United Nations monitors have found a significant rise in casualties in eastern Ukraine since Russia-backed separatists ended a cease-fire agreement with the government in Kyiv earlier this year. The findings are part of a report by the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

The report covers human rights developments in Ukraine from February to the end of July of this year. It found 15 civilians have been killed and 47 injured since fighting escalated in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.  It noted that the number constituted a 51% increase over the previous six months.

U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif said U.N. monitors have documented 13 cases of arbitrary detention related to the conflict between government forces and rebels in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics. She added that 11 remain in detention.

“Both self-proclaimed republics issued decrees, in March and April, establishing the forced recruitment of 400 men into armed groups. Another decree issued on October 1 established the recruitment of a further 500 men. This exposes male civilians to involuntary lethal danger, stripping them of the protection afforded to civilians by international humanitarian law, and opens them to the risk of criminal prosecution,” Al-Nashif said.

The report says an atmosphere of fear and self-censorship prevails in territory controlled by the separatist rebels. It underscores that the self-proclaimed republics continue to restrict freedom of religion, especially that of evangelical Christians.

Al-Nashif said that the government of Ukraine also has a checkered human rights record. As an example she cited 22 documented cases of threats and attacks against journalists, human rights defenders, LGBTI people and national minorities among others.

“Hate speech was also directed against Roma, LGBTI persons, women, persons with disabilities and people perceived to have pro-Russian views. It is imperative that the authorities effectively investigate each such incident, fully acknowledging any bias motives,” Al Nashif said.

The U.N. monitoring mission accused Russia of multiple violations of civil liberties and fair trial rights in the Crimean Peninsula, which it illegally annexed in 2014. The report documents cases of torture and ill-treatment against Ukrainian citizens in Crimea.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Yevheniia Filipenko, said millions of Ukrainians living in de facto Russian-occupied territories continue to be deprived of their fundamental rights and freedoms. She also criticized efforts by Russia to legitimize its annexation of Crimea.  
…

Russia’s state statistics service reported nearly 50,000 coronavirus deaths in the country in August, taking the toll since the beginning of the pandemic to over 400,000, nearly double the official government figure.

Rosstat released its figures late Friday, reporting that 49,389 people died from COVID-19 in August, a figure much higher than 24,661, the government tally for the same month.

Overall, Rosstat says around 418,000 people have died in Russia since the pandemic began. This nearly doubles the official total death toll of 214,000 published by the Russian coronavirus task force earlier Friday.

Russian officials explained the discrepancy, saying COVID-19 deaths are counted differently by the two agencies. The government coronavirus task force counts only fatalities for which an autopsy confirms COVID-19 as the primary cause of death, while Rosstat uses a broader definition for deaths linked to the virus.

In other developments Friday, the World Health Organization announced it has established and released the first standardized clinical definition of what is commonly known as “long COVID” to help boost treatment for sufferers.

Speaking virtually to reporters from the agency’s Geneva headquarters, WHO Head of Clinical Management Janet Diaz said the definition was agreed on after global consultations with health officials.

She said the condition, in which symptoms of the illness persist well beyond what is commonly experienced, is usually referred to as “post COVID.” Moreover, it occurs in people who have had confirmed or probable new coronavirus infections, “usually three months on from the onset of the COVID-19, with symptoms that last for at least two months and cannot be explained by an alternative diagnosis.”

Those symptoms include fatigue, shortness of breath and cognitive dysfunction, she said, but there also are others that generally have an adverse effect on everyday functioning. Diaz said that until now, a lack of clarity among health care professionals about the condition has complicated efforts in advancing research and treatment.

In the United States, officials said they would accept the use by international travelers of any COVID-19 vaccine authorized by U.S. regulators or the WHO. Last month, the White House announced that it would lift travel restrictions on people from 33 countries who show proof of vaccination. Officials did not say at that time which vaccines would be accepted, however.

The Associated Press reports that the number of Americans getting COVID-19 vaccines has reached a three-month high, averaging 1 million per day, as more employers mandate the shots and some Americans seek boosters. That figure is almost double the level for mid-July but still well below last spring, according to the AP.

Meanwhile, a senior White House official announced Friday that the U.S. government is shipping more than 1.8 million doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to the Philippines — a donation that will be executed through the WHO-managed COVAX vaccine cooperative. The doses will arrive in two shipments, probably Sunday and Monday, according to the official.

U.S. drugmaker Moderna announced earlier Friday it was planning to deliver another 1 billion doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to low-income countries next year. In a message posted to the company’s website, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said the company was investing to expand its capacity to deliver the additional doses.

The disclosure is part of what Bancel describes as his company’s five-pillar strategy to ensure low-income countries get access to the company’s vaccine. The plan includes not enforcing its vaccine patents, expanding its production capacity worldwide, and working with the United States and others to distribute their surplus doses of vaccine.

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

 
…

“It’s worse than a plague,” said Pedro Antonio Sanchez, fuming over the volcanic grit coating his bananas, the main source of wealth on the Canaries’ island of La Palma.

“It’s worse than a pest or disease because it scratches [the fruit],” said Sanchez, gesturing at the black sandy deposits that have rained down since the volcano erupted on September 19.

The volcano has caused major damage to banana plantations in La Palma, the second-largest producer in the Atlantic Canary Islands, where the crop accounts for 50 of the island’s economy, industry figures show. 

Once the ash lands on the bananas, it is almost impossible to remove.

And it causes further damage in the handling, transport and packing, with the huge bunches, which are known as “pineapples” and can weigh up to 70 kilos (150 pounds), carried on the shoulders.

“You have to blast it off with water or something — to be honest, I don’t know how to do it,” said Sanchez, 60, who owns a small plantation. “When the dew forms overnight, it really makes the grit stick, and in the morning it just won’t come off.”

Can’t be sold

The skin blackens in the form of a scratch but nothing like the brownish-black markings that show the fruit is ripe.

And although the banana is perfect, it is rejected and cannot be sold.

“European quality regulations ban the sale of bananas with more than four square centimeters of scratches per fruit, even if they are perfect inside and can be eaten without risk,” said Esther Dominguez of ASPROCAN, which represents banana producers in the Canary Islands.

The volcano’s eruption has predominantly hurt the Aridane valley on the western flank of La Palma, although the problem caused by volcanic ash and grit has affected a much wider area. 

“It is not just the Aridane valley, because the wind changes direction and ash is blown all over. So 100 percent of the island is affected,” Juan Vicente Rodriguez Leal, head of the Covalle agricultural cooperative, told AFP. 

“So we are going to have a significant loss of at least one year’s crop,” he said, estimating losses of “around 120 to 130 million euros [$140 to $150 million].” 

The plantations are also suffering from a lack of water after the lava destroyed the area’s irrigation pipeline.

Bananas need a lot of water and the current shortage “is the biggest threat,” Sanchez said.

La Palma has long suffered from water shortages. It has no rivers, lakes or reservoirs, so the island gets its water from underground aquifers or rain collected by pine trees and transferred to the ground.

Bananas “need a lot of irrigation every seven days. Now we’re irrigating every 15 days to save water, and although they’re not going to dry out, the fruit feels the impact,” Sanchez said.

A third of Canaries’ crop 

In 2020, La Palma produced 148,000 metric tons of bananas, or 34.5% of the Canaries’ overall crop, ASPROCAN figures show.

In terms of production, it is second only to Tenerife, which is three times larger.

One-tenth of La Palma’s 700 square kilometers (270 square miles) is dedicated to agriculture, of which 43% is planted in bananas, according to the Biosphere Reserve of La Palma. 

More than 80% of the banana plantations in the Canaries are modest plots of less than 2.5 acres (one hectare), with many farmers living hand to mouth.

Although Sanchez enjoys the work, he’s had enough of living on the bread line.

“There are months when you bring in 1,000 euros ($1,150) or a bit more, but it’s normally less,” sometimes even as little as 300 euros, he said.

“It just doesn’t make me feel like working.”
…

European ministers expressed concern Friday over the growing number of migrants illegally crossing from Belarus into several Baltic states, saying Minsk is intentionally facilitating their crossing to politically destabilize those countries and distract from human rights abuses at home by the Lukashenko regime. 

“They have been luring thousands of third-country nationals to Belarus, issuing them tourist visas, bringing them to the European Union-Belarus border and forcing them to illegally cross to neighboring countries,” Estonian Foreign Minister Eva-Maria Liimets told a virtual informal meeting of the U.N. Security Council that her nation organized.

“The objective of the authorities of Belarus with this hybrid action and manipulation of human beings has been to destabilize its neighboring countries and divert attention from increasing human rights violations in Belarus,” Liimets said.

Minsk denied the accusation.

“Belarus did not orchestrate the refugee crisis on its western borders,” Belarusian Ambassador Valentin Rybakov told the meeting. “Belarus did not violate its obligations towards refugees who seek asylum in Western countries.”

Rybakov said Minsk is willing to cooperate with international organizations to resolve the situation.

The migrants, many of them from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Iran, seek asylum when they reach European Union member states. 

Their journeys are not without peril. In September, the International Organization for Migration said four migrants died near the border between Poland and Belarus. At least two of them appeared to have died of hypothermia, raising additional concerns for the safety of migrants as winter approaches.

The IOM expressed concern that migrants were being turned back at EU borders, leaving groups of people stranded for weeks without assistance. 

European and especially Baltic ministers blamed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko for repression in his own country and accused him of manufacturing a new migration crisis. 

After a contested election in August 2020, which Western nations said was rigged in his favor, Lukashenko tightened his nearly 30-year grip on power, cracking down on protesters, activists, human rights defenders and journalists in Belarus. 

The head of the U.N. Human Rights Office in New York, Ilze Brands Kehris, told the meeting that the office had received reports of more than 800 people being jailed for political opinions.

She said that in September, 103 people were convicted in what appeared to be “politically motivated criminal cases,” and at least 20 journalists and media workers remained in detention. 

“According to civil society sources, by the end of September, at least 275 civil society organizations had been closed down or were in the process of being liquidated by the authorities,” she noted. 

“These individuals who appear to be stranded along the border are human beings and must not be abused as political instruments or bargaining chips,” she said of the migrants. 

The flow of migrants picked up after the European Union sanctioned Minsk for forcing a commercial airliner flying over its territory in May to land. The authorities arrested a Belarusian opposition blogger and his girlfriend who were on board. 

“The regime is conducting a hybrid attack,” Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said. He compared the Lukashenko regime to human traffickers and organized criminals and accused them of financially profiting from their scheme. 

“This is a clear retaliation for us being decisive in our support of Belarusian civil society and for giving shelter and protection to the Belarusian people demanding free and fair elections in their country,” Rinkevics said. 

“According to many testimonies of migrants caught in Poland, on their way to the Polish border they are forced to pay bribes, their documents are taken away, and sometimes, finally, they are forced to illegally cross the border into the EU countries,” Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz said. 

Lithuania has also seen an influx of migrants. Vice Minister Mantas Adoménas said Minsk must be held to account. 

“It is time for the international community to give a strong response to deteriorating human rights situation in Belarus,” Adoménas said. 

“As long as the regime in Belarus refuses to respect its international obligations and commitments, undermines the peace and security of Europe, and continues to repress and abuse its own people, we will not bend on sanctions, nor will we lessen our calls for accountability,” said U.S. envoy Richard Mills. 

Russia accused Western nations of “double standards” in picking on Belarus. Deputy U.N. envoy Dmitry Polyanskiy said the West had failed to topple Lukashenko in a “color revolution” in Belarus – a reference to Ukraine’s “orange revolution” – and this was essentially their way of distracting from their failure.

China said illegal migration was not a new issue for Europe, and that Belarus as a country of transit and destination, was no less a “victim” than its neighbors. 
…

Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov of Novaya Gazeta and Philippine journalist Maria Ressa of Rappler have been named the recipients of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize — a move press freedom advocates hope will shine light on the threats to a global free press. Esha Sarai has more. Tommy Walker contributed.
…

Surrounded by a group of men wielding axes, Romanian filmmaker Mihai Dragolea was sure he was going to die.

The filmmaker, part of the independent Vagabond Film production company, was with his colleague Radu Mocanu as well as Tiberiu Bosutar, a former timber worker turned environmental activist, in a remote forested area in Romania last month for a documentary on illegal logging. 

While the film crew was working in the woods, a group of 10 to 20 men, carrying axes and bats, approached. Dragolea said someone yelled, “Stop the camera. We’re going to kill you.” Another man broke their car key so they could not escape. 

The men beat Dragolea, Mocanu and Bosutar and destroyed equipment in an assault that media and environmental rights analysts say shows the dangers of investigating illegal activities that harm the environment.

“Covering the environment can be incredibly dangerous, especially in places where natural resources are a major source of a country’s revenue,” Meaghan Parker, executive director of the Society of Environmental Journalists, told VOA. 

Dragolea described the attack as “organized.” The group had been filming in Romania’s Suceava County — a region whose forest has been rapidly disappearing over the past 20 years. 

“I was sure we were going to die,” Dragolea told VOA. “If you see axes coming towards you, that’s a message.” 

Dragolea managed to escape the beating by jumping into a ravine, where he called emergency services.

Mocanu was beaten and suffered memory loss. Bosutar was also beaten, and the attackers forced him to remove his clothing in an attempt to humiliate him.

Dragolea credits the police for arriving at the remote forest area in about 30 minutes and saving them from more serious harm.  

‘Timber mafia’

Romania is home to one of the largest old-growth forests in Europe, and its multibillion-dollar logging industry is a major source of the country’s revenue.

With the gradual collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, starting in the late 1980s, timber became a private industry in Romania. It drives the economy, providing profits to private forestry companies and jobs for workers.

But it has also been susceptible to corruption and crime allegedly tied to the government. In 2020, the European Union, saying Romania was not doing enough to tackle illegal logging or assess environmental impact, started a sanctions process.

VOA’s call and email to the Romanian Embassy in Washington went unanswered. 

Romania’s so-called “timber mafia” has taken to protecting its interests through violent attacks against forest rangers, activists and journalists, according to the European Center for Press and Media Freedom. 

Since 2014, at least 650 forest rangers have been attacked and six deaths have been recorded, according to reports. Additionally, dozens of journalists and activists have been attacked, the center said. 

“This has been brewing for 30 years and the wood-mafia have become so strong that they are almost impervious,” Dragolea told VOA. 

Covering logging and other environmental issues can sometimes draw journalists into other risky beats such as organized crime and corruption.

“With money comes opportunities for corruption and crime,” said Parker, from the Society for Environmental Journalists. “[They] are not just environmental reporters. They’re business reporters. They’re crime reporters. They’re corruption reporters. And that puts them often at great risk because they are dealing with people who will want to make sure they don’t investigate that corruption or that crime by using physical violence and murder.” 

Romanian Prime Minister Florin Citu publicly condemned the attack against Dragolea and his team, and authorities have arrested suspects in the case.

But such action is rare, said Laurens Hueting, senior advocacy officer at the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom.  

“People aren’t being held accountable. There’s very weak investigation, very weak prosecution,” Hueting said. “It sends that signal that this is tolerated, this is okay, you can get away with this.” 

Bucharest charged 11 people with “hitting and other violence” in connection with the assault, which Dragolea believes is too lenient. 

“They didn’t mention anything about the destroyed equipment, humiliation, torture or attempt at one’s life. Because if one charges at you with an ax, that’s attempted murder,” Dragolea said. The journalist estimates about 8,000 euros worth of recording equipment was destroyed in the attack.

Dragolea and Bosutar returned to the forest a week after the attack to capture footage of unauthorized cutting and plan to continue filming their documentary. “We do not want to quit and succumb,” Dragolea told VOA.  

 
…

French President Emmanuel Macron faced the frustration of young people from across Africa on Friday over a range of issues, including migration and the vestiges of colonialism, at a summit aiming to turn the page with the continent.

Billed as a chance to prove France’s commitment in particular to young Africans, the Africa-France summit gathering some 3,000 business leaders, artists and athletes in the southern city of Montpellier was largely dominated by the region’s crises.

“I can no longer stand to see African youths dying in the sea” trying to reach Europe, a woman told Macron as he visited the dozens of round tables at the vast Sud de France arena overlooking the Mediterranean.

A young Guinean urged him to “support the transition” after the military coup that deposed the West African country’s long-time president Alpha Conde last month.

Sibila Saminatou Ouedraogo, a Burkina Faso participant at the conference, said that African nations — many of them former French colonies — still labored under a “relationship of dependency” towards France that was holding back their development.

More than 1,000 youths were at the gathering which, though dubbed a “summit” by the French hosts, pointedly excluded leaders other than Macron.

‘System of humiliation’

The French president will later debate with 12 young people chosen by the Cameroon intellectual Achille Mbembe, who was tasked with organizing the meeting.

“We hope that Montpellier will mark a fresh start — that people listen to Africa and African youths, which have things to say to the world and France,” said Bakary Sambe, director of the Timbuktu Institute.

But the meeting also comes as many youths in particular have bristled at Macron’s decision to slash visas to Algerians, Moroccans and Tunisians in a dispute on illegal immigration.

Mehdi Alioua, a political science professor in Rabat, denounced “a collective punishment” and a “system of humiliation” — sparking fierce applause.

“We’re stuck between condescending language from the West that want to educate Africans, and language from our governments claiming that the West wants to impose its values,” said Habiba Issa Moussa, a Nigerian studying in France.

Expectations are high that Macron will announce concrete steps such as those proposed by Mbembe, which include a fund for promoting democratic initiatives or increased opportunities for students to study abroad.

In a report given to the president this week, Mbembe said France was failing to recognize “new movements and political and culture experiments” underway in several countries.

After arriving in Montpellier, Macron said 26 artworks and other prized artefacts stolen by French colonial forces from Benin a century ago would be returned this month as promised.
…

The United States and the European Union have honored the memory of a Russian investigative journalist slain 15 years ago by demanding that Moscow bring to justice those who ordered her killing and praising the independent journalists continuing her legacy under Kremlin pressure.

In one of two statements issued Thursday, the 15th anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya’s killing, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized what he called “continued impunity for those who ordered [her] murder,” saying it undermined Russia’s freedom of speech, press freedom and broader human rights.

“We urge that all of those involved in her murder be identified and held accountable for their crimes,” he said.

EU foreign affairs spokesperson Peter Stano said the 27-nation bloc “call[s] on the Russian government to ensure that all those responsible for Anna Politkovskaya’s assassination are brought to justice through an open and transparent judicial process.” He also noted a 2018 judgment by the European Court of Human Rights that said Moscow had not done enough to find those who ordered her killing, even after convicting several people who carried it out.

Politkovskaya was shot to death in an elevator of her Moscow apartment building on Oct. 7, 2006. The 48-year-old investigative reporter for Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta had been an outspoken critic of Russia’s longtime president, Vladimir Putin.

She gained prominence for her coverage of human rights violations committed during Russia’s war with separatists in its constituent republic of Chechnya in the 2000s.

Her killing coincided with an intensification of a Kremlin crackdown on freedoms of speech and the press in Russia, recalled Jeffrey Trimble, an Ohio State University political science lecturer who had been a senior manager at VOA sister network Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty at the time.

“It was the year, for instance, that the Voice of America and RFE/RL lost almost all of their local rebroadcasting partners in Russia,” Trimble told VOA in a Wednesday interview.

Both Blinken and Stano noted in their statements that Russia’s press freedoms have recently weakened further, with the government designating many independent journalists as “foreign agents” or “undesirable.” They said the U.S. and the EU will stand in solidarity with those journalists in the face of such pressure.

Speaking to Russian reporters Thursday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said finding the mastermind of contract killings was a difficult and lengthy process. He said the “inevitability of punishment” for such crimes was of major importance to Moscow.

In 2014, a Moscow court convicted four Chechens, one of whom was the gunman, of involvement in the Politkovskaya killing. A former Moscow police officer also was convicted of being an accomplice.

Novaya Gazeta published an article Wednesday, noting that under Russia’s statute of limitations, the killing’s mastermind would not face punishment more than 15 years after the crime was committed unless a court extended the period. It vowed to push the government to revive its investigation and identify the mastermind.

The newspaper also posted on its website a nearly two-hour documentary with findings from its own investigation into the killing.

“Even with the crackdown on independent journalism in Russia, creative and brave journalists are finding a way to cooperate and work with their international colleagues,” Trimble said. “I hope that Russian journalists who continue to investigate this [killing], together with international journalists who have other resources, can produce information that will force the Russian authorities to take more definitive action to solve this crime,” he added.

This article originated in VOA’s Russian Service. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters. 
…

A Russian film crew blasts into space on a moviemaking history mission, an American actor known for playing a space explorer gets the chance to see the real deal, and more. VOA’s Jesusemen Oni has more on the Week in Space.
…

The Irish and Estonian governments on Thursday agreed to sign on to a 15% global minimum tax rate on multinational firms, leaving only Hungary as the last hold-out against the far-reaching deal. 

The reform aims to stop international corporations from slashing the tax bills by registering in nations with low rates. 

“The government has now approved my recommendation that Ireland joins the international consensus,” Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said. 

“I’m absolutely satisfied that our interests are better served within the agreement,” he added. 

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said that joining the reform would ensure “we have the best chance of ensuring that Estonia’s business environment and tax policy continue to work in the interests of a better future for all of us.” 

Finance ministers from wealthy G-7 nations in June endorsed a global minimum corporate tax rate of at least 15%, reached in the framework of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). 

It was approved by the G-20 in July and has been signed by more than 130 countries, except Hungary. 

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said earlier this week that there was a chance that his country could agree to it as long as the reform “does not damage the Hungarian economy or put Hungarian jobs in danger.” 

Donohoe said Ireland has insisted on a change of wording, excluding “at least” before the 15% figure, describing this as an important issue that needed to be resolved, due to the “desire of some to seek a higher rate.” 

The minister said the reform was expected to take effect in 2023. 

Ireland currently has a 12.5% tax rate. 

Its tax policy has attracted giants such as Apple and Google, while Estonia had been concerned that joining the reform could threaten its vibrant tech start-up sector. 

The reform will affect 56 Irish multinationals that employ about 100,000 workers, as well as 1,500 foreign-owned multinationals employing 400,000 people. 

It only applies to companies with annual turnover of more than 750 million euros ($870 million) a year. Smaller businesses will still pay corporate tax at 12.5%. 

Kallas said that in the case of Estonia the reform “will not change anything for most Estonian business operators, and it will only concern subsidiaries of large multinational groups.” 

While Ireland stands to lose 800 million to 2 billion euros in corporate tax receipts if companies leave the country, the minister argued that if it did not sign up to the deal, Ireland would “lose influence in respect to the critical decisions that will come in the coming months.” 

He added that there was debate in the U.S. Congress on changes that would align their tax system with the OECD agreement, calling this a key factor due to “significant investment by U.S. multinationals here.” 

Following Ireland and Estonia’s decision, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said, “We are on the way to a generational achievement of creating a global minimum tax, which would create a more level playing field so jobs and investment can flourish in the United States.” 

Ireland’s low levy has attracted an outsized number of pharma and tech firms but also prompted accusations the nation acts as a tax haven. 

 
…

Spain’s airport authority for the Canary Islands shut down the airport on the island of La Palma again Thursday because of accumulating ash from a volcano that has been erupting there for 18 days. 

From its Twitter account, the airport authority, Aena, said the facility was closed because of accumulating ash. In news agency video from the airport, the cloud of ash could be seen hanging over the runways. The airport was closed once last month because of ash as well.

Scientists monitoring the course of Cumbre Vieja’s eruption say it has been unpredictable. It settled down several days ago, but earlier this week, it reawakened. In the latest report from its Twitter account, the Canary Island Volcanic Institute said the activity had become more explosive in recent hours.

The German Research Center for Geosciences, which sent a team to La Palma, told The Associated Press the lava flow on the island was 6,300 meters long, more than 1,000 meters wide at its broadest point and up to 25 meters (82 feet) thick. 

The experts said the molten rock from the crater was now flowing down a lava tube beneath earlier, hardened lava, straight into the sea. That has eased fears it could spread wider and cause more destruction. 

The volcanic eruption that started September 19 has forced the evacuation of more than 6,000 of La Palma’s roughly 85,000 residents. The island is part of the Canary Islands archipelago off the northwest coast of Africa. 

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
…

After losing two full summers of tourism revenue, Britain is getting rid of restrictive quarantine requirements for visitors from 47 countries, including India, South Africa, Brazil and Turkey.

Starting Monday, vaccinated travelers from those countries will no longer have to quarantine for 10 days in a hotel upon arrival in Britain.

Britain recognizes the AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccines.

Visitors from seven countries, including Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela will still be required to quarantine.

People who are fully vaccinated and arriving from countries such as India, Turkey and Ghana will now have to provide only a negative test after two days.

Airline companies like Ryanair and easyJet had complained that complicated travel restrictions have prevented the tourism industry from recovering from lost business during pandemic lockdowns.

“Restoring people’s confidence in travel is key to rebuilding our economy and leveling up this country,” British Transport Minister Grant Shapps said Thursday. “With less restrictions and more people traveling, we can all continue to move safely forward together along our pathway to recovery.”

Earlier this week, Britain lifted recommendations against nonessential travel to 32 countries, including Ghana and Malaysia. 

Some information for this report came from Reuters.
…

German Health Minister Jens Spahn said Thursday the nation has vaccinated millions more people than previously thought, thanks to some unreported vaccination numbers discovered by the Robert Koch Institute for Disease Control.

The institute says nearly 80% of adults in Germany are fully vaccinated, and about 84% have received at least one shot. Previous official reports were about 5% lower — meaning there are about 3.5 million more people vaccinated than had been reported. 

Speaking to reporters in Berlin, Spahn said the discrepancy was discovered in surveys conducted by the RKI that revealed additional vaccinations. He believes some big companies’ employee vaccination programs and mobile vaccination teams in nursing centers and elsewhere may account for those initially unreported.

The new RKI figures are based on surveys and do not include people under the age of 18, which is why the agency has yet to give a new overall number of vaccinated people in Germany.

Spahn said these new numbers are good news in terms of any new COVID-19 restrictions that might be contemplated in the coming months, barring any unforeseen new variants or surges of cases.  

“From today’s perspective, we will not need any further restrictions in autumn and winter to get through this time well without overburdening the health system,” he said.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
…

NATO is expelling eight Russian diplomats and plans to halve the size of Russia’s observer mission to the Western alliance in response to alleged malign Russian espionage activities in Europe, which have included killings, attempted assassinations and explosions, say European officials.

The diplomats have been told to leave Brussels by the end of this month. Two other Russian diplomatic slots currently vacant at NATO headquarters will not be allowed to be filled, NATO officials told VOA.

The stripping of the accreditations of the eight Russian diplomats, first reported by Britain’s Sky News, was denounced swiftly by Russian lawmakers. The lawmakers said the Kremlin would retaliate, although not necessarily with a tit-for-tat round of expulsions of Western diplomats based in Moscow, setting the stage for a further deterioration of relations between Western countries and Russia, reminiscent of the Cold War.

A NATO official said Wednesday, “We have reduced the number of positions which the Russian Federation can accredit to NATO to 10,” down from 20 previously. The official described the diplomats targeted as “undeclared Russian intelligence officers.”

“We have strengthened our deterrence and defense in response to Russia’s aggressive actions, while at the same time we remain open for a meaningful dialogue,” he added.

NATO’s action Wednesday, came a day after Democratic and Republican senators in Washington urged US President Joe Biden to expel 300 Russian diplomats from the United States if Moscow refuses to issue more visas for Americans to represent the US in Russia. There are only about 100 American diplomats stationed in Russia, compared with 400 Russian diplomats based across the United States, the senators said.

“This disproportionality in diplomatic representation is unacceptable. Accordingly, Russia must issue enough visas to approach parity between the number of American diplomats serving in Russia and the number of Russian diplomats serving in the United States,” the senators wrote in a letter to Biden.

Troubled history

All 30 NATO member countries approved the decision to halve Russia’s observer mission, which was established two decades ago to help promote dialogue and cooperation in common security areas. The Russian diplomats based in Brussels are meant to meet with their Western counterparts in a forum known as the NATO-Russia Council, although there have been no formal proceedings for months.

This is not the first time NATO has expelled Russian diplomats based at the alliance’s headquarters. Seven Russian diplomats were expelled in 2018 after the poisoning in England of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian intelligence officer who defected to Britain, and his daughter. The Kremlin denied any involvement in the attempted assassination but Britain has identified Russian intelligence officers it says were behind the poisoning.

Last month, Britain’s Metropolitan Police charged a third suspect, Denis Sergeev, an officer for Russia’s military intelligence agency, GRU, over the poisoning.

In April, Czech officials said two of the Russian agents allegedly involved in the Skripal poisoning were behind a fatal blast at a Czech ammunition depot in 2014, which left two dead. Czech officials told local media that Russia orchestrated the blast to stop arms deliveries to Ukraine via Bulgaria. The Czech government subsequently expelled 18 Russian diplomats and the Kremlin responded by ordering 20 Czech diplomats to leave Russia.

The Czechs since then have been urging NATO to downsize the Russian mission in Brussels, a British official told VOA.

The NATO-Russia Council has hardly been operating in recent years, largely because of increasing disputes and rising tensions between Western powers and the Kremlin, fueled initially by Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and the support given to pro-Moscow separatists in the eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Alexander Grushko,  accused NATO Thursday of being responsible for the deterioration of relations.

“The leaders of NATO yesterday spoke of the importance of de-escalating relations with Russia and spoke out in favor of a resumption in dialogue in the framework of the Russia-NATO Council,” he told Russia’s Kommersant daily newspaper.

“If anyone believed in the sincerity of those statements then today they don’t. Their real worth is clear to all. After the dramatic end of the Afghan era, how can they get by without the bogeyman of the ‘Russian threat.’ They can’t,” Grushko added.

Leonid Slutsky, a Russian lawmaker and chair of the Duma’s international affairs committee, told the Interfax news agency NATO’s move would damage dialogue between Moscow and the West and said he expected the Kremlin to respond with “asymmetric” measures. “The collective West is continuing its policy of diplomatic confrontation with Russia,” he said.

Some information from Reuters was used for this report
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Victims of sexual abuse by priests in France are calling for historic reform of the Catholic Church after an independent commission found that hundreds of thousands of children had suffered systematic abuse over the past seven decades. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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Russia’s Federal Security Service has issued an arrest warrant for investigative journalist Roman Dobrokhotov, editor of the Insider news website. He’s being accused of illegally crossing the border into Ukraine in August and could face up to two years in prison. Anna Rice has the story.
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NATO said Wednesday it expelled eight members of Russia’s mission to the military alliance for allegedly working in secret as intelligence officers. 

“We can confirm that we have withdrawn the accreditation of eight members of the Russian Mission to NATO, who were undeclared Russian intelligence officers,” an unnamed NATO official said.

NATO also said it would cut the number of positions that Russia could accredit to NATO from 20 to 10 at the end of October. The alliance did not immediately explain why the decision was made. 

The official said, “NATO’s policy towards Russia remains consistent. We have strengthened our deterrence and defense in response to Russia’s aggressive actions, while at the same time we remain open for a meaningful dialogue.” 

Senior Russian lawmaker Leonid Slutsky, head of the Russian lower house of parliament’s international affairs committee, said Moscow would retaliate but did not provide specifics, according to Interfax. 

NATO-Russian relations have steadily deteriorated since Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014. NATO and Russia also disagree over issues such as Russia’s nuclear missile development and aerial intrusions into NATO airspace. 

Some information for this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters. 

 
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Russia’s opposition activists and rights groups had hoped the Kremlin would ease off on a crackdown on dissent, independent media outlets and civic organizations once the elections for the Duma, the lower house of parliament, concluded last month.

But there’s little sign of that happening, they say.

The Justice Ministry has added nearly two dozen activists and journalists, an independent rights watchdog and a news site to its Soviet-style blacklist of designated “foreign agents.” The moniker can mean the death knell for a media outlet as it prompts nervous advertisers to pull out. Both Russians and non-Russians can be branded as foreign agents.

“Russian authorities have intensified their efforts to silence independent voices,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement. The rights group says the authorities are using “a battery of laws that allow even greater infringements on freedoms of expression, association, and assembly.”

In the runup to Russia’s parliamentary elections in September, which saw the ruling United Russia party retain its majority in the 450-seat Duma, opposition leaders and critics of President Vladimir Putin complained of an intensification of a campaign of repression that saw an exodus of dissidents. 

The Kremlin barred most genuinely independent candidates — first and foremost supporters of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny — from running in the polls.

Last week, Russia’s domestic spy agency added to its list of topics and issues that can earn the moniker of “foreign agent.” The Federal Security Service listed 60 non-classified topics, many related to the armed forces, including military procurement and soldiers’ morale, that can be exploited by foreign enemies. The topics include gathering or publishing information about corruption within the military as well as Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos.

The expansion of the list will add to the risks for journalists trying to report on Russia’s military, rights lawyers complain.

In an interview with the Reuters news agency after the elections, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the authorities would continue to take a tough line against what he termed “the non-systemic opposition.” He said opponents had “crossed a red line a while ago.” And, he added, “What they were doing was using provocations and all methods to try to stir up social unrest.”

Peskov said, “Naturally, any authorities would adopt as tough a position as possible to that. The aim is to maintain stability in society. There is no place for lawlessness and we are ready to force people to obey the law. This is not connected to the Duma elections. This is our line and it will continue to be our line.”

People designated as foreign agents can be fined and jailed for up to five years for failing to meet various administrative requirements, including filing regular financial reports.

They are also required to add this statement to anything they publish: “This message is created and/or distributed by a foreign media outlet carrying out the functions of a foreign agent, and/or by a Russian legal entity carrying out the functions of a foreign agent.”

Russia’s law on foreign agents was initially introduced in 2012 but has been beefed up and amended several times since. Last month, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a global network of 50 independent media outlets, announced it was halting operations in Russia in order to protect its Russian journalist collaborators.

More than 70 individuals are on the foreign agent blacklist, nearly one-third of them added since the parliamentary elections. The most recent additions include Sergey Smirnov and Pyotr Verzilov, respectively the editor-in-chief of the independent news site Mediazona and its publisher, Zona Prava; a rights organization founded by the Pussy Riot protest punk rock band to monitor abuses in Russia’s prison system; and several members of the election watchdog Golos.

Three members of the feminist Pussy Riot were jailed after staging what authorities considered a sacrilegious and unauthorized performance in 2012 inside Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

The incident, which gained the group international notoriety, was billed as an anti-Putin demonstration. Putin was prime minister at the time.

The Mediazona news site published Tuesday three videos obtained by an NGO, Gulagu.net, showing inmates being beaten and tortured by guards in several prisons across the country, including in the city of Saratov. Gulagu.net’s website was blocked by state media watchdog Roskomnadzor earlier this year following requests from Russia’s security agencies.

“Russian authorities have amassed a wide array of tools to intimidate, marginalize, and punish human rights defenders,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

HRW has raised concerns also about a crackdown on two Russian rights groups, both of which have won cases against Russia at the European Court of Human Rights, and a migrant rights campaigner, Valentina Chupik, an Uzbek barred last month from re-entering Russia, where she has been a resident since 2005.

Border officials handed Chupik a notice saying she would be prohibited from entering the country for 30 years.

“Whether the moves against these three are coordinated or not, they are certainly consistent with the authorities’ wider efforts to stifle effective critics, in particular groups that work to rectify human rights abuses,” says Williamson.

A group of 45 Western countries demanded Tuesday that Russia provide urgent answers about the poisoning of Kremlin critic Navalny. Western nations say Navalny was poisoned in Russia with a Soviet-era nerve agent in August last year. He was treated in Germany before returning to Russia, where he’s now in jail.

Moscow has 10 days to respond to the questions posed by the EU, the United States, Canada and Australia, under the rules of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). “It is essential that Russia sets out in detail the steps taken to investigate and shed light on the use of a chemical weapon on its territory,” said the statement by the 45 countries.

Moscow denies any involvement in Navalny’s poisoning. Navalny was jailed on his return to Russia on fraud charges, which his supporters say were trumped up. He is being held at Penal Colony No. 2 in Pokrov in the Vladimir region of Russia.

His prison sentence is due to end in mid-2023, but Russian authorities have launched a new case against Navalny and other directors of his Anti-Corruption Fund and he could face new extremism charges, each of which carries a possible sentence of 10 years.

“The organization that I founded specializes in fighting against corruption. And this, evidently, is enough to make it extremist in the eyes of my country’s authorities,” Navalny said Wednesday in a speech delivered for him at the Oslo Freedom Forum in Miami.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.
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After a push to patch U.S.-French relations, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken closes a Paris visit Wednesday with the final day of ministerial talks at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. 

Blinken highlighted several challenges as he spoke at the opening of the meeting Tuesday, including the coronavirus pandemic, the climate crisis, inequity and setting rules for a technologically advancing world. 

“The principles at the heart of this organization and our democracies are being challenged by authoritarian governments that argue their model is better at meeting people’s basic needs. Some of these same governments are actively seeking to undermine the rules-based order that has been fundamental to security and prosperity of our countries for generations,” Blinken said, without naming specific nations.  

Blinken said member nations must “prove that our approach can make a better life for people … in all countries and in a way that’s more equitable than in the past” while holding “ourselves accountable.”  

In addition to the final work at the OECD meetings Wednesday, Blinken is holding separate talks with Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares and Colombian Vice President and Foreign Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez. 

State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken and Di Maio discussed the need for Libyan leaders to do what is necessary to support national elections in December, as well as concern about the political and humanitarian crisis in northern Ethiopia. 

Blinken thanked both Di Maio and Albares for their governments’ efforts in helping evacuate people from Afghanistan ahead of the withdrawal of U.S. forces. 

At the start of his meeting with Ramirez, Blinken said Colombia is a regional leader on democratic values and human rights, and that the United States and Colombia have a “lot on our common agenda now” such as work on climate change and counternarcotics.

Tensions over AUKUS deal     

The first part of his Paris trip was focused on repairing strained ties with ally France following a dispute about a security partnership among the United States, Britain and Australia. 

That included a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron during which a U.S. official said Blinken and Macron discussed joint projects the two sides could announce during a meeting later this month between Macron and U.S. President Joe Biden. 

“We could and we should have communicated better,” Blinken told France 2 television in an interview after his meeting with Macron. “We sometimes tend to take for granted a relationship as important and deep as the one that links France and the United States.” 

The Biden administration announced September 15 a new security pact with Australia and Britain. Under the deal, Australia will get at least eight nuclear-powered submarines to be built domestically using American technology. The agreement came as Australia pulled out of an earlier deal with France for diesel-electric submarines, which angered Paris.     

France recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia within two days following the announcement. Le Drian declared a “crisis of trust” in the United States.          

Blinken heads to Mexico         

Blinken’s weeklong trip also includes a stop at Stanford University, and meetings in Mexico City on Thursday and Friday for the U.S.-Mexico High Level Security Dialogue.          

He will join U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to discuss security issues, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said this week.     

The high-level meeting comes amid a recent migration crisis as tens of thousands of Haitian migrants gathered at the U.S.-Mexico border last month.          

The Biden administration confirmed on September 24 that a makeshift camp where 15,000 Haitian migrants braved desperate conditions along the U.S.-Mexico border was now vacant.

In late September, Mexico also began flying Haitian migrants back to their homeland.

 Some information for this report came from the Associated Press. 
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A group of French senators arrived in Taiwan for a five-day visit Wednesday following a large Chinese show of force with fighter jets amid the highest tensions in decades between China and Taiwan. 

The group, led by senator Alain Richard, will meet with President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwanese economic and health officials and the Mainland Affairs Council. Richard, a former French defense minister, previously visited Taiwan in 2015 and 2018, according to Taiwan’s semi-official Central News Agency, and heads the Taiwan Friendship group in the French senate. 

China’s ambassador to France Lu Shaye sent a warning letter in February calling on Richard to cancel the Taiwan visit, according to local media reports. 

The visit will likely provoke a rebuke from China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory and therefore opposes any international engagement with the island such as visits by foreign government officials. It also has aggressively poached Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic allies. 

In its most recent display of sustained military harassment, China flew fighter jets 149 times toward Taiwan over four days from Friday to Monday. The White House called the flights risky and destabilizing, while China responded that the U.S. selling weapons to Taiwan and its ships navigating the Taiwan Strait were provocative.

Taiwan’s defense minister Chiu Kuo-cheng told legislators Wednesday that the situation “is the most severe in the 40 years since I’ve enlisted.” Chiu was answering questions as the legislature decides whether to approve a special budget for air and naval defense purchases. 

China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. Today they have extensive trade and investment ties but no official relations, and China has increasingly mobilized military, diplomatic and economic pressure to undermine Tsai’s independence-leaning administration. 
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NATO’s top official is signaling that it would be a mistake to see the withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan or simmering tensions between France and the United States as a weakening of the trans-Atlantic alliance. 

Instead, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned would-be adversaries that NATO will remain unified and resolute against a growing number of threats from old adversaries and new ones. 

“Questions are being asked about the strength of the bond between Europe and North America,” Stoltenberg told an audience at Georgetown University in Washington following a series of meetings with top U.S. officials. 

“They do not change the big picture,” he said. “We do not know what the next crisis will be, but we do know that whatever happens, we are safer when we stand together.” 

Specifically, Stoltenberg pushed back against charges that U.S. President Joe Biden cast aside NATO allies when he decided to make good on the previous U.S. administration deal to pull American troops from Afghanistan. 

“The idea that the United States did not consult is wrong,” Stoltenberg said. “That’s factually wrong.” 

The NATO leader also said that while France was “disappointed” by a new security pact between the U.S., United Kingdom and Australia — the so-called AUKUS deal in which the U.S. and the U.K. will share technology with Australia to help it build nuclear-powered submarines — “NATO allies agree on the big picture that we need to stand together also working with our Asia-Pacific partners.” 

“China has the second-largest defense budget in the world. They’re investing heavily in new military capabilities, including nuclear long-range weapons systems,” Stoltenberg said. “I expect that the upcoming new strategic concept for NATO will actually reflect a much more comprehensive and unified position on how to relate to China.” 

But the NATO secretary-general saved his toughest talk for Russia, warning that relations between NATO and Moscow are “at the lowest point since the end of the Cold War.” 

“They have deployed new, advanced weapon systems. They have violated one of the cornerstones of arms control, the INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty) that banned all intermediate-range weapon systems,” he said. “And we have seen a more aggressive Russia abroad, in many places, and then a more repressive Russia at home.” 

And Stoltenberg went even further, appearing to chastise Moscow for its stance on NATO enlargement, specifically its opposition to membership for Georgia and Ukraine. 

“It is the right for any sovereign nation to decide its own path. The whole idea that it’s a provocation to Russia that small neighbors join NATO is absolutely wrong,” he said. “That’s the provocation, that anyone is saying that.” 

Stoltenberg declined to say when Georgia or Ukraine might gain NATO membership, calling it a matter for the two countries and the alliance, and “no one else.” 

Stoltenberg also said that during his time in Washington, specifically during his meeting Monday with Biden, he pushed for NATO members to do more to help aspiring members. 

“We need to step up and do more for those aspirant countries, because as long as they are not members, we should provide more support, more training, more capacity building, help them implement reforms, fight corruption and build the security and defense institutions,” Stoltenberg said.

“We need to establish that there is a lot in between nothing and full membership,” he added. 

A White House readout of Monday’s meeting said the two leaders, “discussed the international security environment and NATO’s ongoing efforts to safeguard Transatlantic defense.” 

It also said Biden “reaffirmed his strong support for NATO and the importance of bolstering deterrence and defense against strategic competitors and transnational threats.” 

 
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Add U.S. military officials to the crescendo of voices warning Mali’s interim government against brokering any deal to use mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group to help with security and counterterrorism. 

For weeks, U.S. and French officials have publicly tried to dissuade Malian leaders from moving forward with a reported deal that would pay Wagner $10.8 million a month for 1,000 mercenaries to train Mali’s military and provide security for senior officials. 

Now, the Pentagon says such a deal could cost Mali in multiple ways. 

“Given the Wagner Group’s record, if these reports are true, any role for Russian mercenaries in Mali will likely exacerbate an already fragile and unstable situation,” U.S. Defense Department spokesperson Cindi King told VOA. 

King also warned a deal between Mali and the Wagner Group “would complicate the international response in support of the transition government.” 

The U.S. had been providing training and other support to Mali as it tries to confront the threat from various terrorist groups, including the Islamic State affiliate IS-Greater Sahara and the al-Qaida-affiliated Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, also known as JNIM. 

But that support was suspended following the August 2020 coup that saw elements of the Malian military depose the country’s elected leaders.

More recently, France announced this past June that it would bring home some 2,000 counterterrorism forces it had stationed in Mali and neighboring countries. 

Mali’s interim government has so far denied a deal with Russia’s Wagner Group is in the offing, but the country’s prime minister told VOA last week that the actions of the U.S., France and others have left the interim government with few choices. 

“The security situation keeps deteriorating by the day,” Choguel Maiga told VOA in an interview on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. 

“We have to find new partners who can help,” he said. “We can seek partnership either with Russia or with any other country.” 

Some Western officials with knowledge of the potential deal between Mali and the Wagner Group have called the potential deployment of the Russian mercenaries “a real concern.” 

The officials point to what they describe as a destabilizing impact of about 2,000 Wagner mercenaries in the Central African Republic, where allegations of human rights abuses and exploitation have been rampant. 

Russia has denied any abuses by contractors there and has welcomed talk of the potential deal between Mali’s interim government and Wagner. 

“They are combating terrorism,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a news conference at the U.N. last week. “And they have turned to a private military company from Russia in connection with the fact that, as I understand, France wants to significantly draw down its military component.” 

“We don’t have anything to do with that,” Lavrov said, adding, “at the government level, we are also contributing to providing for military and defense capacities of Mali.” 

Many Western governments, though, insist that there is little practical difference between the Kremlin and the exploits of the Wagner Group, run by Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin. 

Prigozhin, sometimes called “Putin’s cook” because of his catering company’s work for Russian President Vladimir Putin, is thought to have extensive ties to Russia’s political and military establishments, according to U.S. intelligence officials. 

The U.S. State Department sanctioned Prigozhin and Wagner back in July 2020, as well as several front companies for the group’s operations in Sudan. 

 
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The European Union announced a comprehensive plan Tuesday to fight the growing problem of antisemitism on the continent, using a three-pronged strategy that includes combating hate speech and crimes, protecting Jewish culture, and educating the public about Judaism.

The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, introduced the plan at a news conference in Strasbourg, France.

In a statement, the commission said antisemitism is worryingly on the rise, in Europe and beyond. Citing statistics from the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, 90% of Jews said antisemitism has increased in their country and it is a serious problem, and 38% of Jews have considered emigrating because they do not feel safe in the EU. 

Under the newly unveiled plan, which will be rolled out over a decade, the commission will use EU funds to support member countries as they develop their own national strategies to fight hate speech online and elsewhere and to promote fundamental rights. 

Discussing the strategy with reporters, EU Commission Vice-President for Promoting European Way of Life, Margaritis Schinas said, “Antisemitism is not the problem of the Jews, but the problem of antisemites, and fighting it is the responsibility for all of us. I want to be very clear: antisemitism is incompatible with everything that the European Union stands for.” 

The aim is to set up a Europe-wide network of “trusted flaggers” along with Jewish organizations to help remove illegal online hate speech. 

EU leaders will also work with industry and IT companies to prevent the illegal display and sale of Nazi-related symbols, memorabilia and literature online. 

Funding will be provided to better protect public spaces and places of worship to help Jewish people feel safer, with $28 million available next year. 

Other steps will be taken to safeguard Jewish heritage and raise awareness about Jewish culture, life and traditions. 

Some information for this report came from the Associated Press.
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The United States is sending nearly 900,000 doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine to Mongolia. They are scheduled to arrive Wednesday, a White House official told VOA.  

“Scientific teams and legal and regulatory authorities from both countries have worked together to ensure the prompt delivery of safe and effective vaccine lots to Mongolia,” the official said.  

The 899,730 doses, sent through COVAX, the global vaccine-sharing initiative co-led by Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance), the WHO (World Health Organization) and CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations), are in addition to 188,370 doses of the Pfizer vaccine shipped to Mongolia in September. The U.S. has also provided more than $4 million to support the country’s pandemic response.

Mongolia has administered around 4.4 million vaccine doses so far, according to its Ministry of Health. That’s enough for about 68% of the country’s population, assuming each person receives two doses.  

The number of infections is decreasing, with 2,230 new cases reported on average each day. That is 60% of the peak reported on September 6.  

There have been 312,376 infections and 1,347 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began. COVID-19 is caused by the coronavirus.

Vaccine inequality

Humanitarian organizations say wealthy nations still need to do more to address global vaccine inequality.  

“When it comes to vaccine access around the world, you have 80% of the doses that have been administered have gone to rich countries, while only 0.5% have gone to low-income countries,” said Robbie Silverman, Oxfam America’s senior advocacy manager.  

The U.S. has been criticized for announcing plans to provide booster shots for certain demographic groups while many at-risk populations around the world have yet to receive a single shot.   

The Biden administration says they can help vaccinate the world at the same time as they protect Americans.  

“As the president has said, America will be the arsenal of vaccines in our fight against COVID-19,” the White House official told VOA Tuesday.

At the virtual COVID-19 summit on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly in September, U.S. President Joe Biden announced an additional donation of 500 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to low-income and lower-middle-income countries, bringing total U.S. pledged donations to 1.1 billion shots.

The U.S. is the global leader in both pledged and shipped doses, according to data compiled by the Duke Global Health Innovation Center.  

As of October 1, however, the U.S. had shipped only 15% of the 1.1 billion doses it has promised. It is lagging behind other areas with less ambitious donation goals, including China (46%), Japan (30%) and the European Union (25%).

Some information from this report comes from Reuters.
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