Inmates at a prison in central Bolivia staged a rooftop protest Monday, demanding medical services after the deaths of three inmates, including one suspected of having the novel coronavirus. Inmates held up banners calling attention to their plight, including one banner that read, “We want COVID-19 tests.”   A relative of one of the inmates complained that there are no doctors and no medicine.  She said the inmates are dying inside the facility. She implored that authorities cannot let them die, that we are all human beings and we cannot allow the authorities to do this.Inmates protest on the roof of a San Sebastian prison, asking for better medical attention amid the pandemic and to be given the results from previously administered COVID-19 tests, in Cochabamba, Bolivia, July 27, 2020.One inmate said authorities are aware of the deaths of inmates and police. But until today they have not received information about the deaths of other inmates. The demonstrators heightened concerns over their health follows the suspected coronavirus deaths of 23 people in the San Pedro jail in the capital, La Paz.   Officials are reportedly awaiting tests to see if those who died in the La Paz jail were infected with COVID-19. So far, Bolivia has confirmed more than 71,000 coronavirus cases and more than 2,600 deaths. 
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The advert on an elevator door at Washington’s Dulles airport read: “Say Hi And Smile At Your Fellow Travelers. It’s Good for Everyone.” That’s easier said than done when you are wearing a mask – and there are no other travelers in sight! I am used to flying a lot. Because of work, sometimes several times a month. I am seldom anxious. There have been the odd anxiety-inducing trips, mainly into war-torn countries. A flight on a wave-hopping small turboprop from Malta into Libya’s Tripoli wasn’t much fun. But I can confide that I was unusually anxious last week taking a flight to London. In fact, the flight turned out to be one of the smoothest transatlantic trips I have taken in 40 years — mainly thanks to the lack of ‘fellow travelers.’ The normally bustling Dulles airport was empty. There were just three other international flights departing the airport on the night I flew out. There were only four other people checking in at the same time as me. Security was a breeze. The normally bustling Dulles Airport was forlorn. “There were just three other international flights departing the airport on the night I flew out.” (Jamie Dettmer/VOA)But there was something forlorn about the airport. Only two small stores were open. The lounges were shuttered. And the few other passengers around were keen to steer very clear of each other. I didn’t have to worry about space between me and others on the Airbus — there were only 30 to 40 passengers on the no-frills flight. Oh, the joy of being able to stretch out. Shouting over masks“We were shouted at for wearing masks. This is why the situation in the U.S. is so dire,” Alex Crawford of Britain’s Sky News explained in a recent broadcast. British broadcasters have been reporting obsessively on the resistance to wearing masks in America. The BBC asked in a recent report: “Why is there a U.S. backlash to masks?” “Many protesters across the States have been pictured defying social distancing guidance without masks or face coverings,” reported Ritu Prasad. “This is in marked contrast to other countries,” she added. And would those counties include Britain — or, to be more precise, England, where Sky News and the BBC are headquartered? Not at all, as I discovered, after arriving in London last week. I had been expecting, when I left Heathrow Airport, to see a masked England. But masks were less in evidence than in the United States. I’d flown from West Virginia, a state not noted for a warm embrace of face-coverings. The governor, Jim Justice, only recently made masks compulsory for shoppers. But even before the gubernatorial instruction, I’d estimate around 70 percent used their own initiative and covered up. Most local stores long ago asked customers to wear masks. But at a large Sainsbury’s supermarket in an affluent suburb of Britain’s capital, only a handful of shoppers had face-coverings. And just one store assistant who might as well not have bothered, since she was only half-covering her mouth and her nose not all.  On Friday, mask-wearing for shoppers became mandatory in England’s stores; Scotland ordered everyone to cover up weeks ago. Whether the English do observe the mask rule will be interesting to watch. Supermarket chains Sainsbury’s and Asda have announced they won’t enforce the rule — and police forces say they have insufficient manpower. Not much different from US A recent report by London University’s Imperial College and the YouGov pollsters noted: “Britons are uniquely reluctant to wear face masks, given the level of fear around COVID-19 and the number of cases in the country.” They found just 37 percent of people were wearing masks before the mask order came into effect. I asked a Sainsbury’s employee on the eve of the new rule whether she planned to wear a mask. “I am not sure. Anyway I can’t,” she said. “Why not?” I asked. “Cos I don’t like them,” she replied. On Saturday, after the rule came into effect, the locals appeared to be observing the mask rule in the picture-postcard Berkshire village of Cookham, along the River Thames. “We are a well-behaved lot around here,” said Sandy, a barista at Mr. Cooper’s Coffee House. But she told me she’d seen earlier voluble disagreements about wearing masks outside a Tesco supermarket in Maidenhead, a nearby town. Mask-wearing has also divided Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s cabinet. And that has not helped to get the message across that face-coverings can prevent transmission of the coronavirus, as a series of studies have shown. For those interested, some links here:This stretch of the Thames was described by Jerome K. Jerome, a nineteenth century English writer, as “the sweetest stretch of all the river.” (Jamie Dettmer/VOA)Hardly surprisingly, people are escaping to the countryside as well as flocking to England’s rivers, trying to leave the coronavirus muddle behind them.The Thames flows by Cookham and Maidenhead. Jerome K. Jerome, a 19th century English writer, described this part of the Thames as “the sweetest stretch of all the river.” In his book “Three Men in a Boat,” a sentimental account of a two-week boating trip with friends, the author complains, though, that, “as a rule on the river, the wind is always dead against you whatever way you go.” “It is against you in the morning, when you start for a day’s trip, and you pull a long distance, thinking how easy it will be to come back with the sail. Then, after tea, the wind veers round, and you have to pull hard in its teeth all the way home.” That could serve as a metaphor for the coronavirus pandemic. But then, as Jerome adds: “This world is only a probation, and man was born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.”  
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Austria’s tourism industry received a blow after 53 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed since last week in the popular resort town of St. Wolfgang. The lakeside resort shortened bar opening hours after a coronavirus outbreak was detected on Friday. The local tourism office said at least 50 of those new cases were seasonal workers from abroad in the hospitality industry. In an interview Monday, Health Minister Christine Haberlander said more than 1,000 additional COVID-19 tests were conducted by the Austrian authorities in St. Wolfgang. The provincial government said guests who stayed in town from July 15 will be informed about the outbreak. Tourism officials say news of the outbreak already caused many to cancel hotel reservations over the weekend. Two of the hotels there have closed. Many of the town’s businesses reportedly are worried that visitors will stay away for the rest of the season. St. Wolfgang, situated on Wolfgangsee Lake, one of Austria’s best-known lakes, was once a favorite vacation spot of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl.  Austria’s coronavirus outbreak has been relatively limited compared to other Western European countries. It has recorded 20,510 cases and 713 deaths, though infections have accelerated in the past month. 
 
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A Brooklyn man who told French police investigators that he killed his wife by stabbing her twice during an argument has been charged with her murder, a prosecutor said Monday. The French-American, identified in French media reports as Billy Kruger, told investigators that he acted in self-defense, Marie-Agnès Joly, a prosecutor in the southwest city of Narbonne, told The Associated Press. Kruger was placed under formal investigation Sunday on a preliminary charge of aggravated murder and ordered held in jail, pending a possible trial. The body of his wife, 52-year-old Laure Bardina-Kruger, was found Friday in Peyriac-de-Mer, on the Mediterranean coast, south of Narbonne. The couple lived in Jakarta, Indonesia, where he is a diving instructor and she worked as a teacher, Joly said. The couple had a holiday home in Peyriac-de-Mer, and police found the wife’s body hidden in the storm drain nearby. The husband was detained Friday as he was preparing to fly from Toulouse, bound for Jakarta, the prosecutor said. The couple had been expected to fly out together. The wife’s parents raised the alarm after they were unable to reach the couple by phone ahead of the flight. Police sent to the couple’s home found that the wife’s belongings were still there. They then learned that the husband had checked into the flight alone. He was arrested in the boarding zone of the airport. During police questioning, the man said he stabbed his wife twice, the prosecutor said. He said they’d been arguing and he put forward “a vague” explanation of self-defense, she said. The investigation is continuing.  
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is urging citizens to exercise and shed weight, saying he has done so since his recovery earlier this year from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.  The prime minister’s office introduced a “Better Health” campaign Monday and released a video of himself walking his dog and talking up the benefits of regular exercise.Johnson said at the peak of his illness, when he was taken into the intensive care unit to be treated for COVID-19, he was way overweight. Since he returned from the hospital, Johnson said he started running, which has become easier for him and that he has lost more than six kilograms.Johnson’s advice comes after a recent report from Public Health England showing the overweight and obese are at greater risk for severe illness and of death from COVID-19.  The prime minister said losing weight and becoming fit would also protect the National Health Service from becoming overwhelmed with patients.Johnson said he doesn’t want to be excessively “bossy or nannying” about losing weight, because he understands the struggles many people have with doing so. He said he just wants to be helpful.  As part of the “Better Health” campaign, Johnson’s government will fight the “obesity time bomb” by banning advertising of junk food before 9.00 p.m., ending “buy one get one free” deals and putting calories on menus.  Government data show more than 60% of British citizens are overweight as is one in three children. The data indicate overweight children are five times more likely to become overweight adults.Losing weight is hard but with some small changes we can all feel fitter and healthier.If we all do our bit, we can reduce our health risks and protect ourselves against coronavirus – as well as taking pressure off the NHS. Our Better Health Strategy https://t.co/WdazXhuhRNpic.twitter.com/KZhW8p17FJ— Boris Johnson #StayAlert (@BorisJohnson) July 27, 2020 
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St. Bernards are known for helping to rescue distressed travelers in the mountains, but the tables were turned Sunday in northern England. Sixteen volunteers from the Wasdale mountain rescue team took turns carrying Daisy, a 55 kilogram St Bernard, from England’s highest peak, Scafell Pike. The mountain rescue team spent nearly five hours rescuing Daisy, who had collapsed Friday evening while descending the mountain with her owners.  Rescue workers said Daisy was displaying signs of pain in her rear legs and was refusing to move. After consulting with a veterinarian’s office, they administered some pain relief and adjusted their stretcher, which is designed for humans, to be more dog friendly. They also packed a few treats to help settle her down. “Having team members with their own pampered pooches at home, and also our much-adored search dog Jess, we recognize the distress that both an animal can feel and also that of their owners,” the team said. They said Daisy was recovering from her ordeal. Scafell Pike, 978 meters (3,209 feet) above sea level, is in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria.  The Wasdale Mountain Rescue team relies on donations to fund their mountain safety efforts. 
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Serbia is seeking to further strengthen its armed forces by purchasing more warplanes, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Sunday. Vucic made the statement while visiting an army tank brigade in Sremska Mitrovica in Serbia’s autonomous province of Vojvodina. “We cannot keep track of the gifts and donations that certain NATO counties in the neighborhood are getting from the United States, Germany and other countries and therefore we must fight alone to preserve the peace alone and to preserve our future alone,” Vucic said. Vucic did not specify what warplanes Belgrade plans to buy but said the intention is the safety of his country and the stability and peace in the Balkan region. “We, as a military neutral country, want to preserve our military neutrality, which means that we look after our sky alone, to look after our country alone. We will invest money and I believe that we, by not wanting to participate in any sort of race, will always be able to guarantee safety, stability but also peace,” Vucic continued. Pro-government media reported that Serbia had officially asked the United States for 20 fighter-bombers, but Washington had not responded to the request.  The report, however, speculated that in case of a U.S. refusal, Serbia was likely to purchase “Sukhoi-25” attack aircraft from Russia. “The Americans, Turks and Germans are taking care of their beloved child,” Vucic said, referring to Kosovo. He said Washington had recently equipped Kosovo’s security forces with armored vehicles. Although claiming Serbia’s military neutrality, Belgrade has recently received a sophisticated anti-aircraft system from Russia, including fighter jets, attack helicopters, and armored vehicles. Serbia has also obtained military drones from another ally, China. The U.S. has said that it would impose sanctions against Serbia if Moscow sends more arms to the country, which could threaten the security of neighboring NATO members. 
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Many Roman Catholic churches in Mexico City, including its main cathedral, celebrated the first Mass Sunday after three months of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. Restrictions, however, are still in place, including mandatory face masks, shortened services, and church occupancy not more than 20%. “We are filled with joy to be able to receive our faithful and to be with them at this time when it has been so hard for them not to participate in the celebrations,” Auxiliary Bishop Salvador Gonzalez Morales said. Observing the sanitary measures to protect themselves from COVID-19, parishioners were nevertheless happy to attend Mass. “I felt very happy because I had been wanting to come for a long time and I couldn’t.  The Church wasn’t open. And now I was very pleased to be able to visit the Blessed Sacrament, to talk to him,” Maria Juana Flores, a church attendee, said. Another parishioner felt spiritually empowered to be able to go to church. “Peace and quiet. The spirit, one receives a spiritual force that lifts us up, right?” Hugo Perez, a church attendee, said. Mexican federal authorities left the decision on opening places of worship to state governments and city councils. The Mexican clergy has been hit hard by the coronavirus, with 46 priests, six deacons and three nuns dead as of July 15, according to data provided by the Catholic Multimedia Center of Mexico. The country now has over 385,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 43,000 deaths. 
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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is blaming the surge in coronavirus cases in Arizona, Florida and Texas on two conservative-leaning newspapers – The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post. Cuomo told reporters Sunday that the infection rate in New York – the nation’s former COVID-19 epicenter – is low because of what he says was an “intelligent, phased reopening.” He said what both papers have recommended for the rest of the country has proved to be a failure. “The Wall Street Journal, New York Post — they continue to beat a horse that is dead. …‘The infection rate is low; reopen faster,’” Cuomo said. “Florida listened to the New York Post. Texas listened to the Wall Street Journal. Arizona listened to the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. That was wrong. That was wrong.” Cuomo said 500 people tested positive and three died Saturday in New York while the new cases in Florida, Texas and Arizona number in the thousands.  A New York Post editorial Sunday night blamed Cuomo’s administration for an order in March that nursing homes accept patients even if they have COVID-19, a policy the newspaper called “nuts” and possibly responsible for needless deaths. “If we’re annoying him that much, it means one thing — he knows we’re right,” the paper said. Florida reported another 9,300 COVID-19 cases Sunday, moving it into second place among U.S. states with the highest number of cases. California, the most populous U.S. state, is on top; New York is third followed by Texas.  Health experts blame the leap in the number of cases on businesses and public attractions reopening too soon and not enough people wearing masks and social distancing.Health care workers take information from people in line at a walk-up COVID-19 testing site during the coronavirus pandemic, in Miami Beach, Fla., July 17, 2020.The manager of Major League Baseball’s Miami Marlins postponed his team’s return to Florida by one day, meaning instead of being able to practice for the team’s opening home game against the Baltimore Orioles on Monday, the Marlins will arrive at the ballpark just hours before the game.  Several Marlins players who tested positive for COVID-19 are in quarantine in Philadelphia. “There’s nothing we can really do,” Marlins pitcher Robert Dugger said. “It’s out of our control. We just do the best we can with the masks and social distancing and all that, and hope for the best.”  Baseball opened its 2020 season last week, three months late, and will play 60 games instead of the usual 162. Fans are, for now, not allowed in the ballparks.  Spain is safe for tourists, it said Sunday, rebuking Britain for imposing a two-week quarantine on all travelers entering the country from Spain because of the coronavirus pandemic.  “Spain is safe, it is safe for Spaniards, it is safe for tourists,” Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya told reporters. She said Spain would try to persuade Britain to exclude the Balearic and Canary Islands from the quarantine measure, contending that the prevalence of the virus in the two popular travel destinations was much lower than in Britain itself. A year ago, Britons made up about a fifth of foreign visitors to Spain, meaning the British quarantine could deal a blow to the Mediterranean country’s efforts to jump start its economy after months of lockdown because of the virus. But the number of COVID-19 cases has risen in Spain in the last few weeks, prompting Britain to announce late Saturday it was taking Spain off its safe-travel list. Hours later, the quarantine took effect. It immediately upset travelers, with one British tourist saying, “Everyone is panicking.” South Africa reported 12,000 new coronavirus cases Sunday. Its response to the pandemic, however, is being hampered by corruption allegations surrounding its $26 billion economic relief package. An investigation is under way.  South Africa has the fifth largest number of COVID-19 infections in the world, with more than 434,000 cases.   The U.S. has the most cases at 4.2 million, followed by Brazil with 2.3 million, India with 1.3 million, and Russia with more than 800,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. 
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Turkey’s decision to convert the ancient Hagia Sophia monument back into a mosque has sparked a war of words between Athens and Ankara. However, as Greece intensifies its diplomatic scramble to slap sanctions on Turkey, Greek businesses have launched a campaign to boycott goods and services from the neighboring country.Vassilis Korkidis, a leading representative of commerce in Greece, is blunt about the need, as he puts it, to strike back at Turkey.We recognize the ongoing works and efforts of the government to counter the recasting of Hagia Sophia, he said. However, until that materializes into something concrete, Korkidis said, Greek businesses should waste no time in boycotting trade with their Turkish partners.Even on a personal level, he says, consumers should follow suit. They can do so immediately, he said, boycotting Turkish goods, which bear the numbers 868 and 869 on the barcodes of imported products.Despite age-old animosity between the two countries, trade relations have grown substantially in recent years. Greece’s annual exports to Turkey total about $1.6 billion, significantly more than the $1.2 billion in imports from Turkey.Whether Greeks will heed the trade boycott remains unclear, especially as the economy here has been thrown into chaos by the COVID-19 pandemic.However, the anger, sadness and resentment toward the Hagia Sophia recast weighs heavily in this largely Eastern Orthodox country — so much in fact, that experts say any short-lived trade gain is offset by bigger losses.In this Presidential Press Office handout picture, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan attends Friday prayers at Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque in Istanbul, July 24, 2020.Korkidis explained, “We may enjoy a generous trade surplus, he says, but when you factor in the resources that Greece has to pull together to fend off continued flows of illegal migration from Turkey, and the huge military costs now racking up to safeguard against Turkish provocations — well all of that wipes out any semblance of a surplus.”The issue of Hagia Sophia is just the latest of a string of crises Greece is facing from its fellow NATO member, Turkey. Relations have been aggravated for years over land and sea rights in the Aegean, as well as thousands of illegal migrants continuing to stream into Greece from Turkey. In recent weeks, also, tensions have soared as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to begin drilling for oil and gas in waters Greece considers its own. Greek business associations say they are already reaching out to partner organizations across Europe to institute build an even broader boycott against Turkey.It is clear that the West is becoming increasingly unnerved by the actions of Turkey, Korkidis said. It is high time, he said, that Erdogan’s government stops using cultural issues to advance its political agenda.The trade boycott is just one of many grassroots movements and protests, swelling in Greece.On Sunday, alone, church bells tolled anew across the nation while tens of thousands of people packed into houses of prayer, singing hymns in honor of the Hagia Sophia, the seat of Eastern Christianity for about a thousand years before Ottoman Turks conquered its host city, then known as Constantinople.Protesters burn a Turkish national flag outside of a church during a gathering in Thessaloniki, July 24, 2020, against turning the historic Hagia Sophia in Istanbul to a mosque after serving for more than 80 years as museum.In more worrying signs, though, teams of far-right nationalists fanned out across a city in northern Greece, torching a Turkish flag. The Greek government condemned the move. Still, it stoked nationalist and patriotic passions with a fresh round stinging remarks against the country’s age-old foe by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.He said Turkey is a troublemaker threatening peace and security in the region, he says, but we have shown, that we can defend our borders, the European Union’s frontiers.Greece believes the Hagia Sophia conversion is part of a bigger plan by Turkey to reassert itself as a regional and energy superpower.Turkey says Greece is significantly overreacting. Even so, Greece insists it is not taking any chances, keeping its forces on code-red alert, ready to wage war if further provoked on any front. 
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The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees is warning that unlawful and arbitrary incarceration of refugees and asylum seekers is putting them and the general public at heightened risk of COVID-19. The U.N. refugee agency is calling for their urgent and immediate release.Some countries are reportedly using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to lock up refugees and asylum seekers for longer periods of time.  The U.N. agency says refugees are fleeing war and persecution. It says they are not criminals and should not be detained without due legal process.   The agency says refugees and asylum seekers often are forced to live in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions.  It says social distancing in these settings is impossible and access to medical care and clean water is limited.    UNHCR spokesman Charlie Yaxley tells VOA the risk of a catastrophic outbreak of COVID-19 in one of these detention centers is great and could jeopardize public health. “Should somebody become infected with the virus, it could potentially spread quickly amongst the other detainees, but also amongst those who work and guard the centers themselves and therefore potentially risking further spreading even outside the centers,” he said.  The UNHCR says unlawful detention of refugees is not restricted to countries in conflict, such as Libya.  It says it also is widely used as an administrative procedure in all regions — in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas.     Yaxley says the detention of refugees should be a measure of last resort, adding that children should never be held in immigration detention.  He says this can never be considered to be in the child’s best interest.     The UNHCR, he says, is calling for the immediate release of all children from detention as well as for refugees and asylum seekers being arbitrarily or unlawfully detained.   “We believe that releasing asylum seekers from detention is in the public health interest, not only of the United States, but for all countries… The detention of adults should only take place in exceptional circumstances and the detention of children, irrespective of their immigration status, should never happen at all,” he said.    The UNHCR urges governments to expand and implement community-based alternatives to detention, including other options for newly arriving refugees and asylum seekers.     It says detention center conditions should be improved while alternatives are being prepared.  It adds the UNHCR should continue to have access to asylum seekers and refugees held in these locations.  
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Britain’s Prince Harry took offence at what he thought was Prince William’s “snobbishness” when he advised his brother to “take as much time as you need to get to know this girl” when he was dating Meghan Markle, a new book says.Harry and his wife, Meghan, have distanced themselves from the book called “Finding Freedom,” saying they were not interviewed for the biography being serialized by The Times and The Sunday Times newspapers and made no contributions to it.The book documents, citing sources, a time when Harry and Meghan were dating and William wanted to make sure the American actress had the right intentions, The Sunday Times said.”Don’t feel you need to rush this,” William told Harry, according to sources cited by the book. “Take as much time as you need to get to know this girl.”The Sunday Times said Harry heard a tone of snobbishness in the last two words, “this girl”, and that Harry no longer felt he needed looking after.The couple and their son, Archie, now live in Los Angeles after they stepped down from their royal roles in March to forge new careers. In January they announced plans to lead a more independent life and to finance it themselves. Harry and Meghan married in May 2018 in a wedding heralded at the time as infusing a blast of Hollywood glamour and modernity into the British monarchy and which made them one of the world’s biggest celebrity couples. 
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Europe’s airlines, hoteliers and tour operators fear abrupt changes to coronavirus travel rules by governments are killing their chances to salvage something of a wrecked vacation season.The British government’s sudden decision Saturday to add Spain to its list of “at-risk” countries, forcing tens of thousands of Britons already holidaying in Spain to quarantine for 14 days on their return and upending plans for tens of thousands of others scheduling vacations, has dealt a massive blow to hopes that the travel industry might be able to recoup some of its massive losses from the pandemic.Britain and its European neighbors only recently lifted bans on overseas travel for leisure in a bid to return to some semblance of normality. They had come under fierce lobbying by the continent’s desperate airlines and travel firms to do so.“This is going to cause absolute chaos for travel firms as they are at peak season now,” said travel consultant Paul Charles.“The timings could not be worse. With departures this weekend, there are about to be 2 million Brits in Spain. It is the last thing travel companies want to see because of the sheer volume of holidaymakers affected. And it will be a huge blow to people there, who will now have to quarantine, or those about to fly on holiday,” he added.Britain isn’t alone in opting for caution. Saturday also saw Ireland omit Britain from a list of “safe” countries, telling its citizens it should be avoided for all but essential travel. France has issued a warning about travel to Spain. The French government has not closed the border with Spain, but a French official told VOA that Paris is considering the possibility.Norway, too, is advising against travel to Spain.The sudden moves are likely to deter travelers generally from risking trips to other countries because of the chance of new restrictions being imposed with little warning.A couple kisses as they sit by the sea in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, July 25, 2020.That point was underscored by Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who tweeted, “This reinforces the point that these matters are subject to change at short notice and so my advice is to be cautious about non-essential foreign travel.”Almost 40 countries worldwide have reported record single-day increases in coronavirus infections during the past week, and fears of an imminent second wave of the pandemic in Europe are also mounting.The British government’s Spain decision came without warning, catching out the country’s own transport minister, Grant Shapps, who’s vacationing in Spain with his family. British officials say they had no option but to add Spain to the red list following a significant coronavirus spike in the Mediterranean country. Spain recorded an additional 2,255 new cases Friday, following 2,615 on Thursday.Spanish authorities say they have identified 281 active outbreaks with a third of them triggered by social or family gatherings. Nightclubs have also been identified as hot spots. Spanish officials are warning of a possible second wave of infections, with the northeast region of Catalonia the worst affected. Catalonia has closed nightlife down for two weeks.However, major towns away from the northeast are also seeing surges in confirmed cases. The Murcia region sealed off 30,000 people in the town of Totana on Thursday, barring anyone from entering or leaving after 55 people tested positive following a nightclub visit. Restrictions have also been tightened in Zaragoza and Pamplona.“We have important outbreaks. It could be a second wave. We’ll have to see what happens in the next few weeks,” said Maria José Sierra, Spain’s deputy emergency health director.“Protecting public health is our absolute priority and we have taken this decision to limit any potential spread to the UK,” Britain’s Department of Transport said in a statement. “We’ve always been clear that we would act immediately to remove a country [from quarantine exemptions list] where necessary,” it added.People gather outdoors at dusk on a viewpoint in Barcelona, Spain, July 25, 2020.Airlines and travel businesses are reacting, though, with anger. British Airways said the change “cannot fail to have an impact on an already troubled aviation industry.”EasyJet, one of Europe’s biggest airlines, said, “We are disappointed that the Government has decided to impose a quarantine requirement for those traveling from the whole of Spain since the increased occurrence of Coronavirus is regional rather than nationwide.”Moreover, Britain’s Airport Operators Association said it would “further damage what is already a fragile restart of the aviation sector which continues to face the biggest challenge in its history.”British airline bosses and their counterparts say that the abruptness of the decision will chill vacation travel as a whole across the continent, with holidaymakers fearful of rule changes being announced while they are vacationing.“This level of uncertainty and confusion is damaging for business,” said Andrew Flintham, managing director of TUI, Britain’s biggest tour operator. TUI announced it will cancel all reservations for Spain, saying it “won’t take customers on holiday” if they were required to quarantine on their return.Lois Stothard, from South Yorkshire, told the BBC she had booked a vacation in the Spanish town of Seville and was due to fly Sunday with her boyfriend but would now have to cancel.“I’m a key worker — I’m a teacher — and my boyfriend has work commitments, so we cannot quarantine for 14 days when we return. We can’t get any money back and to change, the company want double what I’ve already paid in fees. I’m very disappointed and upset as we’re packed and ready to go,” she said.Some travel experts say the decision to add Spain to the red list should have been made sooner and well before the weekend.“Why on earth was this decision not taken 48 hours ago, when it was clear there was a problem with Spain, and before tens of thousands of UK holidaymakers flew out on Friday as the summer holidays started?” asked Rory Boland, editor of the travel magazine Which?Anxiety is mounting across Europe that it could soon be back in the eye of the coronavirus storm. Officials say young people have been lowering their guard after lockdowns were lifted.“We have canceled out much of the progress accomplished during the first weeks of exit from lockdown,” the French health ministry said.Alarmed French officials say some of the young people testing positive for the virus have been failing to self-isolate.There are also worries in the Italian region of Lazio, which includes Rome.  Regional officials warned last week that there could be a second lockdown after coronavirus cases began to rise again. Authorities warned that restrictions to curb the spread of the virus may be reintroduced if infections continue to climb. There were 17 new cases confirmed last Sunday, with 10 among people returning to the country from overseas.Lazio’s health commissioner, Alessio D’Amato, urged people to wear masks in public spaces as instructed.“I appeal for the use of masks, otherwise, we’ll have to close down again. We can’t turn back and waste all the efforts done until now,” he said.       
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The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights has expressed its regret over Saturday’s death of Kyrgyz human rights defender Azimjan Askarov in prison.“Today, we grieve together with Azimjan’s family and all who knew him,” the organization said in a statement.Askarov, a long-standing partner of ODIHR, had for many years prior to his arrest, documented “police abuse and brutality in his native Kyrgyzstan,” the statement said.The office had been calling for Askarov’s release since he was first arrested in 2010.ODIHR and many other observers of his trials in 2010 and 2011, had noted serious violations of “fair trial standards and the failure of the authorities to address the intimidation of defense witnesses and lawyers or follow up on visible signs of torture,” the statement said.Just two months ago, ODIHR objected the decision of Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court to uphold the life sentence imposed on Askarov in 2010.“It is unfortunate that the Kyrgyz authorities did not use the opportunity open to them to restore justice,” ODIHR said.ODIHR Director Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir had said in a statement in May: “I call on the authorities of Kyrgyzstan to implement the UN Human Rights Committee decision and free Mr. Askarov, in line with the country’s international human rights obligations.”    
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Spaniards demonstrated against the monarchy Saturday as allegations of corruption against former King Juan Carlos, King Felipe’s father, continue to mount.Wearing masks and observing social distancing to adhere to coronavirus restrictions, protesters in Madrid waved Republican flags.”Now more than ever, amid a health crisis, a crisis of the system, we have a head of state who is stealing in front of our faces is even more outrageous than ever,” said Mar Hernandez, a teacher. “We had to come here to prove it.”Felipe had already renounced any inheritance from his father when the corruption allegations surfaced in mid-March. He has also ended Juan Carlos’ palace allowance.“I think that corruption has to be something much more serious, we should all be here today in the first place, all representing our people saying how much more they will continue to steal, and nothing will happen,” said Raquel Boca, a retiree.In June, Spain’s Supreme Court initiated an investigation into the former king’s involvement in a high-speed rail contract with Saudi Arabia after Switzerland’s La Tribune de Geneve newspaper reported Juan Carlos had received $100 million from the late Saudi king.Juan Carlos has repeatedly declined to comment on the allegations. 
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Argentina’s government reaffirmed on Saturday that it would not budge from its latest proposal to restructure around the $65 billion in debt but signaled it would be willing to negotiate on the fine print around the deal.The South American country is facing a standoff with bondholders after creditor groups joined forces to reject the government’s proposal earlier in July and put forward one of their own.The government has repeatedly said it cannot offer more, though sources told Reuters this week it would be willing to negotiate key contractual terms.“Argentina wishes to and will contribute to the development of contractual instruments that enhance the success of sovereign restructuring initiatives when they enjoy meaningful creditor support,” the Economy Ministry said in a statement.The ministry said the bondholder group’s counterproposal called for “yet more generous financial terms for the creditors compared to Argentina’s current offer,” while requesting that Argentina cover fees and expenses of the creditors’ advisers.“Those aspects of the counterproposal that seek to impose additional burdens on an economy that is choking in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis … cannot be accommodated,” the ministry said in the statement.Analysts say a gap of about 3 cents on the dollar between the sides at the negotiating table should be bridged in last-ditch talks ahead of a current August 4 deadline for a deal to avoid a messy legal standoff.Creditors’ legal demands include that amendments be made to the 2016 indenture for new debt issued in exchange for ‘Macri’ bonds, to prevent the government from using ‘Pac-Man’ style measures to make future changes to any agreement.Argentina has been in default since May, the country’s ninth, and is headed for 10-12 percent economic contraction this year due to the impact of COVID-19, deepening a recession that began in 2018. 
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A decision by European leaders to issue joint debt to finance coronavirus aid for weaker member states should not serve as a blueprint for future budget challenges, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said Sunday.European Union leaders on Tuesday clinched an historic deal on a massive stimulus plan for their coronavirus-throttled economies following a fractious summit lasting almost five days.The agreement paves the way for the European Commission, the EU’s executive, to raise up to 750 billion euros on capital markets on behalf of all 27 states, an unprecedented act of solidarity in almost seven decades of integration.“It’s important that the EU has proven its capability to act in the crisis,” Weidmann told Funke media group in an interview, adding that showing solidarity also in financial terms was the right thing to do in the current crisis.But Weidmann added that strict conditions had to be attached to the financial aid.“Control mechanisms are needed to ensure that funds are used sensibly and efficiently,” Weidmann said.“Generally, I think joint debt for extensive transfers is questionable. At the very least, the package should not serve as a springboard for large-scale EU debt for regular household financing,” he said.US developmentsThe central bank chief also pointed to the current developments in the United States, an important trading partner for Germany.“The U.S. loosened some of its measures early on and is now tightening them up again in some places. This stop-and-go is certainly difficult for the economy,” Weidmann said.“In any case, this shows how important it is to stay vigilant, to closely monitor the infection process and to prevent a flare-up.”Turning to Germany, Weidmann said Europe’s largest economy had passed the peak of the pandemic as well as the low point of the economic crisis. Retail sales are picking up again and production is also increasing.“Overall, the data shows that the economy bottomed out in spring and is now gradually recovering,” Weidman said.
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Tens of thousands of people marched Saturday across Russia’s Far East city of Khabarovsk on the border with China to protest the arrest of the regional governor on murder charges, continuing a two-week wave of protests that has challenged the Kremlin.Sergei Furgal has been in a Moscow jail since his arrest on July 9, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has named an acting successor. Protesters in Khabarovsk see the charges against Furgal as unsubstantiated and demand that he stand trial at home.”People are offended,” said protester Dmitry Kachalin. “I think people take to the streets because their vote in the 2018 election was taken away.”Unlike Moscow, where police usually move quickly to disperse unsanctioned opposition protests, authorities haven’t interfered with the unauthorized demonstrations in Khabarovsk, apparently expecting them to fizzle out in the city 3,800 miles (6,100 kilometers) east of the Russian capital.But daily protests, peaking at weekends, have gone on for two weeks, reflecting anger at what residents see as Moscow’s disrespect of their choice for governor and simmering discontent with Putin’s rule. Local officials’ attempts to discourage people from joining the demonstrations by warning about the risk of coronavirus infection have been unsuccessful.”We had enough,” said protester Anastasia Schegorina. “We elected the governor and we want to be heard and decide ourselves what to do with him. Bring him here, and a fair and open trial will decide whether to convict him or not.”People attend a rally supporting the Khabarovsk region’s governor, Sergei Furgal, who was interrogated and ordered to be held in jail for two months, in Khabarovsk, Russia, July 25, 2020.Protesters chanted “Freedom!” and “Russia, wake up!” and carried placards voicing support for Furgal and denouncing Putin.Demonstrations were also held in other cities of the Far East, and police didn’t intervene. But in Moscow, police briefly detained several dozen activists who attempted to stage pickets in support of Furgal.Authorities suspect Furgal of involvement in several killings of businessmen in 2004 and 2005. He has denied the charges, which date to his time as a businessman with interests focusing on timber and metals.A lawmaker on the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party ticket, Furgal won the 2018 gubernatorial election even though he had refrained from campaigning and publicly supported his Kremlin-backed rival.His victory was a humiliating setback to the main Kremlin party, United Russia, which also lost its control over the regional legislature. During his time in office, Furgal earned a reputation as a “people’s governor,” cutting his own salary, ordering the sale of an expensive yacht that the previous administration had bought and offering new benefits to residents.”We want to protect Furgal,” said Evgenia Selina, who joined Saturday’s protest. “If we hadn’t elected him, he would have been living quietly with his family and working at the State Duma. He would have had a normal life.”Mikhail Degtyaryov, a federal lawmaker whom Putin named Monday to succeed Furgal, is also a member of the Liberal-Democratic Party — a choice that was apparently intended to assuage local anger. If that was the plan, it hasn’t worked.Degtyaryov, who has refrained from facing the protesters, left the city on Saturday for an inspection trip across the region.
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The U.N. refugee agency is increasing efforts to protect tens of thousands of Venezuelan refugees and migrants in Brazil and the communities hosting them from the COVID-19 pandemic, which already has claimed nearly 83,000 lives in the country.Brazil is the second worst affected country in the world and the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin America. Venezuelans comprise most of the 345,000 refugees and asylum seekers in the country.
 
They have found a safe haven in Brazil from the economic hardship and political oppression in their country but now find themselves at high risk of becoming infected and even dying from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
 
The U.N. refugee agency says the pandemic is disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable. Those include the poorest, indigenous populations and other native communities, as well as refugees. UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch says his agency has been helping local and national authorities prevent the spread of the disease since its onset.
 
“We have been scaling-up our support to help mitigate the threat of the virus among refugees, migrants and the local communities hosting them by providing infrastructure to strengthen the national health system, cash assistance, hygiene items and life-saving information such as informative sessions on preventive measures.,” Baloch said.
 
Baloch says the number of refugees who have contracted the virus is unknown because of the absence of data. He says the UNHCR is aware of at least 19 COVID-19 related deaths among refugees, of whom nine were indigenous Venezuelan refugees.
 
“UNHCR is also addressing rising humanitarian and health needs among refugees living on the streets, and in the overcrowded shelters and unsanitary conditions in the northern regions of Brazil, including in the Amazonas, Roraima and the Para states,” Baloch said.Amazonas state is one of the most affected regions in Brazil. It has more than 92,000 confirmed cases, including more than 3,000 COVID-19-related deaths.
 
Baloch says the UNHCR is expanding its information and preventive campaign in the region in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus, He says information sessions are being given in indigenous languages to make sure life-saving messages reach local residents. 
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Lights! Crickets. Birds. Bats. Action!  The ancient theater of Epidaurus, renowned for its acoustics, has reopened for a limited number of open-air performances, with organizers planning a live-streamed event Saturday for the first time in the Greek monument’s 2,300-year history.Live concerts and events have been mostly canceled in Greece this summer due to the coronavirus pandemic. But the Culture Ministry allowed the Epidaurus Theater in southern Greece and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus in Athens to host performances under strict safety guidelines.  “Only 45% of the seats are occupied, the refreshments areas are closed, there is no intermission, and tickets are only issued electronically,” said Maria Panagiotopoulou, spokeswoman for the cultural organization which organized the events.  “We normally have 80 performances in the summer. This year, it’s just 17. … We kept changing the plans. We planned for a September start, and then we were concerned that all events might be canceled. We ended up with something in the middle. It would have been the first summer without a performance in 65 years.”  Acts from abroad were off-limits due to the pandemic, and the scheduled artists were instructed not to give encores. Stewards wearing surgical gloves and plastic visors keep spectators apart as they clamber up the steep stone amphitheater steps to find their seats.  Just 4,500 of the usual 10,000 seats are being made available at Epidaurus Theatre, a honeycomb-colored stone venue with a shallow, half-funnel shape that allows music and voices from the stage to be clearly heard all 55 rows up.  Surrounded by pine-covered mountains of the southern Peloponnese region, audiences also can clearly hear the sounds of birds and crickets along with the protests of people who were locked out of the theater for arriving too late. Christina Koutra, a musicologist from Athens, said she was happy to make the winding three-hour trip to Epidaurus to watch the season’s first event, a solo performance of Bach by acclaimed Greek violinist Leonidas Kavakos. “There is a feeling of harmony here. It’s a sacred place,” Koutra said from behind a face mask as she left the theater with her parents.“Culture cannot stand still. We have to take part and keep it going,” she said.The National Theatre of Greece will be performing “The Persians” by ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus for Saturday’s live-streamed show. 
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