Germany will have a new government next month after three parties agreed this week to form a coalition, ousting the ruling Christian Democrats, the party of outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel. The new government faces an early test of foreign policy, as Russia has deployed tens of thousands of troops on Europe’s eastern borders.

Members of the Social Democratic Pary, or SDP, which narrowly won the highest vote share in September’s election, agreed to lead a coalition alongside the Green party and the Free Democrats. SDP leader Olaf Scholz, who will be Germany’s next chancellor, pledged to strengthen Germany’s existing alliances in a speech Wednesday.

“Our friendship with France, our partnership with the United States, and a commitment to peace and prosperity in the world are the pillars on which our foreign policy is based,” Scholz said in Berlin.

That peace appears increasingly fragile on Europe’s eastern borders. Russia has deployed around 90,000 troops alongside military hardware close to its border with Ukraine and continues to support separatist rebels in Ukraine’s Donbass region.

On Thursday, Merkel warned of tougher sanctions.

“Any further aggression against the sovereignty of Ukraine would carry a high price. That’s totally clear,” she told reporters.

Support for Belarus

Russia is also supporting Belarus, which Europe accuses of manufacturing a migrant crisis on its border with Poland. So how will Germany’s new government deal with these immediate security challenges?

Scholz has yet to detail his policy toward Russia. The 177-page coalition agreement restates strong German support for NATO as the basis of European security, noted Liana Fix, the program director for international affairs at the Körber-Stiftung analyst group in Berlin.

“Broadly, there’s continuity, but what is interesting is that there’s also quite a strong rhetoric when it comes to supporting civil society in Russia, and also quite a strong rhetoric when it comes to countering the autocratic challenge that is coming from Russia. And here you definitely see the footprint of the Green party which has entered the coalition,” Fix told VOA.

Green party leader Annalena Baerbock will be Germany’s next foreign minister. A first major decision will be to approve the opening of the completed Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline connecting Russia and Germany, which critics fear could be used by the Kremlin to blackmail Europe. The U.S. recently tightened sanctions on Russian companies involved in its construction.

“The Greens, that were at the beginning actually opposed to Nord Stream 2, did not want to use their political capital to enforce a stop of Nord Stream 2 in the coalition treaty,” Fix said.

What of the personal relationships? Merkel was raised in East Germany under communism and speaks fluent Russian. “This gave her special access to the Russian president,” Fix told VOA. “Olaf Scholz doesn’t have this background, but he’s very much aware of the situation, where he always argued that ‘might does not make right’ and that this is one of the bases for his understanding of foreign policy and also of policy towards Russia.”

‘The world will change’

In his speech Wednesday after striking the coalition agreement, Scholz said Germany must be ready for a new world order.

“The world will change,” he said. “It will become multipolar, which means there will be many strong countries and powers across the globe which will have influence on what happens in the future.”

For now, much of the new government’s focus will be on the soaring coronavirus infection rate at home. In Germany this week, COVID-19-related deaths surpassed 100,000 since the start of the pandemic, a grim milestone as the coalition prepares to take the reins of power in December.
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Germany will have a new government next month after three parties agreed to form a coalition, ousting the ruling Christian Democrats of outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel. The new government under Olaf Scholz faces an early test of foreign policy, as Russia has deployed tens of thousands of troops on Europe’s eastern borders. Henry Ridgwell considers Berlin’s future relationship with Moscow.
Camera: Henry Ridgwell
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France and Britain appealed Thursday for European assistance, promised stepped-up efforts to combat people-smuggling networks, and traded blame and barbs in the wake of this week’s tragedy in the English Channel that again shone a light on the scale and complexity of Europe’s migration problems.

At least 27 migrants drowned Wednesday after their inflatable dinghy capsized as they tried to cross the channel. It was the deadliest migration accident to date on the dangerous stretch of sea, a busy shipping lane crisscrossed by hulking freighters and frequently beset by treacherous weather, waves and currents.

French President Emmanuel Macron appealed to neighboring European countries to do more to stop illegal migration into France, saying that when migrants reach French shores with hopes of heading on to Britain, “it is already too late.”

Macron said France was deploying army drones as part of new efforts to patrol its northern coastline and help rescue migrants at sea. But he also said that a greater collective effort was needed, referring to France as a “transit country” for Britain-bound migrants.

“We need to strengthen cooperation with Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, but also the British and the [European] Commission,” he said on a visit to Croatia. “We need stronger European cooperation.”

Ministers from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Britain and EU officials will meet Sunday to discuss increasing efforts to crack down on migrant-smuggling networks, Macron’s government announced.

They will convene in Calais, one of the French coastal towns where migrants gather, looking for ways to cross to the British coast, which is visible from France on clear days.

Macron described the dead in Wednesday’s sinking as “victims of the worst system, that of smugglers and human traffickers.”

Ever-increasing numbers of people fleeing conflict or poverty in Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq, Eritrea or elsewhere are risking the perilous journey from France, hoping to win asylum or find better opportunities in Britain. The crossings have tripled this year, compared with 2020.

The French prosecutors office tasked with investigating the sinking said the dead included 17 men, seven women, and two boys and one girl thought to be teenagers. Magistrates were investigating potential charges of homicide, unintentional wounding, assisting illegal migration and criminal conspiracy, the prosecutors office said.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said two survivors were treated for hypothermia; one is Iraqi and the other is Somali. He said authorities were working to determine the victims’ nationalities.

Macron’s government vowed to bring those responsible for the tragedy to justice, piling pressure on investigators. Darmanin announced the arrests of five alleged smugglers who he said were suspected of being linked to the sinking. The prosecutors office investigating the deaths confirmed five arrests since Wednesday but said they didn’t appear to be linked to its probe.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Macron spoke after the tragedy and agreed “to keep all options on the table to stop these lethal crossings and break the business model of the criminal gangs behind them,” Johnson’s office said.

Macron advocated an immediate funding boost for the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, according to his office.
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The sinking of a boat with more than 30 people on board this week was the deadliest migration tragedy to date in the English Channel. 

Migrant shipwrecks of that scale, however, are not uncommon in the waters surrounding Europe’s southern borders. 

This year alone, U.N. officials estimate that 1,600 people have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean Sea, the main gateway to Europe for migrants trying to enter the continent with the help of human smugglers. 

The death toll is higher than last year, but by no means unique. The International Organization for Migration estimates that 23,000 people have perished since 2014 while trying to cross the Mediterranean in rickety boats or rubber dinghies, peaking at more than 5,000 in 2016. In the same seven-year period, about 166 people have died in the English Channel. 

Just last week, 85 people died in two separate incidents while trying to reach Italy from Libya, said Flavio di Giacomo, the IOM’s spokesman in Italy. Those tragedies were barely noticed in Europe. 

“I think it’s a question of proximity,” di Giacomo said. “I think the media attention of what happened between U.K. and France is also because this is new. Europe is not used to have that inside the continent; usually it’s on the external borders.” 

Deadliest route

This year the busiest and deadliest migrant route to Europe is the central Mediterranean where people travel in crowded boats from Libya and Tunisia — and in some cases all the way from Turkey — toward Italy. About 60,000 people have arrived in Italy by sea this year, and 1,200 have died or disappeared on the journey, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. 

The number of missing is an estimate partly based on information from survivors of shipwrecks. 

Migrant rescue activists on Thursday said a boat in the central Mediterranean with 430 people on board was taking on water and called on European authorities to assist. Another boat operated by charity Sea-Watch was looking for a safe port to disembark 463 rescued migrants. 

Canaries route

Meanwhile, since last year, traffic has increased on an even more dangerous route in the Atlantic Ocean where migrants set out from Senegal, Mauritania or Morocco in simple wooden boats with the hope of reaching Spain’s Canary Islands. Some boats sink not far from the coast of Africa and others disappear farther out, in some cases missing the Canaries and drifting deep into the Atlantic. 

“The route from western Africa is very long and very dangerous,” di Giacomo said. 

IOM has registered 900 deaths on the Canaries route this year, he said, but the true number could be double “and no one is paying a lot of attention.” 

More than 400 people were rescued this week while trying to reach the island group. 

Human rights groups often criticize European governments for not doing more to rescue migrants trying to reach the continent on unseaworthy vessels. European rescue efforts led by Italy in the central Mediterranean were scaled back a few years ago and more emphasis was placed on training and equipping the Libyan coast guard to intercept migrant boats before they can reach European waters. Critics say Europe is turning a blind eye to human rights abuses in Libyan detention centers for migrants. 

Noting that nine out of 10 refugees have fled to neighboring countries, Carlotta Sami of UNCHR in Italy said the agency is pushing for EU governments to provide “safe passageways” for refugees “to diminish the number of those who attempt to make the extremely risky journey.” 
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Italy has given safe haven to Sharbat Gula, the green-eyed “Afghan Girl” whose 1985 photo in National Geographic became a symbol of her country’s wars, Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s office said Thursday.

The government intervened after Gula asked for help to leave Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of the country in August, a statement said, adding that her arrival was part of a broader program to evacuate and integrate Afghan citizens.

U.S. photographer Steve McCurry took the picture of Gula when she was a youngster, living in a refugee camp on the Pakistan-Afghan border.

Her startling green eyes, peering out from a headscarf with a mixture of ferocity and pain, made her known internationally, but her identity was only discovered in 2002 when McCurry returned to the region and tracked her down.

An FBI analyst, forensic sculptor and the inventor of iris recognition all verified her identity, National Geographic said at the time.

In 2016, Pakistan arrested Gula for forging a national identity card in an effort to live in the country.

The then Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, welcomed her back and promised to give her an apartment to ensure she “lives with dignity and security in her homeland.”

Since seizing power, Taliban leaders have said they would respect women’s rights in accordance with Sharia, or Islamic law. But under Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, women could not work, and girls were banned from school. Women had to cover their faces and be accompanied by a male relative when they left home.  

 
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Pope Francis, meeting the prime minister of Lebanon Thursday, compared the country to a dying person and promised to do everything in his power to help it “rise again.” 

Francis and Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who took office in September after a year-long government vacuum, met privately for about 20 minutes and discussed the country’s devastating economic and social crisis, the Vatican said in a statement. 

The fallout from Lebanon’s financial collapse in 2019 has left swathes of the nation in poverty and foreign donors are demanding an audit of the central bank and financial reforms before they release funds. 

U.N. agencies have warned of social catastrophes, with one report saying that more than half of families in Lebanon had at least one child who skipped a meal amid a dramatic deterioration of living conditions. 

“Lebanon is a country, a message and even a promise worth fighting for,” Francis told the extended Lebanese delegation after the private meeting. 

He then referred to the Gospel story of Jairus in which Jesus raises up the man’s 12-year-old daughter, who was believed to be dead. Jesus told the parents she was only sleeping and the girl rose up when Jesus commanded. 

“I pray that the Lord will take Lebanon by the hand and say ‘arise’,” the pope said, adding that the country was going through a “very difficult, ugly period” of its history. “I assure you of my prayers, my closeness and promise to work diplomatically with countries so that they unite with Lebanon to help it rise again.” 

The seemingly never-ending crisis has sunk Lebanon’s currency by more than 90%, caused poverty to skyrocket and led many Lebanese to emigrate. Mikati’s government was finally formed after a year of political conflict over cabinet seats that only worsened the crisis. 

In August, on the first anniversary of the huge chemical blast at Beirut port that killed 200 people and caused billions of dollars of damage, Francis promised to visit Lebanon as soon as the situation permitted. 

 
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The European Union drug regulator Thursday approved the use of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine for children between the ages of five and 11, opening the way for them to be given a first shot as the region battles surging infections. 

The vaccine, which is called Comirnaty, will be given in two doses of 10 micrograms three weeks apart as an injection in the upper arm, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended. Adult doses contain 30 micrograms. 

“The benefits of Comirnaty in children aged 5 to 11 outweigh the risks, particularly in those with conditions that increase the risk of severe COVID-19,” the EMA said. 

The companies have said their vaccine showed 90.7% efficacy against the coronavirus in a clinical trial of children aged 5 to 11. 

Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine has been approved for European Union use in teenagers between 12 and 17 years old since May. While final approval is up to the European Commission, it typically follows EMA recommendations. 

It is not clear when countries may start rolling out the shots among younger children. Earlier this week, outgoing German health minister Jens Spahn said that EU-wide deliveries of the low-dose pediatric version would only begin on December 20. 

The bloc joins a growing number of countries, including the United States, Canada, Israel, China and Saudi Arabia, which have cleared vaccines for children in the 5-11 year age group and younger. 

Tens of millions of children in this age group will be eligible for the shot in the EU. 

For pediatric shots, the U.S. regulator authorized a new version of the vaccine, which uses a new buffer and allows them to be stored in refrigerators for up to 10 weeks. 

 
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An accident at a coal mine in Russia’s Siberia region killed at least 11 people Thursday and injured more than 40 others.

Local officials said there were 285 people inside the Listvyazhnaya mine in the Kemerovo area at the time of the accident.

Rescue operations were ongoing for more than 40 people still underground.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences to the families of those who died.

Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, AFP and Reuters.
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On a bad day, Maria Tikas receives four or five abusive online messages suggesting that she only got her job as a journalist because she offered sexual favors to her bosses.

Some messages include graphic sexual images. Others suggest a woman cannot know anything about covering soccer for Sport, a Spanish daily sports newspaper.

“You have not got any idea (about soccer), get back to the kitchen,” read one of the messages Tikas showed VOA.

Tikas and other female journalists in Spain have gone public about the daily vitriol.

“¡Basta!  Female journalists say enough!” That was the headline over a double-page article in Sport last week, which detailed the experiences of 15 women who cover sports in a country where soccer is like an alternative religion.

The article came out as a new law was going through the Spanish parliament that promises to tackle online sexual abuse for the first time.

Due to come into effect next year, the legislation will class online abuse as sexual violence. Convicted offenders will face fines or even house arrest.

For Tikas, and millions of other women, the law offers hope that people will think twice before sending offensive messages.

“It is not so bad when I report on women’s soccer but it is worse when I write about the men’s game. The typical thing is saying I only got my job because I had sex with the boss. Or they say I should be scrubbing in the kitchen,” she told VOA.

Most of the abuse is online but Tikas says she also gets sexist comments while out working. Some male sports agents – a crucial source for stories — make sexually charged “insinuations,” she said.

However, the 24-year-old journalist insists the abuse does not deter her. 

“No, this does not make me think of giving up journalism. I block these messages. It bothers me more in general that women are still treated like this,” she said.

When the Sport article came out, it prompted a fresh dose of abuse, Tikas said.

“Some said we are always saying we are victims, that we complain too much, that we should not have equality because we are not good enough.”

Legal protection

Spain’s Sexual Freedom draft legislation has been dubbed the “only yes means yes” law because of how it will change the criminal code regarding rape. Unless a person gives express consent to have sex, it will be considered rape. Previously, prosecutors in Spain had to prove there was intimidation or violence.

“I hope that this (law) will mean that Spain has left behind its long history of sexual violence against women,” Spain’s Equality Minister Irene Montero Gil told parliament when she presented the law in June.

The law will also consider it a criminal offence “to address another person with expressions, behavior or propositions of a sexual nature that create an objectively humiliating, hostile or intimidating situation for the victim.”

Montero stressed that harassment is not defined as a man complimenting a woman on her looks, but making lewd sexual remarks.

Digital domestic violence – revenge porn or sextortion, where someone threatens to release private images or materials if the person doesn’t comply with demands for sexual favors or money – will be also considered an offence punishable by fines or community service.

The government is urging social media platforms to adapt strategies to combat domestic violence and is trying to involve social media influencers in this policy.

Laia Bonals, a 23-year-old sports journalist with Ara, a regional newspaper in Catalonia, northeastern Spain, says the law is welcome but not enough.

Like Tikas, Bonals regularly receives messages suggesting she uses sexual favors or that she knows nothing about sport.

“On other occasions, men – athletes or agents – try to flirt with me and treat me like an object instead of someone trying to do my job. This law may help, but it is going to take a lot more to change people’s vision of women journalists,” Bonals, who also put her name to the article in Sport, said.

Encarni Iglesias, of the campaign group Stop Digital Gender Violence, backed the new law but says in practice it may be unworkable.

“This is a way forward, of course, but I think it will be easy for a judge or defense lawyers to throw out these cases because how do you prove someone made the tweet? It is easy to manipulate digital images,” she told VOA.

Tikas believes education –- not the new law –- will stop the abuse.

“I don’t hold out much hope that a law changes things. It will take education to change attitudes toward women in Spain.  We need to change children’s minds,” she said.

Julie Posetti, global director of research at the International Center for Journalists, has studied the effects of online violence on journalism.

“Our research has shown that it is not possible to solve this crisis through a single measure,” she told VOA.

“Legal and legislative protections against online violence are an essential part of any effective response,” Posetti said. “And they need to target not just the perpetrators but also the facilitators and amplifiers of the bulk of gender-based online violence: the social media platforms.”

Posetti was lead author of a recent study by UNESCO and the International Center for Journalists that surveyed 901 journalists globally. They found that 73% of respondents had experienced online violence.

Online harassment can seriously affect journalists, said Posetti, adding that she is aware of several cases of journalists being treated for PTSD because of harassment.

“Psychological harm needs to be acknowledged as a serious consequence of online violence facing women journalists,” Posetti said. “(It is) not something that should be diminished and or shrugged off because even less severe attacks can be cumulatively very damaging.” 

 
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Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday will consider a request to shut down Memorial, the country’s most prominent rights group and a pillar of its civil society.

Founded by Soviet dissidents including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov in 1989, Memorial has built up a huge archive of Soviet-era crimes and campaigned tirelessly for human rights in Russia.

Prosecutors have asked the court to dissolve Memorial International, the group’s central structure, for allegedly violating Russia’s controversial law on “foreign agents.”

The move has sparked widespread outrage, with supporters saying the shuttering of Memorial would mark the end of an era in Russia’s post-Soviet democratization.

It comes in a year that has seen an unprecedented crackdown on opponents of President Vladimir Putin, including the jailing of chief Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny and the banning of his organizations.

By taking the once-unimaginable move to close Memorial, the group’s founders say Russian authorities would be sending a signal to both the West and domestic opponents.

The message, Memorial founding member Irina Shcherbakova told AFP ahead of the hearing, is: “We are doing to civil society here whatever we want. We will put behind bars whoever we want, we will close down whoever we want.”

Thursday’s hearing concerns one of two cases brought this month against the group and is being heard by the Supreme Court because Memorial International is registered as an international body. The ruling will not be open to appeal in a Russian court.

The other case, against the Memorial Human Rights Centre, began in a Moscow court on Tuesday and will continue later this month.

Both Memorial International and the Human Rights Centre are accused of violating rules under their designations as “foreign agents,” a legal label that forces individuals or organizations to disclose sources of funding and tag all their publications with a disclaimer.

Cataloging Soviet atrocities

The Human Rights Centre is facing another charge of defending “extremist and terrorist activities” for publishing lists of imprisoned members of banned political or religious movements.

The “foreign agent” label, laden with Soviet-era connotations of treachery and espionage, has been used against a wide range of rights groups and independent media in recent years.

Memorial has spent decades cataloging atrocities committed in the Soviet Union, especially in the notorious network of prison camps, the gulag.

It has also campaigned for the rights of political prisoners, migrants and other marginalized groups, and highlighted abuses especially in the turbulent North Caucasus region that includes Chechnya.

It is a loose structure of locally registered organizations, but the dissolving of its central structure could have a major impact on operations.

Memorial International maintains the group’s extensive archives in Moscow and coordinates dozens of Memorial-linked NGOs in and outside of Russia.

A board member of Memorial International, Oleg Orlov, told AFP the move would greatly complicate the work of the NGO by depriving it of a legal basis to pay employees, receive funds or store archives.

Supporters speak out

United Nations officials, the Council of Europe, international rights groups and Western governments have all warned against the group being disbanded.

Russia’s two surviving Nobel Peace Prize winners — last Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and Novaya Gazeta newspaper editor Dmitry Muratov — urged prosecutors to withdraw their claims.

The two said in a joint statement that Memorial was aimed not only at preserving the memory of Soviet-era repression, but at “preventing this from happening now and in the future.”

The Kremlin has said the case is a matter for the courts, though Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, noted that Memorial has “long had issues with observing Russian legislation.” 
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At least 27 migrants drowned Wednesday after their inflatable dinghy capsized as they tried to cross the English Channel from France.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said 34 people were aboard the boat. Two were rescued and one is missing, according to Reuters, in the worst recorded tragedy involving migrants between the two countries.

Without explanation, the Interior Ministry later revised the initial death toll to 27, according to Agence France-Presse. The nationality of the migrants was not immediately clear.

Darmanin said the survivors are suffering from hypothermia.

“It is a catastrophe for France, for Europe, for humanity, to see these people who are at the mercy of smugglers perish at sea,” he said, according to Reuters.

Darmanin said in a tweet that smugglers are responsible.

“The responsibility for this tragedy is above all that of the smugglers, who endanger the lives of men, women and children without any scruples,” he wrote.

French police have arrested four people suspected of some involvement in the drownings and have opened a manslaughter investigation.

French Prime Minister Jean Castex echoed Darmanin’s sentiments.

“My thoughts are with the many missing and injured, victims of criminal smugglers who exploit their distress and injury,” he said, according to the BBC.

French President Emmanuel Macron called on European governments to better address migrant movement across the channel, according to The Washington Post.

“France will not let the Channel become a cemetery,” Macron said in a statement.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson chaired an emergency meeting Wednesday on the tragedy.

“My thoughts and sympathies are with the victims and their families, and it is an appalling thing that they have suffered. But this disaster underscores how dangerous it is to cross the channel in this way,” he said, according to Reuters.

Johnson added that more needed to be done to break up human-trafficking gangs, which he said were “literally getting away with murder.”

The channel is a common crossing for migrants, who have been increasingly using it to reach Britain from France.

The BBC reported that as of Monday, the number of migrants who have reached the United Kingdom by boat in 2021 was three times greater than the 2020 total. Earlier this month, more than 1,000 migrants arrived in a single day.

The channel is also one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, and dinghies can capsize in its strong currents.

French police have succeeded in preventing more crossings in recent years but have only partially mitigated the waves of migrants trying to reach Britain, according to Reuters.

The continued flow of migrants across the channel, and how to address it, has been a source of tension between Britain and France.

Some information for this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse. 
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Three European countries have broken records for new COVID-19 cases, prompting calls for urgent measures to slow the spread.

Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, all of which have vaccine rates below 60%, hit new highs for infection rates Wednesday.

In the face of surging cases, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, or ECDC, shifted its booster policy and is now recommending shots for adults over 40.

“Available evidence emerging from Israel and Britain shows a significant increase in protection against infection and severe disease following a booster dose in all age groups in the short term,” the ECDC said in a report published Wednesday.

“The potential burden of disease in the EU/EEA from the Delta variant will be very high in December and January unless public health measures are applied now in combination with continued efforts to increase vaccine uptake in the total population,” it said in a statement.

Slovakian officials are weighing new lockdowns, and in the Czech Republic, officials may impose vaccine mandates on people over the age of 60 as well as on health care workers. Hungarian officials have argued against lockdowns but are encouraging people to get vaccinated.

Austria has imposed a strict lockdown and plans to make vaccines mandatory by February 1.

Some parts of Germany also are restricting movement in the face of spiking cases.

France, Holland and Italy are all expected to announce new steps to curb the spread later this week.

COVID-19 emerged from China two years ago and has killed 5.4 million globally. 

Some information in this report comes from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Poland has threatened Belarus with further economic sanctions and the closure of its border to all freight and rail traffic, as thousands of migrants continue to try to cross the frontier. The European Union accuses Belarus of creating a humanitarian crisis by ferrying migrants to the border, in retaliation for EU sanctions imposed over last year’s rigged election.

Facing off across the frontier, Polish border guards filmed this footage Tuesday night, purportedly showing Belarusian security forces next to a section of broken border fence. 

Poland’s prime minister said Wednesday he was ready to escalate the response to what he called a political crisis triggered by Belarus — using innocent people as “human shields.”

“We want to relieve this tension, but if there is an escalation by the other side, the Belarusian side, we are ready to go, unfortunately, up on this ‘escalation ladder.’ For example, [imposing] economic sanctions, border closure, closing border crossings for freight and rail traffic,” he said.

The EU said Tuesday it is preparing emergency legal measures on migrant asylum and return procedures. 

“The aim is to support member states to set up the right processes, to manage irregular arrivals in a swift and orderly way, in line with fundamental rights,” she said. 

Tensions have eased in recent days after Belarus moved some migrants away from the border. Still, hundreds remain stuck in camps in freezing conditions. Several migrants have already died attempting the crossing. 

“To Poland, no have way. To Belarus, no have a way. We can’t go anywhere. We stay here until Europe accepts us,” says Diyar, a migrant from Iraq.

A report from Human Rights Watch, based on interviews with dozens of migrants, details how Belarusian forces cut the razor wire fence to help the migrants cross into Poland,  where they are usually picked up by Polish border guards. 

“They pleaded with the Polish border guards for asylum, for international protection. And if a person does that then it is the responsibility of state authorities to process these claims. Now what the people told me is that none of this happens. Rather, they are being put in vans or cars and then Polish border guards are driving them to specific locations at the border with Belarus where they force them to cross through the fence and go back to the Belarusian side,” says Lydia Gall from Human Rights Watch.

The migrants say they are then held in open air camps on the Belarusian side of the border. 

“They are not provided with food or water, they are quite often violently abused by the border guards, they are extorted for money. They will then march larger groups of people back towards the Polish fence where they will coerce them to go back into Poland. And so that’s when you have these so-called ‘ping-pong’ pushbacks,” says Lydia Gall. 

Poland denies breaking any asylum laws. Belarus also denies its border guards have committed abuses.

Among the latest casualties of the crisis — an unborn child — miscarried by his mother as the family crossed the border. His tiny coffin was buried Tuesday in a Muslim Tatar cemetery close to the border in Poland. 
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The three parties negotiating to form Germany’s next government will finalize and present their coalition agreement Wednesday, two of the prospective partners said. The deal paves the way for center-left leader Olaf Scholz to replace longtime Chancellor Angela Merkel in the coming weeks.

The center-left Social Democrats have been negotiating with the environmentalist Green party and the pro-business Free Democrats since narrowly winning a national election on Sept. 26. The latter two parties said the agreement will be presented on Wednesday afternoon.

If party members sign off on it, the three-way alliance — which has never yet been tried in a national government — will replace the current “grand coalition” of the country’s traditional big parties. The Social Democrats have served as the junior partner to Merkel’s center-right Christian Democrats.

Merkel, who didn’t run for a fifth term, is expected to be succeeded by Scholz, 63, who has been her finance minister and vice chancellor since 2018.

The three would-be governing parties have said they hope parliament will elect Scholz as chancellor in the week beginning Dec. 6. Before that can happen, the coalition deal requires approval from a ballot of the Greens’ membership and from conventions of the other two parties.

News of the deal came as Merkel led what was likely to be her last Cabinet meeting. Scholz presented the 67-year-old, who has led Germany since 2005, with a bouquet of flowers.

The negotiations over the three-way alliance were relatively harmonious and speedy compared to previous coalition talks. But the political transition, with Merkel as a lame-duck caretaker, has hampered Germany’s response to the latest rise in coronavirus cases.

Few details have emerged from the closed-doors talks, including how the parties will divide up the ministerial portfolios. The alliance is a potentially uneasy mixture because it brings together two traditionally left-leaning parties with one, the Free Democrats, that has tended to ally with the center-right.

A preliminary agreement last month indicated that Germany would bring forward its deadline for ending the use of coal-fueled power from 2038 to 2030, while expanding the rollout of renewable energy generation.

At the Free Democrats’ insistence, the prospective partners said they won’t raise taxes or loosen curbs on running up debt, making financing a central issue.

Merkel’s Christian Democrats are currently preoccupied with a leadership contest over who will become their next leader and revive the party’s fortunes after it suffered its worst-ever election result.
…

Sweden’s parliament on Wednesday approved Magdalena Andersson as the country’s first female prime minister, tapping the finance minister who recently became the new leader of the Social Democratic party. 

Andersson was tapped to replace Stefan Lofven as party leader and prime minister, roles he relinquished earlier this year.

The development marked a milestone for Sweden, viewed for decades as one of Europe’s most progressive countries when it comes to gender relations, but which had yet to have a woman in the top political post. Lofven’s government describes itself as feminist, putting equality between women and men at the heart of national and international work.

In a speech to parliament, Amineh Kakabaveh, an independent lawmaker who supported Andersson, noted that Sweden is currently celebrating the 100th anniversary of a decision to introduce universal and equal suffrage in the Scandinavian country.

“If women are only allowed to vote but are never elected to the highest office, democracy is not complete,” said Kakabaveh who is of Iranian Kurdish descent.

“There is something symbolic in this decision,” she added. “Feminism is always about girls and women being complete people who have the same opportunities as men and boys.”

“I was really moved by what she said. She pinpointed exactly what I thought,” Andersson said after her appointment in parliament where she got a standing ovation and a bouquet of red roses.

“I have been elected Sweden’s first female prime minister and know what it means for girls in our country,” Andersson said.

In the 349-seat Riksdag, 117 lawmakers voted yes to Andersson, 174 rejected her appointment while 57 abstained and one lawmaker was absent.

Under the Swedish Constitution, prime ministers can be named and govern as long as a parliamentary majority — a minimum of 175 lawmakers — is not against them.

Lofven has been leading the Swedish government in a caretaker capacity until a new government is formed, something expected Friday. Andersson likely will form a two-party, minority government with her Social Democrats and the Green Party.

Andersson, 54, sought to secure the backing of the two smaller parties that supported Sweden’s previous center-left, minority government led by Lofven — the Left Party and the Center Party. Both abstained from voting against Andersson.

After days of talks, Andersson and the Left Party reached a deal to win the latter’s support. The deal focused on pensions, meaning a supplement of up to 1,000 kronor ($111) for about 700,000 pensioners on low incomes.

Sweden’s next general election is scheduled for Sept. 11.
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The United States and its European allies are planning for “a number of contingencies,” fearing that Moscow’s saber-rattling may be more than tough talk. 

Multiple U.S. officials cited serious concerns Tuesday about what they consistently described as Russia’s “unusual military activity” along its border with Ukraine, as well as Moscow’s harsh rhetoric, insisting that no matter what happens next, Washington’s support for Kyiv is “rock solid.” 

“We have demonstrated that the United States is willing to use a number of tools to address harmful Russian actions, and we will not hesitate from making use of those and other tools in the future,” a senior administration official told VOA on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the sensitive subject.

“[We] call on Moscow to de-escalate tensions,” the official added. “A crucial first step is to restore the cease-fire to the low levels of violence reached in July 2020.” 

At the State Department on Tuesday, spokesperson Ned Price told reporters Washington’s consultations with its European partners, and with Ukraine, are ongoing. 

“We are sharing information, we are sharing intelligence,” he said, describing the talks as in-depth. “We are prepared and preparing for a number of contingencies.” 

The comments from the White House and the State Department came just hours after the senior-most U.S. general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, spoke with his Russian counterpart by phone. 

The two generals “discussed several security-related issues of concern,” the Pentagon said in a statement, adding the call was “a continuation of communication between both leaders to ensure risk reduction and operational de-confliction.”   

The Pentagon said, per prior agreement, additional details of the call would be kept private. 

Tuesday’s call between the U.S. and Russia comes after the senior-most U.S. and Ukrainian generals spoke twice within a four-day span to “share perspectives and assessments of the evolving security environment in Eastern Europe.”  

Ukrainian intelligence estimates have put the number of Russian troops along the border at about 90,000.  

U.S. officials have refused to address that figure publicly but called the Russian military buildup along its border with Ukraine worrisome.

“We don’t know what Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin might be planning,” the State Department’s Price told reporters.

“We do know the history and that history is not at all reassuring,” he added, pointing to Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014. 

Price also rebuffed recent Russian criticism of U.S. military drills in the region, saying the U.S. and its allies would continue to stand up the “rules-based international order.” 

Russian TASS news agency quoted Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying Moscow was “witnessing a considerable increase in the U.S. strategic bombers’ activity near the Russian borders.” 

Shoigu also alleged U.S. strategic bombers “practiced employing nuclear weapons against Russia actually simultaneously from the western and eastern directions.” 

A day earlier, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR, likewise criticized the U.S., posting on its website that the current situation with Ukraine is comparable to tensions with Georgia prior to the 2008 Russian invasion, noting Georgia paid a high price.  

The U.S. has provided Ukraine with $2.5 billion in security assistance since 2014, including $400 million in 2021 alone. 

Recent deliveries include patrol boats for the Ukrainian navy and 80,000 kilos of ammunition for Ukrainian forces. 

 
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Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Tuesday diplomatic efforts with Turkey, middle eastern nations and others have helped ease the situation at the Polish border with Belarus, but he said there are also signs the crisis “will not come to swift end.” 

For weeks, Poland and the European Union have accused the government of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of “weaponizing” migrants, largely from Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan, by inviting them to enter Belarus and taking them to the Polish border, sometimes by force.

Polish and Euro ((pean Union leaders believe the action is “pay back” by Lukashenko for sanctions the bloc imposed over human rights violations during last year’s Belarus presidential elections. The leader denies the allegations.

But Morawiecki, speaking in Hungary following a meeting with three central European leaders, said discussions he and his government have had with leaders in Turkey, the Middle East and Uzebekistan have reduced the numbers of migrants at the Polish-Belarusian border. 

The Polish prime minister said the migrant numbers are “a lot smaller than at the peak of migrant arrivals around a month ago, or two or three weeks ago. It is very important because it is the first step toward mitigating the crisis started by Belarus.” 

Morawiecki was in Hungary for a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, representing, along with Slovakia, the central European Visegrad Four countries.

Morawiecki said he and his Czech and Hungarian counterparts discussed the situation with Belarus and the two leaders expressed their solidarity with Poland.

The Polish prime minister said, despite the drop in migrant numbers, there are many signs indicating the crisis with Belarus “will not come to a swift end.”

He said that is why Poland and his EU partners have initiated a widespread diplomatic and political campaign within Europe and in the Middle East and Central Asia “to ensure that this crisis does not escalate.”

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, and Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. 

 
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The top U.S. and Russian generals spoke by phone Tuesday, as tensions along the Russian-Ukrainian border appeared to reach new highs. 

Both Washington and Moscow quickly issued readouts of the call between U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, and chief of Russian General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov. 

According to the U.S. statement, the two generals “discussed several security-related issues of concern.” It further said the call was “a continuation of communication between both leaders to ensure risk reduction and operational de-confliction.”

The U.S. statement also said both sides had agreed to keep details of Tuesday’s call private. 

The conversation follows heightened concern about what the U.S. and NATO repeatedly have described as “unusual activity” by Russian forces along Russia’s border with Ukraine and Crimea. 

Ukrainian intelligence estimates have put the number of Russian troops along the border at about 90,000. 

U.S. officials have declined to comment publicly on the intelligence assessments, but a senior administration official told VOA there are “serious concerns about Russian military activities and harsh rhetoric toward Ukraine.” 

Speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the situation, the official said there have been ongoing discussions with Washington’s European partners, with Ukraine and also with Russia. 

“We have demonstrated that the United States is willing to use a number of tools to address harmful Russian actions, and we will not hesitate from making use of those and other tools in the future,” the official added. 

On Monday, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR, criticized the U.S. on its website and compared the situation with Ukraine to tensions with Georgia prior to the 2008 Russian invasion, noting Georgia paid a high price. 

Other Russian officials also have complained about recent U.S. military exercises with NATO allies. 

Tuesday’s call between the U.S. and Russia comes after the senior-most U.S. and Ukrainian generals spoke twice within a four-day span to “share perspectives and assessments of the evolving security environment in Eastern Europe.” 

 
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North Macedonia’s chief prosecutor says that 12 children were among the some 45 people who died in a fiery bus crash in Bulgaria early Tuesday morning.

Lubomir Jovevski spoke to reporters as he visited the scene of the accident on a highway in the west of the country.

The cause of the crash was not immediately confirmed, but it appeared that the bus hit a highway guard rail, crashed and caught fire.

The bus was one of four carrying Macedonian tourists home from a trip to the Turkish city of Istanbul. The crash happened at 2 a.m.

Seven survivors were taken to hospitals for treatment.

The bus was one of four traveling together. Officials said an investigation will be launched.

Photos taken shortly after the crash showed the bus engulfed in flames with plumes of thick, black smoke rising from the scene.

Daylight revealed the burned-out bus, its windows all broken, charred and gutted, sitting upright against the median barrier.

Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov told reporters at the crash site that he had “never in my life seen something more horrifying.”

“The picture is horrifying, the people who were on the bus are turned to charcoal,” Rashkov said. “It is impossible to say how many they were. There were four buses that traveled together, and it is possible that passengers changed buses during the stops.”

Media in North Macedonia, a country of about 2 million people, reported that police were outside the Skopje offices of a travel company that is believed to have organized the trip to Turkey.

Bulgarian Caretaker Prime Minister Stefan Yanev, who also visited the site of the crash, told reporters it was “a huge tragedy.”

“I take this opportunity to send my condolences to the relatives of the victims,” Yanev said. “Let’s hope we learn lessons from this tragic incident and we can prevent such incidents in the future.”

Bulgarian news agency Novinite said representatives from North Macedonia’s embassy visited a hospital where some of the victims were taken.

Albanian Foreign Minister Olta Xhacka wrote online that almost all of those who died in the crash were ethnic Albanians.

North Macedonia’s prime minister, Zoran Zaev, told Bulgarian television channel bTV that he had spoken to one of the bus survivors.

“One of the passengers told me that he was asleep and woke up from an explosion,” Zaev told bTV, adding that the authorities will gather information that is “important for the families of the dead and the survivors.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed her condolences to the families and friends of those who died in the “tragic bus accident” and said that “in these terrible times, Europe stands in solidarity with you.”

In 2019, Bulgaria, an EU nation of 7 million, had the second-highest road fatality rate in the 27-nation bloc with 89 people killed per million population, according to European Commission data.
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A flight carrying more than 100 Afghans arrived Monday in northern Greece. 

According to Greek officials, the group of 119 people included Mohibullah Samim, Afghanistan’s former minister of border and tribal affairs, as well as a lawyer who prosecuted Taliban fighters, women’s rights activists and a female judge. 

The evacuees are expected to remain in Greece until arrangements are made for them to travel on to other countries, including the United States and Canada. 

Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August, Greece has flown in about 700 Afghans. 

Some information for this report came from the Associated Press.
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Amid concerns about the unusual buildup of Russian troops near the Russia-Ukraine border, the Ukrainian minister of defense came to Washington to talk about defense and strategic issues. Ostap Yarysh reports.

Camera: Oleksii Osyka
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