Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of notorious Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, has pleaded guilty to charges she helped her husband run the Sinaloa cartel. 
 
Coronel Aispuro, 31, pleaded guilty to three federal charges Thursday in a federal court in Washington.  
 
The charges include conspiring to distribute heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine over years, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and engaging in transactions with a foreign drug trafficker. 
 
Coronel Aispuro was arrested at Dulles International Airport outside Washington in February and has been held in custody since. 
 
Her arrest was a surprise as no moves were made against her for two years despite her being implicated during her husband’s trial in 2019.  FILE – In this courtroom sketch, Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, foreground right, reads a statement through an interpreter during his sentencing in federal court, July 17, 2019, in New York. 
Guzman’s cartel operated ruthlessly for 25 years, smuggling tons of drugs into the U.S. while using extreme violence against anyone who got in the way.  
 
He was found guilty of 10 charges and sentenced to life plus 30 years. He is being held in Colorado’s Supermax prison. 
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German health officials Thursday introduced that nation’s version of the digital COVID-19 vaccination pass, a smart phone app that will allow fully vaccinated Germans a simple way to prove their status.
 
Speaking to reporters in Berlin, German Health Minister Jens Spahn said Germans who have been fully vaccinated can use the app, known as the CovPass, on their smart phones to give them access to restaurants, museums or other venues that require proof of vaccination.  
 
The health minister said people who get vaccinated will receive a letter or emailed certificates to upload to the app, and people who already have been vaccinated will get theirs retroactively. He said it will take time get them all out, but he said certificates and the app should be available to everyone in Germany who is fully vaccinated by the end of June.EU Parliament Approves Digital COVID-19 Travel Certificate App will allow EU citizens with vaccinations to move among member states  
Spahn said the yellow paper WHO-issued vaccination certificates will still be honored as well. But he said the idea is to use an app that is compatible with similar apps to those being introduced elsewhere in Europe.“The goal is that this digital vaccination certificate can be read in Helsinki, Amsterdam or on Mallorca and with that, we as the European Union are setting a standard, which across countries so far does not exist in the world,” he said.
 
The European Parliament Wednesday approved a measure establishing a digital COVID-19 certificate allowing travel throughout the bloc for those who are fully vaccinated.
 
Meanwhile, the country’s Koch Institute for disease control (RKI) reported Thursday that 47 percent, or 39.1 million people in Germany, have had at least one shot and that 23.9 percent – or 19.9 million people of the country’s 83 million residents are fully vaccinated.
 
The RKI reports that as of Wednesday, almost 1.3 million people received an inoculation against the coronavirus making it the second highest number of injections given in one day since the country started its campaign.
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The top of the world got a sunrise special Thursday — a “ring of fire” solar eclipse.  This so-called annular eclipse began at the Canadian province of Ontario, then swept across Greenland, the North Pole and finally Siberia, as the moon passed directly in front of the sun.An annular eclipse occurs when a new moon is around its farthest point from us and appearing smaller, and so it doesn’t completely blot out the sun when it’s dead center.  The upper portions of North America, Europe and Asia enjoyed a partial eclipse, at least where the skies were clear. At those locations, the moon appeared to take a bite out of the sun. The moon is seen blotting out 81 percent of the sun during a solar eclipse in Washington, D.C., Monday, Aug. 21, 2017. (Photo by Diaa Bekheet)It was the first eclipse of the sun visible from North America since August 2017, when a dramatic total solar eclipse crisscrossed the U.S. The next one is coming up in 2024.A total lunar eclipse graced the skies two weeks ago.
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The anti-corruption group of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny is pledging to continue its work after a Russian court outlawed Navalny-affiliated organizations and labeled them “extremist.”“We will continue to fight corruption!” Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation posted Thursday on Twitter.The ruling Wednesday by the Moscow court prevents people linked to the Navalny-affiliated groups from seeking public office, including seats in parliament. Russia has a parliamentary election in September.Prosecutors accused Navalny and his associates of trying to destabilize Russia.The U.S. State Department condemned the ruling Wednesday.“We urge Russia to cease the abuse of “extremism” designations to target nonviolent organizations, end its repression of Mr. Navalny and his supporters, and honor its international obligations to respect and ensure human rights and fundamental freedoms,” spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement. “The Russian people, like all people, have the right to speak freely, form peaceful associations to common ends, exercise religious freedom, and have their voices heard through free and fair elections.”Nalvany, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic, is serving a 2 1/2-year prison sentence for parole violations stemming from a 2014 embezzlement conviction he maintained was politically motivated.Nalvany was arrested in January in Russia after spending five months in Germany recovering from a nerve agent poisoning, he accuses the Kremlin of committing. Russia has denied the allegation.U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said she expects President Joe Biden to speak with Putin about Navalny’s poisoning and other human rights issues when they meet next week in Geneva. 
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Pope Francis has refused to accept the resignation of a German cardinal who requested to step down as archbishop of Munich and Freising over the Catholic Church’s handling of sex abuse cases.Cardinal Reinhard Marx offered to resign earlier this month, maintaining he must share the church’s responsibility for decades of sex abuse by clerics.But in a letter published Thursday, Francis rejected Marx’s resignation. The pope acknowledged reform was needed and said Marx must stay on to “shepherd my sheep.”The 67-year-old Marx is part of a small group of cardinals who advise the pope on various issues. He has not been linked to any investigative reports, but the prelate said all members of the hierarchy had some responsibility for the church’s failures. A report about the handling of sex abuse cases in Marx’s archdiocese is due to be released this summer.Marx wrote in his resignation letter that probes in the last decade indicated there had been “a lot of personal failures and administrative mistakes but also institutional or ‘systemic’ failure.”The church launched an investigation into abuse allegations at the German archdiocese in Cologne after a report released in March uncovered hundreds of victims there.“I agree with you that this is a catastrophe. The sad history of sexual abuse and the way the church approached it until recently,” Francis said.Earlier this month, the pope criminalized priests’ sexual abuse of adults in the most comprehensive changes to church law in nearly four decades.As a result, the law now says adults can also be exploited by priests who abuse their authority and that laypeople who hold positions in the church can be punished for comparable sex crimes, as well as for abusing minors.
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Leftist Peruvian presidential candidate Pedro Castillo is claiming victory in Peru’s national election, but his conservative rival, Keiko Fujimori, is suggesting hundreds of thousands of ballots cast in this week’s runoff election may have been fraudulently cast.Fujimori called on the country’s National Jury of Elections to throw out 200,000 votes cast in Sunday’s runoff between her and Castillo, and review another 300,000 votes, despite failing to provide any evidence to back up her claims.    “It’s not about my candidacy, but about respecting the vote of millions of Peruvians who want their vote to be respected and for this process to be transparent and clean,” Fujimori told reporters Wednesday in Lima.Castillo holds a very narrow lead over Fujimori, 50.2 % to 49.9 %, or just over 74,000 votes, with nearly all ballots counted.Fujimori, a former congresswoman, was imprisoned as part of a corruption investigation. She is the daughter of Alberto Fujimori, a former president serving a 25-year sentence for corruption and the killing of 25 people. She has promised economic benefits to families with victims of COVID-19. Castillo was a schoolteacher in the country’s third-poorest district before entering politics. He has said that he is committed to rewriting the constitution, which was approved during the rule of Fujimori’s father. 
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A new report finds 160 million children or nearly one child in ten is involved in child labor globally, an increase of 8.4 million since 2016.  AFILE – Children work with relatives to load a brick kiln for firing in Tobati, Paraguay, Sept. 4, 2020.The picture that emerges from this study varies by region.   The report finds child labor is continuing to decrease in Asia and the Pacific, as well as in Latin America and the Caribbean.  However, child labor has risen substantially in Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.    ILO Director General, Guy Ryder, says in Africa as a whole, 20 million more children are in child labor today than they were four years ago.  Of those, he says 16.6 million are in sub-Saharan Africa.      “So, if you look at that in percentage terms, it means that almost one in five African children are in child labor, one in four in the sub-Saharan sub region.  They are losing out on their education.  They are working at a young age.  They are working too many hours.  They often are working in hazardous occupations,” he said.     Executive Director of UNICEF Henrietta Fore expresses concern at the alarming rise in younger children who are toiling in child labor.  She says half of all children in child labor around the world are aged 5 to 11 years.    She says the COVID-19 pandemic is making this terrible situation even worse. “Faced with job losses and rising poverty, families are forced to make heartbreaking decisions.  We estimate that nine million more children could be pushed into child labor by the end of next year, a number that could rise as high as 46 million if social protection coverage falls victim to countries’ austerity measures,” she said.    To reverse the upward trend in child labor, the ILO and UNICEF are calling for adequate social protection for all, including universal child benefits and for quality education and increased spending in getting children back to school.   They say decent work for adults must be promoted so children do not have to be sent out to work to help support their families.  
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U.S. President Joe Biden meets Thursday with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on a European trip that includes high-level talks with other Western heads of state and a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The world will be watching how Biden and Johnson will interact Thursday afternoon after past disagreements on policies, including Brexit, the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union, which the Obama-Biden administration opposed.      “The chemistry hasn’t been good. President Biden had called Boris Johnson a clone of Donald Trump,” said Dan Hamilton, the director of the Global Europe Program at the Wilson Center.   Biden, who is of Irish descent, is also concerned that Brexit could undermine the Good Friday U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive at Cornwall Airport Newquay, June 9, 2021.Biden kicked off his United Kingdom visit Wednesday with remarks to U.S. troops stationed at the Royal Air Force Mildenhall in Suffolk. The military base is used almost exclusively by American soldiers and home to the U.S. Air Force 100th Air Refueling Wing.   “Thank you. We owe you. We’re so damn proud of you,” said Biden, noting the sacrifices that service members and their families have made. ”You are the solid steel spine of the United States,” he said. ”You are not only warriors. You are diplomats and bridge builders.”      Biden spoke of his agenda at the G-7, NATO and European Union summits in the days ahead, as well as his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week.      “I will tell Putin what I will tell him,” Biden said. ”I am going to communicate that there are consequences for violating the sovereignty of democracies in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.”   The president underscored his belief that world democracies will not only endure but thrive.     “We have to discredit those who believe that the age of democracy is over, as some of our fellow nations believe,” said the president, saying that even though things are changing rapidly, democracies can still get together to reach a consensus to respond to autocrats.   First lady Jill Biden, speaking before the president, showed her appreciation for military members’ sacrifice. She has recently relaunched Joining Forces, a support facility for American troops.      G-7 summit goals   The president’s main agenda in the U.K. is to attend the G-7 summit, a meeting of the world’s seven most advanced democracies: the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.   “Strengthening the alliance, making clear to Putin and to China that Europe and the United States are tight. The G-7 is going to move,” Biden said of his goal for the summit to reporters as he boarded Air Force One.   Now Biden is under pressure to shore up a global pandemic recovery strategy with other G-7 leaders, including how to help vaccinate the world’s population. “I have one and I’ll be announcing it,” Biden said to VOA.   The White House said early Thursday that Biden would be announcing a U.S. program to buy 500 million more doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to donate to 92 low- and lower middle-income countries and the African Union over the next year.  The U.S. plan calls for the donation of 200 million doses — enough to fully vaccinate 100 million people — by the end of this year, with the remainder sent overseas in the first half of 2022. The White House also said Biden would “call on the world’s democracies to do their part in contributing to the global supply of safe and effective vaccines.” The United States has vaccinated more than half of its adult population, but impoverished countries are trailing far behind that level of inoculations.  The United States has just joined Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries in reaffirming support to waive vaccine patents, the so-called TRIPS waiver at the World Trade Organization. White House press secretary Jen Psaki told VOA negotiations on the waiver at the WTO are being pursued by United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai, but Psaki would not provide details on whether Biden will put his diplomatic weight behind it at the G-7.   “The president has certainly spoken about his support on the waiver. He believes it’s an important component of addressing the global threat of COVID, and he will continue to play a constructive role,” Psaki said.    The G-7 leaders last met in August 2019 in Biarritz, France. That summit did not produce the usual communique because of disagreements between then-U.S. President Donald Trump and other leaders on key issues.  Sullivan told VOA aboard Air Force One en route to England that a communique is expected at the end of this G-7.     The three-day G-7 sessions commence on Friday, at the Carbis Bay Hotel & Estate and Tregenna Castle Resort, in St. Ives, Cornwall. The summit is expected to encounter extraordinary logistical challenges to meet COVID-19 health protocols.    
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The top U.S. envoy to Belarus told U.S. lawmakers Wednesday that the country’s dependence on Russia had significantly increased. The warning came as a U.S. Senate panel considered policy options in response to Belarus’ detention last month of opposition blogger Raman Pratasevich. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more from Capitol Hill.Producer: Katherine Gypson. Camera: Alexei Gorbachev.
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U.S. President Joe Biden meets Thursday with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on a European trip that includes high-level talks with other Western heads of state and a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The world will be watching how Biden and Johnson will interact Thursday afternoon after past disagreements on policies, including Brexit, the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union, which the Obama-Biden administration opposed.      “The chemistry hasn’t been good. President Biden had called Boris Johnson a clone of Donald Trump,” said Dan Hamilton, the director of the Global Europe Program at the Wilson Center.   Biden, who is of Irish descent, is also concerned that Brexit could undermine the Good Friday U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive at Cornwall Airport Newquay, June 9, 2021.Biden kicked off his United Kingdom visit Wednesday with remarks to U.S. troops stationed at the Royal Air Force Mildenhall in Suffolk. The military base is used almost exclusively by American soldiers and home to the U.S. Air Force 100th Air Refueling Wing.   “Thank you. We owe you. We’re so damn proud of you,” said Biden, noting the sacrifices that service members and their families have made. ”You are the solid steel spine of the United States,” he said. ”You are not only warriors. You are diplomats and bridge builders.”      Biden spoke of his agenda at the G-7, NATO and European Union summits in the days ahead, as well as his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week.      “I will tell Putin what I will tell him,” Biden said. ”I am going to communicate that there are consequences for violating the sovereignty of democracies in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.”   The president underscored his belief that world democracies will not only endure but thrive.     “We have to discredit those who believe that the age of democracy is over, as some of our fellow nations believe,” said the president, saying that even though things are changing rapidly, democracies can still get together to reach a consensus to respond to autocrats.   First lady Jill Biden, speaking before the president, showed her appreciation for military members’ sacrifice. She has recently relaunched Joining Forces, a support facility for American troops.      G-7 summit goals   The president’s main agenda in the U.K. is to attend the G-7 summit, a meeting of the world’s seven most advanced democracies: the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.   “Strengthening the alliance, making clear to Putin and to China that Europe and the United States are tight. The G-7 is going to move,” Biden said of his goal for the summit to reporters as he boarded Air Force One.   Now Biden is under pressure to shore up a global pandemic recovery strategy with other G-7 leaders, including how to help vaccinate the world’s population. “I have one and I’ll be announcing it,” Biden said to VOA.   Later, The New York Times and The Washington Post, as well as other media, cited sources familiar with the issue who said that the United States will buy 500 million more doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to donate to 92 lower-income countries and the African Union over the next year. The U.S. has vaccinated more than half of its adult population, but impoverished countries are trailing far behind that level of inoculations.    The U.S. plan calls for the donation of 200 million doses — enough to fully vaccinate 100 million people — by the end of this year, with the remainder sent overseas in the first half of 2022, the sources said.  The United States has just joined Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries in reaffirming support to waive vaccine patents, the so-called TRIPS waiver at the World Trade Organization. White House press secretary Jen Psaki told VOA negotiations on the waiver at the WTO are being pursued by United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai, but Psaki would not provide details on whether Biden will put his diplomatic weight behind it at the G-7.   “The president has certainly spoken about his support on the waiver. He believes it’s an important component of addressing the global threat of COVID, and he will continue to play a constructive role,” Psaki said.    The G-7 leaders last met in August 2019 in Biarritz, France. That summit did not produce the usual communique because of disagreements between then-U.S. President Donald Trump and other leaders on key issues.  Sullivan told VOA aboard Air Force One en route to England that a communique is expected at the end of this G-7.     The three-day G-7 sessions commence on Friday, at the Carbis Bay Hotel & Estate and Tregenna Castle Resort, in St. Ives, Cornwall. The summit is expected to encounter extraordinary logistical challenges to meet COVID-19 health protocols.    
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U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrived in Newquay, Cornwall, Wednesday evening in anticipation of the G-7 summit, which starts Friday.Biden kicked off his United Kingdom visit earlier Wednesday with remarks to U.S. troops stationed at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, an air force station in Suffolk. The military base is used almost exclusively by American soldiers and home to the U.S. Air Force 100th Air Refueling Wing.”Thank you. We owe you. We’re so damn proud of you,” said Biden, noting the sacrifices that service members and their families have made. “You are the solid steel spine of the United States. You are not only warriors. You are diplomats and bridge builders.”President Joe Biden speaks to American service members at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, England, June 9, 2021, after arriving in Europe for meetings with U.S. allies and Russian President Vladimir Putin.Biden spoke of his agenda at the G-7, NATO and European Union summits in the days ahead, as well as his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week.”I will tell Putin what I will tell him,” Biden said. ”I am going to communicate that there are consequences for violating the sovereignty of democracies in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.”The president underscored his belief that world democracies will not only endure but thrive.”We have to discredit those who believe that the age of democracy is over, as some of our fellow nations believe,” said the president, explaining that even though things are changing rapidly, democracies can still get together to reach a consensus to respond to autocrats.The first lady, speaking before Biden, showed her appreciation for military members’ sacrifice. She has recently relaunched Joining Forces, a support facility for American troops.G-7 summit goalsThe president’s main agenda in the U.K. is to attend the G-7 summit, a meeting of the world’s seven most advanced democracies: the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.President Joe Biden points as he boards Air Force One, June 9, 2021, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Biden embarked on the first overseas trip of his term, eager to reassert the United States on the world stage and steady European allies.”Strengthening the alliance, making clear to Putin and to China that Europe and the United States are tight. The G-7 is going to move,” Biden said of his goal for the summit to reporters as he boarded Air Force One.Now Biden is under pressure to shore up a global pandemic recovery strategy with other G-7 leaders, including how to help vaccinate the world’s population. “I have one and I’ll be announcing it,” Biden said to VOA.Later, The New York Times and The Washington Post, as well as other media, cited sources familiar with the issue who said that the U.S. would buy 500 million more doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to donate to 92 lower-income countries and the African Union over the next year. The U.S. has vaccinated more than half of its adult population, but impoverished countries are trailing far behind that level of inoculations.US planThe U.S. plan calls for the donation of 200 million doses — enough to fully vaccinate 100 million people — by the end of this year, with the remainder sent overseas in the first half of 2022, the sources said.The U.S. has just joined Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation countries in reaffirming support for waiving vaccine patents, the so-called TRIPS waiver, at the World Trade Organization. White House press secretary Jen Psaki told VOA that negotiations on the waiver at the WTO were being pursued by U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, but Psaki would not provide details on whether Biden would put his diplomatic weight behind it at the G-7.”The president has certainly spoken about his support on the waiver. He believes it’s an important component of addressing the global threat of COVID, and he will continue to play a constructive role,” Psaki said.FILE – Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets then-U.S. President Donald Trump for talks during the G-7 summit in Biarritz, France, Aug. 25, 2019.The G-7 leaders last met in August 2019 in Biarritz, France. That summit did not produce the usual communique because of disagreements between then-U.S. President Donald Trump and other leaders on key issues. National security adviser Jake Sullivan told VOA aboard Air Force One en route to England that a communique was expected at the end of this G-7.Biden-Johnson meetingFrom Mildenhall, Biden headed to the summit’s location in Cornwall, a one-hour flight away. On Thursday afternoon, he is scheduled to meet with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The world will be watching how the two leaders will interact after past disagreements on policies, including Brexit, the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the EU, which the Obama-Biden administration opposed.”The chemistry hasn’t been good. President Biden had called Boris Johnson a clone of Donald Trump,” said Dan Hamilton, the director of the Global Europe Program at the Wilson Center, a global policy research group in Washington.Biden, who is of Irish descent, is also concerned that Brexit could undermine the FILE – Loyalist protesters opposed to the Northern Ireland Protocol on Brexit make their point under the statue of former Unionist leader Lord Edward Carson at Stormont, Belfast, Northern Ireland, April 8, 2021.Under the Brexit deal, Northern Ireland remains party to the EU’s single market, yet is no longer part of the union, which means a customs border must be implemented. The Biden administration wants to ensure that nothing in Brexit could endanger prospects for peace.”President Biden has been crystal clear about his rock-solid belief in the Good Friday Agreement as the foundation for peaceful coexistence in Northern Ireland. That agreement must be protected, and any steps that imperil or undermine it will not be welcomed by the United States,” Sullivan told VOA, adding that Biden would be making “statements of principle” on this issue. He would not say whether Johnson was undermining the agreement.Special tiesDespite these tensions, Hamilton said, the leaders will commit to pursuing transatlantic relations to the best of their countries’ interests. Johnson’s government has just concluded an integrated review of its foreign policy strategy, which included a reaffirmation of the special relationship between the two allies.The three-day G-7 sessions commence Friday at the Carbis Bay Hotel & Estate and Tregenna Castle Resort in St. Ives, Cornwall. The summit is expected to encounter extraordinary logistical challenges to meet COVID-19 health protocols.Steve Herman contributed to this report.
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The sponsor of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline said Wednesday it is pulling the plug on the contentious project after Canadian officials failed to persuade President Joe Biden to reverse his cancellation of its permit on the day he took office.
 
Calgary-based TC Energy said it would work with government agencies “to ensure a safe termination of and exit from” the partially built line, which was to transport crude from the oil sand fields of western Canada to Steele City, Nebraska.
 
Construction on the 1,930-kilometer pipeline began last year when then-President Donald Trump revived the long-delayed project after it had stalled under the Obama administration.  
 
It would have moved up to 830,000 barrels (35 million gallons) of crude daily, connecting in Nebraska to other pipelines that feed oil refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
 
Biden canceled it in January over long-standing concerns that burning oil sands crude would make climate change worse.
 
Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau objected to the move, but officials in Alberta, where the line originated, expressed disappointment in recent weeks that he didn’t lobby harder to reinstate the pipeline’s permit.
 
Attorneys general from U.S. 21 states had sued to overturn Biden’s cancellation of the contentious pipeline, which would have created thousands of construction jobs.
 
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Officials and experts plotting Canada’s economic recovery from the global pandemic are looking to current and future immigrants as a big part of the solution.That conclusion is perhaps inevitable, given the oversized role that immigrants already play in the country’s highly pluralistic society.Canada has one of the highest immigration rates of any country, with first-generation residents accounting for 21.9% of the population, according to the latest census in 2016. Asia is the largest source of immigrants, followed by Africa and then Europe. Canada also hosts more than half a million foreign students.The flood of new arrivals – which stood at more than 300,000 per year before the pandemic – has been slowed by tough new health-related travel restrictions. But as long-awaited vaccines are finally becoming available to more residents, analysts look forward to a reopening of the immigration doors.Harald Bauder, an immigration expert with Ryerson University in Toronto, told VOA he believes immigration is needed now more than ever.“Immigration is really part of the solution of jump-starting the economy again as part of the recovery strategy,” he said. “How can we catch up from the year that we lost? I have the impression that it will not be a bad year coming up to be a prospective immigrant to Canada.”Bauder added: “We’re getting signals [from the federal government] that immigration will be part of the solution when this is over.”Economic contributionsThe rationale behind Canada’s encouragement of immigration is laid out on a FILE – An official with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, speaks with Syrian refugees waiting to pass through security at the beginning of a airlift to Canada, at the Beirut International airport, Dec. 10, 2015.Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada’s opposition New Democratic Party, insists the nation’s economic recovery “must not fall on the backs of workers and families.”“This pandemic hit people across Canada hard,” Singh said in a statement to VOA. “It has affected everyone, including newcomers to Canada and international students.”Other obstaclesDr. Idil Atak, a refugee expert with Ryerson University, said the pandemic has thrown up other obstacles for newcomers, including asylum-seekers who have been unable to secure permission to work legally while awaiting rulings on their applications for refugee status.“In terms of employment, what I noticed is that currently because of the pandemic, there are issues of processing work permits for asylum-seekers,” Atak said in an interview. “Those asylum-seekers who are in Canada who are not refugees yet, they normally do have a right to work, but for that they need a permit.“What I’ve seen in my research is that the timelines for processing the work permits are extremely long. I have spoken with some refugee lawyers who have clients who are in Canada for two years now but do not have work permits due to the pandemic delays.”Atak also expressed concern about the impact of Canada’s travel restrictions on would-be refugees.“One of the things the Canadian government can do is declare that refugees coming to Canada are part of essential travel,” Atak said. “Of course, there should be security checks and health screening … but this is perfectly feasible to also offer protection to asylum-seekers in Canada.“Despite Canada’s reputation as a diverse and inclusive society, many newcomers do find themselves facing anti-immigrant sentiment.Noah Khan is a master’s degree student in education at York University in Toronto. His research has looked at anti-Asian hate speech online during the pandemic, which he has presented at graduate student conferences.A ‘mask’ for racismKhan told VOA his research was inspired by his own experiences, including an anonymous email saying, “I’ll be watching you at the [student group] meeting and from now on, sandy.” Khan said he understood “sandy” as “a racial slur for Middle Eastern people.”“The pandemic has given racism a mask I didn’t even know it could wear,” Khan said.“It is clear in the research that anti-Asian racism has risen, spread in new ways, affected Asian mental health, and indicated further decline in Asian mental health based on the way things are going.”
 
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Leaders of the G-7 group of industrialized nations meet this weekend in Britain, with an agenda topped by the global recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, climate change, taxation, and the challenges posed by Russia and China. The three-day summit beginning Friday will be held at Carbis Bay, a popular tourist resort in Cornwall on Britain’s southwestern peninsula. British warships are patrolling the coastline and more than 6,500 police officers have been deployed as Britain prepares to host the leaders of the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada. Australia, India, South Korea and South Africa also have been invited as guests. Police officers stand guard outside a security gate around Tregenna Castle in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, England, June 9, 2021.The summit marks President Joe Biden’s first official overseas trip while in office. Speaking to reporters Wednesday at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland as he prepared to fly to Britain on Air Force One, Biden was asked about his priorities for the trip. “Strengthening the alliance. Making clear to Putin and to China that Europe and the United States are tight, and the G-7 is going to move,” Biden said. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday he was looking forward to hosting allies face to face. “This is the first time for almost six months in office almost that Joe Biden the U.S. president has been able to come overseas for a major trip; it’s his first time on the European continent. It’s the first time that any of us really have been able to see each other face to face since the pandemic began. “So here at the G-7, what we’re looking at is making sure we have a new treaty on the pandemic, working on that, building back greener, building back better, which is why we’re looking at what’s going on here in Cornwall with all of the green technology, but also talking about the values we have in common, everything we want to do together. There’s a huge agenda,” said Johnson. Plane spotters take pictures of an airplane at RAF (Royal Air Force) Mildenhall ahead of the arrival of U.S. President Joe Biden, near Mildenhall, Suffolk, Britain, June 9, 2021.After four years of troubled transatlantic relations under former President Donald Trump — whose “America First” agenda alienated many allies — Biden will receive a warm welcome in Europe, says analyst Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, vice president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. “The attempt to rebuild trust — lost trust — with allies is at the heart of the agenda. And that message comes across loud and clear,” Kleine-Brockhoff told VOA. But he added that the scars have not yet fully healed. “There’s sort of a lingering suspicion that Joe Biden could be an outlier, an intermezzo between two nationalist presidencies, and an America that has changed for the long haul. And so, the investment into the Biden administration [by European allies] is not as immediately visible as the Biden administration would hope,” Kleine-Brockhoff said. Nonetheless, analysts say the G-7 leaders will put on a strong show of unity amid numerous challenges, says Creon Butler, a former British government adviser on the G-7 and now the director of the Global Economy and Finance Program at London’s Chatham House foreign policy institute. “The COVID recovery generally is the top item, and you can see that in the way that the U.K. is presenting the summit,” Butler told VOA. “There is a sort of economic aspect and then there are other aspects, particularly on the health side.” FILE – Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown delivers a speech n central London, Britain, May 21, 2016.The summit host, British Prime Minister Johnson, has pledged the G-7 will help to vaccinate the whole world by the end of 2022. One of his predecessors, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, says that rhetoric must be turned into reality. “I think it’s no exaggeration to say that Friday’s G-7 is a life and death matter. Its decision will determine who is vaccinated and safe and who remains unvaccinated and at risk of dying,” Brown said at a virtual meeting held Tuesday by Chatham House. G-7 leaders also will focus on tackling climate change, and trade and taxation are high on the agenda. G-7 finance ministers last week backed a plan for a minimum global tax rate of 15%. “This bit is really quite revolutionary,” said Butler. “As, indeed, is the agreement on sharing taxing rights around — so not just in the location where the tax residence of the company is, but also in locations where a company may have very large revenues but pay very, very little tax.” Butler said Britain’s hosting of the G-7 summit provides an ideal platform for the government to project a new image now that it has left the European Union. A man rides a motorbike past a pub with flags of the G-7 nations and the flag of Cornwall in St. Ives, Cornwall, England, June 9, 2021.”Actually, the G-7 is now even more important for the U.K. and actually for the Western alliance more generally, now that the U.K. has left the EU, because, certainly for the U.K., things that you might have wanted to coordinate and work with the EU on within the EU, the G-7 is now the logical place to do it.” The threat to G-7 democracies from Russia and China also will be discussed in Cornwall. Biden will be hoping for a strong response from allies, says analyst Kleine-Brockhoff. “The question as to whether Western countries can find a joint approach vis-à-vis China, and whether President Biden can get the language and the commitment that he needs also for his domestic political purposes out of his European allies … that to me is the big question,” said Kleine-Brockhoff. Several of the G-7 leaders will go straight from Cornwall to Brussels on Monday for a NATO summit. Biden is then scheduled to meet European Union leaders Tuesday. Analysts say the sequence of meetings is aimed at underscoring allies’ support ahead of Biden’s summit Wednesday with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Geneva. 
 
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A spokesperson for French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that an incident in which a man slapped the president would not deter his national tour.Macron was slapped Tuesday while shaking hands across a barrier in a small southeastern French town. The man in question was taken into custody, and after security initially pulled the president away from the scene, he resumed shaking hands and visiting with people a short time later.At a Paris news conference Wednesday, French government spokesman Gabriel Attal told reporters that while the presidential security detail remained as vigilant as always, no special alert had been raised after the slap.Attal said Macron would continue tours of the country because at this time, as the COVID-19 pandemic is winding down and human contact has been restricted for so long, there is no better way to “take the pulse” of the country.”There is nothing more suited than direct contact and direct exchanges with French people. So obviously [Macron] will continue this in the coming weeks,” Attal said.Speaking of the incident during a Cabinet meeting earlier Wednesday, Macron said any acts of physical violence must be taken seriously.“There’s stupidity, and when stupidity comes with violence, that’s unacceptable. That’s something else. We can’t confuse it for something else,” the French president said.Macron also said he thought people were tired from the pandemic, and that although there was never an excuse for resorting to violence, he hoped the media would not make too much of the incident. He felt it was an isolated incident and should be left as such.Meanwhile, the French news agency, Agence France-Presse, reported that Macron’s assailant had been identified only as Damien T, 28. He remained in police custody and was expected to be charged with assaulting a public figure, which carries a maximum three-year prison term. Police said he had no criminal record.
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Albania’s Parliament voted Wednesday to impeach President Ilir Meta, after the ruling Socialist Party accused him of meddling in the April 25 national election and violating the country’s constitution.
 
The issue goes now to the Constitutional Court, which will have the final say.
 
One hundred and four lawmakers voted in favor, seven against and three abstained in the Socialist-dominated legislature. Ninety-four votes, or two-thirds, were needed for the impeachment.
 
Some 30 years since the Balkan nation’s communist era came to an end, it is the first time that Albania’s Parliament has voted to impeach the president. Lawmakers followed an accelerated procedure to impeach after an ad hoc investigative commission worked for three weeks to conclude that Meta had committed impeachable offenses.
 
According to the commission’s findings, the head of state committed major constitutional violations, with at least nine offenses such as meddling with the election and damaging relations with Albania’s strategic partners along with the country’s reputation.
 
“Ilir Meta has destroyed the institution of the guarantor of national unity,” Prime Minister Edi Rama said in Parliament. “Ilir Meta has violated the vital separation of powers in our parliamentarian democracy.”
 
In Albanian law, the president does not belong to a political party and symbolizes the unity of the country.
 
Reacting on social media, presidential spokesperson Tedi Blushi called the vote an “anti-constitutional and ridiculous” parliamentary decision.
 
The governing Socialist Party controls the Parliament since the main opposition parties in an unprecedented move vacated their seats in 2017. The Socialist Party will be in power for the next four years after winning the general election in April.
 
The new Parliament takes over in September.
 
Meta, who called the move to oust him “illegitimate,” did not appear in front of the Investigative Commission or Parliament to defend himself.
 
He hosted an arts event at the presidential headquarters as the vote was carried out.
 
The final decision to remove the president from office now stands with the country’s Constitutional Court, which does not have a deadline to consider the case.
 
“The court will have to review the procedure that led to the Parliament decision, including the alleged violations, to decide whether they justify ousting him,” Aurela Anastasi, professor of constitutional law at Tirana University’s Law School, told VOA.
 
The judicial body faces its own challenges, with two of its nine seats currently vacant.
 Ilirian Agolli contributed to this report, which originated in VOA’s Albanian Service.   
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The United Nations refugee agency says it has helped more than 10,000 refugees, most from Central America, restart their lives in safer, more economically viable communities in Mexico.More than 70 percent of all asylum claims in Mexico are made in the south of the country, where job opportunities and services are limited. Consequently, the U.N. refugee agency started an integration program in 2016 to relocate refugees into communities with better prospects. UNHCR spokesman Babar Balloch said the program has relocated 10,000 refugees to one of eight cities in central and northern Mexico. “There, the labor and housing markets, as well as the education and health systems, have the capacity to integrate refugees, as a result of demographic transition and economic growth,” he said. “UNHCR supports program participants with temporary housing, cultural orientation, vocational training, school enrollment and job placement.” Balloch said the refugees can apply for naturalization in Mexico after two years of permanent residence.A recent review shows 92 percent of the relocated refugees were formally employed, compared with only 10 percent in the south. And, Balloch said, incomes on average were 60 percent higher than in the south. Local communities also benefit from the increased tax revenues and social security contributions, he said. The program has been a game changer for asylum-seekers, the majority of whom are fleeing parts of Central America in search of protection and a better life, Balloch added. “The causes are well known — violence, insecurity … economic hardships, as well as the compounding effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, recurrent natural disasters and climate change. In total, up to a million people in Central America have been forcibly displaced,” he said. The UNHCR is increasing its target for the refugee integration program in Mexico. It seeks to relocate 20,000 people every year from southern parts of the country. 
 
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President Joe Biden headed to Europe Wednesday on his first overseas trip as the U.S. leader, set to hold high-level talks with other Western heads of state before meeting next week with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Geneva.  As he boarded Air Force One, Biden said his goals for the trip were strengthening ties with allies, while “making it clear to Putin and to China that Europe and the United States are tight.” President Joe Biden talks to reporters prior to boarding Air Force One, from Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, June 9, 2021.Biden also said he would be announcing a new strategy for vaccinating the world against the coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. has vaccinated more than half of its adult population, but impoverished countries in Africa and elsewhere have trailed far behind that level of inoculations. As he left for Britain, the White House said the trip “will highlight America’s commitment to rallying the world’s democracies, coming together to shape the rules of the road for the 21st century, defend our values and tackle the world’s biggest challenges.”  Biden is holding talks Thursday with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson before attending the G-7 summit of leading industrial nations in Cornwall, Britain, from Friday to Sunday. He and first lady Jill Biden are also meeting Sunday with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle before leaving for a NATO summit in Brussels on Monday. While in the Belgian capital, Biden will hold separate talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a NATO ally who has angered Washington by his go-it-alone stance in buying a Russian-made air defense system that is incompatible with NATO’s. On Tuesday, Biden meets with Belgian King Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, as well as attending a U.S.-European Union summit. In Geneva on Wednesday, Biden is meeting with Swiss Confederation President Guy Parmelin, before his potentially contentious sit-down with Putin — the first time the two leaders have met face to face since Biden became president.  Throughout his trip, Biden said he hopes to present a different face for the U.S. than former President Donald Trump, who often contended that NATO allies were not for the most part contributing their fair share to support the seven-decade-old Western military alliance. The White House said Biden would “affirm the United States’ commitment to NATO, trans-Atlantic security and collective defense.” At the G-7 summit, the White House said Biden “will reinforce our commitment to multilateralism, work to advance key U.S. policy priorities on public health, economic recovery and inclusive growth, and demonstrate solidarity and shared values among major democracies.” Meeting with Putin Biden’s relations with Putin are already strained. Trump held Putin blameless of allegations that Russia intruded in the 2016 U.S. presidential to help Trump’s election victory. FILE – Security officers stand outside the Villa La Grange, ahead of the June 16 summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Geneva, Switzerland, June 4, 2021.By contrast, Biden, in early phone conversations with Putin, has bluntly told the Russian leader the U.S. holds the Kremlin responsible for election interference, a massive cyberattack on U.S. government agencies and the poisoning of Putin opponent Alexey Navalny. Each country has expelled some of the other’s diplomats from Moscow and Washington.    In a television interview, Biden also said he considered Putin to be a “killer,” a claim Putin quickly turned against the U.S. by citing its slaughter of Native Americans in the 18th century settlement of the country, and deadly abuse of minorities throughout its history. Steve Herman contributed to this report.
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Four-year-old Kirill Zherebtsov  was born deaf and without ears. He was scheduled for a special surgery in California but a day before his flight, his mother died unexpectedly. What happened next is a story in resilience. Angelina Bagdasaryan has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.
Camera: Vazgen Varzhabetian  
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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris stressed the importance of fixing the “root causes” of migration in her final remarks during a trip to Mexico and Central America to address the surge of migrants at the southwestern U.S. border. “I want to be very clear that the problem at the border in large part, if not entirely, stems from the problems in these countries,” Harris told reporters Tuesday evening. “I cannot say it enough: Most people don’t want to leave home. And when they do, it is usually for one of two reasons: either they are fleeing harm or to stay home means they cannot satisfy the basic needs of their families.” U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she boards Air Force Two at Benito Juarez International airport following her first international trip as Vice President to Guatemala and Mexico, in Mexico, June 8, 2021.Harris underscored conversations she had with Guatemalan officials in which agreements were struck for the U.S. to fund projects that root out corruption, strengthen the rights of laborers and farmers, empower young women and more. Earlier Tuesday, Harris met with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico City to discuss bolstering economic conditions in Central America.  When asked by a reporter whether the U.S. made specific commitments to increase legal pathways to migration, including work permits, Harris said there were discussions but “no promises” were made.Harris and Lopez Obrador watched as aides signed a “memorandum of understanding” to “establish a strategic partnership to cooperate on development programs in the Northern Triangle” countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.Vice President Kamala Harris and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador arrive for a bilateral meeting on June 8, 2021, at the National Palace in Mexico City.Tens of thousands of their citizens have left home to trek through Mexico to try to get into the United States in recent months, with more than 178,000 migrants reaching the U.S. border in April, nearly half from Central America.Harris had a blunt message Monday for Latin American migrants as she visited Guatemala: “Do not come.” She said the U.S. was “not afraid” to enforce its immigration laws and stop people at the border.However, U.S. President Joe Biden has allowed unaccompanied migrant children to stay in the United States, unlike former President Donald Trump, who expelled them.López Obrador, responding to a shouted question from a reporter whether Mexico was willing to increase its immigration enforcement, said he and Harris “will be touching on that subject, but always addressing the fundamental root causes” of the surge in migrants.Harris, according to her spokeswoman, told the Mexican leader in their private talks that the U.S. will make new efforts to increase economic investment in southern Mexico, including loans for affordable housing.In addition, the U.S. has committed about $130 million over the next three years to support workers and labor reforms. Harris told Lopez Obrador the U.S. would provide more forensic and law enforcement training in Mexico to help resolve more than 82,000 cases of missing persons and disappearances, a key concern for the Mexican leader.After meeting with Lopez Obrador, Harris is talking with female entrepreneurs and holding a roundtable with labor workers.Ricardo Zuniga, U.S. President Joe Biden’s special envoy for the Northern Triangle, speaks with the media in San Salvador, El Salvador on May 12, 2021.Ricardo Zúñiga, U.S. special envoy for the Northern Triangle, told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s meetings that the United States and Mexico “have not had this level of cooperation in Central America before.”“The main thing is that it’s very important to show that the United States and Mexico are collaborating and trying to improve conditions on the ground among our neighbors because of the importance that the countries in Central America have for both of us,” Zúñiga said. “We’re both destination countries for migration from Central America, and we both have some of the same issues trying to ensure that we have legal paths for migration and temporary labor.”Harris’ talks in Mexico were similar to those in Guatemala, where she emphasized “the power of hope” along with new efforts to fight corruption.“I am here because the root causes are my highest priority in terms of addressing the issue, and we need to deal with it, both in terms of the poverty we are seeing, the hunger that we are seeing, the effects of the hurricanes and the extreme climate conditions, what we are seeing in terms of the pandemic,” Harris told reporters.Vice President Kamala Harris, right, listens as women speak to her about their businesses during a meeting with Guatemalan women entrepreneurs and innovators at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, June 7, 2021, in Guatemala City.Harris’ trip is fraught with U.S. political implications, though, as Republicans blame Biden and Harris for the surge in migrants trying to cross the country’s southwestern border with Mexico.At a news conference in Guatemala City, Harris deflected a question about when she would visit the border, even though she has said she would at some point. At a recent news conference, some Republicans displayed a milk carton depicting Harris with the headline: “MISSING AT THE BORDER.” 
 
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The Biden administration is forming expert working groups with Canada, Mexico, the European Union and the United Kingdom to determine how best to safely restart travel after 15 months of pandemic restrictions, a White House official said on Tuesday. Another U.S. official said the administration will not move quickly to lift orders that bar people from much of the world from entering the United States because of the time it will take for the groups to do their work. The White House informed airlines and others in the travel industry about the groups, the official said. “While we are not reopening travel today, we hope that these expert working groups will help us use our collective expertise to chart a path forward, with a goal of reopening international travel with our key partners when it is determined that it is safe to do so,” the White House official said, adding “any decisions will be fully guided by the objective analysis and recommendations by public health and medical experts.” The groups will be led by the White House COVID Response Team and the National Security Council and include the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other U.S. agencies. The CDC said on Tuesday it was easing travel recommendations on 110 countries and territories, including Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Africa and Iran, but has declined to lift any COVID-19 travel restrictions. FILE – Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifies during a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 18, 2021.CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the U.S. travel restrictions in place since 2020 are subject to “an interagency conversation, and we are looking at the data in real time as to how we should move forward with that.” The Biden administration has faced pressure from some lawmakers who said U.S. communities along the Canadian border have faced economic hardship because of land border restrictions. Airlines and others have pressed the administration to lift the restrictions that prevent most non-U.S. citizens who have been in the United Kingdom, the 26 Schengen nations in Europe without border controls, Ireland, China, India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil from traveling to the United States. The United States also bars most non-essential travel at its land borders with Mexico and Canada. Airlines for America, a trade group representing American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and others, praised the working groups but the group believes “these working groups should act quickly to endorse a policy backed by science that will allow travelers who are fully vaccinated to travel to the U.S. Quickly is the key – we believe the science is there.” FILE – A United Airlines airplane sits at a gate at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey.United Airlines said it was encouraged the White House was prioritizing a plan to reopen air travel to international markets and requested urgency, given the typically busy impending summer travel season. “Now is the time to implement a reopening strategy for the benefit of both the economy and the traveling public.” On Monday, the heads of all passenger airlines flying between Britain and the United States called on both countries to lift limits on trans-Atlantic travel restrictions. U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet at the G-7 meeting of advanced economies this week in Cornwall, England. U.S. and UK airline officials said they do not expect Washington to lift restrictions until around July 4 at the earliest as the administration aims to get more Americans vaccinated. The U.S. Travel Association welcomed the working groups, saying “a public-private task force can quickly develop a blueprint to reopen international inbound travel and jumpstart a sustained jobs and economic recovery.” 
 
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French President Emmanuel Macron was slapped Tuesday while shaking hands across a barrier in a small southeastern French town.
 
Video from the scene showed Macron striding toward a small crowd of people waiting behind a barrier. According to Reuters, as Macron reached out to shake hands, a man in the crowd shouted “A bas la Macronie” (Down with Macronia) and slapped Macron in the face.#Macron se fait gifler en direct de #Tainpic.twitter.com/tsXdByo22U— ⚜️ (@AlexpLille) June 8, 2021The president was swept away by security, and the man was seized immediately.  French news agency Agence France-Presse quoted the local prosecutor’s office as saying two men in their 20s were brought in for questioning. No motive for the slap was provided.
 
Macron had just finished touring a high school in the village of Tain-l’Hermitage in the Drome region.  
 
He resumed walking the streets and meeting with local residents a short time later.
 
Later Tuesday, while speaking before the National Assembly in Paris, French Prime Minister Jean Castex told members of Parliament the attack on Macron was an attack on democracy itself.  
 
“Democracy, as you are demonstrating, is about debate, dialogue, the face-off of ideas, the expression of legitimate disagreement, of course. But it can be in no case about violence,” he told lawmakers.
 
Macron received an outpouring of support from across the French political spectrum. AFP reported that Jean-Luc Melenchon, a far-left leader in Parliament, said he stood “in solidarity with the president,” while far-right politician Marine Le Pen called the slap “unacceptable and profoundly reprehensible in a democracy.”
 
The president’s office described his tour of southern France as a “listening tour” designed to “get the pulse of the country” as the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be entering its final stages. Macron is up for reelection next year. 
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The World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations climate agency, reported Tuesday that Europe saw its coldest March through May since 2013, with temperatures 0.45 C below the 1991-2020 average.During a briefing from the agency’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis cautioned that Europe’s cool start did not reflect any pause in the world’s climate change problems.In fact, data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service show that the global average temperature for May was 0.26 C higher than the 1991-2020 mean, according to the U.N. News website.  Greenhouse Gases Threaten Ocean Ecosystems: WMOThe ocean absorbs around 23 percent of the annual atmospheric emissions of carbon dioxide and acts as a buffer against climate changeAlso according to U.N. News: “Temperatures were well above average over western Greenland, north Africa, the Middle East and northern and western Russia while below-average May temperatures were reported over the southern and central United States, parts of northern Canada, south-central Africa, most of India, eastern Russia, and eastern Antarctica.”  Nullis said there was also “quite a considerable rise” in carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere at the Mauna Loa Observatory, an atmospheric monitoring station operated by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association in Hawaii.She said, “The fact CO2 does have such a long lifetime in the atmosphere does mean that future generations — and we’re not just talking about one or two, we’re talking about many generations — will be committed to seeing more impacts of climate change.”  Nullis warned rising CO2 levels will also have a “very serious impact” on the planet’s oceans, which absorb almost a quarter of CO2 emissions. 
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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris met Tuesday with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico City in her continuing effort to curb the surge of migrants to the southwestern U.S. border by bolstering economic conditions in Central America.Harris and Lopez Obrador watched as aides signed a “memorandum of understanding” to “establish a strategic partnership to cooperate on development programs in the Northern Triangle” countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
Tens of thousands of their citizens have left home to trek through Mexico to try to get into the United States in recent months, with more than 178,000 migrants reaching the U.S. border in April, nearly half from Central America.Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to the media, June 8, 2021, at the Sofitel Mexico City Reforma in Mexico City.Harris, on her first foreign trip as vice president, had a blunt message Monday for Latin American migrants as she visited Guatemala: “Do not come.” She said the U.S. was “not afraid” to enforce its immigration laws and stop people at the border, but U.S. President Joe Biden has allowed unaccompanied migrant children to stay in the United States, unlike former President Doanld Trump, who expelled them.
López Obrador, responding to a shouted question from a reporter whether Mexico was willing to increase its immigration enforcement, said he and Harris “will be touching on that subject, but always addressing the fundamental root causes” of the surge in migrants.Harris, according to her spokeswoman, told the Mexican leader in their private talks that the U.S. will make new efforts to increase economic investment in southern Mexico, including loans for affordable housing.In addition, the U.S. has committed about $130 million over the next three years to support workers and labor reforms. Harris told Lopez Obrador the U.S. would provide more forensic and law enforcement training in Mexico to help resolve more than 82,000 cases of missing persons and disappearances, a key concern for the Mexican leader.After meeting with Lopez Obrador, Harris is talking with female entrepreneurs and holding a roundtable with labor workers.Ricardo Zuniga, U.S. President Joe Biden’s special envoy for the Northern Triangle, speaks with the media in San Salvador, El Salvador on May 12, 2021.Ricardo Zúñiga, U.S. special envoy for the Northern Triangle, told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s meetings that the United States and Mexico “have not had this level of cooperation in Central America before.”
“The main thing is that it’s very important to show that the United States and Mexico are collaborating and trying to improve conditions on the ground among our neighbors because of the importance that the countries in Central America have for both of us,” Zúñiga said. “We’re both destination countries for migration from Central America, and we both have some of the same issues trying to ensure that we have legal paths for migration and temporary labor.”
Harris’s talks in Mexico were similar to those in Guatemala, where she emphasized “the power of hope” along with new efforts to fight corruption.  
“I am here because the root causes are my highest priority in terms of addressing the issue, and we need to deal with it, both in terms of the poverty we are seeing, the hunger that we are seeing, the effects of the hurricanes and the extreme climate conditions, what we are seeing in terms of the pandemic,” Harris told reporters.
Harris’ trip is fraught with U.S. political implications, though, as Republicans blame Biden and Harris for the surge in migrants trying to cross the country’s southwestern border with Mexico.Vice President Kamala Harris, right, listens as women speak to her about their businesses during a meeting with Guatemalan women entrepreneurs and innovators at the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, June 7, 2021, in Guatemala City.At a news conference in Guatemala City, Harris deflected a question about when she would visit the border, even though she has said she would at some point.  
At a recent news conference, some Republicans displayed a milk carton depicting Harris with the headline: “MISSING AT THE BORDER.” 
She told NBC in an interview before leaving for Mexico that aside from not visiting the U.S.-Mexican border, she also has not been to Europe as vice president.
“I care about what’s happening at the border,” she said. “I’m in Guatemala because my focus is dealing with the root causes of migration. There may be some who think that that is not important, but it is my firm belief that if we care about what’s happening at the border, we better care about the root causes and address them. And so that’s what I’m doing.”
But Harris said that even with her efforts to improve living and economic conditions in Mexico and Central America, “We are not going to see an immediate return. But we’re going to see progress. The real work is going to take time to manifest itself. Will it be worth it? Yes. Will it take some time? Yes.” 
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