Turkey’s foreign minister is scheduled to hold talks in Athens with his Greek counterpart Monday in the latest efforts to deescalate tensions between the two NATO members.Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu rebuked his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias at a press conference in Ankara last month.  The very public argument over who was to blame for the lack of progress in resolving the countries’ differences underscores the scale of the ministers’ task when they meet in Athens Monday, says Cengiz Aktar of the Athens University. “I think the Greeks are very realistic,” he said. “They, of course, prefer to talk, that’s what they said right from the beginning. But what we know is that the disagreements are there to stay. There is no development whatsoever on the numerous, countless issues and the problems that exist between the two countries.”Turkey and Greece are contesting territorial waters between the countries which are believed to have vast energy reserves. Last year, the Greek and Turkish navies faced off against each another.  FILE – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks with Turkish drilling ship, Fatih, in background, in Istanbul, Aug. 21, 2020.In a sign of renewed tensions, Turkey has announced it may resume drilling for energy in waters claimed by Greece. Adding to the friction, Ankara accuses Athens of breaking international law by pushing back refugees entering Greek waters from Turkey.  Greece denies the charge, accusing Turkey of reneging on a refugee deal with the European Union. Earlier this month, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar accused Greece of sabotaging diplomatic efforts to resolve differences. Akar said Turkey is in favor of a peaceful resolution of these problems within the framework of international law and good neighborly relations by talking and negotiating with its Greek neighbors.  However, he accused those neighbors of — in his words —  “doing their best to sabotage the positive state of affairs with their actions and discourse.” A Turkish presidential advisor says he believes Greece is increasingly emboldened because of growing support from Washington. The U.S. has traditionally played the role of an honest broker between the NATO members.  But U.S.-Turkish relations are currently strained over Turkey’s deepening ties to Moscow.FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 29, 2019.Ilhan Uzgel, an analyst for the Turkish news portal Duvar, says the expanding military cooperation between Greece and the United States could usurp Turkey as the primary host for U.S. military bases in the region, a prospect Ankara fears could change the balance of power. “What Washington is trying to do, is [say] that ‘you are not irreplaceable,’ that Turkey can be substituted that [there] may be some alternatives. The United States can have a military base in Alexandroupoli in Greece and in Crete. This psychology diminishes the bargaining power of Turkey,” he said.   The Turkish military dwarfs its Greek counterpart, but Athens is embarking on a modernization of its military, including the United States’ latest F-35 fighter jet, which Washington refuses to sell to Turkey because of Ankara’s purchase of a Russian missile system.  
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Brazil, like many countries across the world, has suffered economic devastation during the pandemic with skyrocketing unemployment and poverty.  But an unexpected trend has emerged with analysts at the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange reporting a huge jump in investment by small investors —a phenomenon driven largely by influencers.  For VOA, Edgar Maciel reports from Sao Paulo.Camera: Edgar Maciel 
Producer: Marcus Harton  
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The parents of the young opposition activist and blogger detained in Minsk after the passenger jet he was on board was forced to land in the Belarusian capital earlier this week are pleading for the international community to help free their son.“I’m asking, I’m begging, I’m calling on the whole international community to save him,” Raman Pratasevich’s mother, Natalia, told AFP. Speaking from her home in Poland, she added, “Please save him. They’re going to kill him there.”“They sent a fighter jet to get this young man! It’s an act of terrorism — I don’t think you can call it anything else. He’s been taken hostage. This is an act of pure revenge!” she said.Her husband, Dmitry Pratasevich, a former soldier, said: “His lawyer tried to see him today but she was turned down. She could not see him. We still don’t know if he is in there, what his condition is, how he is feeling.”Their anguish was matched by the mother of Sofia Sapega, another opposition activist, who was also removed from the Ryanair flight in Minsk. A video of Sapega, a Russian national and friend of Pratasevich, was released Tuesday by Belarusian authorities as they announced she would be held for at least two months.FILE – Student Sofia Sapega is pictured in Gothenburg, Sweden, in this undated photo taken in 2019.In the video, Sapega, according to her mother, appears to be confessing to editing an opposition Telegram channel that publishes personal information of Belarusian policemen. Her mother said it appeared she was speaking under duress for the video, in which she provides her personal details and says she edited a platform “which publishes the personal information of officials from internal affairs bodies.”Sofia’s mother, Anna Dudich, told Russian television she was “shocked” by the video. “Either I’m confused, or it’s a dream, or it’s a setup,” Dudich said. She told Western media outlets that her daughter was talking in an unusual manner. “She sways, eyes in the sky — as if afraid of forgetting something.” Dudich added: “We are now packing warm clothes. We will go to Minsk. I want to try to give her a parcel. I saw she only had a thin jacket.”Sapega and Pratasevich were detained Sunday when the Ryanair plane they were flying on from Athens to Vilnius was diverted by Belarus authorities to land in Minsk. Western countries, including the United States, have accused Belarus of committing air piracy and hijacking the Ryanair plane after it was rerouted over a false bomb threat.FILE – The Boeing 737-8AS Ryanair passenger plane that was intercepted and diverted to Minsk by Belarus authorities lands at Vilnius International Airport, its initial destination, in Lithuania, May 23, 2021.Sapega’s lawyer, Alexander Filanovich, told RBC, a Russian news outlet, that Sapega was interrogated Tuesday and charged with criminal offenses. Russian foreign ministry officials say she’s being charged with “committing crimes under several articles of the Criminal Code of Belarus during the period from August to September 2020.” That was during the height of nationwide protests against the fifth re-election of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.The Belarusian opposition and Western nations have condemned the election as rigged.Sapega’s mother said her daughter was in Lithuania at the time and wasn’t involved in the demonstrations in Belarus. Sapega, who is also a student at the European Humanities University, EHU, in Lithuania, and Pratasevich, 26, face stiff penalties if convicted. Pratasevich, whom Belarusian authorities have placed on a terrorism list on the ground that he incited mass protests, could be handed a death sentence, opposition groups fear. Some analysts say a 15-year prison term is more likely.TortureExiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told a news conference Tuesday that a video of Pratasevich released by Belarusian authorities suggested he had been tortured. “He said that he was treated lawfully, but he’s clearly beaten and under pressure. There is no doubt that he was tortured. He was taken hostage,” she told reporters in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital.FILE – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko takes his oath of office during his inauguration at the Palace of the Independence in Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 23, 2020.Both activists are being held in the Okrestina pre-trial detention center in Minsk, where thousands of anti-Lukashenko protesters and activists have been detained the past few months. Belarusian and international rights groups, including Amnesty International, say many detainees arrested for protesting are beaten and tortured in the center, which is overseen by the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus, part of the country’s interior ministry.Rights groups have documented three rapes. And in October 2020, opposition groups released a video purportedly showing fresh detainees being beaten in so-called “welcome parades.”At a meeting in Brussels on Monday,  leaders of the 27 European Union member states called for all EU-based airlines to cease all flights over Belarus, and they promised further economic sanctions.Ukraine’s responseSeparately, Belarusian neighbor Ukraine has suspended all air travel with Belarus, and the country’s prime minister, Denys Shmygal, has ordered all Ukrainian airlines to avoid flying in Belarusian airspace, which will add, according to Ukrainian Airlines, 40 minutes to flights from Kyiv heading to the Baltic states and Finland.”Belarusian authorities stop at nothing in persecuting dissenters. Even its airspace is unsafe now,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted. “Ukraine has always been interested in a democratic Belarus where human rights are respected.”The EU and Ukraine air bans will result in a loss to Belarus of about $70 million in overflight fees, civil aviation associations reckon.
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Myanmar’s army has lost a source of revenue as French energy giant Total said Wednesday that cash payments to a joint venture with the army have been suspended due to unrest in the country. Total has come under pressure from pro-democracy activists to “stop financing the junta” since a military coup in February which has been followed by a brutal crackdown on dissent. More than 800 people have been killed by the military, according to a local monitoring group. Total said in a statement that the decision to suspend payments was made at a May 12 meeting of shareholders of Moattama Gas Transportation Company Limited (MGTC), the joint venture which owns a pipeline linking the Yadana gas field and Thailand. The suspension was proposed by Total, which holds a 31 percent stake in MGTC and US partner Chevron (28 percent). Thai firm PTTEP holds a quarter of the company while 15 percent is held by military-controlled Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE). MOGE generates annual revenues of around $1 billion from the sale of natural gas. “In light of the unstable context in Myanmar… cash distributions to the shareholders of the company have been suspended” effective from April 1, Total said. It added that it “condemns the violence and human rights abuses occurring in Myanmar” and would comply with any potential sanctions against the junta from the EU or U.S. The MGTC pipeline brings gas from the offshore Yadana field operated by Total to Myanmar’s border with Thailand. Total said it would continue to produce gas so as not to disrupt electricity supply in either country. Total paid around $230 million to the Myanmar authorities in 2019 and another $176 million in 2020 in the form of taxes and “production rights,” according to the company’s own financial statements. French newspaper Le Monde detailed Total’s involvement in MGTC in early May, also reporting that the company was based in tax haven Bermuda. “The colossal profits of the gas operations do not pass through the coffers of the Myanmar state, but are massively recuperated by a company totally controlled by the military,” Le Monde found.  Days after publishing the story, Le Monde said Total pulled several adverts it had planned to run in its pages in the following weeks. Foreign firms NGOs have urged foreign companies to review their presence in Myanmar as the military dramatically ramped up its use of lethal force against protesters. The junta has vested interests in large swathes of the country’s economy, from mining to banking, oil and tourism. French energy giant EDF suspended activities in the country, where it is involved in a $1.5 billion project to build a hydroelectric dam. Japanese automaker Suzuki also halted operations at its two local plants shortly after the military coup. The factories assembled 13,300 vehicles in 2019, primarily for the domestic market.  But Suzuki, present in Myanmar since 1998, reopened the facilities again a few days later and intends to build a third production site in the country.  Myanmar is also a key manufacturer in the clothing industry and groups such as Italy’s Benetton and Sweden’s H&M have suspended all new orders from the country. Japanese brewer Kirin said it would cut business ties with the military with which it operates two local breweries, accusing the junta of acting “in contradiction” to its principles on human rights.  But the firm said it currently has no intention to pull out completely from a market that accounts for around two percent of its overall turnover. 
 
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At its peak in the 1980s, the USSR’s so-called Leningrad Rock Club was ground zero for a generation of Russians who chafed at Soviet-era restrictions and wanted change. From Russia’s modern-day St. Petersburg, Charles Maynes revisits the club’s legend, and whether the independent spirit that fueled it remains today.Camera: Ricardo Marquina-Montanana.
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The European Union took AstraZeneca to a Belgian court Wednesday over the drug company’s failure to deliver tens of millions of COVID-19 doses it promised — slowing the EU’s efforts to kickstart its vaccine campaign.After weeks of souring relations and tough rhetoric against AstraZeneca, Europe is now turning to the legal system to force the Anglo-Swedish company to deliver the 180 million COVID-19 vaccine doses it has promised by July. Right now, reports say it is on track to deliver less than half that amount. Stefan De Keersmaecker, spokesman for the European Commission — the EU’s executive arm charged with procuring COVID-19 vaccines for the bloc — outlined its argument.  “We believe that the company has not respected the terms and obligations of the contract, which is a violation which we ask the courts to recognize as such,’ said De Keersmaecker. “In any case, in the context of the emergency procedures, we have claimed, indeed, that we want the court to order the company to deliver 90 million additional doses, in addition to the 30 million already delivered in the first quarter.”The EU initially planned to use AstraZeneca as a linchpin in its vaccination campaign. Delivery delays were a key reason for its much-criticized slow start.  Added to that were concerns about rare blood clots associated with the vaccine, leading some member states to limit or scrap its use altogether. South Sudan Stops Using Doses of AstraZeneca Vaccine Over Expiration FearsSouth Sudan health officials have stopped administering 60,000 AstraZeneca doses because of the COVID vaccine’s expiration date, even though the drugmaker and the WHO say the vaccine has a shelf life of 6 monthsThe EU has now turned to other COVID-19 vaccines, especially the more expensive Pfizer-BioNTech, to supply hundreds of millions of doses in the months to come. But that is not stopping the bloc from wanting AstraZeneca to deliver on its contract. It also accuses the manufacturer of favoring Britain, where it claims it has delivered most of its promised doses. AstraZeneca’s lawyer Hakim Boularbah told reporters the drug company deeply regretted the European Commission’s decision to go to court and hoped the dispute would be resolved as soon as possible. The company says its contract with the EU binds it only to ‘best reasonable efforts’ in delivering doses on time — although the Commission says there’s more to it. “The contract itself makes it fairly clear that the doses that were to be delivered under best reasonable efforts… the contract also specifically says that the parties won’t sue one another. So it’s a little strange the Commission is going this route in the first place,” said Scott Marcus, senior fellow at the Bruegel economic thinktank in Brussels.He fears this court case could have repercussions for the EU’s business with other vaccine makers.  “I really think a lot of the cases have to do more with political damage control than with doses actually being needed,’ said Marcus.Meanwhile, the bloc’s vaccination campaign is picking up steam. The European Commission says it’s on track to meet its goal of vaccinating 70 percent of adults this summer. 
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A former chief aide to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told a parliamentary committee Wednesday the government failed the British people in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a statement Johnson rejects.  
Dominic Cummings, who left the government in December, explained to a select committee investigating the government’s pandemic response how Johnson failed to take the pandemic seriously early on, dismissing it as a “scare story.”  He said ministers and officials literally went on vacation in February of 2020.
Cummings said, “When the public needed us most the government failed. And I’d like to say to all the families of those who have died unnecessarily how sorry I am for the mistakes that were made and my own mistakes of that.”
The former aide said Johnson had been told Britain needed to be locked down on March 14, 2020, but there was no plan to do so.  He said the prime minister had been advised the peak of the pandemic would be in June, when, in fact, the National Health Service was already in danger of being overwhelmed.
Cummings had been a chief strategist behind the 2016 Brexit campaign and Johnson’s landslide election win in 2019. Since leaving Johnson’s team late last year, Cummings has become one of his former boss’s most vocal critics over how the prime minister led his team in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, describing it as “disastrous.”
Johnson responded to his former aide’s testimony from the floor of the lower house of parliament Wednesday, saying he takes full responsibility for the government’s response to the pandemic. He rejected Cummings claim the government had been complacent in its response to the pandemic at any point.  
He said, “I maintain my point that the government acted throughout with the intention to save life and protect the NHS [National Health Service] and in accordance with the best scientific advice. That’s exactly what we did.”
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Police arrested three people Wednesday in the cable car disaster that killed 14 people in northern Italy, saying an investigation showed a clamp, intentionally placed on the brake as a patchwork repair, prevented the brake from engaging after the lead cable snapped. Carabinieri Lt. Col. Alberto Cicognani said at least one of the three people questioned overnight admitted to what happened. He said the fork-shaped clamp had been placed on the emergency brake to deactivate it because the brake was engaging spontaneously and preventing the funicular from working. The clamp was put on several weeks ago as a temporary fix to prevent further service interruptions in the cable car line bringing sightseers to the top of the Mottarone peak overlooking Lake Maggiore. It was still in place on Sunday morning, Cicognani told Sky TG24.After the lead cable snapped Sunday, the cabin reeled back down the line until it pulled off entirely, crashed to the ground and rolled over down the mountainside until it came to rest against some trees. Fourteen people were killed; the lone survivor, a 5-year-old boy, remains hospitalized. “Because of a malfunction, the brake was continuing to engage even when it wasn’t supposed to,” Cicognani told Sky. “To prevent the cabin from halting during the transport of passengers, they chose to not remove the dispositive that blocked the emergency brake.” “In this way, the brake couldn’t function, and this brought about the fact that when the cable broke, the cabin fell backwards,” he said. Sky and the LaPresse news agency identified the three people arrested as the owner of the cable car service, the company’s director and the service chief. Verbania Prosecutor Olimpia Bossi said the deactivation of the brake was clearly designed as a stop-gap measure to allow the funicular to continue operating. The more extensive, “radical” repair operation that was needed would have likely taken it out of service, she said. Bossi told reporters that investigators believed the stop-gap measure was used with “the full knowledge” of the cable car company owners. As a result, the arrests turned the horror of Sunday’s disaster into outrage, given it appeared to have been an entirely preventable tragedy. Already, the mayor of the hometown of one of the victims, Serena Cosentino, announced that the city would pursue legal action against those responsible, saying it would present itself as an injured party in the civil portion of any possible prosecution. “The news unfortunately is showing a broad plane of responsibility and omissive guilt,” Diamonte Mayor Ernesto Magorno said in a statement. 
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The White House announced Tuesday that President Joe Biden will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva next month, as the administration seeks to restore stability amid worsening bilateral tensions. Some Republican lawmakers have criticized the decision, raising concerns about recent moves by Moscow and its ally Belarus. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this report.  
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The European Union pledged to deliver at least 100 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to low- and middle-income countries by year’s end, and develop vaccine production capacity in poorer nations, as it wrapped up a two-day summit in Brussels.After being criticized for a slow vaccination start, European leaders say they are steaming ahead on COVID-19 inoculations, securing 1.8 billion doses to cover the next two years — enough to export to needy countries outside the 27-member bloc. The bloc says it’s also on track to surpass goals of exporting 100 million doses to developing countries. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, “We are working on an initiative to invest one billion euros from Team Europe to develop vaccine manufacturing in Africa — the capacity itself in Africa — it’s a specific initiative with our African partners. An initiative not only for the production, so to build up the manufacturing capacities, but also for skills development, for the management of the supply train of, for example, the necessary regulatory framework through the African Medicines Agency.” FILE – Women receive the Moderna vaccine against the coronavirus disease at the Music Auditorium in Rome, Italy, April 14, 2021.In Europe, where many countries are emerging from lockdowns and hospitalizations are dropping, von der Leyen said the EU was on track to inoculate 70 percent of its adults by the end of July. Europe’s Medicines Agency is now considering whether to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds.Meanwhile, special COVID-19 digital travel passes aim to open up summer travel for EU citizens who are either vaccinated, immune from having contracted the virus, or have tested negative for it.  Together, says analyst Scott Marcus, a senior fellow at the Brussels-based Bruegel economic research group, the developments are shaping a more favorable tourism outlook for Europe. “I think things are looking more promising,” he said. “I still think that late summer will look better than early summer. But I think we’re on track to have a summer at least as good as last summer, and probably better.”  Other topicsOn Monday, EU leaders announced a flight ban and other toughened sanctions against Belarus, after the forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk and the arrest of a dissident journalist.  But speaking from Brussels, French President Emmanuel Macron said progressive sanctions had their limits and the EU needed to profoundly redefine its relationship with both Belarus and Russia. Member states also discussed the thorny issue of national emissions targets to meet the bloc’s overall goal of reducing greenhouse gases by 55 percent by 2030, and becoming climate neutral by 2050.
 
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Airlines re-routed flights to avoid Belarusian airspace Tuesday in the aftermath of the Minsk government forcing down a passenger jet and arresting an opposition blogger critical of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko.Lufthansa, KLM, SAS, Air France, LOT and Singapore Airlines were among carriers that stopped flying over Belarus along a major Europe-to-Asia corridor that generates hard currency payments to the Minsk government, $300 to $940 per flight.Belgium’s Charles Michel, who chairs European Union summits, called the flight bans, “Europe in action,” tweeting a picture of a flight tracker map showing no planes flying over Belarus.Belarusian planes also faced a possible ban from flying to European Union cities, which could leave landlocked Belarus only able to reach its territory via its eastern border with its close ally Russia.A still image shows a flight path of Ryanair FR4978 on May 23, 2021 on its way from Athens, Greece to Lithuanian capital Vilnius and diverted to Minsk, Belarus. (Courtesy: FLIGHTRADAR24.COM/Handout)Lukashenko used the purported threat of a bomb Sunday aboard a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius, Lithuania, to force the jetliner to land in Minsk. Belarusian authorities then arrested blogger Raman Pratasevich, accusing him of inciting massive rallies last summer against Lukashenko’s assertion of a landslide victory in last August’s election, in which he won a sixth term as the country’s leader with a claimed 80% of the vote.A video released overnight showed the 26-year-old Pratasevich confessing to having organized anti-government demonstrations.”I can state that I don’t have any health issues, including diseases of the heart or any other organs. Police officers are treating me properly and according to the law,” he says, adding that he had “confessed to organizing mass protests in Minsk.”German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the video “concerning” and described the forced landing of the passenger jet as “an unprecedented and unacceptable act.”NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, among other world leaders, called the incident “state hijacking,” and France and Ireland have described it as piracy.”If we let this go, tomorrow Alexander Lukashenko will go further and do something even more arrogant, more cruel,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a statement.Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said the video of Pratasevich showed he had been tortured.”He said that he was treated lawfully, but he’s clearly beaten and under pressure. There is no doubt that he was tortured. He was taken hostage,” she told a news conference in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 11 MB480p | 15 MB540p | 18 MB720p | 33 MB1080p | 74 MBOriginal | 110 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioBelarus did not immediately comment on her allegation but has consistently denied abusing the thousands of people it has detained.Human rights groups have cited hundreds of instances of what they contend are abuse and forced confessions resulting from a crackdown on pro-democracy opponents of Lukashenko since last year.”The events of Sunday are just another escalation in the strategy of blind repression led by the regime of Mr. Lukashenko,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the French parliament.The EU, as well as the United States, called on Lukashenko’s government to immediately release Pratasevich.
 
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Talks between Iran and the world powers still adhering to the 2015 nuclear deal resumed Tuesday in Vienna with the goal of bringing the United States back into the agreement.The fifth round of talks began a day after Iran and the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency agreed to extend a deal for monitoring Iran’s nuclear activities for one month.  While the U.S. is not directly participating in the talks, the U.S. special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, has been in Vienna for previous rounds and is in touch with representatives from participants Germany, France, Britain, Russia and China.After a Tuesday meeting of the Joint Commission on the Plan of Action, the Russian delegate, Mikhail Ulyanov, said that a resolution was visible and these are “probably the final round of the Vienna talks.””The participants expressed readiness to do their best to resolve the remaining outstanding issues and to complete negotiations successfully as soon as possible,” he tweeted.Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian delegate to the talks, told Iran state TV that “good progress” has been made in the previous four rounds and that he hoped the fifth would be the last.”There are still important issues that need to be fixed,” he said. “We hope that we will be able to reach a final solution during these several days of negotiations.”Malley said the previous round was “constructive and saw meaningful progress.””But much work still needs to be done,” the U.S. envoy wrote Monday. “On our way to Vienna for a fifth round where we hope we can further advance toward a mutual return to compliance.”Through diplomats from other countries, Iran has been in indirect talks with the United States about reshaping the 2015 international nuclear deal to restrain Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Iran has said its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.  Former president Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the pact in 2018, imposing new sanctions on Iran’s oil, banking and shipping sectors. But U.S. President Joe Biden is looking to rejoin the pact.Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said last week that the United States was ready to lift trade sanctions, although a senior Iranian official later contradicted him. European diplomats said difficult issues remained in the negotiations.  Iran has maintained that for it to return to the deal, the U.S. must first lift its sanctions, while the U.S. says Iran must first return to compliance with the deal’s terms.  Iran has consistently breached the 2015 pact’s restrictions on uranium enrichment, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CNN if both sides can return to the original deal, “we can use that as a foundation both to look at how to make the deal itself potentially longer and stronger — and also engage on these other issues, whether it’s Iran’s support for terrorism … its destabilizing support for different proxies throughout the Middle East.”  But he told ABC News, “The first thing that we need to do is put the nuclear problem back in the box.”   
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The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says the seizure by Belarus of a journalist traveling on a plane is tantamount to extraordinary rendition – a state-sponsored abduction.  
 
Belarusian journalist Raman Pratasevich was arrested after a Ryanair plane traveling from Athens, Greece, to Vilnius, Lithuania, was diverted by a Belarusian fighter jet and forced to land in Belarus’s capital, Minsk, on Sunday. Human rights officials say they are shocked by the manner in which the journalist was detained.Raman Pratasevich, detained when a Ryanair plane was forced to land in Minsk, is said to be seen in a pre-trial detention facility in Minsk, Belarus May 24, 2021, in this still image taken from video. (Telegram@Zheltyeslivy/Reuters TV)Rupert Colville, spokesman for the U.N. high commissioner, criticized the threat of military force to divert the plane from its flight path.
 
“Such abuse of state power against a journalist for exercising functions that are protected under international law is receiving, and deserves, the strongest condemnation…. We fear for Raman Pratasevich’s safety and wish to seek assurances that he is treated humanely and is not subjected to ill treatment or torture,” he said.
 
Colville said Pratasevich’s appearance on state TV Monday evening with bruising on his face is not reassuring. He said Pratasevich’s so-called confession to serious crimes apparently was forced under torture, which is prohibited under international law.  
 
The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists says it is unable to verify the time or circumstances under which the video was recorded. The CPJ has called for Pratasevich’s immediate and unconditional release.
 
Pratasevich is co-founder of the opposition Nexta channels, which helped mobilize street protests after Belarus’s August 9 presidential election. President Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory in that election, which has been widely viewed as rigged.
 
The Minsk government has accused Pratasevich of terrorism and provoking riots after the Nexta channels became one of the main conduits for organizing last year’s anti-Lukashenko protests over alleged election fraud.
 
Colville said the arbitrary arrest of Pratasevich and manner of his seizure is a sign of an extremely worrying escalation in the government’s crackdown on dissenting voices.“This astonishing episode constitutes a new phase in the Belarusian authorities’ campaign of repression against journalists and civil society in general…. In addition to the issues relating to Mr. Pratasevich, the forced landing of the passenger plane in Minsk terrorized passengers on board and exposed them to unnecessary danger, in violation of their human rights,” he said.Colville said he was also concerned about Pratasevich’s friend, Sofia Sapaga, who reportedly also has been arbitrarily detained. His office is calling for their immediate release and says both should be allowed to continue on to Vilnius, their intended destination. 
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Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said Tuesday it is clear that Raman Pratasevich, the journalist arrested Sunday after the passenger jet he was traveling on was diverted and forced to land in Minsk, has been beaten in detention.  
 
Pratasevich appeared in a video posted online Monday, apparently filmed by Belarusian security services. He confessed to organizing anti-government protests. His supporters say marks on his face show he has been beaten.
 
Speaking from Vilnius Tuesday, where she lives in exile, Tsikhanouskaya said that lawyers had not been allowed to see Pratasevich.“I think many have already watched the video with imprisoned Raman. He said that that he is being treated lawfully but he is clearly beaten and under pressure. There is no doubt that he may be tortured,” Tsikhanouskaya said. “He was taken hostage like 421 political prisoners, and thousands of people who have not yet been recognized as political prisoners but are behind bars.”
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The incident has been described as “state-sponsored hijacking” by Western leaders, and many European airlines are now avoiding Belarusian airspace, a key route from Europe to Asia.  
 
Twenty-six-year old Pratasevich was detained Sunday, after the Ryanair Boeing 737 passenger jet he was traveling on was forced to land in Belarus as it flew over the country en route from Greece to Lithuania. There were 171 passengers and crew on board. Pratasevich was visiting Athens at the same time as Tsikhanouskaya, who met several Greek government officials.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 1 MB480p | 2 MB540p | 3 MB720p | 4 MB1080p | 6 MBOriginal | 28 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioBelarusian state media have reported that President Alexander Lukashenko personally ordered the flight to be intercepted. The United Nations’ aviation agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has said the incident may have violated the foundational treaty governing international civil aviation, the 1944 Chicago Convention.
 
Pratasevich and his Russian companion Sofia Sapega were arrested on the ground in Minsk. At least three other passengers also disembarked the plane and are believed to be security agents who were tracking Pratasevich.Security use a sniffer dog to check the luggage of passengers on the Ryanair plane, carrying opposition figure Raman Pratasevich, in Minsk International airport, May 23, 2021, in this photo provided by ONLINER.BY.European Union leaders expressed outrage over the incident following a summit in Brussels Monday evening. Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission President, outlined the bloc’s initial response.
 
“This is an attack on freedom of expression and this is an attack on European sovereignty. This outrageous behavior needs a strong answer, therefore the European Council decided that there will be additional sanctions on individuals that are involved in the hijacking but this time also on businesses and economic entities that are financing this regime,” von der Leyen said at a press conference in Brussels Monday evening.
 
The former British ambassador to Belarus, Nigel Gould-Davies, welcomed the ratcheting up of sanctions against the Belarus government. “I think given the escalation of Belarus’ outrageous activities, the point is now to correspondingly escalate the sanctions and move from a situation where we’re just imposing restrictions on individuals to a broader approach to putting pressure on the regime,” Gould-Davies told the Associated Press.  
 
“And that means, among other things, going after the financial flows, the various ways in which Belarusian state companies are dependent on access to Western finance and Western markets. These are the money flows that help sustain the regime,” he added.FILE – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attends a meeting with top officials in Minsk, Jan. 26, 2021.The European Union urged airlines to re-route around Belarus. Lufthansa, KLM, SAS, Air France, LOT and Singapore Airlines were among carriers that announced they would stop flying over the country Tuesday. Belarusian airlines will also be banned from EU airspace and airports.
 
However, Europe has limited options in seeking to retaliate, says analyst Alex Titov of Queen’s University Belfast. “Ultimately, that’s not going to move Lukashenko, because he’s got his man now,” Titov told VOA. “The European Union in particular, but the United States as well, don’t really want to completely antagonize Belarus or lose it altogether and push it into Moscow’s arms.”
 
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg echoed the condemnation Tuesday. “The forced landing of a passenger flight by Belarus was dangerous and unacceptable,” Stoltenberg told reporters. “This is a state hijacking and demonstrates how the regime in Minsk attacks basic democratic rights and cracks down on freedom of expression and independent media. I welcome the additional measures agreed by the European Union. There must be an urgent international investigation. And journalist Pratasevich and his companion Sofia Sapega must be immediately released.”
 
Bill Browder, the financier and political activist who has campaigned for sanctions against human rights abusers in Russia and elsewhere, said it is critical that the West responds forcefully.
 
“I think it sends a horrific message to every enemy of every dictatorship around the world – that you can literally be plucked out of the sky no matter where you are. And it’s unprecedented, this type of thing, you have an internal EU flight that was basically grounded with fighter jets by a dictator. And there has to be harsh and serious consequences,” Browder said Tuesday.
 
Pratasevich fled to Poland in 2019 and claimed political asylum. He ran the popular Nexta and Nexta Live channels on Telegram but recently switched to an alternative opposition social media platform.  
 
Since the protests began in August 2020 after a disputed election, Belarusian authorities have arrested an estimated 35,000 people. There is widespread evidence of torture.  
 
The operation to arrest Pratasevich was likely personally ordered by President Lukashenko, says analyst Alex Titov.
 
“The thing about the Belarusian protests is that there was very little structure and clear leaders and organization around them. So, the Telegram channel by two very young journalists in exile in Poland already suddenly became that sort of lynchpin seemingly, which was directing all the protests,” Titov said.
 
U.S. President Joe Biden has asked his advisers to come up with options to hold those responsible for the forced landing of the Ryanair plane to be held to account. The United Nations called for ‘a full, transparent and independent investigation.’ 
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The European Union is urging member nations to close their airspace and airports to all Belarusian airlines after Belarus forced a commercial jetliner to make an emergency landing Sunday in Minsk and arrested an opposition blogger critical of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. Conclusions on Belarus journalist Raman Pratasevich stands in an airport bus in the international airport outside Minsk, Belarus, May 23, 2021, in this photo released by telegram Chanel t.me/motolkohelp.Pratasevich, a former editor of the influential Telegram channels Nexta and Nexta Live, was detained by police when Belarusian authorities searched the plane. The Minsk government said Lukashenko ordered his military to scramble a MiG-29 fighter to escort the plane to the Minsk airport. In a video released on Belarusian state TV Monday, Pratasevich is seen “confessing” to charges of responsibility in civil disturbances. “I can say that I have no health problems. … I continue cooperating with investigators and am confessing to having organized mass unrest in the city of Minsk,” he said. But just before he and his girlfriend were led off a diverted plane by police, a trembling Pratasevich reportedly told a fellow passenger, “I’m facing the death penalty here.” Ryanair Flight FR4978, originating in Athens, was diverted in Belarusian airspace about 10 kilometers from Vilnius, Lithuania — its planned destination — because of an alleged bomb threat. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Security use a sniffer dog to check the luggage of passengers on the Ryanair plane, carrying opposition figure Raman Pratasevich, in Minsk International airport, May 23, 2021, in this photo provided by ONLINER.BY.The Minsk government has accused Pratasevich of terrorism and provoking riots after the Nexta channels became one of the main conduits for organizing last year’s anti-Lukashenko protests over election fraud. Lukashenko won his sixth term in the August election, claiming 80% of the votes, although many in the country accused him of rigging the vote. During the months of protests that followed, more than 34,000 people were arrested in Belarus, and thousands were brutally beaten. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday the U.S. “strongly condemns the forced diversion of a flight between two EU member states and the subsequent removal and arrest of journalist Raman Pratasevich in Minsk. We demand his immediate release. “This shocking act perpetrated by the Lukashenko regime endangered the lives of more than 120 passengers, including U.S. citizens,” Blinken said in his statement. The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists on Sunday said it was “shocked” by the incident, saying the Lukashenko government “has increasingly strangled the press in Belarus for the past year, detaining, fining and expelling journalists, and sentencing them to longer and longer prison terms.” The CPJ called for Pratasevich’s immediate release.  Pratasevich had been in Athens covering a visit by Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a former Belarusian presidential candidate who has declared herself the country’s leader-in-exile because of the alleged widespread fraud during last year’s elections. She called on the International Civil Aviation Organization to investigate the Sunday incident and the diversion of the Ryanair jet.  She tweeted that Lukashenko’s “regime endangered the lives of passengers onboard the plane. From now — no one flying over Belarus — can be secure. International reaction needed!” 
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The European Union is urging member nations to close their airspace and airports to all Belarusian airlines after Belarus forced a commercial jetliner to make an emergency landing Sunday in Minsk and arrested an opposition blogger critical of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. Conclusions on Belarus journalist Raman Pratasevich stands in an airport bus in the international airport outside Minsk, Belarus, May 23, 2021, in this photo released by telegram Chanel t.me/motolkohelp.Pratasevich, a former editor of the influential Telegram channels Nexta and Nexta Live, was detained by police when Belarusian authorities searched the plane. The Minsk government said Lukashenko ordered his military to scramble a MiG-29 fighter to escort the plane to the Minsk airport. In a video released on Belarusian state TV Monday, Pratasevich is seen “confessing” to charges of responsibility in civil disturbances. “I can say that I have no health problems. … I continue cooperating with investigators and am confessing to having organized mass unrest in the city of Minsk,” he said. But just before he and his girlfriend were led off a diverted plane by police, a trembling Pratasevich reportedly told a fellow passenger, “I’m facing the death penalty here.” Ryanair Flight FR4978, originating in Athens, was diverted in Belarusian airspace about 10 kilometers from Vilnius, Lithuania — its planned destination — because of an alleged bomb threat. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
Security use a sniffer dog to check the luggage of passengers on the Ryanair plane, carrying opposition figure Raman Pratasevich, in Minsk International airport, May 23, 2021, in this photo provided by ONLINER.BY.The Minsk government has accused Pratasevich of terrorism and provoking riots after the Nexta channels became one of the main conduits for organizing last year’s anti-Lukashenko protests over election fraud. Lukashenko won his sixth term in the August election, claiming 80% of the votes, although many in the country accused him of rigging the vote. During the months of protests that followed, more than 34,000 people were arrested in Belarus, and thousands were brutally beaten. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday the U.S. “strongly condemns the forced diversion of a flight between two EU member states and the subsequent removal and arrest of journalist Raman Pratasevich in Minsk. We demand his immediate release. “This shocking act perpetrated by the Lukashenko regime endangered the lives of more than 120 passengers, including U.S. citizens,” Blinken said in his statement. The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists on Sunday said it was “shocked” by the incident, saying the Lukashenko government “has increasingly strangled the press in Belarus for the past year, detaining, fining and expelling journalists, and sentencing them to longer and longer prison terms.” The CPJ called for Pratasevich’s immediate release.  Pratasevich had been in Athens covering a visit by Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, a former Belarusian presidential candidate who has declared herself the country’s leader-in-exile because of the alleged widespread fraud during last year’s elections. She called on the International Civil Aviation Organization to investigate the Sunday incident and the diversion of the Ryanair jet.  She tweeted that Lukashenko’s “regime endangered the lives of passengers onboard the plane. From now — no one flying over Belarus — can be secure. International reaction needed!” 
 
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Turkey and Poland have signed a deal for the sale of Turkish-made combat drones, making Poland the first NATO and European Union member country to purchase Turkey’s Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicles, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday. The agreement was signed during Polish President Andrzej Duda’s three-day visit to Turkey. Under the deal, Poland is set to receive 24 armed drones, ground control stations and data terminals, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The first drone is expected to be delivered next year. “We are one of the best countries regarding unmanned aerial vehicles,” Erdogan said during a joint news conference. “We feel great pleasure in sharing our experience, capability and potential with our NATO ally, Poland.” Erdogan said: “With the document that was just signed, Turkey will, for the first time in its history, be exporting UAVs to a country that is a member of NATO and the EU.” Turkey previously sold drones to Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Qatar. The Bayraktar TB2 drones played a prominent role in Azerbaijan’s victory over Armenia during the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh last year. Turkey is known to have used the drones in its cross-border operations against Kurdish militants in Syria and Iraq. 
 
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An investigation into the cable car crash that left 14 people dead in Italy will focus on why a cable broke and the emergency brakes did not work, a prosecutor said Monday.“The brakes of the security system didn’t work. Otherwise, the cabin would have stopped,” Olimpia Bossi, the lead prosecutor in Verbania, told reporters Monday. “Why that happened is naturally under investigation.”Fourteen people, including two children under the age of 10, were killed when the Stresa-Mottarone cable car, which travels between the resort town of Stresa to the top of Mottarone mountain in Italy’s Piedmont region, crashed to the ground Sunday.A 2-year-old child died instantly, and a 9-year-old died in the hospital after suffering two cardiac arrests.Another child, 5, was seriously injured but conscious and speaking. He is being treated at a children’s hospital in Turin.Authorities have identified the lone survivor as an Israeli boy living in Italy. The child’s parents, younger brother and two great-grandparents were among the dead, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.Italian media have identified all other victims as residents of Italy. The Italian ANSA news agency has published the names of the victims.A crashed cable car is seen after it collapsed in Stresa, near Lake Maggiore, Italy, May 23, 2021. (Alpine Rescue Service/Handout)Images from the scene showed a crumpled cable car on a slope overlooking the lake.Stresa Mayor Marcella Severino called it a “terrible, terrible scene,” and said the accident may have been caused by a ruptured cable and that the emergency brake failed.Severino said the car turned over two or three times after crashing to the ground before being stopped by some trees. Some passengers were stuck inside the cabin, while others were thrown out during the crash.Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi offered his condolences to the victims “with a particular thought about the seriously injured children and their families.”The Stresa-Mottarone funicular was closed for repairs between 2014 and 2016. It only recently began operating after a hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic. A single cable car can carry about 40 passengers. 
 
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A law student from European Humanities University (EHU) was detained along with a Belarusian blogger after Belarus forced their commercial flight to land in Minsk rather than Lithuania.  “As a result of a cover operation by the Belarusian authorities,” student Sofia Sapega “was detained by the administration of the Investigative Committee for the city of Minsk on groundless and made-up conditions,” according to the university website.  “Sapega is a Russian citizen studying International Law and European Union Law program at EHU,” the university wrote on its website. “While returning with boyfriend [Raman Pratasevich] from vacation, Sofia was getting prepared for the defense of her master’s thesis in Vilnius,” the FILE – Student Sofia Sapega poses for a picture in Gothenburg, Sweden, in this photo taken in 2019.Sapega “is well regarded due to her academic performance and reputation in EHU’s community” by groupmates and faculty members, the website states.  Pratasevich, 26, has been critical of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko in his online blogs. The United States and European governments are accusing Belarus of engaging in an act of state terrorism. They have called on Lukashenko’s government to immediately release Pratasevich.US, EU Accuse Belarus of Terrorism After Plane Diverted to Arrest JournalistOpposition blogger Raman Pratasevich, 26, faces death penalty for criticizing Lukashenko government Pratasevich and Sapega were flying from Athens to Vilnius on Sunday when their Ryanair flight was diverted by the Belarusian regime because of an alleged bomb threat. European Humanities University was founded in Minsk in 1992 but forced by Belarusian authorities to relocate in 2004 to neighboring Lithuania, according to its website. Pratasevich was a key administrator of the Telegram channel NEXTA Live, which has been covering the protests that broke out in Belarus following the country’s disputed presidential election last August. Belarusian authorities in November 2020 launched investigations into Pratasevich and a colleague on suspicion of the organization of mass disorder, disruption of the social order, and inciting social hatred.Some information for this report came from RFE/RL. 
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