Spain faced a humanitarian and diplomatic crisis Tuesday after thousands of Moroccans took advantage of relaxed border controls in their nation to swim or paddle in inflatable boats onto European soil. By Tuesday morning, around 6,000 people had crossed the border into the Spanish city of Ceuta since the first arrivals began early Monday, the Spanish government said, including 1,500 thought to be teenagers. The city of 85,000 people lies in North Africa on the Mediterranean Sea, separated from Morocco by a double-wide, 10-meter (32-feet) fence. The sudden influx of migrants has deepened the diplomatic row between Rabat and Madrid in the wake of Spain’s decision to allow in for medical treatment the chief of a militant group that fights for the independence of Western Sahara. Morocco annexed the sprawling nation on the west coast of Africa in 1975. Migrants soaked with seawater still kept reaching Ceuta on Tuesday although in smaller numbers than the day before due to heightened vigilance on the Spanish side of the border, where additional police and military were deployed. “It’s such a strong invasion that we are not able to calculate the number of people that have entered,” said the president of Ceuta, an autonomous city of barely 20 square kilometers (7.7 square miles). “The army is in the border in a deterrent role, but there are great quantities of people on the Moroccan side waiting to enter,” Juan Jesús Vivas told Cadena SER radio. Vivas, a conservative, said the residents of Ceuta were in a state of “anguish, concern and fear.” He linked the sudden influx to Rabat’s shift on controlling migration after Spain gave compassionate assistance to Brahim Ghali, the head of the Polisario Front that has fought Morocco over control of Western Sahara. The Spanish government itself officially rejects the notion that Morocco is punishing Spain for a humanitarian move. Interior Minister Fernando Grande Marlaska said Tuesday that authorities had processed the return of 1,600 migrants by Tuesday morning and that the rest would follow soon, because Morocco and Spain signed an agreement three decades ago to return all those who swim into the territory. Many African migrants regard Ceuta and nearby Melilla, also a Spanish territory, as a gateway into Europe. In 2020, 2,228 chose to cross into the two enclaves by sea or by land, often risking injuries or death. The year before the figure peaked at 7,899, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry. On Tuesday, another 80 Africans also crossed into Melilla, 350 kilometers (218 miles) east of Ceuta on the North African coast, by jumping over the enclave’s double fence. 
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he will join talks on climate change and take part in an Arctic Council Ministerial meeting.The State Department said Blinken will meet with Icelandic President Gudni Johannesson and Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir to discuss “U.S.-Icelandic priorities related to climate change, human rights, bilateral cooperation, and the Arctic.”Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia, April 16, 2021.On the sidelines of the Arctic Council Ministerial meeting, Blinken will hold his first face-to-face encounter with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday. The meeting comes at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and Russia and will set the stage for a planned summit next month between U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.The State Department said the meeting between Blinken and Lavrov is an opportunity to discuss building a “more predictable relationship with Russia” and areas of mutual interest. Before traveling to Iceland, Blinken was in Denmark where he held talks about economic, security and climate issues, as well as the Biden administration’s ongoing push to boost ties with U.S. allies. “Looking forward to deepening our partnership on mutual goals, including combating the climate crisis, enhancing defense cooperation, ensuring energy security and partnering in the Arctic,” Blinken said after meeting with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.Great visit today with @Statsmin Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen. Looking forward to deepening our partnership on mutual goals including combatting the climate crisis, enhancing defense cooperation, ensuring energy security, and partnering in the Arctic. pic.twitter.com/g5D9tRVGUn— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) May 17, 2021 After the meeting, Frederiksen said the Biden administration is taking a different approach from the Trump administration.”That means a desire for cooperation around the Arctic region, where changes are taking place,” she said.Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said, “Today, America is back. … And let me tell you, America has been missed.”Blinken said the United States has a determination “to reinvigorate its alliances and partnerships and also our engagement with international institutions.”The Biden administration has put a renewed emphasis on international organizations, including rejoining the World Health Organization, the Paris climate agreement and reengaging with the U.N. Human Rights Council.The top U.S. diplomat Monday also had an audience with Queen Margrethe II and toured a quantum materials lab at the University of Copenhagen. His trip has been overshadowed by the violence between Israelis and Palestinians, which forced Blinken to cancel a scheduled event Monday to make calls related to the situation.
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About 3,000 Moroccans, a third of whom were presumed to be minors according to Spanish authorities, swam and used inflatable boats Monday to cross into Ceuta, the largest number of migrant arrivals in a single day into Spain’s enclave in northern Africa.A young male drowned attempting the crossing and others, including toddlers, were rescued suffering from hypothermia, health authorities said.The influx followed the souring of Spain’s relations with Morocco, its southern partner and key ally on controlling migration flows, over Madrid’s decision to allow the leader of a militant group fighting for independence from Morocco to receive hospital treatment.Ceuta and nearby Melilla are regarded as a steppingstone into Europe for African migrants. Hundreds of them risk injuries or death every year while trying to jump over fences, hide inside vehicles or swim around breakwaters that extend several meters into the Mediterranean Sea.But 3,000 people making the crossing in just one day strained police and emergency workers in the city of 84,000. The figure is nearly three times the total arrivals so far this year in the two Spanish territories and more than in 2020, when 2,228 people arrived by both land and sea.Footage published by El Faro de Ceuta, a local newspaper, showed people climbing the rocky wall of the breakwaters and running across the Tarajal beach, in the southeastern end of the city.Other videos verified by The Associated Press showed long rows of young men lining up at the gates of a warehouse managed by the local Red Cross, waiting to get registered by Spanish Civil Guard officers.Spain was deploying 200 more law enforcement officers to Ceuta, including anti-riot police and officers specialized in border control to speed up the return of those who arrived, the Interior Ministry said in a statement late Monday. Spain doesn’t grant Moroccans asylum status. It only allows unaccompanied migrant children to legally remain in the country under the government’s supervision.The influx of Moroccans came at the end of the Muslim celebrations of Ramadan, when many residents in Europe return home after visiting relatives in the northern African country. It also followed Madrid’s decision to host Brahim Ghali, the head of the Polisario Front that disputes Rabat’s claim on Western Sahara, who is recovering from COVID-19 in a hospital in northern Spain.The Spanish government, which allowed Ghali to enter the country under a disguised identity, has justified its decision to give him shelter on humanitarian grounds.The Moroccan foreign ministry said last month that Madrid’s move was “inconsistent with the spirit of partnership and good neighborliness.” In May, the ministry also said that Spain’s move would have “consequences.”Mohammed Ben Aisa, head of the Northern Observatory for Human Rights, a nonprofit group that works with migrants in northern Morocco, said that the influx was a mix of the seasonal attempts to reach Europe, the arrival of good weather and the recent tensions between Rabat and Madrid.”The information that we have is that the Moroccan authorities reduced the usually heavy militarization of the coasts, which come after Morocco’s foreign ministry statement about Spain’s hosting of Brahim Ghali,” Ben Aisa told The Associated Press.”The area is heavily monitored by security forces, and attempts there, whether to climb the fence or swim, are usually stopped,” he added.Spain has strong but complicated diplomatic ties with its southern neighbor. The two countries often cite their decades-old cooperation on controlling migration flows, which includes recurring payments to Rabat from Spain and the European Union as well as training to Morocco’s police and army, as the blueprint for the EU’s migration policies in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean.Cooperation with Moroccan intelligence on fighting extremism is also key for Europe.Asked by reporters whether the government of Rabat was deliberately relaxing controls on departing migrants, Spain’s foreign minister simply said she had no information.”We are not aware,” Arancha González Laya said before concluding brief media remarks. The ministry later declined to further elaborate.In a statement, the interior minister said that Spain “has been working tirelessly on a migration policy that concerns the whole of the European Union and Morocco, the country of origin of the people who have arrived swimming today.”A spokesman with the Spanish government’s delegation in Ceuta said that the crossings began at 2 a.m. in the border area of Ceuta known as Benzú and were then followed by a few dozen people near the eastern beach of Tarajal.The daylight didn’t stop the crossings from the nearby Moroccan town of Fnideq, as entire families with children swam or boarded inflatable boats, said the spokesman, who wasn’t authorized to be identified by name in media reports.A 10-meter-high (32-foot-high) double fence surrounds the eight kilometers (five miles) of Ceuta’s southwestern border with Morocco, with the rest of the tiny territory facing the Strait of Gibraltar and the European mainland across the sea.Several gates along the perimeter have been closed for over a year as Morocco has banned all travel by land in an attempt to avoid coronavirus infections. The decision has left jobless many locals who rely on work in Ceuta and Melilla or cross-border trade for a living.More than 100 young Moroccans also swam into the Spanish territory at the end of April. Authorities said most of them were returned to their country in less than 48 hours after being confirmed as adults.
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Britain lifted many of its coronavirus lockdown restrictions Monday as infection rates have fallen to their lowest level since August. But as Henry Ridgwell reports from London, there are growing concerns over the spread of a new mutation of the virus first seen in India.Camera: Henry Ridgwell    
 
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German Health Minister Jens Spahn announced Monday the nation would end its COVID-19 vaccination prioritizing and open inoculations to all adults who want them, effective June 7.Speaking to reporters in Berlin, Spahn said the current system of prioritization, in which the most vulnerable people — usually the elderly — are eligible for vaccines first, will have run its course by then. He said 70% of those above the age of 60 had received at least one shot — and about one quarter of them is fully vaccinated.A student tests himself on the coronavirus with a rapid test at the Freiherr vom Stein school in Bonn, western Germany, on May 17, 2021.He said 40 million vaccine doses have been given and around nine million people are fully vaccinated in the country of 83 million. But Spahn said the pace was accelerating and by the end of the month he expects about 40% of all people in Germany will have received at least one shot.Spahn defended the prioritization of the elderly and other vulnerable groups as “a moral obligation” and epidemiologically necessary. He said, “That was not bureaucracy; it has been saving lives.”Spahn also asked for patience, saying not all those seeking shots will be vaccinated immediately as of June 7 or even in the month of June. But he promised the vaccination campaign will continue as planned and that everyone in Germany who wants to be inoculated will have access to shots by the end of the summer.Spahn said the special COVID-19 measures implemented last month have worked, with the latest figures from the Robert Koch Institute’s Department of Infectious Diseases indicating the national infection rate has dropped below the key benchmark of 100 cases per 100,000 people over the past week. 
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Members of Colombia’s national police force who are responsible for abuses or acts of violence amid ongoing protests will be punished to the full extent of the law, the head of the force said.Demonstrators and human rights groups have repeatedly accused police officers of killing civilians, excessive use of force, sexual abuse and the use of firearms, both during current protests and previous ones.Accusations of possible abuse of a minor in the city of Popayan have sparked violent protests there this week.”They must respond before the authorities and whoever has knowingly committed a crime; the response will have the full weight of the law,” national police director General Jorge Luis Vargas told Reuters in an interview.”We are the first to reject illegal behavior by an officer and we will ask for forgiveness when there’s a judicial decision,” said Vargas.  Vargas said 122 disciplinary proceedings have been opened against police since protests began last month, while three have been arrested on murder charges tied to civilian deaths.”There cannot be, there must not be and there will not be impunity,” said the 30-year police veteran.Accused officers will have due process, he said, adding cops have also been the victims of physical aggression, firearm attacks and one incident where a mob set fire to a station.One police officer has died and nearly 900 have been injured.Police who have intervened to control looting and vandalism during protests have not used firearms, Vargas said. Instead non-lethal weapons are employed according to national and international rules.Groups like Human Rights Watch say misuse of non-lethal weapons can lead to deaths.Protesters, who originally called marches against a now-canceled tax plan, have expanded demands to include a basic income, an end to police violence and opportunities for young people, among other things.The protests’ death toll is disputed. The human rights ombudsman is investigating 41 civilian deaths, while the attorney general’s office has confirmed 14.Road blockades causing shortages will be broken up by the police whenever the government orders, Vargas said, repeating accusations that criminal groups and guerrillas have infiltrated protests to stoke violence.Leftist politicians and student groups have long demanded the police be transferred out of defense ministry control, use of lethal weapons during protests be banned, the riot police disbanded and officers implicated in abuse be tried in civilian and not military courts.Vargas ruled out the dissolution of the riot squad but said he supports more options for punishing police abuse.  
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The World Health Organization reports the COVID-19 pandemic has set back years of gains made in efforts to eliminate neglected tropical diseases, a diverse group of 20 illnesses that disproportionately affect impoverished communities in tropical areas. Neglected tropical diseases affect 1.7 billion people globally.  Forty percent are in Africa, a continent that encompasses most of the 10 high burden countries in the world.  Over the past decade, the World Health Organization reports great progress has been made in the treatment of many of these life-threatening and debilitating diseases.  It notes 42 countries around the world have eliminated at least one disease.However, Mwelecele Malecela, director of WHO’s department of control of neglected tropical diseases says she fears a lot of this good work could be undone because of the negative impact of COVID-19.  UN Calls for Action to Achieve a Malaria-Free WorldThis year’s commemoration of World Malaria Day celebrates progress being made in eliminating diseaseShe says the pandemic has caused disruptions and delays in NTD services.  She says mass treatment campaigns, surveys of affected areas, and the transport and delivery of medicines have been interrupted.”All the efforts that have been done to control neglected tropical diseases, to bring about elimination in most of the affected countries, will be reversed if the focus is not kept, a good focus on surveillance, a good focus on continued interventions in some of the countries which are nearing elimination,” said Malecela.WHO reports Guinea Worm disease is on the cusp of eradication, with only 27 human cases reported in six African countries last year.  In 1986, about 3.5 million human cases occurred annually in 21 countries in Africa and Asia.  WHO says Yaws, a chronic skin infection is a disease that can be eradicated in the Indian sub-continent.  Malecela cites several other success stories.”In terms of elimination of trachoma, we have Morocco, we have Ghana and more recently, we have Gambia,” said Malecela. “We have the elimination of lymphatic filariasis in Togo and in Malawi…In Yemen, which is outside Africa in the middle east, we have eliminated lymphatic filariasis under very difficult conditions.  But they have managed to do it and that has been a very impressive feat.” At the end of January, WHO formally launched a new road map aimed at driving progress towards a world free of NTDs by 2030.  Health officials consider the road map a key piece in ensuring countries build back better after COVID-19 by focusing on resilience and strengthening health systems.
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France announced Monday that it will grant Sudan a $1.5 billion loan to help the north African country pay off its debt to the International Monetary Fund.Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire made the announcement in Paris at the start of an international summit hosted by President Emmanuel Macron. The loan aimed at helping Sudan erase its total external debt of $50 billion and attract foreign investment to rebuild its economy. Sudan’s economy was shattered by decades of autocratic rule of former President Omar al-Bashir. Al-Bashir was ousted in 2019 by the military after a popular uprising and his regime replaced with a transitional civilian-military council.Khartoum is $1.3 billion in arrears to the IMF, while about half of its debts are with members of the Paris Club, a group of major creditor countries which helps other countries come up with an easier method of paying its debts.  
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Doubts are mounting about the efficacy of Russia’s Sputnik vaccine. Drug regulators in the Czech Republic and Brazil have withheld approval and counterparts in Slovakia have also expressed doubts.   FILE – The exterior of the European Medicines Agency is seen in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Dec. 18, 2020.European Union regulators are still assessing Sputnik for its effectiveness and safety but a former executive director of the European Medicines Agency, EMA, told the Politico.eu news site that objections raised about Sputnik by Brazil’s regulatory authority, Anvisa, would likely be taken seriously by their counterparts in Brussels. “It’s a very mature authority,” said Rasi, who added that its flagging of quality and safety issues are worrisome. Anvisa announced on April 28 that it was withholding approval because of “flaws in product development” which deviate from the quality standards recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).  The authority also noted “an absence or insufficiency of quality control, safety and efficacy data.” It raised concerns also with the vaccine’s efficacy for people “with low immunity and respiratory problems, among other health problems.” The Slovak medicines authority has also expressed worries about quality control and insufficient data. Irena Storová, head of SÚKL, told Slovakia’s Radiožurnál recently that the regulator received “only a fraction of the documentation that is submitted by default for the registration or assessment of a drug or medicine.” FILE – A scientist works inside a laboratory of the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology during the testing of a coronavirus vaccine, in Moscow, Russia, Aug. 6, 2020. (Russian Direct Investment Fund / Handout via Reuters)Sputnik was the first coronavirus vaccine to be registered, albeit only by the Russians and not by an authoritative international regulator. Funded by the state and developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute in Moscow, the rapid Russian approval last year in August of the vaccine, which was named for the satellite from half a century ago, was met with skepticism in the broader international scientific community.  Experts expressed their disapproval of Russian authorities for approving distribution before the completion of trials, suggesting the rapidity of authorization was done so as to be able to tout Russian scientific prowess.   Europeans Divided Over Sputnik Diplomacy COVID vaccine diplomacy is proving as divisive as vaccine nationalism — especially when it comes to Russia’s Sputnik Doubts about the vaccine’s efficacy dissipated somewhat last year within the Western scientific community due to a study by Russian scientists published by the authoritative British medical journal The Lancet, which suggested the vaccine has a 91.6% efficacy rate against COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.   Geopolitical motives 
Nonetheless, some Central European and Baltic governments have been trading barbs with the Kremlin for what they see as a “Sputnik diplomatic offensive” designed to foment political splits in the Western alliance.FILE – Workers take care of the shipment of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine at the airport in Caracas, Venezuela, March 29, 2021.Officials in Kyiv and Warsaw identify geopolitical motives behind Russia’s touting of the vaccine, especially in light of what they say has been a Russian disinformation campaign casting doubt on Western-developed vaccines. Russian officials say politics is behind Western skepticism of Sputnik. Lithuania’s prime minister has labeled the vaccine “another hybrid weapon” for the Kremlin to wield to try to “divide and rule” Europe. Ingrida Šimonytė says altruism isn’t what motivates the aggressive marketing by Russia of Sputnik. “Sputnik comes packed with many layers of propaganda and even not-hidden ambition to divide the EU countries and their partners in the South and in the East,” she said earlier this year. Facing shortfalls for Western vaccines amid the EU’s contentious rollout, other European states, though, started to buy Sputnik with Hungary first up followed by Serbia. Austria struck a deal and officials in Berlin and in several German regions expressed enthusiasm for the Russian vaccine. But with a boost in supplies of Western vaccines, appetite for Sputnik has dissipated and last week Germany’s Bild newspaper reported that the deal to sell the Sputnik V vaccine to Germany is dead.   Meanwhile, outside Europe, the Russian vaccine has been bought by more than 50 countries including Argentina, Mexico, and Turkey.  India, where the pandemic has spiraled out of control, has signed a deal for nearly 400 million doses.     Growing doubts But scientific doubts about Sputnik remerged last week when The Lancet published a paper by a team of scientists drawn from Europe, the U.S. and Russia questioning the 2020 study of the vaccine the medical journal published and flagging significant discrepancies in the data from the phase two and three trials conducted by the Gamaleya Research Institute, the vaccine’s developer. “Restricted access to data hampers trust in research,” the scientists said in last week’s study.  “Access to data underpinning study findings is imperative to check and confirm the findings claimed. It is even more serious if there are apparent errors and numerical inconsistencies in the statistics and results presented,” they said. The team included Enrico Bucci of Temple University in the U.S., Gowri Gopalakrishna from Amsterdam University and Raffaele Calogero from the University of Turin.  In reply, scientists from the Gamaleya Research Institute say data discrepancies occurred because of typing errors and they point to the approval of Sputnik by 51 countries showing they have been “fully transparent and comply with all regulatory requirements.” FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a video conference meeting with members of the Security Council at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, May 14, 2021. (Sputnik/Sergey Ilyin/Kremlin via Reuters)Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday during a video conference praised Russia’s vaccine, saying it as “reliable as a Kalashnikov assault rifle.”  Sputnik isn’t the only non-Western vaccine prompting reservations. Despite approval by WHO of China’s Sinopharm, some scientific researchers have expressed worries about the lack of data on that vaccine’s efficacy, too, and likewise with Sinovac, another Chinese vaccine.FILE – Health officials guard Zimbabwe’s donation of 200,000 Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine doses, which arrived at Mugabe International Airport in Harare on Feb. 15, 2021. The vaccines were a donation by Beijing. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)According to researchers outside China, Sinovac’s efficacy rate is around 50%, and Sinopharm’s 79%, much lower than that of the rates for U.S.-developed vaccines like Moderna and Pfizer, both of which are above 90%. 
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Germany’s Health Minister Jens Spahn said Friday the nation’s average COVID-19 infection rate over the past week has fallen below 100 per 100,000 residents for the first time in two months, a key threshold for lifting restrictions in the European nation.
Speaking to reporters while visiting a vaccine storage and distribution center in Quakenbruck, a city in Lower Saxony state, Spahn said the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases reported the national average infection rate fell to 96.5 per 100,000, its lowest level since March 20.  
He also said Germany’s vaccination program is gaining speed, with almost 36 percent of the population having received at least one shot, and more than 10 percent fully vaccinated. He said the nation set a record for vaccinations on Wednesday, with 1.35 million delivered.
A COVID-19 infection rate of 100 infections per 100,000 people is used as the threshold for imposing a nationwide “emergency brake,” imposing restrictions that include night-time curfews and limits on private gatherings. Should cases remain below this level, restrictions can be relaxed.
But Health Minister Spahn urged caution, saying care must be taken “to secure what has been achieved and not want too much too quickly, because that could backfire.” He said not all regions are rebounding evenly. He urged regional officials to wait for rates to fall below 50 per 100,000 before opening restaurants for indoor dining.  
Spahn also said that, as the weather is warming and people are thinking about travel, they should prioritize going to areas with low infection rates.
Last month, the German parliament approved temporary emergency powers for the federal government, allowing it to implement nationwide restrictions like curfews in response to a third wave of infections that was sweeping the nation. 
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The decision by India and the European Union to restart stalled talks on a free trade pact comes amid growing unease on both sides about China’s rise, according to analysts.   
 
The decision was announced following a summit of EU leaders in Portugal last week, which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined via video conference.    
   
The meeting was held days after the EU suspended efforts to ratify an ambitious investment agreement with China following tensions that have grown between the 27-member bloc and Beijing about its treatment of the Uyghur population in Xinjiang province.   
 
Although reviving trade negotiations that were abandoned by India and Europe in 2013 will not be easy, the move is being seen as part of efforts by both sides to build closer ties in what analysts call a new “geopolitical and geo-economic environment.”   
 
“The kind of questions that have been raised recently about China have propelled Europe and India to look at each other with a different set of priorities,” according to Harsh Pant, head of Strategic Studies at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi and Professor of International Relations at King’s College, London.   
   
“Also post the pandemic, many countries are looking closely at the issue of overreliance on China in trade and Europe, in particular, has been over dependent on China. And from India’s perspective, the West is going to be a very important partner as it re-evaluates every aspect of its foreign policy from the standpoint of the China equation,” says Pant.   
 
India has been moving to build deeper partnerships with countries like the United States, Japan and Australia following an eight-month military standoff with China along their disputed Himalayan borders. Although the standoff eased in March, tensions are still running high over several undemarcated stretches where both countries have deployed tens of thousands of troops.   
 
Both India and the European Union struck an optimistic note after the summit. Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said there was a strong economic rationale for relaunching trade talks as the European Union was India’s largest trading partner in 2019-20 with bilateral trade of about $ 90 billion. President of the European Council Charles Michel called it a “new important chapter” in ties.  
 
“We agreed to resume negotiations for a balanced, ambitious, comprehensive and mutually beneficial trade agreement which would respond to the current challenges,” according to a joint statement by both sides.   
 
A study by the European Parliament last year before Britain’s departure from the bloc had estimated the potential benefits of a trade deal with India for the EU at around 10 billion dollars. India is also due to start trade negotiations with Britain later this year.    
 
The bid to deepen ties with Europe goes beyond trade – a “connectivity partnership” launched by the two sides that aims at building joint infrastructure projects in third countries including Africa, Central Asia and the Indo-Pacific is also seen as a pushback against China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative.    
 
However, hammering out a trade deal will be challenging with some analysts warning that India has turned even more protectionist in recent years.   
 
India and the EU had halted seven years of negotiations in 2013 after hitting a roadblock over key differences – Europe wanted India to lower levies on its major exports, such as wines, spirits and auto components, while New Delhi wanted greater access for Indian professionals to work in Europe.   
 
“India is in a worse situation than in 2013 when trade talks were abandoned. Last year the government’s signal to industry was that they will be protected if they ramp up domestic production,” points out Biswajit Dhar, a professor at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University and an expert on international trade relations. “Now the question is whether they can accommodate Europe’s demands to open up the market. It’s going to be a tall ask – for example the Indian automobile industry which is one of the country’s important industries will resist any suggestion of tariff cuts.”   
 
But navigating the trade deal with Europe will be a key test for New Delhi as it seeks alternatives to China. In 2019 it abandoned a China-led regional trade pact – the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, after it failed to address Delhi’s concerns over market access.  
 
“For India it is a moment to underscore its credentials as a credible economic player because there are lots of questions about India’s ability to finalize trade deals,” points out Pant. “It has to show that it can walk the talk and can move forward on trade and economic matters with countries with which it has a strategic convergence.”  
 
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Paola Celeste Torres knows all too well the dangers for journalists in Nicaragua. She was working in the Radio Dario building in the city of León in April 2018 when arsonists set fire to the station.The attack, which destroyed the station’s equipment, took place during a period of View of the destroyed facilities of “Radio Dario” in the Nicaraguan city of Leon, on April 24, 2018, after it was set on fire during protests against President Daniel Ortega’s government on April 21.Torres is director of Sin Censura, or Without Censorship, a news outlet that broadcasts via social media. “We had a regular radio [broadcast], but seeing that we couldn’t continue working in the same location, we decided to move it to Facebook,” said Torres.Sin Censura used to be produced in the Radio Dario studios, but since the fire it has grown as a social media news platform focused on local stories. It has around 120,000 followers on Facebook and an audience that reacts and comments on the reporting.New media projects like Sin Censura are filling the gaps left in Nicaragua’s restrictive environment.The situation for the country’s media worsened in the wake of the 2018 protests. Several journalists went into self-imposed exile to avoid retaliation; those reporting in the field face violence; and independent outlets are censored or harassed, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The country scores 121 out of 180, where 1 is the freest, on RSF’s annual World Press Freedom Index. Nicaraguan officials say the government respects press freedom. But one official with whom VOA spoke said that some journalists “fall into debauchery.”Wilfredo Navarro, a deputy in the ruling Sandinista party, told VOA that “the media makes up news and says anything. … Journalists say what they want. They invent what they want.”José Cardoza, right, the creator of Nicaragua’s Primer Orden podcast, distributed on at least 25 digital platforms. (Houston Castillo/VOA)Innovation during adversityUsing a similar model as Sin Censura, the podcast Primer Orden, or First Order, uses social media to distribute its daily news summaries.Its founder, José Cardoza, records the news show in a small room, improvised as a radio studio, in Managua, then distributes it on multiple platforms.The podcast initially started as a hobby for Cardoza in 2018, because his other job in public relations didn’t allow him to dedicate himself “fully to journalism.” Cardoza decided to use the pandemic and recent unemployment as an opportunity.Since its creation, the format has varied. “Currently it is a little more adapted to the needs of the audience; to be informed in a few minutes,” Cardoza said. “In the first six minutes you already know what the situation is in Nicaragua.”The Primer Orden newscast now has a team of five who collaborate daily to produce content.Running a podcast has advantages, but the journalists still face obstacles. Like others in media, they receive threats, face police harassment and lack financial support.“The advantage is technology, the internet. You can listen to it again, share it and even be able to download it. However, you go to a conference to get an interview and you find a huge number of policemen outside the event,” said Javier Bermúdez, a Primer Orden journalist.The same problems affect more traditional media.Aníbal Toruño, director and owner of Radio Darío in León, said he admires the ability of his team to report despite the pressure and threats from police and government officials.“I see it as a great opportunity and a testament to the environment in which you work, that if you could reach 50,000 people, now you can reach 100,000 or 150,000,” said Toruño.Cooperation and support among colleagues and associations with other media are a bonus, Toruño said, adding that competition among outlets is over.The municipal Radio Camoapa Estéreo, which covers Nicaragua’s central region, relies on collaboration and a few journalists.“We have a network of friends who are there, they help us and support us, people who send us contributions,” said Juan Carlos Duarte Sequeira, its co-founder. “Many of us earn absolutely nothing, we have no salary. We are simply here because we believe in the project.”The country’s media also face obstacles from legislation, including a cybercrime law approved in October. The law establishes fines and in some cases jail time for spreading “false news.”Journalists and members of Nicaragua’s opposition raised concerns about the law, pointing out that other legislation has been used to retaliate against critics.”We have seen other colleagues to whom previous laws have been applied, accusing them of defamation, and receiving a prison sentence, even when they have not committed any crime,” said Torres, of Sin Censura.The journalist believes the law is a tool to punish the media and journalists, but her team put fear aside. “If we allow ourselves to be overcome by fear, we will close down and what will become of independent media? Communication? The people will be most affected.”Government deputy Navarro denied the cybercrime law is aimed at media.“Journalists can say what they want,” Navarro told VOA. “What we want to do with the cybercrime law is to prevent online sexual trafficking,” as well as “ensure that the internet is not used to generate chaos.”Uncertain futureMedia professors from private universities in León told VOA there is disenchantment with prospective students. In 2018, they received more than 80 applications. In 2021, only three.The professors, who asked that they and their institutions remain anonymous out of security concerns, said many students were disappointed to see the police repression.“They go for an assignment; and we tell them to take photos and images. And they experience firsthand when the police or other people ask them what they’re doing and demand photo ID,” one of the academics said.Many also do not see journalism as a profitable career, saying you need a second job to survive in media.Torres said that journalists are more often bearing the financial burden of running their own outlets.“When we lost sponsors, our advertisements, we had to … acquire a microphone or a tripod. We had to migrate to other alternative jobs to be able to subsist as individuals and as journalists,” she said.But Torres, said, “This is my passion, despite everything. Despite having been at Radio Darío when it was set on fire, having seen that terrorist attack against freedom of expression. I’m one of the survivors of the attack on Radio Darío, along with colleagues from Sin Censura … we have to fight.”This story originated in VOA’s Spanish language division.
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After dark months struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, Europe is finally hitting its stride, with vaccinations and economies picking up, countries emerging from lockdowns, and even opening their borders to foreign tourists.For Maison Nomade, the recent journey under France’s lockdown has been tough.Now, this vegetarian restaurant in northern Paris is finally reopening. Staff members idled by the pandemic are scrambling to get things ready.Staff at Maison Nomade restaurant prepare for its reopening next Wednesday. The EU has notched up the region’s growth predictions for this year. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)“It’s been pretty hard to be closed for that long, but we’re very excited, a little bit stressed, and we’re really looking forward to opening the restaurant again,” said Allison Lamotte, the restaurant’s co-owner.”And we hope this time it will last forever, and we won’t have to close again, because it’s been hard.”That’s a sentiment shared by many other French businesses, as coronavirus restrictions start easing. Next Wednesday, outdoor terraces of restaurants and bars are reopening for the first time in months — although at half capacity — along with museums and shops.Other European countries are reopening even faster … sparking celebrations in Spain … and preparations in Greece to welcome vaccinated international tourists starting Saturday.Parisians walk past the Louvre Museum which will soon be open to visitors. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)That’s a big change from earlier this year. As the United States and Britain saw COVID-19 cases fall as they ramped up their vaccination campaigns, European Union numbers kept growing.Vaccine delivery delays left EU governments struggling to put shots into citizens’ arms, sometimes fighting over supplies. The 19-member eurozone slipped into a double-dip recession.With the vaccine bottleneck easing, Brussels predicts it will meet its goal of inoculating 70% of European adults this summer. EU economic growth forecasts also are also rosier — at 4.2% this year, up from previous estimates.Overall, says Rosa Balfour, director of the Carnegie Europe policy institute, things are looking better.“The economy is opening up — this has been partly a consequence of the acceleration of the vaccine drive, but also because some Mediterranean states in particular have been pushing very hard to get tourism back on track,” Balfour said.The EU hopes to facilitate travel within the bloc through special COVID-19 certificates for citizens who are vaccinated, recovered from the virus or test negative for it.Christophe Decloux, Managing Director of the Paris Region Tourism Board, is confident Americans and other tourists will be back. But it might take time. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)France’s international borders are set to reopen June 9. But reclaiming its spot as the world’s leading tourist destination may take time. Christophe Decloux, managing director of the Paris Region Tourism Board, says the Paris area alone lost 33 million visitors last year—more than two-thirds of its usual numbers.“Tourists will come back — I don’t know how many and how much time — but at the end, the Eiffel Tower always attracts,” Decloux said. “But at the end, the big issue is the business travelers. And why should they choose Paris rather than London, Berlin or Milan or whatever—that’s the issue.”The message to travelers, he says: France is a safe destination. People here are hoping that stays true.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
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After dark months struggling with the coronavirus pandemic, Europe is finally hitting its stride with vaccinations and economies picking up and countries emerging from lockdowns and reopening their borders to foreign tourists. But as Lisa Bryant reports from Paris, there is still a lot of uncertainty.
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Hungary has announced plans to open a branch of a Chinese University in Budapest. Critics fear the development — the first of its kind in Europe — will be used by Beijing to spread Chinese Communist Party propaganda and could pose a threat to national security.   The so-called “Student City” will be built on the site of a former wholesale market outside the nation’s capital, with its centerpiece a branch of the prestigious Shanghai-based Fudan University.   Hungary said it will raise the standard of higher education, offer courses to 6,000 students from Hungary, China and further afield, while bringing Chinese investment and research to the country.
For China, it’s a significant milestone, said professor Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London. “Until relatively recently, China was importing foreign universities onto Chinese soil, having branches in China. Now, they are exporting a Chinese university branch on European soil, a member of the European Union. This is, I think, tremendously important from their perspective in how it shows that China has risen,” Tsang told VOA.  
   FILE – A view of the site where the construction of a top Chinese university, the Fudan’s campus, is planned, in the 9th district of Budapest, Hungary, Apr. 23, 2021.Two years ago, Hungary’s famous Central European University, which is backed by Hungarian-born, U.S.-based financier George Soros, was effectively forced out of the country through changes to education law and has since relocated to Vienna.Hungary’s government accuses Soros of political interference in the country, which he denies.
Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony, a member of the opposition Dialogue for Hungary Party, said Hungarians are being betrayed.   “Let’s put the two [universities] next to each other,” he said. “There was something which has offered an open education, did not cost a penny for Hungarian taxpayers, was a well-established university in Hungary and was exiled. And now, the government brings in another one which represents the ideology of the [Chinese] Communist Party and costs the Hungarian taxpayers billions,” he told The Associated Press.   Leaked government documents published by the Hungarian investigative journalism organization Direkt36 estimate the cost at $1.8 billion, which is more than Hungary spent on its entire higher education system in 2019. The documents suggest most of the funding will come from a Chinese bank loan, and construction will be carried out using mostly Chinese materials and labor.   FILE – A man sits front of the building of the Central European University, a school founded by U.S. financier George Soros, in Budapest, Hungary, Apr. 9, 2018.Fudan ranks among the top 100 universities in the world. Its expansion into Europe is part of Beijing’s efforts to control the narrative on China, Tsang said.   “When we are dealing with the humanities and social sciences side of the curriculum, it is clear that the Communist Party will keep control of it. It was only in the last two years that Fudan University changed clearly its instructions on its relationship with the [Chinese] party state, now clearly declaring that its first mission is not to uphold academic integrity but to follow the leadership of the party,” Tsang said.   Hungary’s government has pursued a strategy it calls “Eastern Opening,” seeking increased cooperation and trade with countries such as China and Russia. It has taken a $2 billion loan from China’s Exim Bank to build a railway line between Budapest and Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, as part of China’s global Belt and Road initiative.   Hungary is also the only country in the European Union to have approved the Chinese-made “Sinopharm” COVID-19 vaccine.   Karacsony is among many who fear the Fudan University development could pose a threat to national security through Chinese espionage. “While the Hungarian government visibly enjoys the benefits of European Union membership — since, for example, it will receive an astronomical amount of EU support in the coming months — it is meanwhile a kind of advanced bastion of eastern great powers,” he said. FILE – Local district mayor Krisztina Baranyi walks across the site where the construction of a top Chinese university, the Fudan’s campus, is planned, in the 9th district of Budapest, Hungary, April 23, 2021.In an email to VOA, a Hungarian government spokesperson said, “According to the prestigious QS World University Ranking, Fudan is the 34th best university in the world. … The Ministry of Innovation and Technology of Hungary and the Chinese Ministry of Education concluded an interministerial agreement finalized in February this year to support Fudan University in establishing a world-class, research-oriented, multidisciplinary university in Budapest. “From George Soros to President Obama, a lot of people have given lectures at Fudan University, and it is one of the best universities in the world that will not be engaged in ideological education but will provide economic courses,” the spokesperson said.   The EU has yet to officially respond to the university plans. Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas criticized Hungary Monday for what he called an “absolutely incomprehensible” decision to block an EU statement criticizing Beijing for the crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.   “I think everybody can work out for themselves what the reasons are, because there are good relations between China and Hungary,” Maas told reporters, following a meeting of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council. In a statement, the U.S. Embassy in Budapest expressed concerns over the plans to open a branch of Fudan University in Hungary, “given Beijing’s proven track record of using academic institutions to advance a malign influence agenda and stifle intellectual freedom.”  The Fudan University branch is expected to be completed by 2024. 
 
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The Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea on May 29 has been moved from Istanbul to Porto to allow English fans to travel under COVID-19 restrictions, European soccer’s governing body UEFA said on Thursday.
The final was scheduled for Istanbul’s Ataturk Olympic Stadium, but Turkey was last week put on Britain’s travel ‘red list’, meaning that no English fans would be able to attend the game. It will now be held in FC Porto’s Estadio do Dragao.
UEFA said that each club would receive 6,000 tickets which are expected to go on sale from today. The final capacity for the match has yet to be confirmed.
There had been discussions over moving the final to London’s Wembley Stadium but UEFA said that despite “exhaustive efforts on the part of the (English) Football Association and the authorities, it was not possible to achieve the necessary exemptions from UK quarantine arrangements.”
“I think we can all agree that we hope never to experience a year like the one we have just endured,” said UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin.
“Fans have had to suffer more than twelve months without the ability to see their teams live and reaching a Champions League final is the pinnacle of club football.
“To deprive those supporters of the chance to see the match in person was not an option and I am delighted that this compromise has been found,” he added.
Portugal was placed on the UK government’s “green list” from May 17, which means fans of the English clubs will be free to travel to the game.
The country is in the last phase of easing a lockdown and expects to lift travel restrictions from May 17.
Turkish Football Federation officials told Reuters on Wednesday they expected to host the 2023 Champions League which would be part of the Republic’s centenary celebrations
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Spain has promised to donate 7.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Latin American and Caribbean countries this summer as its vaccine diplomacy contrasts with the more cautious approach taken by the United States.   Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez pledged to ship between 5% and 10% of the country’s total vaccine supply in an effort to combat a third wave of the pandemic that is raging in a number of Latin American nations.   Spain’s leftist government is confident that 70% of its population of 47 million will be inoculated by the end of August.  Sanchez said this week the country was “100 days away from herd immunity,” and will send surplus vaccines to donate to Latin America.     The vaccines that Madrid will send are AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen. FILE – People receive a dose of the AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Barcelona, Spain, Apr. 26, 2021.In Spain, more than 29% of the population has had at least one dose while 13.3% has had both as the vaccine program picks up pace.   Going further Sanchez supported U.S. President Joe Biden’s initiative to drop patent rights to COVID-19 vaccines to reduce costs for poorer countries but wants to go further.   “Spain is proposing a comprehensive initiative to facilitate the transmission of the necessary technology and expertise, lift all barriers to ramping up production and accelerate vaccine production,” Sanchez wrote in Britain’s Financial Times Wednesday. In contrast, and as U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris prepares to travel to Mexico and Guatemala next month, the United States has faced calls to do more to help Latin American nations with scant vaccine resources.   U.S, Democrats have called on the Biden administration to make Latin America a priority.   US response    The U.S. State Department said the government was working on plans to share vaccines when they became available, but that the priority is vaccinating American citizens.  “Right now, this administration is focused first and forecast foremost? on ensuring that Americans have access to the safe and effective vaccine. At the same time, we understand that for Americans to be truly safe from this virus both now and over the long term we need to demonstrate leadership, because as long as the virus is in the wild, it will continue to mutate, it will continue to pose a threat to Americans back here at home,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said last month.The scarcity of vaccines has prompted wealthier Latin Americans to travel to the U.S. to be inoculated, something which the U.S. government has discouraged.  Shortages of vaccines or materials to make them are crippling for many Latin American states.  Brazil, which recorded 425,000 deaths from COVID-19, will run out of the raw materials to produce the Chinese Sinovac vaccine by Friday, after a shipment was held up in China, authorities in Sao Paulo state said.   Alicia Martinez holds her vaccination card while resting after her second shot of China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine in the outdoor patio of a home for the elderly in Santiago, Chile, March 5, 2021.In Chile, where the vaccine program is one of the fastest in the world, this progress has been muted by a sharp rise in coronavirus cases last month, reaching 9,000 in one day. It forced the government to bring in a quarantine for 80% of the population.   Pleas President Luis Abinader of the Dominican Republic called on Biden to release U.S. stocks of the AstraZeneca vaccine.“President @JoeBiden, less-developed countries and traditional allies of the USA, like Dominican Republic, have approved the AstraZeneca vaccine and we need it urgently,” he tweeted.Euclides Acevedo, the foreign minister of Paraguay, pleaded with Washington to come to its help as COVID-19 cases mounted. “What use is fraternity if now they don’t give us a response?” he said.  FILE – Spain’s Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya speaks during a media briefing at San Carlos Palace in Bogota, Colombia, Feb. 26, 2021.Spain’s Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya criticized the U.S. for delaying a response on sharing vaccines. “Europe has recently exported 200 million doses of vaccines to the world. Countries like the United States have still not exported any. This has to change,” she told eldiario.es, a Spanish online newspaper this week. The U.S. government refutes this claim, saying it has so far shared 4 million vaccines with Canada and Mexico. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters last week that Washington planned to send another 60 million doses from its supply over the next two months. He did not specify the countries.  The U.S. has contributed $2 billion to the COVAX, an initiative involving the World Health Organization and others to facilitate the sharing of vaccines by richer countries with poorer nations. COVAX has sent a total of 6.5 million doses with Latin America. Blinken has pledged another $2 billion to the program.However, the U.S. offer to share vaccines and the supplies from the COVAX initiative is small compared to the vast Latin American and Caribbean regions, whose populations total 650 million. Politics Spain wants to take a leading role among European powers when it comes to vaccine diplomacy, while Biden is under domestic political pressure to prioritize U.S. citizens — at the moment at least. “Sanchez’s gesture is a change for Spain to show solidarity with Latin America and to show that Europe cares about the problems of vaccine supply which countries there are facing,” Carlos Malamud, a senior investigator at the Real Elcano Institute, a Madrid research organization, told VOA.   “However, Biden may be under more domestic pressure to change the America First policy of the Trump era but not to open its hand straight away,” Malamud said.  It comes as Chinese vaccines dominate Latin American efforts to combat the pandemic, with Beijing sending more than half of the 143.5 million doses of the vaccine which have been sent to the continent’s 10 largest countries. FILE – Trucks carrying Chinese Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccines against the COVID-19 disease leave the San Oscar Romero International Airport in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador, on March 28, 2021.China’s Sinovac has delivered 78.5 million finished doses or ingredients to make the vaccine, while AstraZeneca and Pfizer are the two main Western suppliers who have sent 59 million doses.     Ana Ayuso, a Latin America analyst at the CIDOB think tank in Barcelona, believes the U.S. may have to use vaccine diplomacy to stem the tide of migrants who are crossing the border to be inoculated. “At present the U.S. may not be shipping many vaccines to Latin America but this may change as a way to stop people crossing into the U.S. to get the jab,” she told VOA. 
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A joyful Pope Francis greeted a group of about 300 faithful in a Vatican courtyard Wednesday as he resumed his in-person weekly general audience with members of the public for the first time in six months. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down the pope’s public audiences last year as the pandemic swept through Italy. He instead taped his weekly message in a Vatican library. He attempted to resume them again in September, only to be forced back into the library when infection rates rose in November. Pope Francis holds the weekly general audience while coronavirus disease restrictions are eased at the Vatican, May 12, 2021.The crowd of about 300 cheered as the pope stepped out of a car that drove him into San Damaso Courtyard at the Vatican. He removed his mask and smiled and waved at the social-distanced group, all of whom had their temperatures checked as they entered the area. As he made his way to the front of the courtyard, the pope greeted a baby, signed a book and put on a red knit Filipino hat given to him by an audience member. In his opening remarks, the pope told the audience how happy he was to be back, face to face, with them. “I will tell you something — it is not nice to speak in front of nothing, to a camera. It is not nice,” he said. Later in the day, he held a private audience with German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass. The 84-year-old pope has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, as have all residents of the Vatican. 
 
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Twenty-three people remain hospitalized Wednesday in the Russian city of Kazan following a school shooting that killed nine people, seven of whom were children.  The attack occurred Tuesday morning when a gunman opened fire on a school there.”We have lost seven children … four boys and three girls,” Rustam Minnikhanov, the president of the Republic of Tatarstan, told state TV, according to Reuters.Authorities have said all 23 wounded remain in stable condition and at least eight — three adults and five children — will be transferred to Moscow for further treatment.Men carry a coffin with the body of Elvira Ignatieva, a teacher who was killed in a shooting at a school on Tuesday, in Kazan, Russia, May 12, 2021.Russian officials have promised to pay 1 million rubles to each of the families of those killed and said the payments will be wired by the end of day Wednesday.Wednesday was declared a day of mourning in Tatarstan, the region where Kazan is the capital.The attacker has been identified as a 19-year-old and has been arrested. No details were given by authorities regarding a motive.Russian media has said the gunman was a former student at the school, who called himself “a god” on his Telegram messaging account and promised to “kill a large amount of biomass” on the morning of the shooting. Russian lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein said on Telegram that the suspect received a permit for a shotgun less than two weeks ago, and the school he targeted had no security besides a panic button.Attacks on schools are rare in Russia, and Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the head of the country’s National Guard to revise regulations on the types of weapons available for civilian use.  
 
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German Health Minister Jens Spahn said Wednesday the nation is prepared to roll out a digital “immunity app” to show proof of vaccination for Germans by the end of June.
 
Spahn told reporters the digital certificate is designed to allow people to more easily prove they have been vaccinated and travel to different areas and countries. He said all the standards, interfaces and “technical terms” for the certificate have been agreed to, and after regional testing is complete next month, he expects it to be ready for distribution.
 
The health minister said the goal is for the certificate to be compatible with the certification system currently being developed and debated by the European Union.
 
“If we manage to do this for the EU in the coming weeks, then we’ll likely set a global benchmark,” Spahn said, noting that no other countries have agreed to a system at the national level.
 
Tuesday, the European Parliament began discussing how the certificate could be used. While EU officials want it to allow unconditional entry to member states, some members are balking at surrendering the power to control their own borders.  
 
Spahn said the good news is that COVID-19 infection rates have been dropping for all age groups throughout the country and that vaccinations continue at a steady pace, with at least one-third of the German population having received at least one shot and about 10% fully vaccinated.
 
Speaking at the same news briefing, Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases (RKI) President Lothar Wieler told reporters that schoolchildren and young adults remain the group with the highest infection rates, with over 150 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people.
 
RKI reports that as of Tuesday, Germany’s national average infection rate was 115 per 100,000 people.
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An independent panel released a report Wednesday saying the coronavirus pandemic was a “preventable disaster,” exacerbated by a slow and weak World Health Organization (WHO) and lack of global political leadership.
The panel, formed to examine the cause of and response to the pandemic, said that while there had been years of warnings about the threat of pandemics, initial signs of the threat from clinicians in Wuhan, China were not acted on. It said coordinated, global leadership was absent, and global tensions undermined efforts by international, multilateral institutions to take cooperative action.  
The panel also concluded that the international threat warning could have been declared at least a week earlier than it was on January 30, 2020.
Close to 160 million cases have been recorded globally, along with more than 3.3 million deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center.
The independent panel faulted countries worldwide for their “wait and see” approach, rather than enacting aggressive containment strategies that might have slowed or prevented the crisis. The group also criticized restrictive international health laws that hindered the WHO’s response.
The independent panel was formed last year by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the request of the organization’s membership. Former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark led the panel.
In its final report, the panel made a series of recommendations, such as creating a global health threats council through the United Nations. It would include heads of state, giving the WHO more power and financial independence and have it work with the World Trade Organization with vaccine-producing countries and manufacturers to quickly reach deals to boost the world’s global supply of coronavirus shots.
The panel also suggested that Tedros, WHO’s current director-general, should be limited to a single seven-year term. As it stands, the WHO chief is elected to a five-year term that can be renewed once.
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Paris begins reopening next week, bringing relief to residents missing its long-shuttered shops, museums, theaters and cafes that make France’s iconic capital so special. Not to mention something more basic—easily accessible toilets. Cecile Briand ducks into a small cement building, tucked inside a northern Paris square. The toilet she’s inspecting is a bit dirty, but no nasty surprises—nothing a little tissue can’t fix. Number one advice walking this city: always bring toilet paper.  Briand is a writer and artist. Also possibly this capital’s best resource on restrooms. Her guidebook Ou Faire Pipi a Paris? — or Where to Pee in Paris — is now in its second edition.   She earned her expertise firsthand— spending hours on the streets researching a separate Lonely Planet guide on Paris walks. Discovering its hidden and not-so-hidden toilets, she says, is another way of discovering the city.Briand checks out a restroom in a small square and pronounces it “correct.” (VOA/Lisa Bryant)Some of Briand’s top picks include the 5th-floor restrooms at the Galeries Lafayette department store —over a terrace with a stunning view of the capital. There’s also the red-carpeted Drouot auction house, and Josephine Baker swimming pool on the Seine River.  Lockdown has shuttered these and many other places — like this public library we pass by.  For the desperate — and less choosy — there are always the city’s 435 sanisettes, elegant-looking steel structures that—despite their automatic cleaning— aren’t always so elegant inside.  Peeing in Paris has been problematic long before coronavirus. The city hall has long been at war against what it calls ‘wild pipi’ — mostly by men — in public spaces. Residents and tourists mocked the environmentally friendly urinals it set up a few years ago— and this public service announcement featuring actors singing through toilet seats. Meanwhile, critics recently launched an online campaign hash tagged #saccageaparis, or “trashed Paris,” blaming the municipal government, fairly or unfairly, for unkempt streets.   Pere Lachaise cemetery, the next stop on Briand’s tour, offers a respite from the controversy. It’s here Frederic Chopin, Honore de Balzac, Jim Morrison and many other famous people are buried. Equally important is its restroom in a little chalet. Visitors Elena and Rosa Marie, from the northern city of Reims, are hunting for the entrance.One of the restrooms at the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris. (VOA/Lisa Bryant)Elena says it’s very complicated spending time outside in big cities these days. Either you hold off peeing, or you stay at home.  The lockdown has brought Briand’s guide more media attention. She’s now waiting to assess its impact on the city’s toilet landscape — before working on the third edition of Where to to Pee in Paris.  
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