With tensions escalating between Russia and Ukraine, Turkey is finding itself caught in the middle. Ankara — anxious to get Russian COVID vaccines and tourist revenue — faces a difficult choice as Kyiv seeks to purchase Turkish-made military drones. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.Produced by: Henry Hernandez 
 
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Alexey Navalny, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin who has been jailed for several months, is reportedly suffering the effects of his hunger strike, according to his wife, who visited him Tuesday. Navalny, 44, began his hunger strike at the end of March in protest over what he said was a lack of medical care for severe back and leg pain. His wife said he is having a hard time speaking. “He is still as cheerful and upbeat as ever,” Yulia Navalnaya wrote in an Instagram post. “He speaks with difficulty, though, and from time to time he hangs up the phone and leans on the table to take a break. He has lost a lot of weight … and weighs 76 kg at 190 (cm).” Navalny has reportedly lost 16 kilograms (35 pounds) since his imprisonment in February.  FILE – Russian police officers guard the entrance to the penal colony N2, where Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny has been transferred to serve a two-and-a-half year prison term for violating parole, in the town of Pokrov, April 6, 2021.According to The Associated Press, Navalny’s team said authorities are threatening to force-feed him. Navalnaya said prison officials will still not let a doctor examine her husband. “I’ve never seen skin so tight around one’s skull, but I know he’s not going to give up,” she wrote. Prison staff said they offered Navalny medical treatment, but he refused it. Navalny had been moved to the prison clinic earlier this month with a bad cough and fever. On Tuesday, the Russian prisons service said a panel of doctors assessed Navalny’s health as satisfactory. They said he had been transferred out of the clinic and back to the main part of the prison on April 9, according to Reuters, which cited the RIA news agency. Also Tuesday, Navalny threatened to sue the prison for refusing to give him a copy of the Quran, AP reported. Navalny reportedly said studying the Islamic holy book was a goal of his while in prison. Navalny survived a near-fatal poisoning last year and was arrested when he returned to Moscow in January following lifesaving treatment in Germany.   He was sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison in February on an embezzlement charge and is being held at the Pokrov correctional colony, which he described as “a real concentration camp.”  The United States and other countries have sanctioned Kremlin officials over the poisoning, and many are calling for Navalny’s release.  
 
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Belarusian authorities have stopped the European news network Euronews from broadcasting inside the country amid a campaign to muzzle independent media and journalists as part of the government’s crackdown on dissent following a disputed presidential election that returned strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka to power.The Information Ministry said in a  Police officers detain a demonstrator as they prevent an opposition action to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, March 27, 2021.The demonstrators are demanding that Lukashenka leave and new elections be held, but Belarus’s strongman has been defiant. Security officials have arrested thousands and forced Tsikhanouskaya and other top opposition figures out of the country.Several protesters have been killed in the violence and some rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used against some of those detained.Meanwhile, Barys Haretski, deputy chairman of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, says the government has embarked on the largest crackdown on journalists and rights activists Europe has ever seen.”Since last summer, the authorities have systematically created, let us say, ‘a Great Wall of China’ around Belarusian society. They have repressed journalists and shut down media outlets,” said Haretski.Lukashenka, who has run Belarus since 1994, and other top officials have been slapped with sanctions by the West, which refuses to recognize him as the legitimate leader of the country.Minsk-based media expert Paulyuk Bykouski said the move to ban Euronews cuts off a main point of access to fair and unfiltered news for Belarusians, who “do not have access to such information projects as CNN, Fox News, and any other channels that could be a possible alternative to what is being broadcast by Belarusian state media and Russian television channels.”  
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Much of Europe has been forced back into lockdown amid a deadly third wave of the coronavirus. In Britain however, pubs, shops and services reopened Monday as the government hailed its vaccination program for cutting infections. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.Camera: Henry Ridgwell 
Producer: Jason Godman  
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to Brussels on Tuesday to meet with European and NATO allies on a range of issues, including Russia’s buildup of forces along the border with Ukraine and coalition operations in Afghanistan.The visit comes three weeks after Blinken was in Brussels for a summit with his counterparts from NATO member states. Blinken spoke of the priority for the United States to focus on strengthening ties with allies during the previous meeting.“Glad to be heading back to Brussels. The United States is committed to rebuilding U.S. alliances, particularly with our NATO Allies,” Blinken Tweeted on Monday. “We remain steadfast in our support for NATO as the essential forum for Transatlantic security.”Glad to be heading back to Brussels. The United States is committed to rebuilding U.S. alliances, particularly with our @NATO Allies. We remain steadfast in our support for NATO as the essential forum for Transatlantic security. #USNATOpic.twitter.com/WSVjC7tSUk— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) April 13, 2021 Blinken’s schedule Tuesday includes talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.Russia’s recent movement of troops to the border area has raised concerns in the United States and elsewhere.Blinken spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg about the situation Monday and said there was mutual agreement that “Russia must end its dangerous military buildup and ongoing aggression along Ukraine’s borders.”Stoltenberg expressed support for Ukraine as he spoke alongside Kuleba on Tuesday, saying “NATO stands with Ukraine.””Russia’s considerable military buildup is unjustified, unexplained and deeply concerning,” Stoltenberg said.  “Russia must end this military buildup in and around Ukraine, stop its provocations and deescalate immediately.”Kuleba said Ukraine “does not want war” and is “devoted to diplomatic and political means of settling the conflict.”But while highlighting the support of NATO, Kuleba also said, “Should Russia take any reckless move or start a new spiral of violence, it will be costly in all senses.”Philip Reeker, the U.S. acting assistant secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, told reporters in previewing Blinken’s meetings that NATO talks about Ukraine would bring calls for Russia to show restraint and refrain from “escalatory actions.”Joining Blinken in Brussels is U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.Another major topic of discussion will be the situation in Afghanistan just weeks before a May 1 deadline set an agreement between the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump and the Taliban for the withdrawal of the remaining 2,500 U.S. forces from the country.Reeker said those talks would be an opportunity to follow up on discussions about Afghanistan from the ministerial meetings last month. Blinken said during the March talks that the United States wanted to “listen and consult” with NATO allies, while pledging to “leave together” when the time is right.
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Ecuador will be led for the next four years by a conservative businessman after voters on Sunday rebuffed a left-leaning movement that has yielded an economic boom and then a recession since it took hold of the presidency last decade. That election certainty, however, did not extend to neighboring Peru, where the presidential contest is headed to a runoff after none of the 18 candidates obtained more than 50% of the votes.The South American nations held elections under strict public health measures amid a surging coronavirus pandemic that has brought on new lockdowns and exacerbated a general sense of fatigue. Peru, which also elected a new Congress, reported its highest single-day COVID-19 death count just as voters headed to the polls.People sleep on top of empty oxygen cylinders, waiting for a shop to open to refill their tanks, in the Villa El Salvador neighborhood, as the lack of medical oxygen to treat COVID-19 patients continues in Lima, Peru, April 6, 2021.The victory of former banker Guillermo Lasso in Ecuador came after less than half of a percentage point put him ahead of another candidate and allowed him to claim a spot in Sunday’s runoff. The result ends the country’s years under the so-called Correismo, a movement labeled after former President Rafael Correa, who governed Ecuador from 2007 through 2017, grew increasingly authoritarian in the latter years of his presidency and was sentenced to prison last year in a corruption scandal.Correa’s protégé, Andrés Arauz, easily advanced to the contest to replace President Lenín Moreno, who chose not to seek reelection. Moreno was also an ally of Correa but turned against him while in office. In the runoff, Lasso benefited from the discontent toward Correa and his allies, but he will face a strong Correista bloc in Congress.”For years, I have dreamed of the possibility of serving Ecuadorians so that the country progresses, so that we can all live better,” Lasso said Sunday night before a room full of supporters despite social distancing guidelines in the port city of Guayaquil. “Today, you have resolved that this be so.”Accompanied by his wife, María de Lourdes Alcívar, Lasso said that beginning inauguration day, May 24, he will dedicate himself “to the construction of a national project that continues to listen to everyone, because this project will be yours.”Despite his declared conservative positions on some issues, he promised to accept other points of view. He was expected to arrive to the capital city, Quito, on Monday.Elections officials have not officially declared a winner, but Arauz conceded the election Sunday, and at least one head of state has congratulated Lasso on the outcome.The pandemic paralyzed 70% of businesses in Ecuador last year and brought the country’s unemployment rate to almost 68%. The country had been in an economic slowdown that began in 2015, largely driven by the drop in oil prices.Similarly, in Peru, the world’s second-largest copper producer, the economy spiraled downward when a lockdown of more than 100 days early in the pandemic left about 7 million people unemployed. But unlike in Ecuador, Sunday’s elections did not bring any clarity about the country’s future.Eighteen presidential hopefuls turned the election into a popularity contest. But none obtained the more than 50% of support needed to avoid a June 6 runoff.Election officials on Monday said leftist Pedro Castillo had 16.3% of support with 57.4% of votes counted. He was followed by right-wing economist Hernando de Soto, ultraconservative businessman Rafael López Aliaga, and Keiko Fujimori, the opposition leader and daughter of the polarizing former President Alberto Fujimori.The crowded presidential contest came months after the country’s political chaos reached a new level in November, when three men were president in a single week after one was impeached by Congress over corruption allegations and protests forced his successor to resign in favor of the third.Simultaneously, the country has been among the hardest hit by COVID-19, with more than 1.6 million cases and more than 54,600 deaths as of Sunday, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center.Peruvian officials on Sunday said COVID-19 killed 384 people a day earlier, the highest single-day death toll of the pandemic.All former Peruvian presidents who governed since 1985 have been ensnared in corruption allegations, some imprisoned or arrested in their mansions. One died by suicide before police could arrest him.Claudia Navas, a political, social and security risk analyst with the global firm Control Risks, said Peruvians overall do not trust politicians, with corruption being a key driver of the disillusionment toward the political system. She said the new Congress will likely continue to exercise its impeachment authority to reinforce its own influence and block any initiative that threatens its own power.”Regardless of who wins, we believe that the president is somewhat unlikely to complete his or her term in office because of the populist type of stance of the Congress, and the risk of political instability is likely to persist through the administration,” Navas said.
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Rome restaurateurs and other small-business owners clashed Monday with police for the second week in a row, demanding to be allowed to open after being shut down for much of the past year. Italy has been one of the hardest-hit nations over the course of the pandemic, with more than 114,000 deaths from COVID-19. The government has closed many of its restaurants, along with other stores and markets, for varying periods for much of the past year. They had been allowed to reopen at various times, only to be told to shut again when the virus surged. But now they want to reopen for good, and at least 200 people from around Italy joined Monday’s protest in a plaza close to Montecitorio Palace, the lower house of Parliament. Many carried signs or shouted “Work!” and “Freedom!” as they faced down police in riot gear.  A demonstrator gestures as she speaks to a police officer during a protest of restaurant and small-business owners who call for their businesses to be allowed to reopen amid the coronavirus outbreak, in Rome, Italy, April 12, 2021.Scuffles broke out between police and protesters after a small group of demonstrators attempted to break through police barricades. The restrictions prohibit dining and drinking at restaurants, bars and cafes through at least April in most regions, with only takeout or delivery services permitted. The government has allocated millions in aid to business sectors particularly hit hard by pandemic restrictions. While initial lockdowns to control the virus were widely accepted, business owners took to the streets after learning about the current shutdown extension.  
 
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A volcano on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent fired a large amount of ash and hot gas into the air early Monday, making it the biggest explosive eruption since volcanic activity began last week. 
“It’s destroying everything in its path,” Erouscilla Joseph, director of the University of the West Indies’ Seismic Research Center, told The Associated Press.
 
There were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths following Monday’s eruption of  La Soufriere volcano.
 
Experts are now warning further explosions will occur in the coming days.
 
“Explosions and accompanying ash fall of similar or larger magnitude are likely to continue to occur over the next few days, impacting St. Vincent and neighboring islands,” the Seismic Research Center warned.
 
An estimated 16,000 people who live close to the volcano were evacuated under government orders on Thursday as the volcano’s first eruption occurred Friday morning.
 
Heavy ashfall and debris have damaged some buildings, and residents reported widespread power outages on Sunday.
 
An unknown number of people are still located near the volcano as they refuse to move.
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Princes William and Harry paid tribute Monday to their grandfather, Prince Philip, remembering his wit, sense of duty and barbecue skills.
The brothers, who are at the center of a royal family rift, issued separate statements about Philip, who died last week at 99.
William, who is second in line to the throne, pledged “to get on with the job” of serving Queen Elizabeth II as he and his brother became the latest family members to honor Philip’s service to the nation and the monarch.
“My grandfather was an extraordinary man and part of an extraordinary generation,” William said in a statement. “Catherine and I will continue to do what he would have wanted and will support The Queen in the years ahead. I will miss my Grandpa, but I know he would want us to get on with the job.”
Prince Harry, who stepped away from royal duties last year and now lives in California, has arrived in the U.K. to attend Philip’s funeral service Saturday at Windsor Castle. His wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, is pregnant and was advised by her doctor not to make the long  journey.
Harry’s office also issued a statement Monday, describing Philip as a man who was “authentically himself.”
“He will be remembered as the longest reigning consort to the Monarch, a decorated serviceman, a Prince and a Duke,” Harry said. “But to me, like many of you who have lost a loved one or grandparent over the pain of this past year, he was my grandpa: master of the barbecue, legend of banter, and cheeky right ’til the end.”
William and his wife released a picture of Philip sitting in a carriage with his great-grandson, Prince George, their oldest child. Philip has the reins.”My grandfather was an extraordinary man and part of an extraordinary generation.”A message from The Duke of Cambridge following the death of The Duke of Edinburgh: https://t.co/lVCSPrG7uGpic.twitter.com/atiB8djxPO— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) April 12, 2021Philip’s royal ceremonial funeral at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle will be a slimmed-down service due the COVID-19 pandemic and will be closed to the public.
Philip, the queen’s husband of 73 years who was also known as the Duke of Edinburgh, took part in planning his own funeral and its focus on family was in accordance with his wishes.  
As preparations for the service continue, tributes to Philip are pouring in. In the House of Commons, which was recalled early from its Easter recess because of the prince’s death, lawmakers offered their condolences.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Philip “shaped and protected the monarchy through all the vicissitudes” of the past seven decades.  
“He gives us all a model of selflessness and of putting others before ourselves,” Johnson said. “He made this country a better place.”
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The executive committee of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party backed chairman Armin Laschet on Monday as candidate for the next leader.Merkel is not seeking a fifth term, after leading Germany for 16 years.Laschet, 60, declared Sunday that he was prepared to run for chancellor in the national elections to be held in September.Markus Soeder, 54, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU) of Bavaria, the sister party in Merkel’s governing coalition, also expressed his willingness to run for the post Sunday but said he would settle the issue amicably with Laschet.Laschet, who is currently the prime minister of Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, was elected as CDU leader in January. As a centrist politician, he is widely seen as a candidate who would continue Merkel’s legacy, although he has clashed with her over coronavirus restrictions.Soeder, an astute political operator, strongly supported Merkel during the pandemic; however, no CSU leader has become chancellor before.CDU runs in 15 of Germany’s 16 states, while the CSU runs only in Bavaria, which reports say is likely to be the decisive factor for Laschet to emerge as the candidate of CDU/CSU for the job of chancellor during the federal election. 
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The appointment of an award-winning journalist to lead the Office of Cuba Broadcasting was criticized this week by a U.S. lawmaker who suggested she does not have a strong enough track record of promoting liberty for Cuban citizens. The U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees the OCB and other independent networks including Voice of America, announced Wednesday that veteran media and communications executive Sylvia Rosabal will be the director of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting.  Rosabal is the latest network head to be hired by Kelu Chao, a former VOA executive who took over as acting chief executive when former CEO and Trump nominee Michael Pack resigned hours after President Joe Biden took office.  Chao was a whistleblower named in a court case brought against Pack and his aides that claimed editorial interference at the news network.   Rosabal, a former senior vice president of the news division at Telemundo Network, has won numerous awards during her 30-year career at Spanish-language networks in the U.S., including an Edward R. Murrow award for journalistic excellence. She also worked on media logistics for the 2020 Democratic National Convention Committee. The longtime South Florida resident was born in Puerto Rico to Cuban parents.  Rosabal will fill the director position at the Office for Cuba Broadcasting that has been vacant since Jeffrey Scott Shapiro resigned in late January, shortly before Chao fired the other USAGM network heads who were installed by Pack in his last weeks as CEO. Pack’s leadership drew bipartisan criticism from members of Congress, including Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Bob Menendez and others who said his moves undermined the agency’s editorial independence.   FILE – Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, talks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 12, 2018.In a statement Wednesday, Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, said he did not believe Rosabal “is the right person to lead the OCB.” Menendez said the office should be led by someone “with a track record of staunchly promoting liberty for all Cuban citizens.” The USAGM’s Office of Cuba Broadcasting is headquartered in Miami, Florida, where it oversees Radio and Television Marti, martinoticias.com, and its social media platforms.   Radio and Television Marti provides unbiased news and information via satellite television and radio to people in Cuba, who have limited access to independent news.  This week a bipartisan group of Florida lawmakers wrote to the Biden administration asking it to increase the Office of Cuba Broadcasting’s budget to $30 million next year. OCB’s budget in 2020 was $12.9 million.   Cuba ranks 171st out of 180 countries, where 1 is the most free, in the World Press Freedom Index compiled by media watchdog Reporters Without Borders. Menendez, whose Cuban parents immigrated to the United States before he was born, said he respected Rosabal’s journalistic credentials but that he planned to seek information on how the new director plans to promote “the principles of a free press and of free speech in Cuba.”    “I am concerned that she is of the view of accommodation with the Cuban regime rather than of challenging its human rights violations and denial of democratic freedoms to its people,” Menendez said.  USAGM has not responded to VOA’s questions about Menendez’s criticisms. Rosabal is the final network director to be named by Chao during a 90-day window Congress included in the December COVID-19 relief bill that gave the head of USAGM power to make hiring and firing decisions.  New provisions included in the National Defense Authorization Act will now come into effect that contain more restrictions on the appointments of network heads.
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Two US warships are expected to arrive in the Black Sea this week as a demonstration of the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine as fears mount that Russian President Vladimir Putin is contemplating an assault on his neighbor.The Kremlin is overseeing the largest movement of Russian troops, tanks and missiles along the Ukrainian border since the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, according to Ukrainian and US officials. Russia has conducted at least three military training exercises adjacent to the Ukrainian border since mid-March.Last week, President Joe Biden made his first phone call to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy since entering the White House and, according to a White House statement, “affirmed the United States’ unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression in the Donbas and Crimea.”The dispatch of warships to the Black Sea is meant to underline Biden’s affirmation.An Ukrainian serviceman walks in a trench as he stands at his post on the frontline with Russia backed separatists near the town of Zolote, in the Lugansk region on April 8, 2021.Fighting between Ukrainians and Russian-backed rebels in Ukraine’s Donbas region has been intensifying since the end of January, and senior Kremlin official Dmitry Kozak, who has blamed Ukraine for the clashes, has issued an ominous warning that a full-scale conflict would likely mean “the beginning of the end” for Ukraine, a statement viewed in Kyiv and Western capitals as a threat.Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin chief spokesperson, has not disputed a military build-up is taking place, but he told reporters in Moscow that Russia “moves its armed forces around its territory at its discretion.” Ukrainian President Zelenskiy visited the Donbas frontlines last week and bewailed the “big escalation.”Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visits positions of armed forces near the frontline with Russian-backed separatists during his working trip in Donbass region, Ukraine April 8, 2021.Since his surprise election in 2019 to the presidency in Kyiv, Zelenskiy has been urging for a new round of peace talks involving other Western leaders. Shortly after his landslide election victory he appealed to Putin directly, saying in a video, “We need to talk? We do. Let’s do it.” Later that year, the Kremlin and Kyiv agreed a prisoner swap, sparking hopes a peace deal might be in the offing, one that would halt the seven-year conflict between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists backed by Russian forces.Some Zelenskiy critics feared his search for peace would end up creating a permanent Russian enclave in Ukraine’s most easterly provinces, Donetsk and Luhansk. But Zelenskiy hasn’t budged on the issue of Ukrainian sovereignty over the Donbas, and has refused to accept, what he says, is a Russian charade when it comes to who controls and directs the pro-Moscow separatists.Some observers hazard that recent Russian moves are an indication of Russian frustration with Zelenskiy, who has also been targeting Kremlin allies in Ukraine, including politician, tycoon and TV mogul Viktor Medvedchuk, a personal friend of the Russian leader. Medvedchuk, along with his wife, have been accused of channeling funds from a Russia-based oil facility to the so-called breakaway republics in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities have placed a freeze on his assets.Biden Affirms US ‘Unwavering Support’ for Ukraine in CallAffirmation came in a call with the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the White House saidWhat is alarming some Western diplomats and analysts is the fiery language being used by Kremlin officials along with the nature of the coverage of the crisis by Kremlin-controlled Russian media outlets. They are reporting Kyiv is planning an offensive on the Donbas and have been highlighting comments by Kozak, deputy chief of staff of the presidential administration, suggesting Ukraine may be plotting ethnic cleansing in the Donbas.Peskov, President Putin’s spokesman, said Friday the Kremlin fears a resumption of full-scale fighting in eastern Ukraine and would be ready to take steps to protect Russian civilians in the Donbas. Ukraine’s military chief dismissed the Russian claims that his country’s armed forces are preparing to launch an attack on the breakaway east, and, along with other Ukrainian officials, accuses the Kremlin of looking for a pretext to mount an offensive.“Everything suggests that Russia is preparing for a military incursion into Ukraine,” tweeted Sunday Anders Aslund, author of the book Russia’s Crony Capitalism. “Putin always keeps his options open, but both the military moves & the Kremlin propaganda indicate that Russian military aggression is near,” he added.But other analysts and diplomats caution that the Kremlin is whipping up a frenzy over the Donbas more for domestic reasons than international ones and that Putin is looking to distract Russians from the ongoing agitation for the release from jail of firebrand opposition figure Alexey Navalny, whose health is reported to have worsened in prison.They say the military buildup may be part of an electoral strategy ahead of parliamentary elections in Russia September. Putin’s approval ratings are falling, and his United Russia political party seems destined for setbacks in the polls. Shaping an emergency short of a full-scale war could boost the prospects of United Russia, allowing the party to benefit from a wave of patriotism, they say.Taras Kuzio, an academic at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, doesn’t believe the Kremlin is preparing Russia to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine “because that would lead to a long war and the complete breakdown of Russia’s relations with the West.”Although he doesn’t discount the Kremlin may want a brief but limited clash and has suggested the Kremlin may be thinking of repeating what happened in 2008 in Georgia when then Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili fell into a trap and responded to provocations from South Ossetia, another separatist region, and intervened, prompting a Russian intervention.
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Ecuadorians elected conservative former banker Guillermo Lasso in Sunday’s runoff election to replace President Lenin Moreno and will begin his term on May 24.  Lasso, 65, garnered 52.5% of the vote versus 47.5% that went for economist Andres Arauz, who conceded.In his victory speech in Ecuador’s capital Quito, Lasso said democracy in the country had triumphed. Ecuadorians used “their right to choose and have chosen a new path that is very different from the one of the last 14 years in Ecuador,” he said.With a conciliatory tone very different from the combative one on the campaign trial, Arauz congratulated Lasso saying “this is an electoral setback, but in no way it is a political or moral defeat because our project is for life.”Arauz, 36, from the Union of Hope coalition and a protégé of former President Rafael Correa, was leading Lasso in the first round of voting in February.Lasso of the Creating Opportunities center-right political movement and third-time presidential candidate had finished second twice before, to Correa in 2013 and Moreno in 2017.As a procedural matter, Ecuador’s Electoral Council has to declare the official winner. 
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Confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths remain high in Brazil as the country’s campaign to vaccinate against the disease stumbles.
 
According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, Brazil recorded more than 70,000 new cases of the virus in the past day.
 
Its seven-day rolling average has risen to 2,820 deaths, or about one-fourth of the world’s average deaths for the same period, according to Johns Hopkins. At more than 353,000 total deaths, Brazil has the second highest toll from the pandemic, behind only the United States, which has more than 562,000.
 
Less than 3% of the South American nation’s population has been fully vaccinated. The U.S. has fully vaccinated more than 20% of its population, according to Johns Hopkins.
 
ICU wards in cities within Rio de Janeiro’s metropolitan area are reportedly nearly full, with many patients sharing space and oxygen bottles.Nurses hold balloons during a protest asking for COVID-19 vaccines, in Brasilia, Brazil, April 7, 2021.“Will we have the medicines, the oxygen, the conditions to care for this patient accordingly? Today we do. But, if cases keep growing, sometime we will fight chaos,” hospital director Altair Soares Neto told the Associated Press.
 
Brazil’s vaccination campaign has been slow because of supply issues. The country’s two biggest laboratories face supply constraints.  
 
The nation’s health ministry bet on a single vaccine, the AstraZeneca shot, and after supply problems surfaced, bought only one backup, the Chinese-manufactured CoronaVac.
 
The vaccine situation in Brazil is an example of poor planning in a country with experience with large, successful vaccination programs, said a former health official.
 
“The big problem is that Brazil did not look for alternatives when it had the chance,” said Claudio Maierovitch, former head of Brazil’s health regulator.
 
China said it is considering using vaccines developed in other countries in conjunction with vaccines developed in China to boost the efficacy of China’s vaccines.
 
A top Chinese health expert recently told a conference that public health officials must “consider ways to solve the issue that efficacy rates of existing vaccines are not high,” citing Gao Fu, the head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, according to The Paper, a Chinese media outlet, Agence France-Presse reported.People stand in a queue to get tested for the coronavirus, in Ahmedabad, India, April 9, 2021.India reported 10,732 new COVID-19 cases Sunday in the previous 24-hour period. It trails the U.S. and Brazil in the number of coronavirus infections at 13.3 million cases. The U.S. has 31.1 million infections, while Brazil had 13.4 million.
 
The unsanitary conditions of America’s prisons, jails and detention centers have become a breeding ground for the spread of the coronavirus. More than 2,700 inmates have died in the facilities since March 2020, while more than 525,000 of them have been infected, according to data compiled by The New York Times. “So, we’re basically just sitting back and biding our time until we get sick,” an inmate said in an email to the Times.  
 
Several nations have issued new guidelines over the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine after the European Union’s medical regulator announced a link between the vaccine and blood clots.
 
AstraZeneca is at odds with a number of European countries because the company has shipped fewer doses of the vaccine than indicated to the EU in an initial agreement.
 
Britain, where the vaccine was developed jointly by the British-Swedish drug maker and scientists at the University of Oxford, said it will offer alternatives for adults younger than 30. Oxford researchers have also suspended a clinical trial of the AstraZeneca vaccine involving young children and teenagers as British drug regulators conduct a safety review of the two-shot regimen.
 
Spain and the Philippines will limit the vaccine to people older than 60, Reuters reported, while The Washington Post reported Italy has issued similar guidelines.
 
The European Medicines Agency recently said blood clots should be listed as a very rare side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but continued to emphasize that its overall benefits outweigh any risks.
 
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Seven Catholic clergy, including two French citizens, were kidnapped Sunday in Haiti, said the spokesman of the Bishop’s Conference for the island nation, which has been rocked by unrest.Five priests and two nuns were abducted in the morning in Croix-des-Bouquets, a commune east of the capital, Port-au-Prince, Father Loudger Mazile told AFP. They were “on their way to the installation of a new parish priest,” he added.The kidnappers had demanded a $1 million ransom for the group, which includes one French priest and one French nun, he added.Haitian authorities suspect an armed gang called “400 Mawozo,” which is active in kidnappings, is behind the abduction, according to a police source.The French embassy in Haiti did not respond to AFP’s request for comment.Kidnappings for ransom have surged in recent months in Port-au-Prince and other provinces, reflecting the growing influence of armed gangs in the Caribbean nation.”This is too much. The time has come for these inhuman acts to stop,” Bishop Pierre-Andre Dumas of the Haitian commune Miragoane told AFP.”The church prays and stands in solidarity with all the victims of this heinous act,” he said.In March, the Haitian government declared a month-long state of emergency to restore state authority in gang-controlled areas, including in the capital.The measure was motivated by the actions of armed gangs who “kidnap people for ransom, openly declaring it, steal and loot public and private property, and openly confront the public security forces,” according to the presidential decree. 
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U.S. recession drama “Nomadland,” about a community of van dwellers, was the big winner at Britain’s BAFTA awards on Sunday, scooping best film and prizes for its Chinese-born director Chloe Zhao and leading actress Frances McDormand.The British Academy of Film and Television Arts ceremony was held virtually over two nights, with nominees joining in by video, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.However, film stars Hugh Grant and Priyanka Chopra Jonas appeared in person at London’s Royal Albert Hall while Renee Zellweger and Anna Kendrick joined from a Los Angeles studio to present the awards.”Nomadland,” which has already picked up prizes this awards season, stars 63-year-old McDormand as a widow, who in the wake of the U.S. economic recession, turns her van into a mobile home and sets out on the road, taking on seasonal jobs along the way.”We would like to dedicate this award to the nomadic community who so generously welcomed us into their lives,” Zhao, who won the director category, said in her acceptance speech.”Thank you for showing us that aging is a beautiful part of life, a journey that we should all cherish and celebrate. How we treat our elders says a lot about who we are as a society and we need to do better.””Nomadland” also won for cinematography.Outstanding British film went to #MeToo revenge movie “Promising Young Woman,” which also won original screenplay.The academy also paid tribute to Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth’s husband, who died on Friday, at age 99. Philip was named BAFTA’s first president in 1959. His grandson Prince William is BAFTA’s current president.Following an outcry last year when BAFTA presented an all-white acting contenders list, more than half of this year’s 24 nominees were actors of color.Film veteran Anthony Hopkins won the leading actor category for portraying a man with dementia in “The Father.””I’m at a time in my life where I never expected to get this,” the 83-year-old told reporters of the award, adding his age had made making the movie “easy.”Youn Yuh-jung won supporting actress for “Minari,” in which she plays a grandmother who travels from South Korea to the United States to look after her grandchildren.The 73-year-old, who has won a Screen Actors Guild award and has been nominated for an Oscar for her performance, drew laughs in her acceptance speech when she jokingly said it was particularly meaningful to be recognized by “British people, known as very snobbish people.”Daniel Kaluuya, who has swept this awards season for his portrayal of late Black Panther activist Fred Hampton in “Judas and the Black Messiah,” won supporting actor.”Brokeback Mountain” and “Life of Pi” director Ang Lee received the BAFTA Fellowship, the academy’s top honor, for his contribution to film.
 
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Much of the Caribbean island of St. Vincent remained without power and covered in ash Sunday as another “explosive event” occurred at La Soufriere volcano.
 
The volcano initially erupted on Friday, its first time since 1979, spurring evacuations as well as warnings to people on neighboring islands to stay indoors to avoid ashfall.  
 
About 16,000 people have fled their communities, but there have been no reports of deaths or injuries, according to the Associated Press. People took refuge in 78 government-run shelters and four empty cruise ships stood by to evacuate residents to nearby islands, the AP said.   
 
Scientists anticipate that more eruptions are likely to occur. St. Vincent is the main island in the 32-island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  
 
The island’s National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) said Sunday that “another explosive event” had led to power outages across the island.Massive power outage following another explosive event at La Soufriere Volcano. Lightning, thunder and rumblings. Majority of the country out of power and covered in ash #lasoufriereeruption2021#explosion # rumblings #poweroutage #— NEMO SVG (@NEMOSVG) April 11, 2021But some residents said power was restored by the early afternoon, Reuters reported.
 
Finance Minister Camillo Gonsalves estimated Sunday that as many as 20,000 people could be internally displaced for months as the volcano activity continues intermittently, according to Reuters.
 
“Most crops on the island will be lost, and untold livestock,” he said.
 
Elford Lewis, 56, evacuated Sunday morning. He witnessed La Soufriere’s last big eruption in 1979.
“This one is more serious,” Lewis told the AP.
An eruption of the 1,220-meter (4,003-foot) volcano in 1902 killed roughly 1,600 people.
 
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Greece has lashed out at Turkey for alleging that the government in Athens is aiding and abetting what Ankara sees as Kurdish terrorists. But the accusation, contained in a newly released video, comes after reports in Greece that Turkey has granted citizenship to Islamic State militants. The fresh accusations traded by the two NATO allies may threaten ongoing negotiations to ease long-standing differences that nearly sparked a war between them last year.
 
It is not the first time Turkey has made such accusations against Greece.  
 
“One country that stands out as a haven for the PKK is our neighbor and NATO ally, Greece,” says a voice in the video. The PKK is the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has been waging a decades-long insurgency inside southeastern Turkey and is considered a terrorist organization by Ankara.
 
Yet in rebuffing the claim, calling it “mythical” and “propaganda,” the foreign ministry in Athens questioned the timing of the video’s release by the chief communications adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 
The video comes days after reports in Greece accused Ankara of granting citizenship to a number of IS militants – a move that raises serious concerns about Turkey’s border controls with Syria. The interior and finance ministries have seized the assets of eight people suspected of having links to the terror group.  
The video comes days before Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias goes to Ankara to meet with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, to thrash out long-standing differences between the two neighbors. 
It won’t be an easy round of talks, says analyst Manolis Kostidis. He also says the Turkish side will raise several issues and it’s highly unlikely that even if the talks do go well, that Greece can start speaking of improved relations between the age-old foes.
Greece and Turkey have been at odds for decades over sea and air rights in the Aegean Sea that divides them. In the past year, relations have deteriorated over oil and gas drilling rights in the eastern Mediterranean – a standoff that nearly brought the two NATO allies to the brink of war. 
Since then, senior European Union officials and the United States have intervened, bringing the two sides to a negotiating table to sort out differences. 
Two rounds of exploratory talks have so far made little progress and the coming discussions between the Greek and Turkish ministers are being seen as an attempt to salvage the process altogether. 
But with both sides trading accusations anew, analysts like Apostolos Maggiriadis, say they fear negotiations may be derailed.
The feeling among diplomats in Athens, he says, is that there is a concerted attempt by Turkey’s deep state to torpedo these talks. But Greece, he says, does not want to appear as the side abandoning the process and it will keep to its pledge of sending its foreign minister to Turkey.  
Athens has suggested taking bilateral differences to the International Court of Justice in The Hague if negotiations with Ankara fail to produce a diplomatic breakthrough.
The talks are scheduled to begin Wednesday.
 
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Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has ordered an urgent investigation into the assassination of one of the country’s top crime reporters. Greek media have long been targeted by far-left organizations and anarchists in a show of violent defiance to what they call links between them and the nation’s political and financial establishment. However,  journalist killings are rare in Greece and if it is established that the reporter was gunned down for carrying out his duties, it will be the first such case in Europe in years.Citizens’ Protection Minister Michalis Chrisochoidis left a marathon meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, saying he was determined to hunt down the killers of Giorgos Karaivaz.He called the assassination an abhorrent crime but said he is convinced authorities will soon find those responsible, and hand them over to justice to be dealt with.The race is on… and the stakes are high.Karaivaz was gunned down by a pair of masked men who pumped ten bullets into the crime reporter’s head, neck and left palm, leaving him dead in a pool of blood outside his home, in the balmy residential suburb of Alimos, south of Athens.Locals like Elias, a municipal gardener who refused to give his last name for fear of reprisals, said he saw the gunmen and was stunned by how calculating and calmly they conducted themselves.The actual gunshot(s) were not heard because they used a silencer, he said. The killers both came in on a motorbike, gunned down Karaivaz and left calmly, as if nothing had happened.Authorities say they are now putting together pieces of the mystery, trying to identify the assailants from surveillance cameras, burner phones and a string of forensic evidence that has so far been compiled.They believe Karaivaz had been tracked for days before gunmen committed the deadly shooting Friday, in broad daylight.Senior police officials told VOA they suspect the killing is linked to organized crime and a group called Mafia Greece, known for hiring foreign shooters to sort out differences in the underworld here.Eleftherios Economou, the deputy  citizens’ protection minister explains.There is no doubt, he said, that they are dealing with contract killers. This is a methodology, he said, authorities have seen in at least 19 similar style murders in the last three years here and this may make solving the case, so much more difficult.A woman reads newspapers headlines of the killing of a Greek journalist in Athens, April 10, 2021.Either way, experts say, the motive behind the Karaivaz killing remains unclear.If confirmed as related to the journalist’s work, then it will be the first assassination of a journalist in the European Union since the 2018 murder of investigative reporter Jan Kuciak in Slovakia.Karaivaz was a contributor to the Eleftheros Typos newspaper, and he founded the news website bloko.gr, which reported on crime.Leading officials across the European Union have issued sympathy statements, supporting free speech while urging the government and the authorities in Athens to hunt down the assailants.The U.S. Embassy in Athens said it would help any effort to defend the sacred right of free speech.Greek media offices and journalists are frequently targeted by far-left anarchists who routinely strike them in what they claim are attacks against the establishment.Nevertheless, journalist killings are rare here, raising concerns that freedom of speech in the country that gave birth to democracy may now be in serious peril. 
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Bavarian premier Markus Soeder put himself forward on Sunday to run as the conservative candidate for German chancellor in a September election and said he would settle the question soon and amicably with his rival, the Christian Democrat (CDU) chief.  Pressure is mounting for a swift decision on whether Soeder, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), or the CDU’s Armin Laschet should stand for the two-party bloc in the Sept. 26 election, making them the candidate to succeed Angela Merkel.  “Markus Soeder and I had a long conversation before today. We declared our willingness to run for the chancellorship,” CDU leader Armin Laschet told a joint news conference.  Laschet lags Soeder in opinion polls but, as leader of the larger CDU, effectively has first refusal and enjoys the support of some powerful state premiers.  With September elections nearing, conservatives are pressing for a decision on the candidacy to end speculation which is highlighting divisions.  Laschet said the next step would come on Monday with CDU and CSU committee meetings but he gave no time for the decision.  “We want to win this election in the autumn – that is the main aim. And we are now thinking about the best formation,” said Soeder.  “There is a great expectation that a joint solution will be reached sooner rather than later,” said Soeder, stressing that the two rivals had agreed to show each other respect.  Conservatives nervous without Merkel   Laschet, 60, is a centrist widely seen as a candidate who would continue Merkel’s legacy, but he has clashed with her over coronavirus restrictions. Premier of Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, his chaotic handling of the crisis has undermined his popularity.  Soeder, 54, is an astute political operator who has sided with Merkel during the pandemic. No CSU leader has become German chancellor.  Many conservatives are nervous about contesting the Sept. 26 federal election without Merkel, who has led them to four victories. She has ruled out standing for a fifth term and has not explicitly backed either candidate although she has hinted that she would back the CDU leader.  The conservative bloc has slipped to about 27% in polls, partly due to an increasingly chaotic management of the pandemic. In the 2017 election, it won almost 33%.  The Social Democrats have nominated Finance Minister Olaf Scholz as their candidate for chancellor, while the Greens plan to announce their nomination on April 19. 
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Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh and a delegation of ministers will make their first visit to Turkey on Monday since taking office last month, the Turkish presidency said on Sunday.  Libya’s new unity government was sworn in on March 15 from two warring administrations that had ruled eastern and western regions, completing a smooth transition of power after a decade of violent chaos.  Turkey had backed the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) against the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA), which was supported by Russia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and France.  Turkey’s presidency said Dbeibeh will hold a two-day visit upon President Tayyip Erdogan’s invitation, adding that he and Erdogan would chair the first meeting of the Turkey-Libya High Level Strategic Cooperation Council in Ankara.  “At the Council Meeting to be held with the participation of relevant ministers, all aspects of Turkey-Libya relations, which have deeply-rooted, historic ties, will be discussed, steps that can be taken to further improve cooperation will be evaluated,” it said.  Turkish state media reported that Dbeibeh would visit Ankara with a team including 14 ministers, five deputy prime ministers, the chief of staff and other officials. It added cooperation on energy and health would be discussed, along with the resumption of projects by Turkish companies that were stopped over the war.  Turkey has said that Turkish firms would take an active role in rebuilding the war-torn country.  In 2019, Ankara signed a maritime demarcation agreement with the GNA in the eastern Mediterranean, and a military cooperation accord under which Turkey sent military advisers and trainers to Tripoli. Ankara also sent Syrian fighters to help the GNA block an LNA offensive on Tripoli last year.  Greece, which opposes the maritime agreement between Tripoli and Ankara, called for the accord to be cancelled on Tuesday, as it reopened its embassy in Libya after seven years.  Dbeibeh, selected through a United Nations-led process, has said economic deals between the GNA and Turkey should remain.  Turkey, Egypt and the UAE have each welcomed the appointment of the new government, as have the United States and European Union. However, foreign powers that backed each side have not pulled out fighters or arms.  Libya’s new presidency council visited Turkey last month for talks with Erdogan. 
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