned vaccination schedules, it also decreases the credibility of the vaccination process,” they said in a letter to the EU Commission about the vaccine delays.In Brazil, the country’s air force flew emergency oxygen supplies Friday to the jungle state of Amazonas, which is facing a growing surge in the virus. Health authorities in the state said oxygen supplies had run out at some hospitals because of the high numbers of patients. Brazil’s Health Ministry reported 1,151 deaths from COVID-19 Thursday, the fourth consecutive day with more than 1,000 fatalities. China reported its first COVID-19 death in eight months Thursday amid a surge in the country’s northeast as a World Health Organization team arrived in Wuhan to investigate the beginning of the pandemic. China’s death toll is 4,796, a relatively low number resulting from the country’s stringent containment and tracing measures.  China has imposed various lockdown measures on more than 20 million people in Beijing, Hebei and other areas to contain the spread of infections before the Lunar New Year holiday in February. The relatively low number of COVID-related deaths in China has raised questions about China’s tight control of information about the outbreak.  The WHO investigative team arrived Thursday after nearly a year of talks with the WHO and diplomatic disagreements between China and other countries that demanded that China allow a thorough independent investigation.   Two members of the 10-member team were stopped in Singapore after tests revealed antibodies to the virus in their blood, while the rest of the team immediately entered a 14-day quarantine period in Wuhan before launching their investigation.  The coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan in late 2019 and quickly spread throughout the world.   Officials said Thursday that infections in the northeastern Heilongjiang province have surged to their highest levels in 10 months, nearly tripling during that period.   Elsewhere in Asia, Japanese authorities have expanded a state of emergency to stop a surge in coronavirus cases.   Coronavirus infections and related deaths have roughly doubled in Japan over the past month to more than 317,000 cases and more than 4,200 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.  The emergency was initially declared a week ago and was expanded to cover seven new regions. The restrictions are not binding, and many people have ignored requests to avoid nonessential travel, prompting the governor to voice concern about the lack of commitment to the guidelines.  Indonesia reported 12,818 new infections Friday, its largest daily tally.  
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Several thousand migrants from Honduras began their journey toward the United States Friday, with a large group of them already crossing to Guatemala.Police at checkpoints set up along the highway, in both Honduras and Guatemala, asked for identification documents, but made no attempt to stop the migrants.Video footage showed hundreds of migrants, holding up the Honduran flag and chanting as they crossed the border at El Florido checkpoint into Guatemalan territory.The first migrant caravan from a Central America country this year includes women and young children. Coming less than a week before U.S. President-elect Joe Biden takes office, the migrants apparently hope that the new administration with be more sympathetic than the Trump administration to their plea for a better life.Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico, however, are collectively taking security and public health measures due to COVID-19 pandemic, to prevent unauthorized border crossings.Mexican officials said Thursday, they had discussed migration with U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and raised “the possibility of implementing a cooperation program for the development of northern Central America and southern Mexico, in response to the economic crisis caused by the pandemic and the recent hurricanes in the region.”Last month, Honduran authorities stopped a caravan before it even reached the Guatemalan border. Last year, other caravans were broken up by Guatemala’s authorities before reaching Mexico.       
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The U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned Cuba’s interior minister Friday for alleged human rights abuses.“The Cuban regime has a long history of human rights abuse,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “The United States will continue to use all the tools at its disposal to address the dire human rights situation in Cuba and elsewhere around the world.”The Treasury Department also sanctioned the country’s interior ministry, which it said has specialized units of its security branch dedicated to “monitoring political activity, and Cuba’s police support these security units by arresting persons of interest.”The U.S. cited the ministry’s 2019 arrest and imprisonment of Cuban dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer, who “reported being beaten, tortured and held in isolation.”The Cuban government did not respond immediately to the sanctions, which freeze any U.S. assets held by Cuba or a Cuban national and generally bar Americans from doing business with them. Anyone who engages in certain transactions with these entities runs the risk of being hit with U.S. sanctions.The sanctions were imposed five days before Donald Trump leaves office after losing the November 3 presidential election to Joe Biden.The Trump administration worked throughout its four-year term to reverse President Barack Obama’s historic reconciliation with Cuba. On Monday, the administration again placed Cuba on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, potentially complicating Biden’s expected efforts to ease tensions with Cuba.
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British lawmakers from the ruling Conservative Party’s Human Rights Commission are saying the Chinese Communist Party has intensified an assault on all human rights throughout China — and that those interacting with the regime should do so in the knowledge that they are interacting with “a criminal state.” Henry Ridgwell reports from London.Camera: Henry Ridgwell
 
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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he hoped positive steps will be taken on Turkey’s role in the F-35 jet program once U.S. President-elect Joe Biden takes office, describing Ankara’s exclusion for purchasing Russian defenses as a “serious wrong.”Last month, Washington imposed long-anticipated sanctions on Turkey’s defense industry over its acquisition of S-400 missile defense systems from Moscow, in a move Turkey called a “grave mistake.”The United States has also removed fellow NATO member Turkey from the F-35 program over the move.Washington says the S-400s pose a threat to its F-35 fighter jets and to NATO’s broader defense systems. Turkey rejects this, saying S-400s will not be integrated into NATO and purchasing them was a necessity as it was unable to procure air defense systems from any NATO ally on satisfactory terms.”No country can determine the steps we will take toward the defense industry, that fully depends on the decisions we make,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul, adding Ankara was in talks to procure a second shipment of S-400s from Russia and would hold talks on the issue later this month.”We don’t know what the Biden administration will say at this stage [on the S-400s],” he added. “Despite having paid a serious fee on the F-35s, the F-35s still have not been given to us. This is a serious wrong the United States did against us as a NATO ally,” he said.”My hope is that, after we hold talks with Biden as he takes office, we will take much more positive steps and put these back on track.”Biden will be inaugurated on January 20, replacing incumbent Donald Trump, with whom Erdogan had a close relationship.  
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Friday that travel corridors into the nation would be closed to fight the spread of COVID-19.At a news briefing at his residence, Johnson said that effective Monday at 4 a.m. Britain time, all travelers into the country must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours and then self-quarantine for 10 days. They can take another test after five days and leave quarantine if that test is again negative.Johnson said that the British government would be stepping up enforcement of the rules at the border and elsewhere in the country and that substantial fines would be imposed on those who refused or failed to comply with the measures. The border closures will be in effect until at least February 15.The prime minister said these measures were being taken to prevent new strains of COVID-19 from entering the country, just as the government has begun to make progress with its vaccination program. “What we don’t want to see is all that hard work undone by the arrival of a new variant that is vaccine busting,” he said.On Thursday, Britain banned arrivals from South America, Portugal and some other countries over fears about a strain of the virus detected in Brazil.Friday, Britain reported 55,761 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, up from 48,682 the previous day. The prime minister warned that the National Health Service was facing “extraordinary pressures,” having had the highest number of hospital admissions on a single day of the pandemic earlier this week.
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Some 3,000 people left Honduras on foot Friday in the latest migrant caravan hoping to find a welcome, and a better life, in the United States under President-elect Joe Biden’s new administration.
 
Seeking to escape poverty, unemployment, gang and drug violence and the aftermath of two devastating hurricanes, the migrants plan to walk thousands of kilometers through Central America.
 
But they will have to overcome a rash of travel restrictions in Guatemala and Mexico long before they even make it to the American border.
 
The quest is likely to end in heartbreak for many, with American authorities already having warned off the group that includes people of all ages and some entire families.
 
“I want to work for my house and a car, to work and live a dignified life with my family,” said Melvin Fernandez, a taxi driver from the Caribbean port city of La Ceiba in Honduras, who set off on the long journey with his wife and three children, aged 10, 15 and 22.
 
Some of the migrants left shortly after 4:00 a.m. (1000 GMT) from the transport terminal of San Pero Sula, Honduras’ second-largest city, headed for Agua Caliente on the Guatemalan border some 260 kilometers (162 miles) away.
 
They set off alongside roads with backpacks, some with the Honduras flag, many with small children in their arms, and most with facemasks to protect against the coronavirus.
 
They say they hope to catch lifts from passing motorists or truckers or, failing that, walk the entire way.
 
To enter Guatemala, the first country on their route, however, the migrants will have to show travel documents and a negative coronavirus test — requirements that not all of them meet.
 ‘Broken heart’
 
“We are leaving with a broken heart, because in my case, I leave my family, my husband and my three children behind,” 36-year-old Jessenia Ramirez told AFP.
 
“We are going in search of a better future, a job so we can send a few cents” back home. We are trusting in God to open our path, Biden is supposed to give work opportunities to those who are there [on American soil].”
 
The travelers are hopeful that Biden, who takes over the U.S. presidency on January 20, will be more flexible than his predecessor Trump.
 
Biden has promised “a fair and humane immigration system” and pledged aid to tackle the root causes of poverty and violence that drive Central Americans to the United States.
 
But Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, warned the group last week not to “waste your time and money.”
 
The U.S. commitment to the “rule of law and public health” is not affected by the change in administration, he said in a statement, and migrant caravans will not be allowed to make their way north in violation of national sovereignty and immigration laws.
 
More than a dozen migrant caravans have set off from Honduras since October 2018.  
 
But all have run up against thousands of U.S. border guards and soldiers under the administration of Donald Trump, who has characterized immigrants from Mexico as “rapists” who were “bringing drugs” and other criminal activity to the United States.
 Hoping beyond hope
 
Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras have an agreement with the United States to stop north-bound migratory flows from the south of the continent.
 
Honduras has mobilized 7,000 police officers to supervise the latest caravan on its journey to the Guatemalan border. A first group of some 300 people already set out Thursday  from San Pedro Sula.
 
Guatemala Thursday declared seven departments in a state of “alert,” giving security forces the authority to “forcibly dissolve” any type of public groupings.  
 
Mexican authorities said late Thursday that 500 immigration officers were being deployed to the Guatemalan border in anticipation of the caravan’s arrival.
 
But the migrants are keeping the end goal in sight.
 
Among them, 28-year-old Eduardo Lanza said he dreamed of living in a country where people of different sexual orientations can live in dignity, “respect … and a job opportunity.”  
 
Norma Pineda, 51, said last year’s hurricanes left her “on the street.”
 
“We are leaving because here is no work, no state support, we need food, clothes…” she told AFP.
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U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has promised a quick and dramatic reversal of the restrictive immigration policies put in place by his predecessor President Donald Trump. While Biden pledged to undo many of Trump’s policies starting the first day he takes office on January 20, the layers of reforms will take much longer to implement.
 Immigration reform and ‘dreamers’
 
Biden, a Democrat, said in a June tweet he will send a bill to Congress “on day one” that laid out “a clear roadmap to citizenship” for some 11 million people living in the United States unlawfully.
 
Biden has said he would create permanent protection for young migrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, known as “Dreamers.” Started by former President Barack Obama when Biden was vice president, the program currently provides deportation protection and other benefits to approximately 645,000 people.
 
Trump’s Republican administration tried to end DACA but was stymied in federal court. The program still faces a legal challenge in a Texas court.
 
Vice president-elect Kamala Harris said in an interview with Univision on January 12 that the administration planned to shorten citizenship wait times and allow DACA holders, as well as recipients of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), to “automatically get green cards,” but did not explicitly say when or how these changes would happen.
 
Trump moved to phase out TPS, which grants deportation protection and allows work permits to people from countries hit by natural disasters or armed conflict. Earlier in his campaign, Biden promised to “immediately” grant TPS to Venezuelans already in the United States.
 
For years lawmakers have failed to pass a major immigration bill. Democrats may stand a better chance of passing legislation after a run-off election in Georgia handed them control of both houses of Congress.
 Restoring asylum and refugees
 
Trump blasted what he called “loopholes” in the asylum system and implemented overlapping polices to make it more difficult to seek refuge in the United States.
 
One Trump program called the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) forced tens of thousands of asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court. Biden said during the campaign he would end the program on day one. His transition team, however, has said dismantling MPP and restoring other asylum protections will take time.
 
Under rules put in place by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control during the coronavirus pandemic, most migrants arriving at the border are now immediately expelled. Biden’s team has not pledged to reverse that policy right away.
 
Migrant caravans have been on the move in Central America, with some aiming to arrive at the southwest border after Biden’s inauguration. Advocates worry that the pandemic will make it difficult for border officials and migrant shelters to handle large numbers of people.
 
Biden has also said he would raise the cap for refugees resettled in the United States from abroad to 125,000 from the historic low-level of 15,000 set by Trump this year.
 Family reunification  
 
Biden’s transition team promised to immediately create a federal task force to reunify children separated from their parents under one of the Trump administration’s most controversial policies.
 
Thousands of children were separated from their parents when Trump implemented a “zero tolerance” policy of prosecuting all border crossers, including families, for illegal entry. Though Trump officially reversed the policy in June 2018 amid international outcry, some children have continued to be separated for other reasons. Advocates are still searching for the parents of more than 600 separated children.
 Travel and visa bans
 
One of Trump’s first actions after taking office in 2017 was banning travel from several Muslim-majority countries. Following legal challenges, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a revised version of the ban in 2018. It has since been expanded to 13 nations.
 
Biden has promised to immediately rescind the bans, which were issued by executive actions and could be easily undone, according to policy experts.
 
During the coronavirus pandemic Trump issued proclamations blocking the entry of many temporary foreign workers and applicants for green cards. While Biden has criticized the restrictions, he has not yet said whether he would immediately reverse them.
 Border wall
 
Biden pledged to immediately halt construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall, which Trump touted as a major accomplishment during a Texas visit just days before leaving office.
 
It is not entirely clear what Biden’s administration will do with contracts for wall construction that have already been awarded but have yet to be completed, or with private land seized by the government in places where building has stopped.
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The recent arrest by Turkish authorities of an alleged Iranian spy ring is seen as a sign of increasing rivalry between the two neighbors.  The arrest comes as Turkey seeks to expand its influence in the Caucasus, an area considered by Tehran as its backyard. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. 
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For more than 60 years, Cuba supplied at least some rice, milk, beans, sugar, chicken, electrical power and even cigarettes to its people nearly free of cost regardless of whether they worked, allowing many to survive without a job or depend solely on remittances. But this year, the government is implementing a deep financial reform that reduces subsidies, eliminates a dual currency that was key to the old system and raises salaries. It hopes to boost productivity to alleviate an economic crisis and reconfigure a socialist system that will still grant universal benefits such as free health care and education. People wearing protective face masks amid the new coronavirus pandemic wait their turn to enter a state-run store in Havana, Cuba, Jan. 14, 2021.”It’s a major shift in focus for a society that has lived and functioned one way for 62 years,” said Cuban economist Ricardo Torres. “This sends a message: If you want to be in a fairly comfortable situation, then you have to get a job.” The changes come as Cuba struggles with the pandemic, an 11% drop in gross domestic product and the loss of what the government estimates is nearly $5.6 billion as a result of economic sanctions imposed by outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump. Until December 31, Cubans would pay 75 cents for a monthly basket filled with 19 basic products including meat, coffee, eggs and soap. Now that will cost them $7, according to Betsy Díaz Velázquez, minister of internal trade. Education and health services remain free, and the government will still subsidize milk for children up to age 7 and provide food to vulnerable groups, though some worry the reforms will lead to problems. “It increases inequality without there being a concrete plan to reduce it,” said Harold Cárdenas, a political analyst living in the U.S. who is part of a group that advocates a more democratic socialist Cuba. “It would be an exaggeration to say this is how the aspiration to socialism in Cuba ends, but this is definitely not how it is achieved.” But he said that encouraging people to work rather than discouraging it “will make the difference between success and failure for years to come.” Elimination of ‘convertible peso’About 7 million of the island’s 11 million inhabitants are of working age, with some 2.7 million unemployed or not looking for a job. As a result, it hasn’t been unusual to see young people playing dominoes on street corners, idly talking with friends for hours or leaving work early. FILE – A worker shows a wad of Cuban pesos in Havana, Cuba, Dec. 11, 2020.Authorities haven’t immediately said where the idle will find productive jobs. They have promised a law by year’s end that could encourage more private businesses but haven’t given details of what it might entail. The most visible immediate change may be elimination of the “convertible peso,” a dollar-linked currency aimed at drawing money from abroad that was necessary to buy many goods, often even essentials, hard to find in regular pesos.  That dual currency system introduced in 1994 was meant to alleviate the crisis caused by the loss of aid and subsidized trade with the recently collapsed Soviet Union. But it snarled government accounts, discouraged exports and employment, and financed inefficient state-owned companies that now have a year to prove their viability or face closure. Now, only the Cuban peso will remain in circulation. Raising salaries, pricesIn addition, the government is increasing salaries — quadrupling them in some cases — and raising the minimum wage from $20 to $87 a month.  But few Cubans are celebrating the change because the prices of many goods, including food and gas, also have soared. A pound of rice used to cost 25 centavos, for example. It’s now 7 pesos — a 28-fold increase. Prices for cooking gas jumped more than 20 times. Bus fares quintupled. FILE – Workers wearing ill-fitting masks used to curb the spread of the new coronavirus push a cart loaded with sacks in Havana, Cuba, Dec. 23, 2020.”You don’t solve anything by raising prices,” said Lorena Durañón, 23, a medical student. “It’s hitting people really hard.” There was such a flurry of complaints about the new prices, especially for electrical power, that authorities recently went on public TV to announce a reduction. The reform also hits the island’s burgeoning private sector, which the government has periodically expanded and squeezed after it emerged in 1993 and which has created 600,000 jobs since a major reopening over the past decade. “It’s hard because they’ve already increased the prices of raw material, which is already expensive and scarce,” said Isabel Viera, 60, an artisan who used up her savings after the pandemic dried up tourism. “The situation is very difficult.”  Despite the worries, President Miguel Díaz-Canel has promised that no one will be left behind. The aim, he said, is to guarantee all Cubans greater equality to opportunities, rights and social justice — not through egalitarianism, but “by promoting interest and motivation in work.” 
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Federal authorities indicted the “board of directors” of the MS-13 gang on terrorism charges Thursday. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York, 14 gang leaders are charged with “conspiracy to provide and conceal material support to terrorists, conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, conspiracy to finance terrorism and narcoterrorism conspiracy,” the Justice Department said in a news release. One of those charged is Borromeo Enrique Henriquez, also known as Diablito de Hollywood. Prosecutors called him one of the gang’s most important members. All the suspects make up the Ranfla Nacional, which is MS-13’s ruling body.  Eleven of the charged are in jail in El Salvador, but three remain at large. The Justice Department said it was exploring ways to extradite the imprisoned to the United States. “MS-13 is responsible for a wave of death and violence that has terrorized communities, leaving neighborhoods on Long Island and throughout the Eastern District of New York awash in bloodshed,” Acting U.S. Attorney Seth D. DuCharme said in a statement. “Even when incarcerated, the Ranfla Nacional continued to direct MS-13’s global operations, recruit new members, including children, into MS-13, and orchestrate murder and mayhem around the world.” He added that Thursday’s indictments seek to demolish MS-13 by targeting its leadership. MS-13, also known by its Spanish name Mara Salvatrucha, was started by refugees from El Salvador in Los Angeles in the 1980s, but has since spread across the U.S. While the group’s center of gravity remains in Central America, it has an estimated 10,000 members in the U.S., where they operate in units known as “programs” and “cliques.” In July, more than two dozen alleged leaders and members of the gang were arrested during sweeps in Virginia, New York and Las Vegas. 
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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Thursday called last week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump “shocking” and unacceptable, and he said those responsible must be held accountable.Stoltenberg’s comments were his first public reaction since Trump supporters stormed the Capitol January 6, seeking to stop the U.S. Congress from formally certifying the presidential election. Stoltenberg did comment from his personal Twitter account during the attacks and called for the democratic election to be respected.During a news briefing in Brussels, after being asked for his reaction to the incident, the NATO chief called it a deadly attack on the “heart of the democratic institutions of the United States of America.” He termed it “absolutely unacceptable” and said it is important that those responsible pay the consequences for their actions.
 
He said, “Democracy must always prevail over violence, and I’m confident that the democratic institutions of the United States will handle this challenge.”
 
Regarding the incoming administration, Stoltenberg said he looks forward to working with Joe Biden as the next U.S. president. “I know that Joe Biden is strongly committed to our transatlantic cooperation, to NATO. And I know that he also, of course, would strongly support the idea of further strengthening the cooperation between North America and Europe.” 
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Europe’s populist leaders are outraged by the decision of U.S. social-media giants to block U.S. President Donald Trump from posting on their sites. They fear Facebook, Twitter and other major social media companies could start banning them, too.  
 
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki condemned the internet giants Tuesday. “The censorship of freedom of speech, the domain of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, is returning today in the form of a new, commercial mechanism fighting against those who think differently,” he wrote on Facebook.
 
Poland’s ruling populist Law and Justice Party (PiS) already has introduced legislation aimed at limiting the power of social media giants to remove content or ban users.  
 
The draft law was proposed after Twitter started flagging as misleading content tweets by Trump and supporters disputing the U.S. election result. PiS lawmakers say there shouldn’t be any censorship by social media companies or curtailment of speech because debate is the essence of democracy.
 
Opposition critics say the proposed measure sits oddly with the ruling party’s efforts to muzzle the national media and to turn the public broadcaster into a propaganda vehicle. Those moves are currently being investigated by the European Union, which has accused the PiS government of rolling back democratic norms.
 
The Polish government also has vowed to bring foreign-owned media outlets in the country under Polish control, which critics fear means turning them into government propaganda outlets.  
 
Under the draft law, if content is removed, a social media company would have 24 hours to respond to a complaint from a user and any decision could be appealed to a newly created special court.
 
Populist leaders aren’t alone in denouncing the moves by social media giants. Across Europe there is unease regardless of political affiliation at censorship by social media giants and their expulsion of Trump, a response to last week’s bid to derail the certification of the U.S. election results by pro-Trump agitators storming the U.S. Capitol. Twitter cited violations of its civic integrity policies to block Trump.
 
Facebook is blocking and deleting content that uses the phrase “stop the steal,” which refers to false claims by Trump supporters of election fraud. And Twitter says it has suspended more than 70,000 accounts of adherents of the QAnon conspiracy, who believe Trump is waging a secret war against elite Satan-worshipping pedophiles in government, business and the media.FILE – A figure representing hate speech on Facebook is seen featured during a carnival parade in Duesseldorf, Germany, Feb. 24, 2020.German Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed her concerns about the actions of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, saying they are a step too far.  
 
“The right to freedom of opinion is of fundamental importance,” her spokesperson Steffen Seibert told reporters this week. But campaigns are mounting in Germany and in other European countries for social media giants to block hate speech, populist misinformation and fake news from their sites, regardless of authorship.  
 
Additionally, political pressure is mounting for a tightening of regulatory restrictions that some European governments have already introduced aimed at policing social media.  
 
When voicing concern about the social media blocking of Trump, Merkel’s spokesperson cited Germany’s Network Enforcement Act, which was approved in 2018 and requires social media platforms to remove potentially illegal material within 24 hours of being told to do so, or face fines of up to $60 million.  
 
Seibert said free speech should only be restricted in line “with the laws and within a framework defined by the legislature, not by the decision of the management of social media platforms.”  
 
But some German lawmakers want the law toughened and are also urging social media companies to be more forward-leaning in efforts to block what they see as dangerous speech. German Social Democrat lawmaker Helge Lindh told broadcaster Deutsche Welle that Germany is “not doing enough,” saying more restrictions are needed.  
 
The German parliament approved legislation last year that would ensure prosecution for those perpetrating hate or for inciting it online. Under the legislation, social media companies would have been obliged to report hate comments to the police and identify the online authors.
 
Final passage of the legislation was halted, though, because of objections raised by the country’s Constitutional Court, which ruled parts of the new legislation were in conflict with data protection laws. The court called for adjustments that are scheduled to be debated this month by German lawmakers.  
 
Populist politicians stand to lose more from the renewed focus on misinformation on the internet, whether the outcome from the new focus is more stringent state regulations or just social media giants being more restrictive in Europe.
 
Populists tend to be able to galvanize support using social media more than mainstream politicians and parties have managed, says Ralph Schroeder, an academic at the Oxford Internet Institute, part of Britain’s University of Oxford.  
 
“They stand to lose most along with other politicians, on the left and the right and beyond, that seek a politics that is anti-establishment and exclusionary toward outsiders,” he told VOA. “The reason is that social media gives them a means to express ideas that cannot be expressed in traditional news media or in traditional party affiliations.”
 
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Police in Belgium made 116 arrests after a demonstration in Brussels over the death of a young Black man who collapsed while in police custody turned violent.
Police said most of violence took place after a largely peaceful demonstration Wednesday of about 500 protesters — some holding Black Lives Matter signs — ended in downtown Brussels.
“A group of demonstrators (50-100 people) remained on the spot and caused various incidents and degradations,” police said, adding that several police officers were injured in the clashes.
According to a police statement, protesters threw projectiles, set fires, damaged street furniture and police vehicles. They also smashed a window and a door at a police station. In all, 116 people were arrested, including 30 minors, and one protester was tended to by ambulance services, police said.
“Justice must bring to court those who have vandalized and have injured five policemen, including a policewoman who is hospitalized,” federal police captain Marc De Mesmaeker told broadcaster RTBF on Thursday. “This must be done with care, just as the other aspect of the event, the tragic death of Ibrahima, must be treated with care.”
Belgian prosecutors have requested that an investigative judge be appointed following the death of a 23-year-old Black man identified by authorities only as I.B. The prosecutor’s office said he was arrested on Jan. 9 after he allegedly tried to run away from police who were checking people gathered in the city center despite COVID-19 restrictions on social gatherings. He was taken to a police station where he fainted, and then transferred to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the office said.
The prosecutor’s office said Belgium’s Comité P, an independent body overseeing police services, is investigating and a coroner has been appointed to perform an autopsy as well as toxicology tests. Belgian media reported the man had started to record the police with his phone on Saturday when officers decided to carry out an ID check on him.
The prosecutor’s office said it has seized video surveillance images, both from the police station and at the scene of the man’s arrest.
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Ireland’s prime minister apologized Wednesday after a commission of inquiry released its final report on the harm done to unmarried women and their children in church-run homes in the 20th century.Micheal Martin’s formal state apology followed the release of the final report of a probe into the deaths of 9,000 children in 18 mother-and-baby homes from 1922 to 1998. These homes provided shelter for women and girls who became pregnant outside marriage.In Ireland’s lower house of parliament, the Dail, Martin apologized for the country’s “profound and generational wrong” against women and children who should not have been there in the first place.”The state failed you, mothers and children in these homes,” Martin said Wednesday as he urged the country to show remorse and admit this “dark, difficult and shameful chapter” as part of its history.About 15% of the children born in the homes died from disease and infections, almost double the nationwide infant mortality rate, the report found.The report said, “The very high mortality rates were known to local and national authorities at the time and were recorded in official publications,” according to The Associated Press.”We had a completely warped attitude to sexuality and intimacy,” Martin said Tuesday, ahead of his formal apology. “Young mothers and their sons and daughters paid a terrible price for that dysfunction.”Church-run homes in Ireland accommodated orphans, unmarried pregnant women and their babies for much of the previous century. Many unmarried pregnant women were abandoned by their families out of shame or fear of being judged and stigmatized.Many children were later separated from their mothers for adoption.The commission noted that while mother-and-baby homes were not unique to Ireland, its quota of unmarried mothers at the homes was unmatched.The commission said about 56,000 unmarried mothers and about 57,000 children had lived in the homes it investigated.
 
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