The Czech Republic health ministry reported Wednesday the nation passed one million confirmed COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. The agency also reported that the day-to-day increase in new infections reached 9,057 since Tuesday, which puts the nation over the one-million mark for confirmed cases since the first three cases were detected March 1, 2020. The current figures show the nation has the third-highest rate of infection in Europe, with more than 981 cases per 100,000 people, trailing only Portugal and Spain. The Czech Republic death rate is also among the highest in Europe, at nearly 205 per 100,000 people. The ministry reports the country of 10.7 million has registered 16,683 deaths. Although daily increases dropped after they reached a record high of almost 18,000 in early January, they have stagnated in recent days at still dangerously high levels despite a strict lockdown. Currently, 93,043 people are ill with COVID-19 in the Czech Republic. Of them, 5,811 are hospitalized while 1,002 are in intensive care.  
 
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Russian human rights monitors say authorities have arrested at least 1,400 protesters in Moscow after a court sentenced opposition politician Alexey Navalny to serve out the remaining time of a three-and-a-half year suspended sentence in a prison colony. The decision Tuesday came just weeks after Navalny returned to Russia following a poisoning attack that nearly took his life. For VOA from Moscow, Charles Maynes reports. 
Camera: Ricardo Marquina Montanana 
 
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People across Britian have been paying tribute to Tom Moore, the 100-year-old British Second World War veteran who raised millions for health workers and offered hope to Britons and others around the world during the pandemic.Moore died Tuesday.  He was being treated at a hospital for breathing difficulties after contracting pneumonia and had also been diagnosed with the coronavirus last week.In April 2020, as Britain entered lockdown at the height of the first wave of the pandemic, former army Captain Tom Moore set out to raise 1,000 pounds for the National Health Service by walking a hundred laps of his garden, inspired by the treatment he’d received for a broken hip and cancer.  People took Moore to their hearts and donations poured in for the humble 99-year-old, who became affectionately known as ‘Captain Tom.’The Wembley Stadium is illuminated in commemoration of Captain Sir Tom Moore, after his family announced that the centenarian fundraiser died, in London, Britain, Feb. 2, 2021.“The first two laps it’s a bit hard, after that I’m thinking what I’m doing and I just keep on doing it. Once I’ve started it’s fine and that’s why I keep on going,” Moore told reporters as he approached his target of 100 laps.Moore had served for the British Army in Myanmar, India and Sumatra during WWII. Troops from his home Yorkshire Regiment formed an honor guard for what was supposed to be the final lap, by which time Moore had raised more than £12 million (U.S.$16 million) for the NHS.“It’s unbelievable that people could be so kind to give that sort of money to the National Health Service. And maybe I was responsible for starting it, but not deliberately. It was purely… shall we say gratitude for what they’ve done for me,” Moore said.He decided to keep on walking. By the time he closed the donation page on April 30, his 100th birthday, Moore had raised a staggering £38 million (U.S.$53 million). He received some 150,000 birthday cards from around the world. Others took inspiration for their own fundraising endeavors, raising millions more for charity.FILE – British World War II veteran Captain Tom Moore, 99, walks a lap of his garden in the village of Marston Moretaine, 50 miles north of London, April 16, 2020.Moore scored a number one hit on the British singles chart with a rendition of the 1963 Gerry and the Pacemakers’ hit ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone.’In July, Captain Moore was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. The British Army promoted him to ‘Honorary Colonel.’ In September, he released an autobiography, the title taken from his iconic words: ‘Tomorrow will be a good day.’ “Always be optimistic whatever you’re talking about, be optimistic because it’s a good day, I mean things will get better,” Moore said at the book launch.Moore had contracted pneumonia and was diagnosed with the coronavirus on January 22. He was unable to be vaccinated due to the medication he was taking. The 100-year-old passed away Tuesday after a short stay in Bedford hospital in central England, with his family by his side.His death has triggered a national outpouring of grief and admiration.“I think everyone is sort of feeling it because so many people have lost someone that they’re connecting with that,” said 30-year-old London teacher Charlotte Turnbull.John Karssiens, an NHS Doctor, said: “Thank you so much, Captain Tom. It’s a massive, massive thing you’ve done for the country.”The royal family’s Twitter account posted the following message: ‘The Queen is sending a private message of condolence to the family of Captain Sir Tom Moore. Her Majesty very much enjoyed meeting Captain Sir Tom and his family at Windsor last year. Her thoughts and those of the Royal Family are with them.’FILE – Captain Sir Thomas Moore receives his knighthood from Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, during a ceremony at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, July 17, 2020.Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave a televised statement Wednesday. “Captain Sir Tom Moore was a hero in the truest sense of the word. In the dark days of the Second World War he fought for freedom and in the face of this country’s deepest post-war crisis he united us all, he cheered us all up, and he embodied the triumph of the human spirit,” Johnson said.In a statement, Moore’s family said: “The last year of our father’s life was nothing short of remarkable. He was rejuvenated and experienced things he’d only ever dreamed of.”Moore will be remembered most for his messages of hope. “To all those people who are finding it difficult at the moment,” he once said, “the sun will shine on you again, and the clouds will go away.” 
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A coronavirus vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University cut transmission of the virus by two-thirds, according to a study released by the university Wednesday.
 
The study has not been peer-reviewed, but Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the BBC the findings are “good news.”
 
“It does show the world that the Oxford jab works, it works well,” Hancock said.
 
The vaccine has come under criticism from other nations in Europe in recent days with officials expressing concerns about the lack of data regarding its effectiveness in older people.
 
France’s top health advisory body recommended the vaccine only be used in those under the age of 65.
 
In Belgium, the government said it would only give the vaccine to those under the age of 55.
 
“We don’t have enough info to be sure to say that it is good for the elderly,” Belgian Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke said.
 
Oxford’s vaccine trial chief Andrew Pollard told the BBC on Wednesday that despite the lack of data about its exact effectiveness, the vaccine provides good immune responses in older people.
 
“We have good immune responses in older adults very similar to younger adults, the protection that we do see is in exactly the same direction, and of a similar magnitude,” Pollard said.
 New Zealand
In New Zealand, regulators on Wednesday gave approval for the provisional use of a vaccine made by Pfizer and BioNTech.  The first vaccinations are expected to begin by the end of the first quarter of 2021, with a priority on border workers in the country that has strict quarantine measures in place for those arriving from abroad.
 
Wednesday also brought the start of a vaccination campaign in Pakistan, which is using a vaccine from China’s Sinopharm.
 Asia
Like many countries, the first people to get the vaccine are frontline health workers.  Pakistan’s minister for planning and development said at a ceremony in Islamabad that the workers are the “real heroes” as they put their own health at risk to help those infected with COVID-19.
 
Pakistan has received 500,000 doses of the vaccine, and it plans to vaccinate 70% of its high-risk population by the end of the year.
 
In South Korea, officials are limiting travel and gatherings during next week’s Lunar New Year holidays and urging people to stay home to combat a rise in coronavirus cases.
 
Health officials also said Wednesday they have detected the first local transmissions of virus variants first identified in Britain and South Africa.
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Mexico’s regulatory agency approved emergency use of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, shortly after Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell announced Tuesday the country’s plan to combat the novel coronavirus would involve use of the vaccine. The Associated Press reports Mexico is launching its vaccination program as its capital, Mexico City, is struggling to accommodate a growing number of coronavirus patients and provide adequate oxygen to hospitals.  Meantime, Lopez-Gattel said the first batches of the 7.4 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine will arrive this month through April.    The Sputnik V vaccine’s credibility was elevated Tuesday after late-stage clinical trial results published in The Lancet international medical journal revealed it was 91.6% effective in preventing people from developing COVID-19.    Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has spoken to Russian President  Vladimir Putin about purchasing 24 million doses of the vaccine.  Argentina joins Mexico in ramping up its efforts to secure an ample supply of the Sputnik V vaccine.     Lopez Gatell said on Monday Mexico would receive between 1.6 million to 2.75 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX global vaccine sharing program this month.  Mexico has one of the highest coronavirus tallies in Latin America with about 159,100 confirmed  deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University COVID Resource Center.  
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The United States on Tuesday condemned a Russian court’s decision to sentence the Kremlin’s most outspoken critic, Alexei Navalny, to 3.5 years in prison. State Department officials says the U.S. is reviewing what actions it will take in the matter. VOA’s Jesusemen Oni has more.
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COVID-19 testing tents are popping up in the French capital as extensions of local pharmacies that allow people to walk in and get a free COVID screening. More with VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo.  
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Money sent home by Mexican migrants rose 11.4% in 2020 to a new high despite the coronavirus pandemic, Mexico’s central bank reported Monday.Migrants sent $40.6 billion to Mexico in cash transmissions, known as remittances, including $4 billion in March alone, a record for a single month.The record flow of cash for 2020 compared to $36.4 billion in remittances sent in 2019. The rise was much better than other countries, which have seen drops in remittances because of job losses or reductions in hours due to the pandemic.Most Mexican migrants live and work in the United States, where unemployment has surged because of lockdowns. Given the big drop in the value of the peso so far this year, remittances sent in dollars will go much further.   
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Britain launched an emergency program of door-to-door testing in several areas Tuesday following the discovery of hundreds of cases of the coronavirus variant, first identified in South Africa, which scientists say could be more resistant to vaccines.  Mobile testing units were deployed to several regions, including parts of central and suburban London, while firefighter units and volunteers helped to deliver home testing kits and administer door-to-door testing. Local authorities aimed to conduct 80,000 coronavirus tests. By Tuesday morning, 105 cases of the mutation first seen in South Africa were identified in eight districts across Britain. Eleven of those cases did not have any direct link to international travel, suggesting the variant is being transmitted within the community. Volunteers hand out the COVID-19 home test kit to a resident, in Goldsworth and St. Johns, amid the outbreak of coronavirus disease in Woking, Britain, Feb. 2, 2021.Meanwhile, health authorities announced they are also investigating separate cases of the virus with what they described as worrying new genetic changes. The variants, identified in the cities of Bristol and Liverpool, have the same mutation as the South African variant, called E484K. British Health Secretary Matt Hancock urged people living in the affected areas to adhere to lockdown rules and stay home. “Our mission must be to stop its spread altogether and break those chains of transmission. … It is imperative that people must stay at home and only leave home where it is absolutely essential,” Hancock told members of parliament Tuesday. People queue at a testing center amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, in Southport, Britain, Feb. 2, 2021.Britain is still battling a separate coronavirus mutation, first identified in Kent in southern England in September, which has contributed to a deadly second wave of the pandemic. An estimated 107,000 people have died in Britain within 28 days of testing positive for the virus since the pandemic began. Scientists say the variants appear to be more transmissible. Early indications from trials suggest they may also be more resistant to vaccines. “There has been a couple of observations, one from Novavax and one from Johnson & Johnson, which suggest that their vaccine trials were less successful in South Africa than they were in the United Kingdom and the United States,” Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at Britain’s University of Reading, told VOA. “(The mutation) renders antibodies less able to bind to the spike protein of the virus and stop the spike protein acting as a key to gain entrance to our cells.” That could affect people’s immunity to the coronavirus, both for individuals who have had the infection and those who have been vaccinated.  An advertisement board is seen, amid the outbreak of coronavirus disease in Woking, Britain, Feb. 2, 2021.”Even if we roll out a vaccine across the population, getting complete 100 percent coverage will be nigh on impossible,” Clarke said. “And the virus will be put under a selective pressure to accommodate and to favor mutations like this, which render it less susceptible to vaccines, or the actions of vaccines.” Britain also announced Tuesday it had given a first vaccine dose to more than 10 million people, by far the highest in Europe. It is not yet clear, however, if the vaccines are as effective against the new variants and may need to be modified. Health Secretary Hancock said such work was under way. “We’re working with pharmaceutical companies and with the scientists to understand both whether such modifications are needed, where they are needed and how they can be brought to use on the front line as quickly as safely possible.”  Scientists say the emergence of new variants around the world underlines the urgent need to roll out global vaccination programs and suppress transmission, as even fully vaccinated populations could be at risk as the virus continues to mutate. 
 
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Northern Ireland temporarily suspended some inspections at two ports late Monday after threats of violence and increased tensions have been reported in the area. Graffiti was discovered in Belfast describing port staff as “targets.” Staff have also reported suspicious behavior such as people writing down license plate numbers. Police say they are increasing patrols near ports of entry. A police vehicle patrols after threats were made to port workers implementing post-Brexit trade checks in Northern Ireland, at the Port of Larne in County Antrim, Feb. 2, 2021.A spokesman for the European Commission announced Tuesday they had withdrawn European Union staff from the Northern Ireland ports as a safety precaution and condemned the violence. Many pro-British unionists fiercely oppose the new trade barriers introduced between Northern Ireland and the rest of Britain as part of the Northern Ireland protocol, a stand-alone deal for the region after Britain left the EU. The protocol was designed to maintain the principles of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and Northern Ireland’s open border with Ireland by keeping the region in the British customs territory but also aligned with the EU’s single market for goods. The British-run region remains deeply divided along sectarian lines, even after the 1998 peace deal, with Catholic nationalists aspiring to unification with Ireland and Protestant unionists wanting to remain part of Britain. 
 
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A second lawmaker endorsed by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been elected to a critical leadership role in Congress, possibly bolstering his political future amid dozens of calls for his resignation. Congressman Arthur Lira, an ally of Bolsonaro, was elected speaker of the lower house of Congress for two years on Monday. The chamber voted overwhelmingly in favor of Lira, whose rival pushed for separation from the Bolsonaro administration. Earlier Monday, Brazil’s Congress elected Rodrigo Pacheco as Senate speaker, another ally of the far-right leader who aims to improve bruised relations with legislators. Bolsonaro has faced an uphill battle get legislation passed in Congress, while his popularity has declined over his handling of the latest surge of Covid-19 in Brazil. Bolsonaro has long downplayed the pandemic even after he contracted the virus in July, at times appearing in pubic without a protective face mask.  So far, Brazil has confirmed more than 9,204,000 coronavirus infections and 224,504 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University Covid Resource Center.  
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Washington’s immigration policy will focus on regional migration and its root causes, as well as the annulment of policies inherited from the Trump administration, according to White House officials.  President Joe Biden will make the announcement Tuesday, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a daily briefing this week.  Representatives of the governments of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala envision more U.S. attention toward the region during the Biden administration and plan to support a common development agenda based on “mutual respect.” President Biden told his Mexican counterpart, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, that Washington will address the containment of the irregular flow of migrants to Mexico and the United States, in part, through promoting economic development in Central America.FILE – In this Dec. 18, 2020 file photo, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his daily, morning news conference at the presidential palace, Palacio Nacional, in Mexico City.Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández told VOA that approach represents an “opportunity to retake” what the Obama administration was working on.  Guatemalan Foreign Minister Pedro Brolo told VOA that both countries have a “common agenda” beyond economic opportunities, including fighting increased organized crime and drug trafficking, and he plans to bring those issues to the table in future meetings. Cooperation and mutual respect Ariel Ruíz Soto, an analyst at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, said U.S. investment in the region is not enough.  The Northern Triangle countries need to show they are committed to solve the root causes of the immigration, including poverty and corruption, Ruiz Soto said. Bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress is also necessary to enact immigration reform, he added. “The relationship has to change its tone. It is necessary to reopen the dialogue with Central America in order to once again have cooperation, not pressure,” Ruíz Soto told VOA. Biden promised during his presidential campaign to allocate $4 billion to the Central American region and attack the issues that cause migration, including “endemic corruption,” poverty and economic insecurity.FILE – Demonstrators with the New York Immigration Coalition rally asking President Joe Biden to prioritize immigration reform, Nov. 9, 2020, in New York.Brolo indicated the three countries that make up the Northern Triangle will be more “attractive for foreign investment” to repair economies hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and last year’s natural disasters, including back-to-back hurricanes Eta and Iota. “Our people would tend to migrate less, since they would have jobs,” he explained.  A closed-door policy at the border The changes that the White House plans to implement do not represent an open border policy, said Brendan O’Brien, the United States charge d’affaires in El Salvador. “Migrants who cross the border irregularly will be returned, in accordance with legal procedures that guarantee their safety,” O’Brien said in a joint statement with the foreign minister of El Salvador. Both Brolo of Guatemala and the Honduran ambassador to the United States, Luis Fernando Suazo, said their governments are focused on discouraging the caravans to the north. “We are not going to allow irregular, disorderly and unsafe traffic,” Brolo said, while Suazo indicated his government is investigating the organization of caravans that “are not spontaneous.” The administration of former President Donald Trump put in place a zero-tolerance policy that was rescinded Tuesday by the Justice Department. Several human rights organizations and President Biden denounced the separation of hundreds of children from their parents as part of Trump’s policy. The new president’s actions include the creation of a task force to reunify the families of at least 600 children who were separated from their parents at the U.S-Mexico border. For Ruíz Soto, the challenge for the current White House will be to engage in a strategy that “sends a message to the region that the caravans and future migratory flows will not be able to enter the United States” and at the same time, establish a new approach to deal with immigration policies in the country.  Congress is key The diplomats who spoke with VOA said the intention of starting the legislative process in the United States to achieve immigration reform is good news, but they agree that it is a process that will take time. Public policy analyst Ruíz Soto said the Biden administration must set realistic expectations and specific goals for his ideas to gain bipartisan support in Congress. He said the legislative option is the only way to provide a lasting United States response to the root causes of immigration and will accomplish a comprehensive reform. President Biden faced his first setback on his immigration plans this week when a Texas judge blocked his deportation “pause,” a key component of his immigration priorities. Former President Trump faced similar obstacles when several judges blocked several of his restrictive immigration policies.  “The best solution is the legislative option, in order to avoid going to court, because it causes confusion and can send the wrong message to the region about who can or cannot enter the country,” Ruiz Soto said. 
…

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny appeared in a Moscow court Tuesday to face parole violation charges that could land him up to three-and-a-half years in prison.A sentence for the prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin could trigger more protests, following two weekends of rallies in several Russian cities demanding his release.Blinken Slams Putin for Crackdown on Navalny Supporters US secretary of state also had strong words for Iran and China Navalny was arrested immediately upon arrival in Moscow on Jan. 17 for alleged parole violations after returning from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve agent poisoning in Russia.Navalny has accused Putin of ordering Russia’s security services to poison him, a charge the Kremlin has repeatedly denied.Several European laboratories have confirmed that Navalny, 44, was poisoned with Novichok, a nerve agent developed by the former Soviet Union.A Russian court recently ruled Navalny must remain in jail, rejecting his appeal against his arrest.  The United States and other Western countries have strongly condemned Navalny’s arrest and demanded his unconditional release.Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service says Navalny violated the probation terms of his suspended sentence from a 2014 money laundering conviction, which he denounced as politically motivated. The service asked the Simonovsky District Court in Moscow to convert his three-and-a-half-year suspended sentence into one that must be served in prison. Navalny’s attorneys have argued that he was rehabilitating in Germany and, therefore, was unable to fully comply with his probation terms. His defense also maintained that due process was repeatedly violated during his arrest.As he sat in a glass cage in the courtroom during Tuesday’s hearing, Navalny said, “I came back to Moscow after I completed the course of treatment.” He added, “What else could I have done?”Navalny’s jailing has sparked very large protests across Russia over the past two weekends, with tens of thousands of people demanding his release and chanting anti-Putin slogans. Police arrested more than 5,700 people during Sunday’s rallies, including more than 1,900 in Moscow, the biggest number in the country since the Soviet era. Most demonstrators were released after being given court summonses and are subject to fines or jail terms of up to 15 days. Several protesters face criminal charges over alleged violence against police. 
…

Washington’s immigration policy will focus on regional migration and its root causes, as well as the annulment of policies inherited from the Trump administration, according to White House officials.  President Joe Biden will make the announcement next week, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a daily briefing this week.  Representatives of the governments of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala envision more U.S. attention toward the region during the Biden administration and plan to support a common development agenda based on “mutual respect.” President Biden told his Mexican counterpart, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, that Washington will address the containment of the irregular flow of migrants to Mexico and the United States, in part, through promoting economic development in Central America.FILE – In this Dec. 18, 2020 file photo, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his daily, morning news conference at the presidential palace, Palacio Nacional, in Mexico City.Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández told VOA that approach represents an “opportunity to retake” what the Obama administration was working on.  Guatemalan Foreign Minister Pedro Brolo told VOA that both countries have a “common agenda” beyond economic opportunities, including fighting increased organized crime and drug trafficking, and he plans to bring those issues to the table in future meetings. Cooperation and mutual respect Ariel Ruíz Soto, an analyst at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, said U.S. investment in the region is not enough.  The Northern Triangle countries need to show they are committed to solve the root causes of the immigration, including poverty and corruption, Ruiz Soto said. Bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress is also necessary to enact immigration reform, he added. “The relationship has to change its tone. It is necessary to reopen the dialogue with Central America in order to once again have cooperation, not pressure,” Ruíz Soto told VOA. Biden promised during his presidential campaign to allocate $4 billion to the Central American region and attack the issues that cause migration, including “endemic corruption,” poverty and economic insecurity.FILE – Demonstrators with the New York Immigration Coalition rally asking President Joe Biden to prioritize immigration reform, Nov. 9, 2020, in New York.Brolo indicated the three countries that make up the Northern Triangle will be more “attractive for foreign investment” to repair economies hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and last year’s natural disasters, including back-to-back hurricanes Eta and Iota. “Our people would tend to migrate less, since they would have jobs,” he explained.  A closed-door policy at the border The changes that the White House plans to implement do not represent an open border policy, said Brendan O’Brien, the United States charge d’affaires in El Salvador. “Migrants who cross the border irregularly will be returned, in accordance with legal procedures that guarantee their safety,” O’Brien said in a joint statement with the foreign minister of El Salvador. Both Brolo of Guatemala and the Honduran ambassador to the United States, Luis Fernando Suazo, said their governments are focused on discouraging the caravans to the north. “We are not going to allow irregular, disorderly and unsafe traffic,” Brolo said, while Suazo indicated his government is investigating the organization of caravans that “are not spontaneous.” The administration of former President Donald Trump put in place a zero-tolerance policy that was rescinded Tuesday by the Justice Department. Several human rights organizations and President Biden denounced the separation of hundreds of children from their parents as part of Trump’s policy. The new president’s actions include the creation of a task force to reunify the families of at least 600 children who were separated from their parents at the U.S-Mexico border. For Ruíz Soto, the challenge for the current White House will be to engage in a strategy that “sends a message to the region that the caravans and future migratory flows will not be able to enter the United States” and at the same time, establish a new approach to deal with immigration policies in the country.  Congress is key The diplomats who spoke with VOA said the intention of starting the legislative process in the United States to achieve immigration reform is good news, but they agree that it is a process that will take time. Public policy analyst Ruíz Soto said the Biden administration must set realistic expectations and specific goals for his ideas to gain bipartisan support in Congress. He said the legislative option is the only way to provide a lasting United States response to the root causes of immigration and will accomplish a comprehensive reform. President Biden faced his first setback on his immigration plans this week when a Texas judge blocked his deportation “pause,” a key component of his immigration priorities. Former President Trump faced similar obstacles when several judges blocked several of his restrictive immigration policies.  “The best solution is the legislative option, in order to avoid going to court, because it causes confusion and can send the wrong message to the region about who can or cannot enter the country,” Ruiz Soto said. 
…

A second lawmaker endorsed by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been elected to a critical leadership role in Congress, possibly bolstering his political future amid dozens of calls for his resignation. Congressman Arthur Lira, an ally of Bolsonaro, was elected speaker of the lower house of Congress for two years on Monday. The chamber voted overwhelmingly in favor of Lira, whose rival pushed for separation from the Bolsonaro administration. Earlier Monday, Brazil’s Congress elected Rodrigo Pacheco as Senate speaker, another ally of the far-right leader who aims to improve bruised relations with legislators. Bolsonaro has faced an uphill battle get legislation passed in Congress, while his popularity has declined over his handling of the latest surge of Covid-19 in Brazil. Bolsonaro has long downplayed the pandemic even after he contracted the virus in July, at times appearing in pubic without a protective face mask.  So far, Brazil has confirmed more than 9,204,000 coronavirus infections and 224,504 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University Covid Resource Center.  
…

Washington’s immigration policy will focus on regional migration and its root causes, as well as the annulment of policies inherited from the Trump administration, according to White House officials.  President Joe Biden will make the announcement next week, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during a daily briefing this week.  Representatives of the governments of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala envision more U.S. attention toward the region during the Biden administration and plan to support a common development agenda based on “mutual respect.” President Biden told his Mexican counterpart, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, that Washington will address the containment of the irregular flow of migrants to Mexico and the United States, in part, through promoting economic development in Central America.FILE – In this Dec. 18, 2020 file photo, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gives his daily, morning news conference at the presidential palace, Palacio Nacional, in Mexico City.Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández told VOA that approach represents an “opportunity to retake” what the Obama administration was working on.  Guatemalan Foreign Minister Pedro Brolo told VOA that both countries have a “common agenda” beyond economic opportunities, including fighting increased organized crime and drug trafficking, and he plans to bring those issues to the table in future meetings. Cooperation and mutual respect Ariel Ruíz Soto, an analyst at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, said U.S. investment in the region is not enough.  The Northern Triangle countries need to show they are committed to solve the root causes of the immigration, including poverty and corruption, Ruiz Soto said. Bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress is also necessary to enact immigration reform, he added. “The relationship has to change its tone. It is necessary to reopen the dialogue with Central America in order to once again have cooperation, not pressure,” Ruíz Soto told VOA. Biden promised during his presidential campaign to allocate $4 billion to the Central American region and attack the issues that cause migration, including “endemic corruption,” poverty and economic insecurity.FILE – Demonstrators with the New York Immigration Coalition rally asking President Joe Biden to prioritize immigration reform, Nov. 9, 2020, in New York.Brolo indicated the three countries that make up the Northern Triangle will be more “attractive for foreign investment” to repair economies hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and last year’s natural disasters, including back-to-back hurricanes Eta and Iota. “Our people would tend to migrate less, since they would have jobs,” he explained.  A closed-door policy at the border The changes that the White House plans to implement do not represent an open border policy, said Brendan O’Brien, the United States charge d’affaires in El Salvador. “Migrants who cross the border irregularly will be returned, in accordance with legal procedures that guarantee their safety,” O’Brien said in a joint statement with the foreign minister of El Salvador. Both Brolo of Guatemala and the Honduran ambassador to the United States, Luis Fernando Suazo, said their governments are focused on discouraging the caravans to the north. “We are not going to allow irregular, disorderly and unsafe traffic,” Brolo said, while Suazo indicated his government is investigating the organization of caravans that “are not spontaneous.” The administration of former President Donald Trump put in place a zero-tolerance policy that was rescinded Tuesday by the Justice Department. Several human rights organizations and President Biden denounced the separation of hundreds of children from their parents as part of Trump’s policy. The new president’s actions include the creation of a task force to reunify the families of at least 600 children who were separated from their parents at the U.S-Mexico border. For Ruíz Soto, the challenge for the current White House will be to engage in a strategy that “sends a message to the region that the caravans and future migratory flows will not be able to enter the United States” and at the same time, establish a new approach to deal with immigration policies in the country.  Congress is key The diplomats who spoke with VOA said the intention of starting the legislative process in the United States to achieve immigration reform is good news, but they agree that it is a process that will take time. Public policy analyst Ruíz Soto said the Biden administration must set realistic expectations and specific goals for his ideas to gain bipartisan support in Congress. He said the legislative option is the only way to provide a lasting United States response to the root causes of immigration and will accomplish a comprehensive reform. President Biden faced his first setback on his immigration plans this week when a Texas judge blocked his deportation “pause,” a key component of his immigration priorities. Former President Trump faced similar obstacles when several judges blocked several of his restrictive immigration policies.  “The best solution is the legislative option, in order to avoid going to court, because it causes confusion and can send the wrong message to the region about who can or cannot enter the country,” Ruiz Soto said. 
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Haiti’s opposition leaders have agreed on a plan to replace President Jovenel Moise with a new head of state on Sunday.They accuse Moise, who has ruled for nearly four years, of being an autocrat who failed to curb the rash of kidnappings that have terrorized the nation. They also criticize Moise for what they regard as his weak response to a crippling economic crisis.Moise has said he will not step down until February 2022, noting he has one year left of his five-year term.The opposition agreement, named Ako Final Teras Garden (Terrace Garden Final Accord), creates a commission made up of seven members of civil society and seven opposition leaders. The commission would be tasked with choosing a president to lead the transitional government from members of Haiti’s Supreme Court.The prime minister would be chosen among the opposition politicians, and the heads of government ministries would be selected by the new government.The opposition is determined to finalize their choices before February 7, they announced Monday.Former Senator Nenel Cassy of the Fanmi Lavalas opposition party attends a meeting to discuss a political accord to establish a transitional government to replace President Jovenel Moise on Feb. 7, 2021. (Photo: Renan Toussaint/ VOA)Moise has said he intends to transfer power to the winner of the general election scheduled for September of this year.Moise has also said he intends to make changes to the country’s constitution. A hand-picked Provisional Electoral Council (KEP) was chosen last year, despite criticism from the opposition that it is not representative of civil society. The KEP announced in January that a referendum on the constitution will be held on April 25.In an exclusive interview with VOA, Haitian Ambassador Bocchit Edmond said the opposition’s plan to form a transitional government has been tried before — and failed.”It is time for Haiti to leave that cycle — that cycle of using illegitimate people to replace elected officials,” he told VOA. “Every time we have elections, we have to reverse the electoral votes. We have to ask the president to go, (only) to be replaced by a transitional government, which has never served the good of the Haitian people.”But the opposition isn’t listening. Leaders announced a nationwide mobilization in all 10 departments of the country that began January 28-31, followed by general strikes Monday and Tuesday, and again on February 7 to keep the pressure on Moise, who was a businessman before entering politics, to step down.Former Senator Jean Charles Moise of the Pitit Dessalines opposition party joined protesters in the streets of Port-au-Prince on Sunday.”When I was a senator and my term expired, I left the Senate. I was elected to a six-year term, so I resigned. We all know that the constitution states that every five years there must be elections to choose a new president. A president’s term lasts five years. That is why we have told President Jovenel Moise that his term is expired,” Moise (no relation to the president) told VOA.Former senator Moise said after February 7, there will be a new “system” governing Haiti and a there will be a transition period.”The leader will not be a member of the opposition — I want to reassure the people (of Haiti) about that — whether you are living in Haiti or abroad, this time we must liberate our nation, this is our country. (General Jean Jacques) Dessalines did not win the revolutionary war to end up with this result,” he said.Haitian opposition leaders aren’t the only ones calling for a transitional government. U.S. Representatives Andy Levin, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Gregory Meeks, incoming chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Albio Sires, chair of the Western Hemisphere Civilian Security and Trade subcommittee, expressed the need for a transition in Haiti in a joint statement issued in December 2020. The U.S. lawmakers said there was “growing concern” about political events in Haiti.“Haitian President Jovenel Moïse is pursuing an increasingly authoritarian course of action, issuing a series of recent decrees that include creating an extraconstitutional domestic ‘intelligence’ force,” the statement said. “His latest actions are reminiscent of past anti-democratic abuses the Haitian people have endured, including the run-up to the Duvalier dictatorship. We will not stand idly by while Haiti devolves into chaos.”Former Senator Youri Latortue attends a meeting in Port-au-Prince to discuss a transitional government that will replace President Jovenel Moise on Feb. 7, 2021. (Photo: Renan Toussaint / VOA)Reacting to the statement in December, Ambassador Edmond expressed frustration and said he intended to meet with the congressmen.“It is really disturbing,” he told VOA. “It saddens us to see democratic officials call for a transitional government. We don’t think that going through a transition again will help Haiti.”Haiti has had eight provisional governments since the departure of Jean Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier in 1986.Last week, Edmond told VOA he had a “lengthy discussion” with Congressman Levin that lasted more than 45 minutes. He said they met virtually due to COVID-19 restrictions.”We will continue to discuss the situation and show that maybe they had erroneous information. But we will continue the dialogue to make sure they have accurate information. I’m here to answer all their questions and give them any information they ask for,” Edmond told VOA.The ambassador said he plans to speak with Congressman Meeks later this month.Meanwhile, a general strike announced by Haiti’s unions to protest against insecurity and to demand the president resign was observed Monday. The streets of the capital were mostly empty, with only pedestrians and a few motorbikes moving about, according to VOA Creole reporters in the capital.Most businesses, markets and schools remained shuttered. A second day of strikes is planned for Tuesday.Matiado Vilme and Florence Lisene in Port-au-Prince contributed to this report. 
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Turkey and Azerbaijan are continuing to deepen ties by starting a major joint military exercise Monday. The display of force comes as some analysts suggest Ankara could be on the verge of a foreign policy pivot away from the Middle East to Central Asia.The 12-day military exercise involves tank divisions, airborne units, and “special forces.” Turkish-made weaponry is also set to play a prominent role.Turkish-made drones were pivotal in Azerbaijan’s defeat in October of Armenian separatist forces, in a battle over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in Azerbaijan.Azerbaijan’s victory is seen as a strategic triumph for Turkey. “Turkey has invested very heavily in the Azeri military,” said international relations professor Serhat Guvenc of Istanbul’s Kadir Has University. The countries have close ethnic ties and define their relationship as “one nation, two states.”FILE – Men holding national flags of Azerbaijan and Turkey stand next to a memorial for people killed in Azerbaijan during the conflict over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, outside the embassy of Azerbaijan in Moscow, Oct. 19, 2020.The speed and decisiveness of Azerbaijan’s military success boosted Turkish influence in the Caucasus, further consolidating close ties between Ankara and Baku.”Turkey is expanding its influence in Caucasia; it will do more so in the future,” said Huseyin Bagci, head of the Ankara-based Foreign Policy Institute.  Bagci suggests Ankara is poised for a shift in foreign policy, saying, “Turkey does not play the card of Islam and Middle East orientation anymore, but now rather more nationalistic, and of Turkish nationalism.”Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has traditionally positioned himself as the defender of global Muslim rights, in particular the Palestinians. Ankara is also a strong backer of the Muslim Brotherhood across the Middle East, and Hamas, which is designated by the United States and European Union as a terrorist organization.Much to Israel’s anger and Washington’s dismay, Hamas routinely held meetings in Turkey, and Ankara hosted its leaders. Such moves traditionally played well among Erdogan’s religious voting base.But analysts say Ankara is concerned about the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords that saw the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalize ties with Israel last year, with Sudan close behind.FILE – Members of a Turkish forces commando brigade take part in a military parade in which Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev looked on in Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 10, 2020.With reports of other Arab countries, including Turkey’s close ally Qatar, ready to join the Abraham Accords, Bagci says there is awareness in Ankara that Turkey is facing growing isolation in the Middle East.”The Islamic card and talk of Muslim unity for Erdogan doesn’t function anymore, after the Abraham Accords,” said Bagci. “Everybody in Turkey realizes the Arabs fight amongst each other, but they also make peace amongst each another. The Arabs are not the Turks. It’s so simple. The Turkish public is more conscious of this, and the Israelis are the winners.”But other analysts remain cautious of a Turkish shift away from the Middle East and toward the courting of ethnic Turkic Central Asian states. “It’s too early to say, but there are some indications,” said Guvenc.Guvenc points out right-wing political parties in Turkey have broadly followed a philosophy of nationalism and Islam, created by the country’s military rulers of the early 1980s under the banner “Turkish Islamic synthesis.” ”I would say the emphasis on the Turko component of this synthesis would make sense for this government,” said Guvenc.Erdogan’s parliamentary coalition partner, the nationalist MHP, is seen as backing a shift in policy. “With MHP, his coalition partner, Erdogan will play more on Turkish nationalism than the Islamic card,” said Bagci.But any reorientation toward the Caucasus and beyond to Central Asia countries like Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan isn’t without risk.”This will not go down well with Russia, definitely, which considers this region as its sphere of influence,” said Guvenc. “In central Asia, Turkey has already lost the battle and struggle for influence with Russia, and the Chinese are also rising its influence.”Russia thwarted previous efforts by Turkey to project influence across Central Asia. But Zaur Gasimov, an expert on Russia and Central Asia at Germany’s Bonn University, suggests Ankara has a stronger hand. ”Compared with the 1990s and 2000s, Turkey nowadays has much more leverage to influence Central Asian republics using its economy and migration policy just like Russia,” he said.Turkey hosts many migrant workers from across the Central Asian states, helping to develop and strengthen economic and cultural ties.A growing Turkish presence in Central Asia could be welcomed in the region to mitigate Russia’s powerful influence.”For Kazakhstan, the deepening of cooperation with Turkey, for example, could be needed to obtain a sort of balance in its relations with Moscow,” said Gasimov. Gasimov says Kazakh unease over Moscow has been heightened since Russia’s annexation in 2014 of Ukraine’s Crimea, a region populated by ethnic Russians.”Kazakhstani elites are concerned about Russian policy towards Ukraine and feel insecure about the northern provinces populated by ethnic Russians in Kazakhstan. Several high-rank Russian politicians claimed Kazakh territory in the recent past,” he added. 
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British Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Monday said 105 cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa have been found in the nation, with 11 of those cases having no links to international travel.Speaking at a Downing Street news briefing, Hancock said health authorities plan to test 80,000 people from areas around the country to isolate and stop the spread of the new variant.”There’s currently no evidence to suggest this variant is any more severe, but we need to come down on it hard, and we will,” he said.A man takes a swab at a test center in Goldsworth Park, as the South African variant of the novel coronavirus is reported in parts of Surrey, in Woking, Britain, Feb. 1, 2021.Hancock said the surge of new testing is targeted on those areas where the variant had been discovered and that every single positive case is being sequenced. He said health officials, in coordination with local authorities, are going door to door to test people in those areas.Hancock also announced on Monday that Britain had now vaccinated 9.2 million people against COVID-19, including 931,204 vaccinations over the weekend. He also announced that Britain has ordered another 40 million doses of a vaccine developed by the French company, Valneva, as the government prepares for the likelihood that repeated vaccinations will be needed to keep the virus in check.The vaccine, which will be made in Scotland, is still undergoing clinical trials and has not been approved by regulators.Britain has seen the deadliest coronavirus outbreak in Europe — with over 106,000 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University data — but is pushing ahead with one of the world’s quickest vaccine programs. 
 
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Europe’s populists have seen their polling numbers dip since the coronavirus emerged on the continent, but as the economic impact of lockdowns and restrictions starts to be felt in earnest, widening income disparity, they could see a revival, some analysts forecast.  Others argue that won’t happen, if incumbent governments and establishment parties can restore public faith in their competence, cushion lower-income and rural populations from economic misery, and get their countries back on track working again soon.  The populist challenge is dimming, they say, pointing to former U.S. President Donald Trump’s November election loss on the other side of the Atlantic. “One reason is their trademark scorn for expertise, which enthuses a minority of voters but unsettles many more who are worried about their health and livelihoods,” according to Tony Barber, Europe editor of the Financial Times. An elderly visitor receives a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Cent Quatre cultural center in Paris, France, Feb. 1, 2021.While acknowledging that the populists have not had a “good” pandemic, Matthew Goodwin, a political scientist and visiting fellow at Britain’s Chatham House research group, believes political turbulence generally lies downstream of crises and the Great Lockdown will have seismic effects that are hard to foresee.”Emerging evidence shows it looks fairly certain the Great Lockdown will actually exacerbate divides in our society that began to sharpen a few decades ago, and were then worsened by the Great Recession,” he said. The European Union isn’t helping to head off a possible revival in political populism on the continent, which recruits partly on the basis of euro-skepticism. Logistical missteps and hidebound bureaucracy have marred the EU’s vaccine rollout, prompting rising public frustration with the pace of inoculations and adding to anxiety about a grim northern hemisphere winter ahead. Some commentators see this as a gift for populists with the low-paid, the unskilled and those in insecure jobs hit the hardest by prolonged lockdowns.  The EU’s struggle to secure enough early doses to make headway in the inoculation of the bloc’s 446 million people has put the bloc front and center of widespread anger. Last month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was framing prematurely the bloc’s vaccine procurement strategy as a “European success story.”  FILE – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks at the end of an EU summit video conference at the European Council headquarters in Brussels, Jan. 21, 2021.The 62-year-old German, French President Emmanuel Macron’s pick for the top job at the EC, had maintained that Brussels should take the lead in negotiating and procuring vaccine supplies for all 27 member states. She had the support of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who called a halt to negotiations already under way between vaccine developer AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish firm, and Germany’s health minister, along with his counterparts in France, Italy and the Netherlands.  Von der Leyen, supported by Merkel, argued a collective approach would work better as it would avoid vaccine nationalism and competition among member states. Negotiating as a bloc would provide more leverage to haggle over pricing with the pharmaceutical giants.  But an overriding motivation was to show how well the EU could do. That would overshadow the bloc’s lack of solidarity at the start of the pandemic, when calls for help from Italy, the first country to suffer the full force of the virus, were rebuffed, and member states competed for supplies of personal protective equipment and shut borders without consulting each other. Some of the problems in the rollout have been country-specific but there are mounting doubts about the EU’s collective approach to procurement and distribution. Go-it-alone Britain has vaccinated more than 13% of its adults so far while the EU average is barely nudging 2%, with the gap growing. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson walks past waiting patients as he visits a COVID-19 vaccination center in Batley, West Yorkshire, Britain, Feb. 1, 2021.British regulatory authorities were quicker to approve vaccines and signed contracts with manufacturers three months before the EU. As a result, Britain has not been impacted as much as the EU by production delays and difficulties. On January 22, the EU reacted with fury when AstraZeneca disclosed it would have to reduce by around two-thirds doses expected over the next two months because of production difficulties.  “There are no signs that the vaccination rate in the EU is accelerating, unlike in the U.K. and U.S., where daily vaccination rates have increased substantially in the past few weeks,” according to Guntram Wolff, director of Bruegel, a Brussels-based research group. “Part of the explanation is that the EU ordered too few vaccines too late. It was slow to order the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine, even when it became the front-runner and its efficacy had been documented.”  The Bruegel director has also faulted the EU for not thinking ahead and crafting a strategy to increase vaccine production by mobilizing other manufacturers to help to do so. He cautioned it is “impossible to say how things would have gone if there had not been joint EU action.” Nonetheless, the EU’s logistical missteps are drawing fire.  FILE – Bavaria’s State Prime Minister Markus Soeder removes his protective mask before a so-called home office summit during the coronavirus pandemic in Munich, Germany, Jan. 13, 2021.Markus Soeder, the premier of the German state of Bavaria, and a contender to succeed Merkel when she quits in September, said the “operational responsibility” for the “more than unsatisfactory” situation rests with Brussels. “The decision was made in what I think is a typical, normal, bureaucratic EU procedure,” he added.  Von der Leyen was the subject of a scathing article Sunday by Germany’s leading magazine Der Spiegel, which said the vaccine rollout “might ultimately turn out to be the greatest disaster of her political career.” With lockdown frustration building — the Netherlands experienced three days of riots last week after the government introduced a nighttime curfew — and with anger building over the snail-like pace of inoculation, populists see a political opening. Some had aligned themselves with anti-vaccine skeptics but are moving away from that position and focusing now on the issue of EU competence.    France’s Marine Le Pen, the euro-skeptic far-right leader, has seen her popularity surge. A poll last week showed her trailing Macron by just 52% to 48%. Macron faces a tough reelection bid next year.  
 
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German pharmaceutical giant Bayer announced Monday it will help a smaller German biomedical company, CureVac, produce its experimental COVID-19 vaccine, the latest drug maker to offer up manufacturing capacity as supplies fall behind demand worldwide.
At a virtual news conference hosted in Berlin Monday by Health Minister Jens Spahn, Bayer’s pharmaceutical chief, Stefan Oelrich, said the company expects to produce 160 million doses of CureVac’s experimental vaccine, which is currently in late-stage testing, in 2022.
Bayer and CureVac reached an agreement last month to work together on a vaccine. Oelrich said Bayer has experience and capacity to expand CureVac’s production capacity.  
CureVac’s vaccine is still in the testing phase, and the company’s CEO, Franz-Werner Haas, said the vaccine his likely to be considered for approval “to produce up to 300 million doses by the end of 2021.”
Given the issues encountered getting vaccine orders filled, Health Minister Spahn said it was in Germany’s – and Europe’s – best interest to have production and development capacities in the region and to support them as best they can – even if the vaccine production is a year out.
 
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The Russian general prosecutor’s office said Monday that that it supports a request by the federal prison system to impose a jail term on opposition leader and Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, instead of a suspended sentence. Navalny faces the possibility of a 3.5-year prison sentence over charges he violated the parole terms of a 2014 suspended sentence the European Court of Human Rights later deemed baseless. Navalny is being held in pre-trial detention for 30 days for alleged parole violations upon his return to Russia from Germany in mid-January, following a lengthy recuperation from a near-lethal poisoning attack the opposition politician has blamed on the government of President Vladimir Putin.   The Kremlin denied involvement but refused to investigate the assassination attempt, citing a lack of evidence.   Thousands protested in cities across Russia on Sunday, defying threats of arrest by the government for a second straight weekend, demanding Navalny’s release. As of late Sunday, independent monitoring groups reported well more than 5,000 arrests, including Navalny’s wife, Yulia, during protests the government saw as “unauthorized.”Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, arrives at a court building in Moscow, Feb. 1, 2021.About a week ago, thousands of Russians took to the streets protesting Navalny’s detention and Russian police made about 4,000 arrests nationwide.  The United States and its European allies have condemned Navalny’s detention and the aggressive Russian government response against demonstrators, prompting Kremlin countercharges of Western interference in its internal affairs.  Moscow closed    In Moscow, authorities closed most of the city center on the snowy Sunday morning — making it all but impossible for protesters to gather at a chosen spot outside the headquarters of the Federal Security Services (FSB).   As a result, protest organizers issued a last-minute change of location — launching a chain of events in which Navalny’s allies issued instructions through social media, demonstrators trudged through snow in search of a crowd, and the government dispersed scores of riot police to stop them.  The dispersed nature of the demonstrations made assessing the scale of the event all but impossible.   At one point, several thousand people were seen gathered outside several Moscow metro stations.   Later, a column of several thousand was seen marching toward Matrosskaya Tishina — the jail where Navalny is currently being held.  Elsewhere — everywhere it seemed — demonstrators were looking at their social media feeds for instructions or asking those they came across: “Where is everyone heading now?” Rally to demand the release of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Berlin, Jan. 31, 2020.Each time, authorities had police or riot police in place to make arrests and deflect the crowd’s movement.     At several points throughout the day and in different locations, detained protesters simply waited for new police buses to arrive.   The ones already on site were filled beyond capacity.    The decision to close everything from metro stations to streets and businesses throughout the center of Russia’s capital was seen by some as evidence of the protests’ growing power.   “I’m 65 and I’ve never seen Moscow shut down like this,” said Sergey, a pensioner, in an interview with VOA. “The city has been occupied by troops.”   Crackdowns    There were signs that — having been caught off guard by the scale of recent demonstrations — authorities were cracking down in advance.   Several activists were arrested and given short sentences for “anti-social” behavior this past week.   Criminal cases were launched against nearly two dozen protesters who now face the prospect of lengthy prison sentences. Rally in support of Alexei Navalny in Moscow, Jan. 31, 2021.In addition, several high-profile journalists were detained on the grounds they had promoted the rally on social media.  Meanwhile, state enterprises ranging from government-affiliated corporations to universities discouraged attendance at the protests.    “Our school administration told us if we came, we’d never find a decent job with a decent salary and might have troubles finishing school,” said Anastasia, a student at a Moscow university, in an interview with VOA a short distance away from massed riot police.  Her friend Ekaterina said they had made peace with their decision.   “Our constitution allows us to gather peacefully. No one has a right to detain us but if I am, so be it.”   Authorities also put pressure on Navalny allies — placing the opposition leader’s brother Oleg and dozens of associates from the Navalny-led Anti-Corruption Foundation under house arrest.    They were charged with promoting an illegal protest last week that authorized deemed a health risk due to the coronavirus.   Public health concerns, however, were undermined by a near simultaneous decision by Moscow to lift remaining restrictions on bars and nightclubs.  In a separate move, Russia placed Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s chief strategist, on an international wanted list. Volkov who currently resides in Europe, was charged in absentia with urging underaged Russians to violate public gathering restrictions and risk legal penalties — a key talking point in Russian state media’s effort to undermine Navalny’s appeal.  Navalny supporters maintain that they will keep up the pressure on authorities to release the opposition politician.     
They’ve announced another protest for February, when Navalny is scheduled to appear in a court hearing that may determine the terms of his confinement.   
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The Russian general prosecutor’s office said Monday that that it supports a request by the federal prison system to impose a jail term on opposition leader and Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, instead of a suspended sentence. Navalny faces the possibility of a 3.5-year prison sentence over charges he violated the parole terms of a 2014 suspended sentence the European Court of Human Rights later deemed baseless. Navalny is being held in pre-trial detention for 30 days for alleged parole violations upon his return to Russia from Germany in mid-January, following a lengthy recuperation from a near-lethal poisoning attack the opposition politician has blamed on the government of President Vladimir Putin.   The Kremlin denied involvement but refused to investigate the assassination attempt, citing a lack of evidence.   Thousands protested in cities across Russia on Sunday, defying threats of arrest by the government for a second straight weekend, demanding Navalny’s release. As of late Sunday, independent monitoring groups reported well more than 5,000 arrests, including Navalny’s wife, Yulia, during protests the government saw as “unauthorized.”Yulia Navalnaya, wife of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, arrives at a court building in Moscow, Feb. 1, 2021.About a week ago, thousands of Russians took to the streets protesting Navalny’s detention and Russian police made about 4,000 arrests nationwide.  The United States and its European allies have condemned Navalny’s detention and the aggressive Russian government response against demonstrators, prompting Kremlin countercharges of Western interference in its internal affairs.  Moscow closed    In Moscow, authorities closed most of the city center on the snowy morning on Sunday — making it all but impossible for protesters to gather at a chosen spot outside the headquarters of the Federal Security Services (FSB).   As a result, protest organizers issued a last-minute change of location — launching a chain of events in which Navalny’s allies issued instructions through social media, demonstrators trudged through snow in search of a crowd, and the government dispersed scores of riot police to stop them.  The dispersed nature of the demonstrations made assessing the scale of the event all but impossible.   At one point, several thousand people were seen gathered outside several Moscow metro stations.   Later, a column of several thousand was seen marching toward Matrosskaya Tishina — the jail where Navalny is currently being held.  Elsewhere — everywhere it seemed — demonstrators were looking at their social media feeds for instructions or asking those they came across: “Where is everyone heading now?” Rally to demand the release of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Berlin, Jan. 31, 2020.Each time, authorities had police or riot police in place to make arrests and deflect the crowd’s movement.     At several points throughout the day and in different locations, detained protesters simply waited for new police buses to arrive.   The ones already on site were filled beyond capacity.    The decision to close everything from metro stations to streets and businesses throughout the center of Russia’s capital was seen by some as evidence of the protests’ growing power.   “I’m 65 and I’ve never seen Moscow shut down like this,” said Sergey, a pensioner, in an interview with VOA. “The city has been occupied by troops.”   Crackdowns    There were signs that — having been caught off guard by the scale of recent demonstrations — authorities were cracking down in advance.   Several activists were arrested and given short sentences for “anti-social” behavior this past week.   Criminal cases were launched against nearly two dozen protesters who now face the prospect of lengthy prison sentences. Rally in support of Alexei Navalny in Moscow, Jan. 31, 2021.In addition, several high-profile journalists were detained on the grounds they had promoted the rally on social media.  Meanwhile, state enterprises ranging from government-affiliated corporations to universities discouraged attendance at the protests.    “Our school administration told us if we came, we’d never find a decent job with a decent salary and might have troubles finishing school,” said Anastasia, a student at a Moscow university, in an interview with VOA a short distance away from massed riot police.  Her friend Ekaterina said they had made peace with their decision.   “Our constitution allows us to gather peacefully. No one has a right to detain us but if I am, so be it.”   Authorities also put pressure on Navalny allies — placing the opposition leader’s brother Oleg and dozens of associates from the Navalny-led Anti-Corruption Foundation under house arrest.    They were charged with promoting an illegal protest last week that authorized deemed a health risk due to the coronavirus.   Public health concerns, however, were undermined by a near simultaneous decision by Moscow to lift remaining restrictions on bars and nightclubs.  In a separate move, Russia placed Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s chief strategist, on an international wanted list. Volkov who currently resides in Europe, was charged in absentia with urging underaged Russians to violate public gathering restrictions and risk legal penalties — a key talking point in Russian state media’s effort to undermine Navalny’s appeal.  Navalny supporters maintain that they will keep up the pressure on authorities to release the opposition politician.     
They’ve announced another protest for February, when Navalny is scheduled to appear in a court hearing that may determine the terms of his confinement.   
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Thousands of protesters faced off with police in riot gear in Vienna Sunday at the site of a banned far-right demonstration against coronavirus restrictions.Vienna police banned numerous protests planned for this weekend, including one on Sunday by the far-right Freedom Party, on the grounds that protesters have generally failed to observe rules on social distancing and often not worn face masks.Since December 26, Austria has been in its third national lockdown, with non-essential shops and many other businesses closed and their staff unable to work.The opposition Freedom Party has denounced various restrictions as “corona madness” and its leaders have sent mixed messages on issues such as vaccinations.Freedom Party deputy leader Herbert Kickl on Saturday accused the conservative-led government of banning criticism in general. He urged his supporters to go on a walk in the capital instead of attending the banned protest, and to “articulate their displeasure peacefully.”The affiliation of many of Sunday’s protesters was not immediately clear.Some of them, however, expressed support for the Freedom Party, and many opposed conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, chanting — often without wearing masks — and waving banners saying “Kurz must go.” Many carried Austrian flags.The crowd, which police estimated at 5,000, gathered on a square in central Vienna across the central ring road from the former imperial palace as well as from the offices of Kurz and President Alexander Van der Bellen.Rows of police in riot gear and face masks prevented the crowd from marching down the ring road.After riots in the Netherlands apparently set off by the introduction of a nighttime curfew, Austrian police avoided escalation despite having ordered the crowd to disperse, and the atmosphere was tense but peaceful.A Reuters witness saw police make some arrests and estimated the size of the protests at thousands. Police confirmed arrests had been made without giving numbers. 
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