EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell came under scathing criticism Saturday for his visit to Moscow, which several of the bloc’s member states had urged him to cancel, fearing the Kremlin would manipulate the three-day trip to its advantage.His critics, including former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, along with Western diplomats, say their worst fears were realized during Borrell’s Friday joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in which Borrell said no EU member state had yet to propose new sanctions over the recent imprisonment of President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critic, Alexey Navalny.Just moments before the press conference, Kremlin officials announced their decision to expel three EU diplomats — from Germany, Poland and Sweden — for allegedly taking part in the unsanctioned Navalny rallies, a move possibly timed to humiliate Borrell.Critics say that the propaganda trap is likely to embolden Russian authorities to persist in their brutal paramilitary-style crackdown on internal dissent and civil society activists who’ve rallied for Navalny’s release.Time to resign?”Borrell has to think about resigning,” tweeted EU lawmaker Rasa Juknevičienė, a former Lithuanian defense minister, condemning the overall tenor of Borrell’s message that the EU and Russia “can cooperate despite misunderstandings.”Although it was clear before Borrell’s arrival in Moscow that the Kremlin would “mock him,” Juknevičienė tweeted, the whole of the EU has instead been ridiculed.FILE – People clash with police during a protest against the jailing of opposition leader Alexey Navalny in Moscow, Jan. 31, 2021.In a statement released Saturday summarizing his visit, Borrell said: “Diplomatic channels need to remain open, not only to de-escalate crises or incidents, but to hold direct exchanges, deliver firm and frank messages, all the more so when relations are far from satisfactory.”Borrell’s visit, which was planned before Navalny demonstrations erupted in more than 100 cities and towns across Russia, prompted some EU member states to lobby Brussels to cancel the event, fearing it was badly timed and would expose EU impotence. The Baltic states, alongside Poland and Romania, called instead for a new set of sanctions to be imposed on Russia. Their fear was that a dialogue with the Kremlin over the Navalny case at this stage would be a hopeless endeavor that would undermine EU credibility.Borrell, who went to Moscow on his own initiative in the first high-level EU trip of its type in four years, suggested he was accepting a long-standing invitation from Lavrov.Before Friday’s press conference, Borrell, a former Spanish foreign minister, warned his Russian counterparts that Navalny’s treatment had brought EU-Russian relations to a “low point,” and he reiterated EU demands for Navalny’s release.Message undercutThat message was undercut, however, when Borrell told Lavrov that no EU member state had proposed extra sanctions on Russia for now, which other EU officials said was inaccurate.Navalny was detained upon his January return to Moscow for parole violations, which his supporters say is a spurious charge, after recovering in Germany from a near-fatal poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin.His arrest has triggered the largest anti-Kremlin protests seen in Russia since 2011, and more than 10,000 of his supporters have been detained by police amid allegations of police brutality, according to rights monitors.Borrell is also drawing fire for standing silently by Lavrov’s side as the Russian foreign minister dubbed the EU an “unreliable partner” and accused European leaders of lying about Navalny, dismissing the West’s conclusion — confirmed by laboratories in Germany, France and Sweden, along with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons — that Navalny was poisoned with a Soviet-era military-grade nerve agent.FILE – Former Belgium Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt is pictured during a media conference in Brussels, March 6, 2012.”This is simply appalling,” tweeted Verhofstadt, who slammed Borrell for being ill-prepared. “Not just that Russia makes a fool of the EU but that we let it happen.”Borrell “should simply not have gone to Moscow without a message of EU strength & a mandate for sanctions to back it up,” Verhofstadt tweeted.Borrell was also criticized for failing to protest more forcefully the Kremlin’s last-minute decision to expel the trio of EU diplomats.“As expected, Lavrov outplayed Borrell,” one senior EU diplomat told FILE – A nurse displays a vial of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine for COVID-19 during a vaccination campaign inside River Plate stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Feb. 2, 2021.Pro-democracy activists said the Kremlin was swift to market Borrell’s visit for propaganda purposes and to discredit Navalny. During Friday’s press conference, Borrell also praised Russia’s development of the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine.”I take the floor just to congratulate Russia on this success,” Borrell said of the vaccine, which doesn’t yet have Europe’s scientific approval. “It’s good news for the whole of mankind.”Russia’s Foreign Ministry released a video shortly afterward, which begins with a clip of Navalny last year criticizing Russian authorities for prematurely authorizing Sputnik V, ahead of full testing, with the footage then cutting to Borrell praising Russia for developing Sputnik V.    
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In a major reform of the state-dominated economy, the Cuban government will allow small private businesses to operate in most fields, eliminating its limited list of activities, state-run media reported on Saturday.The measure, coming as the Caribbean island seeks to recover from an economic slump, will expand the field from 127 activities to more than 2,000 Labor Minister Marta Elena Feito Cabrera was quoted as saying. She spoke at a council of ministers meeting that approved the policy.She said there would be 124 exceptions, but the media reports provided no details.Reform-minded Cuban economists have long called for the role of small business to be expanded to help jump-start the economy and to create jobs.US Sanctions Cuba for Alleged Human Rights Abuses Sanctions come five days before end of Trump administrationThe economy has stagnated for years and contracted by 11% last year, due to a combination of the coronavirus pandemic that devastated tourism and tough U.S. sanctions. Cubans have been dealing with a scarcity of basic goods and endless lines to obtain them.The crisis has forced a series of long promised but stalled reforms, from devaluation of the peso and reorganization of the monetary system to some deregulation of state businesses and foreign investment.President Miguel Diaz-Canel said last year the country faced an international and local crisis and would implement a series of reforms to increase exports, cut imports and stimulate domestic demand.He said the measures would include “the improvement of the non-state sector, with immediate priority in the expansion of self-employment and removal of obstacles.”The non-state sector – not including agriculture with its hundreds of thousands of small farms, thousands of cooperative and day laborers – is composed mainly of small private businesses and cooperatives; their employees, artisans, taxi drivers and tradesmen.The labor minister said there were more than 600,000 people in the sector, some 13% of the labor force. They are all designated as self-employed and an estimated 40% depend mainly on the tourism industry or work in public transportation.Over the last six months the government has also moved to grant access to wholesale markets for small businesses and import and export, though only through state companies.
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British diplomats are anxiously awaiting Senate confirmation of Katherine Tai as America’s new U.S. trade representative, in hopes of early progress on a U.S.-Britain trade agreement to reset the relationship following Britain’s departure from the European Union.Karen Pierce, British ambassador to the United States, told a recent audience at American University in Washington that there had been “successive rounds of formal talks” with the previous administration of President Donald Trump and that informal working groups have continued to discuss details of a possible agreement.“When Katherine Tai, the new USTR, is confirmed, we will need to talk to her about getting back to the formal stage,” Pierce said. “We would like to do that.”At the time of the Brexit campaign, which led to Britain’s withdrawal from the EU, the pro-Brexit camp had argued that the breakup would leave London free to negotiate a favorable pact with a sympathetic Trump-led administration in Washington.But President Joe Biden declared during his campaign last year that he would not enter into any new trade deals until necessary investments had been made at home. Now, Pierce said, that leaves open “the question as to what happens to trade deals already in the making, like the U.K. one.”The British envoy pointed out that Britain and the U.S. are among each other’s biggest trading and investment partners, and it would benefit both “to cement that and enhance it in a deal, but we need to see what the Biden administration has to say.”Theodore R. Bromund, a specialist in Anglo-American relations at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, said the Biden administration has every right to review what its predecessors have done but that it has essentially three choices.FILE – Katherine Tai, the Biden administration’s choice to take over as U.S. trade representative, speaks during an event at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., Dec. 11, 2020.He said the new team could continue the talks within the established framework, seek to revise the content and framework of the talks or abandon the project.But, he said, the two countries share deep affinities and the same high regard for human rights and the rule for law, while wages and living standards are not as far apart as with some other countries.“If the U.S. cannot negotiate a deal with the U.K., who else can it negotiate a deal with?” he asked.Agriculture, health careMichelle Egan, a professor at American University who focuses on comparative politics and political economy, said in a phone interview that some of the biggest sticking points in any trade agreement between the two countries concern agriculture and Britain’s national health system.She said Brexit has left British farmers vulnerable, making it harder for London to offer concessions in the agricultural sector.American demands for greater access to Britain’s health care industry are also a problem for London, according to Jacob F. Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and German Marshall Fund based in Brussels.In written replies to questions from VOA, Kirkegaard said Britain’s National Health Service is seen as sacred by many of its citizens. That reverence has only deepened in response to the coronavirus pandemic.FILE – UK National Health Service employee Anni Adams looks at an NHS app for tracing contacts with people potentially infected with the coronavirus disease, on the Isle of Wight, Britain, May 5, 2020.“Ultimately, it comes down to politics in both U.S. and U.K.,” he said.Pierce admitted that agriculture tends to be a difficult topic in almost any trade negotiation, “to be absolutely honest.” She added that the Biden administration’s “buy American” agenda could also pose a challenge to Britain and America’s other trading partners.“It’s obviously a great concern to America’s trading friends and partners if there’s a very strong push for ‘buy American.’ So we’ll need to talk about that,” she said.Positive notesPierce highlighted some “very good things” that are included in the deal under discussion between her country and the United States, including an emphasis on the role to be played by small- and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs.“Both our economies rely very much on this sector,” she said. “What’s really going to get the economy going again” after the pandemic “is the SMEs, so we think that’s a plus.”She also said the prospective U.S.-British agreement would be the first free-trade agreement to look at digital commerce.
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Haitian President Jovenel Moise’s term will end on February 7, 2022, the Biden administration said Friday, weighing in on a contentious question that has roiled the Caribbean nation for months.”In accordance with the OAS [Organization of American States] position on the need to proceed with the democratic transfer of executive power, a new elected president should succeed President Moise when his term ends on February 7, 2022,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in response to a question from VOA.”The Haitian people deserve the opportunity to elect their leaders and restore Haiti’s democratic institutions,” Price said.The Biden administration’s expression of support is significant for Moise and comes at a crucial time as he faces intense pressure from the political opposition to step down this Sunday.Price told VOA the U.S. Embassy in Haiti maintains contact with members “across the political spectrum” and that the United States, like the OAS, has “consistently called on all political forces to adhere to the spirit of their constitutional order.”Ambassador’s meetingHaiti Ambassador to the U.S. Bocchit Edmond tweeted Friday afternoon that he had a “very productive meeting” with the State Department. The ambassador said he discussed “upcoming elections, referendum on the new constitution and security challenges.”Today I had a very productive meeting with the FILE – U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.UN backs US positionThe United Nations on Friday backed the American position on the end of Moise’s term in 2022. Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told VOA that U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “closely following developments” and that Guterres was encouraged “by the willingness of many stakeholders to engage constructively in finding agreement on a way forward, to ensure the holding of several free, fair and peaceful electoral processes in the coming months.”But the way forward is murky. Moise’s handpicked Provisional Electoral Council has announced a referendum on the constitution on April 25, followed by presidential and legislative elections in September.In contrast, Moise’s opponents, who have vowed  not to participate in an electoral process they view as illegitimate, have come up with their own transition plan. The plan stipulates that after Moise leaves office, a successor will be chosen from among the Supreme Court justices and a commission made up of seven members of the opposition will choose Cabinet members.It is unclear how the Biden administration and U.N. statements Friday will affect that plan.Anxiety about SundayMeanwhile, some Haitians are expressing fear that the situation will turn violent Sunday, after the opposition vowed to take to the streets and turn up the pressure. Haiti’s national police and security forces have been criticized for being overly aggressive and firing upon peaceful protesters and journalists over the past year.FILE – Smoke from tires set fire by protesters fills a street in Delmas where vendors sell clothing during a countrywide strike demanding the resignation of Haitian President Jovenel Moise in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 1, 2021.A protester was shot and killed by a police officer during a spontaneous protest Friday, VOA Creole reported. Tires were seen burning and blocking some streets of the capital, Port-au-Prince.Asked how the Moise administration would handle protests Sunday, Edmond told VOA the government intended to remain in observer mode, unless public property was destroyed and crimes were committed.Sunday is a day of national significance to Haitians. February 7 was the day dictator Jean Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier was overthrown. It is also the day when democratically elected presidents are to be sworn in, according to the constitution.What does the U.S. anticipate in the months ahead? State Department spokesman Price said the Biden administration expects the Moise government to exercise “restraint” in issuing decrees, “only using that power to schedule legislative elections and for matters of immediate threats to life, health and safety, so the parliament can be restored and resume its constitutional responsibility.”Cindy Saine at the State Department, Margaret Besheer at the United Nations and Matiado Vilme in Port-au-Prince contributed to this report.  
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German prosecutors have charged the secretary of the former SS commandant of Stutthof with 10,000 counts of accessory to murder, arguing that she was part of the apparatus that helped the Nazi concentration camp function.The 95-year-old also faces an unspecified number of counts of accessory to attempted murder for her service at the camp between June 1943 and April 1945, Peter Mueller-Rakow, spokesman for prosecutors in the northern town of Itzehoe, said Friday.Despite her age, the suspect will be tried in juvenile court because she was younger than 21 at the time of the alleged crimes, Mueller-Rakow said.The suspect, whom Mueller-Rakow would not identify in line with German privacy laws, is believed to be in good enough health to stand trial.She has previously been partially identified as Irmgard F. by Germany’s NDR public broadcaster, which interviewed her at the retirement home where she now lives in a small community north of Hamburg.She confirmed to NDR that she had worked as the secretary to SS officer Paul Werner Hoppe in Stutthof, but said she never set foot in the camp itself and did not know of murders taking place there.Hoppe was himself tried and convicted of being an accessory to murder and sentenced to nine years in prison in 1957. He died in 1974.NDR cited a 1954 statement Irmgard F. had made when interviewed as a witness ahead of the trial, in which she told authorities all Hoppe’s correspondence with higher SS administration had gone past her desk and that the commandant had dictated her letters daily.She also said she did not know of prisoners being gassed but told authorities at the time she was aware Hoppe had ordered executions, which she presumed were as punishment for infractions, NDR reported.The case against her will rely on new German legal precedent established in cases over the last decade that anyone who helped Nazi death camps and concentration camps function can be prosecuted as an accessory to the murders committed there, even without evidence of participation in a specific crime.”In the trial we will focus on the suspect who was in the camp as a secretary, and her concrete responsibility for the functioning of the camp,” Mueller-Rakow said.Initially a collection point for Jews and non-Jewish Poles removed from Danzig — now the Polish city of Gdansk — Stutthof from about 1940 was used as a so-called “work education camp” where forced laborers, primarily Polish and Soviet citizens, were sent to serve sentences and often died.From mid-1944, tens of thousands of Jews from ghettos in the Baltics and from Auschwitz filled the camp along with thousands of Polish civilians swept up in the brutal Nazi suppression of the Warsaw uprising.Others incarcerated there included political prisoners, accused criminals, people suspected of homosexual activity and Jehovah’s Witnesses.More than 60,000 people were killed there by being given lethal injections of gasoline or phenol directly to their hearts, shot or starved. Others were forced outside in winter without clothing until they died of exposure or were put to death in a gas chamber.Last year, a former SS private, Bruno Dey, was convicted at age 93 of more than 5,000 counts of accessory to murder for serving at Stutthof as a guard and given a two-year suspended sentence.
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The COVID-19 pandemic brought Greece’s most profitable industry, tourism, to its knees.Yet a year since the deadly bug hit this sun-kissed nation of 11 million, causing mass travel cancellations and wreaking financial havoc unseen since Greece’s economy went into freefall over a decade ago, tourism officials say they are now marshaling an industry comeback. They are preparing to reopen the country to world travelers by June 1 with a new “safe travel” plan that lets visitors bypass quarantine regulations with a negative coronavirus test taken within 72 hours of their departure.What’s more, a burst in bookings from the U.K. has industry officials banking on British travelers to spearhead the nation’s travel revival.”Greece has long been a favorite holiday destination for the British,” said Grigoris Tassios, president of the country’s hoteliers federation. “But with the rate of inoculations in the U.K. largely outpacing all others across Europe and beyond, British travelers will be among the safest to travel here by as early as May.”With more than a quarter of Israel’s population of 9 million inoculated in the world’s fastest vaccination drive against COVID-19, Israelis, too, are expected to follow suit, as are Americans.This week, U.S. health officials announced that more Americans had received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine than have tested positive for the virus.”These are all promising signs,” Tassios said. “But we still have a way to go.”FILE – Tourists look at the changing of presidential guards outside the Greek parliament , in Athens, July 31, 2020.Tourism stalledGlobal tourism has been among the industries hit hardest by the public health emergency. The pandemic has affected 75 million people employed in a sector brought to a near standstill by travel bans and closed borders.But for Greece, where tourism accounts for 20 percent of GDP, providing one in five jobs in a country still crawling out of its worst financial crisis in recent times, the stakes are higher.A recent report by the financial risk advisory services group Ernst & Young showed Europe’s weakest economy shrinking an additional 10 percent in 2020 because of an 80 percent drop in tourism revenue. It forecast a 50 percent rise this year — half of the record 30 million travelers that flooded Greece ahead of the health crisis in 2019 — but only if, as experts warn, the conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis delivers on the daunting task of balancing the safety of a nation with the economic boost more visitors would bring to a country in dire need of financial recovery.It is not an easy challenge. After five strict months, three national lockdowns and a surge in infections that has seen COVID-19 cases here rocket from 3,000 in September to 160,000 this week, Mitsotakis and his closest aides are now said to be considering the fiercest national shutdown orders yet in a bid to stunt a third wave of COVID-19 sweeping Greece — and to salvage the nation’s anemic economy.But until then, tourism businesses and hoteliers, who preferred to remain closed last year, are wasting no time positioning themselves for a stake in the estimated $10 billion in revenues that British travelers are set to bring to Greece this year, beginning in June.FILE – A French family poses in front of the ancient Parthenon, at the Acropolis Hill, during a hot day in Athens, July 31, 2020.’The chips are down’As many as 2 million foreign travelers will be redeeming vouchers for vacation packages canceled last summer because of the pandemic, according to industry data. The number of Israelis and Americans following suit remains unclear.”Not opening is not an option this year,” said Alexis Komninos, a leading hotelier on the iconic island of Santorini. “The chips are down, and it’s clearly crunch time.”But while I and others in the industry are doing our part, doling out the cold cash to refurbish, rebuild and slash my prices by 40 percent in flash sales to lure British, German and other customers, the government must do its part in helping subsidize this national reopening.”This isn’t about some sort of business experiment,” said Komninos. “It is a national gambit. And if this season is lost — well, then we’re all in for a really rough ride.”Tourism ministry officials say they have received assurances from the government that it will subsidize salaries in the industry during the summer. Still, it has yet to decide when and whether incentives will be introduced to cover startup and reopening costs and support a hoteliers bill seen by some as key to any comeback in Greek tourism. 
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The Russian government said Friday it was expelling Western diplomats for attending rallies in support of jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny. Diplomats from Poland and Sweden in St. Petersburg and from Germany in Moscow were targeted for participating in “unlawful” rallies on January 23, according to Russia’s foreign ministry. Tens of thousands of protesters filled the streets across Russia that day to express opposition to the arrest of Navalny, the Kremlin’s leading critic.  Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell hold a joint press conference following their talks in Moscow, Feb. 5, 2021.The ministry made the announcement as the European Union’s most senior diplomat told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that the government’s treatment of Navalny represents “a low point” in relations between the 27-nation bloc and Moscow. In a statement, the ministry declared the diplomats “persona non grata” and said they must leave Russia “shortly.” A Swedish Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said the country refutes Russia’s claim that the Swedish diplomat participated in the demonstration. German Chancellor Angela Merkel denounced the move and said after discussing security issues with French President Emmanuel Macron that “We consider this expulsion to be unjustified.” Poland’s foreign ministry said in a statement that “The Polish side expects the Russian authorities to reverse this erroneous decision” or “Otherwise, Poland leaves itself the option to take appropriate steps.” After his virtual meeting with Merkel, Macron said at a Paris news conference that he “very strongly” opposes Friday’s expulsions and Russia’s arrest and alleged poisoning of Navalny. FILE – A still image taken from video footage shows Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny making a hand heart gesture during the announcement of a court verdict in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 2, 2021.A Russian court Tuesday sentenced Navalny to three-and-a-half years in prison, defying condemnation abroad and public outcry at home to send one of the Kremlin’s most vocal critics to jail.    The court found Navalny violated his parole from a prior 2014 suspended sentence by failing to notify prison authorities of his whereabouts when he was evacuated to Berlin for treatment following a near-fatal poisoning attack.   Navalny insists, and international media investigations suggest, the poison attack was carried out by Russian security services who laced his underwear with a military-grade nerve agent while the opposition leader was traveling in Siberia last August. Russian authorities deny this. FILE – Law enforcement officers stand guard during a demonstration after Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail, in Moscow, Feb. 2, 2021.Navalny’s sentencing triggered new protests Tuesday in Moscow and St. Petersburg that followed large demonstrations over the past two weekends, resulting in the arrest of more 1,400 protesters. Russian police beat many peaceful protesters and used stun guns against some in an attempt to suppress the opposition. Lavrov defended the Russian police response to the protests, contending it was much less forceful than some police actions against demonstrators in Western countries. 
 
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The German government on Friday welcomed President Joe Biden’s decision to formally halt the planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from Germany, arguing that the troops’ stationing there is “in our mutual interest.”
 
Last year, then-President Donald Trump announced that he was going to pull out about 9,500 of the roughly 34,500 U.S. troops stationed in Germany, but the withdrawal never actually began.
 
Biden said Thursday that the pullout would be halted until Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reviews America’s troop presence around the globe.
 
“The German government welcomes this announcement,” Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told reporters in Berlin. He said that “we will remain in contact with the new American administration on its further plans.”
 
“We have always been convinced that the stationing of American troops here in Germany serves European and trans-Atlantic security, and so is in our mutual interest,” Seibert said. “We very much value this close, decades-long cooperation with the Americans’ forces that are stationed in Germany.”
 
Asked whether Germany would make any concrete offers to persuade the U.S. not to withdraw troops, Seibert said that Berlin will follow developments but “how these reviews go is an internal American matter.”
 
The U.S. has several major military facilities in Germany, including Ramstein Air Base, the headquarters for U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command, and Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the largest American military hospital outside the United States.
 
Trump’s order met resistance from Congress as well as from within the military, which has long relied on Germany as a key ally and base of operations.
 
Trump announced the troop cuts after repeatedly accusing Germany of not paying enough for its own defense, calling the longtime NATO ally “delinquent” for failing to spend 2% of its GDP on defense, a benchmark that alliance members have pledged to work toward.
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Authorities in Turkey made dozens of new arrests in cities across the country Thursday, after downplaying international criticism — including U.S. condemnation — of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s crackdown on university student rallies.    
 
According to police, about 600 people have been detained since January 4 as protests spread in the capital, Ankara, and in Istanbul.
 
Erdogan has accused student demonstrators of being terrorists for protesting his appointment of a new rector at Bogazici University in Istanbul, one of the country’s top schools of higher education.For over a month, students, faculty members and alumni of Bogazici University have protested Erdogan’s appointment of Turkish politician and academic Melih Bulu, demanding an election to choose a rector from the university’s own faculty.Bulu holds a doctorate from Bogazici’s business management program but has never been a full-time academic at the university. Critics accused him of plagiarism in his dissertation and published articles and called for his resignation. Bulu has denied those accusations.His involvement in politics also stirred controversy over his appointment, since he once ran for parliament as a candidate for Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).He told reporters Wednesday he does not intend to resign from his university post. Still, his appointment has been viewed as an assault on academic freedom and sparked the protests.ArrestsPrior to Thursday’s arrests, Turkish police had detained more than 250 protesters in Istanbul and 69 students in Ankara this week, some of whom were released later. At least 51 protesters in Istanbul were referred to court on Wednesday and were released Thursday on bail.On Tuesday, academics wearing their gowns gathered on the Bogazici University campus, their backs turned to the rector’s building in protest, demanding Bulu’s resignation and the release of detained students.Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 79 of the detainees were linked to terror groups such as the far-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C).Erdogan echoed Soylu’s statement in a video address to his ruling AKP on Wednesday, saying the protesters lack Turkey’s “national and spiritual values” and are members of terrorist groups.“This country will not be run by terrorists,” he said. “We will do whatever is needed to prevent this. …We have not stood with terrorists, and we will not.”Rights groups say the Turkish government has broadened the definition of anti-terrorism laws to suppress dissent.“Turkish authorities have a long history of clamping down on free expression through abusive investigations, arbitrary detentions and unfounded prosecutions under vaguely defined anti-terrorism laws,” Deniz Yuksel, a Turkey advocacy specialist at Amnesty International, told VOA.LGBT rightsThe dispute at Bogazici University intensified after a poster depicting the Islamic holy site Kaaba with LGBT flags was displayed in an exhibition on campus as part of protests last week.On January 29, Soylu tweeted about the arrest of four students over the poster, calling them “LGBT deviants.” Later, Twitter placed a warning on Soylu’s tweet, saying it had violated the company’s rules regarding hateful conduct.Two of the detained students were arrested on charges of inciting hatred and insulting religious values.Over the weekend, police raided Bogazici University’s LGBTI+ student club and announced that an investigation for alleged terrorist propaganda was opened against the club after an illegal publication of Kongra-Gel and rainbow flags were found in the club room.Kongra-Gel is an umbrella organization for the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) and its affiliates. The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey and the United States.Following the raid, Bulu announced the club’s closure.Some analysts believe Bogazici University’s LGBT community became the latest target of the government’s broad brush to label dissidents as terrorists.“What is most striking in the Bogazici case is that LGBTI individuals are now demonized as criminals and terrorists simply because of their sexual orientation, reflecting how far Turkey has drifted away from fundamental rights and freedoms and the rule of law and due process,” Aykan Erdemir, director of the Turkey program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a former Turkish Parliament member, told VOA.Erdogan praised his party’s youth Monday in a video conference, saying, “You are not the LGBT youth, not the youth who commit acts of vandalism. On the contrary, you are the ones who repair broken hearts.”Two days later, he said, “there is no such thing” as LGBT, adding that “this country is national and spiritual, and will continue to walk into the future as such.”Yuksel of Amnesty International said the Turkish authorities’ recent anti-LGBT statements were “not only a reflection of the government’s homophobia but also a calculated political strategy.”“The authorities’ attacks on LGBT (individuals) are the latest frontier in a culture war launched by President Erdogan in an effort to rally his conservative base ahead of elections scheduled for 2023, though rumors suggest they may be held earlier,” she said.U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Wednesday the United States is concerned about demonstrations at Bogazici University and strongly condemns the anti-LGBT rhetoric surrounding them.The United Nations Human Rights agency on Wednesday condemned “homophobic and transphobic comments by (Turkish) officials” and called for a “prompt release of students and protestors arrested for participating in peaceful demonstrations.”Turkey’s Foreign and Interior ministries did not respond to VOA’s requests for comment. But in a separate statement released Thursday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said, “It was determined that certain groups that are not from the University and are affiliated with terrorist organizations attempted to infiltrate into and provoke the events.
 
In this respect, necessary and proportional measures are taken within the law against these illegal acts that go beyond the scope of the right to protest.”Bogazici’s significanceBogazici University was established in 1863 as Robert College by U.S. missionaries and became a public university in 1971.As one of Turkey’s most prestigious universities, its admission is highly competitive, as only the top percentile of the 2.4 million students competing in a national placement exam at Turkish universities study there free of charge.“Bogazici University has been the gold standard of meritocracy and vertical mobility in Turkey,” Erdemir of FDD said.“The university’s pioneer role in introducing Western scholarship and values has made it a target of Turkey’s various Islamist and ultranationalist factions, who accuse the institution of serving ‘foreign’ interests,’” he said.
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A former Mexican governor suspected of ordering the torture of an investigative journalist who had accused him of links to a pedophilia ring appeared in court Thursday to formally face charges.Mario Marin, who was the governor of the state of Puebla from 2005-11, asked to be placed under house arrest for the duration of the legal process, citing health problems and fear of catching COVID-19 in jail. The judge will decide on request next week. The 66-year-old former governor is in detention for the time being.In 2005, award-winning journalist Lydia Cacho had alleged in her book The Demons of Eden that Marin, who has been a fugitive since April 2019, and several prominent Mexican businessmen were linked to a child pornography ring.”I have been seeking justice for 14 years for having been tortured by this accomplice of child pornography networks,” the journalist wrote on Twitter.“He is the first governor arrested for acts of torture against journalists and linked, furthermore, with a ring of trafficking girls and boys,” Cacho said.In December 2005, agents of the Puebla prosecutor’s office arrested Cacho in Cancun and drove her to Puebla. She was accused of slander and defamation.Cacho was later released.She alleged that on the road from Cancun to Puebla officials psychologically tortured and threatened to sexually abuse her.The press freedom organization Artículo 19, which is representing Cacho, said that if convicted, Marin could face up to 12 years behind bars.Cacho, who now lives overseas, has won many international awards including the UNESCO-Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom prize.
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Some 80 journalists are included among the thousands of people who have been detained across Russia during protests over the arrest and sentencing of opposition politician Alexey Navalny.Several of the journalists were beaten. At least one was jailed because of posts on social media about the unrest.The strong tactics used by security forces to contain protests, and the retaliation against independent journalists covering them, were no surprise to Russian politicians, analysts and journalists interviewed by VOA. What was less expected was Russia’s inability to stem the flow of information about Navalny’s case and the rallies in his support.FILE – A still image taken from video footage shows Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny inside a defendant dock during the announcement of a court verdict in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 2, 2021.The protests started shortly after Navalny was detained January 17 when he returned to Russia from Germany, where he was treated after being poisoned. A Moscow court sentenced him Tuesday to two years and eight months in prison, prompting more demonstrations.Part of Navalny’s defense has been to use social media and journalism platforms to reach supporters and draw attention to President Vladimir Putin’s lavish lifestyle and what Navalny says were attempts by the Kremlin to poison him. Russia denies the allegation.Navalny has shared details of his persecution with his 6.5 million followers on Twitter and Instagram — numbers that equal or exceed the audiences of mainstream Russian news outlets. His Anti-Corruption Foundation used investigative journalism techniques and YouTube to detail allegations of high-level corruption. And news outlets, including the investigative website Bellingcat, have reported on Russia’s alleged attempts to surveil and poison him.FILE – The U.S. head office of TikTok is seen in Culver City, California, Sept. 15, 2020.Navalny’s media-savvy approach and use of new platforms have knocked Moscow off balance. With independent media largely suppressed and viewers turning away from state TV — which rarely covers issues that may anger the Kremlin — Russians have looked to international outlets or niche media for their news. They use a range of social media platforms, including TikTok, Telegram and others, to share information and reporting.Russia has attempted to block access to some of these sites through laws regulating posts and by warning platforms against sharing information about the protests. Pro-Kremlin trolls have tried to counter opposition voices on social media with limited success.The Kremlin argues the platforms are being used to incite unrest or spread what it deems to be extremist views, and that regulations are needed to prevent the spread of disinformation.The Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not respond to VOA’s email requesting comment.Mass protestsWhile the scenes in recent days were reminiscent of the anti-government rallies in 2011 and 2012, analysts say society has drastically changed, along with the communication channels used to share information and cover events.FILE – Russian opposition candidate Dmitry Gudkov gestures during his interview with the Associated Press in Moscow, March 11, 2020.”In 2011-2012, they stood up against fraudulent elections. Now, the protest has become more personalized,” Russian politician Dmitry Gudkov told VOA, adding that people now are out protesting against Putin.“And in response, Putin and his forces have hit back by detaining or retaliating against activists, independent journalists and social media that cover investigations into his administration,” he said.Gudkov was a member of the State Duma (lower house of the Federal Assembly) during the 2011 protests. His support for the movement led to his suspension from the Spravedlivaya Rossiya (Fair Russia) Party. He later led the opposition Civic Initiative Party, which the Supreme Court suspended in 2020.Social mediaIn 2011, Facebook was the primary platform.“Now, information is distributed across different social media and messengers,” said FILE – This picture taken on Jan. 22, 2021 in Rennes, France, shows a smartphone screen featuring messaging service applications WhatsApp, Signal, telegram, Viber, Discord and Olvid.In 2018, Russian officials tried to block Telegram. But they failed to prevent users from accessing the site, and the ban was overturned in 2020.“Authorities continuously threaten to block social media if they allow postings about protests,” Kozlovsky said. “A new law allowing the blocking of social media was adopted just a month ago,” he added, referring to legislation requiring social networks to filter information deemed to show “disrespect for society, the state, the Constitution,” or that calls for riots.Foreign broadcastsAlongside social media, another challenge to the official narrative comes from foreign media that provide coverage in Russian, including VOA, BBC, Deutsche Welle and RFE/RFL, journalists say.Audiences for foreign media have grown in Russia because of widespread censorship across major media outlets and efforts by the Kremlin to eliminate almost all local independent media in the country.”It’s clear for the Kremlin that journalists drive the liberal opposition in Russia. And they oppose the regime by reporting the truth on the internet,” said Maria Snegovaya, a visiting scholar at the George Washington University Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies. “People who know the truth about the government become an opposition, too, and we can see this in polls. In this regard, of course, the masks are pulled off, and the regime no longer pretends to be friendly. The regime considers journalists as enemies.”FILE – The logo of German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle is pictured in Berlin, Germany, Jan. 30, 2020.The recent unrest was widely covered by mostly foreign media. Live coverage of Navalny’s arrest carried by “Current Time,” a daily Russian-language news show produced by RFE/RL and VOA, and Deutsche Welle, garnered hundreds of thousands of views and was shared on social media and other outlets.This fits a wider pattern of audiences looking to investigative journalism and social media platforms for news not covered by state media.In 2020, the nonprofit investigative media outlet Proekt published several articles that looked at corruption among Putin’s acquaintances.FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a joint meeting of the country’s State Council and the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects via a videoconference at Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, Dec. 23, 2020.The Kremlin may be slow to recognize the power of these platforms, but veterans of the Russian opposition movement say they anticipate repression toward civil society and media.”I don’t know what exactly they will do, but the reaction to the protests will be tough,” Kozlovsky said.Goncharov said he suspects authorities will hire bloggers to “push their propaganda on these platforms.”A counteroffensive already appears to be in play. Popular Russian bloggers and celebrities posted similar videos on Instagram and TikTok in which they criticized the protesters and praised Putin.FILE – Pop singer Philipp Kirkorov reacts next to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin after having been decorated with the Order of Honor during an awarding ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow, Nov. 15, 2017.Russian singer Philipp Kirkorov used Instagram to call Putin “the smartest leader in the history of humankind.”“Vladimir Putin and his team don’t stop to surprise me in a positive way. Russia deserves it,” Kirkorov wrote on January 24, the day after the mass protests.Videos posted online also show protesters giving what are believed to be forced apologies. Journalists have received threatening messages from anonymous users on Telegram, some of whom share personal information and private photos, or make up stories about the reporters’ alleged connections with the West.Victor Oleynik, a VOA contributor and co-founder of “Beware of Them,” a project that catalogs wrongdoing by police, said he was falsely accused of coordinating the protests in Russia with the U.S. government. The accusation was shared by dozens of troll accounts on Twitter and Telegram, which resulted in Oleynik’s receiving threatening messages.More arrests and harassment are anticipated, according to the Russians with whom VOA spoke, some of whom said they feared persecution if they talked on the record. But they said the spread of these platforms would make the stifling of news more difficult.
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The pro-democracy group Freedom House has released a report detailing how countries such as China, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, and Turkey systematically employ violence and intimidation against exiles and diasporas to silence dissent beyond their borders. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports.
Producer: Jesse Oni
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused student demonstrators of being terrorists as Turkish police arrested them for protesting Erdogan’s appointment of a new rector at one of the country’s top universities this week.  For over a month, students, faculty members and alumni of Bogazici University in Istanbul have protested Erdogan’s appointment of Turkish politician and academic Melih Bulu, demanding an election to choose a rector among the university’s own faculty.  Bulu holds a doctorate from Bogazici’s business management program but has never been a full-time academic at the university. Critics have accused him of plagiarism in his dissertation and published articles and have called for his resignation. Bulu has denied those accusations.  Turkish police officers detain protesters during a rally in support of Bogazici University students protesting the appointment of Melih Bulu, a ruling Justice and Development Party loyalist, as rector of the university, in Istanbul, Feb. 4, 2021.His involvement in politics also stirred controversy over his appointment, since he once ran for Parliament as a candidate for Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).  He told reporters Wednesday that he does not intend to resign from his university post. Still, his appointment has been viewed as an assault on academic freedom, which has sparked other protests in the country.   Arrests This week, Turkish police detained more than 250 protesters in Istanbul and 69 students in Ankara, some of whom were released later. At least 51 of the protesters in Istanbul were referred to court on Wednesday and were released Thursday on bail. On Tuesday, academics wearing their gowns gathered on the Bogazici campus, their backs turned to the rector’s building in protest, demanding Bulu’s resignation and the release of detained students. Turkish government officials called the protesters terrorists.  Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said 79 of the detainees were linked to terror groups such as the far-left Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C).  Turkish police officers detain protesters during a rally in support of Bogazici University students protesting the appointment of Melih Bulu, a ruling Justice and Development Party loyalist, as rector of the university, in Istanbul, Feb. 4, 2021.Erdogan echoed Soylu’s statement in a video address to his ruling AKP on Wednesday, saying the protesters lack Turkey’s “national and spiritual values” and are members of terrorist groups.  “This country will not be run by terrorists,” he said. “We will do whatever is needed to prevent this. … We have not stood with terrorists, and we will not.”  Rights groups say the Turkish government has broadened the definition of anti-terrorism laws to suppress dissent. “Turkish authorities have a long history of clamping down on free expression through abusive investigations, arbitrary detentions and unfounded prosecutions under vaguely defined anti-terrorism laws,” Deniz Yuksel, a Turkey advocacy specialist at Amnesty International, told VOA. LGBT rights The dispute at Bogazici intensified after a poster depicting the Islamic holy site Kaaba with LGBT flags was displayed in an exhibition on campus as part of protests last week. On January 29, Soylu tweeted about the arrest of four students over the poster, calling them “LGBT deviants.” Later, Twitter placed a warning on Soylu’s tweet, saying it had violated the company’s rules regarding hateful conduct. Two of the detained students were arrested on charges of inciting hatred and insulting religious values.  FILE – Students walk with rainbow flags during a gathering in solidarity with Bogazici University students protesting the appointment of Melih Bulu as rector of the university, in Ankara, Turkey, Feb. 2, 2021.Over the weekend, police raided Bogazici’s LGBTI+ student club and announced that an investigation for alleged terrorist propaganda was opened against the club after an illegal publication of Kongra-Gel and rainbow flags were found in the club room.  Kongra-Gel is an umbrella organization for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its affiliates. The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey and the United States.  Following the raid, Bulu announced the club’s closure.  Some analysts believe Bogazici University’s LGBT community became the latest target of the government’s broad brush to label dissidents as terrorists.  “What is most striking in the Bogazici case is that LGBTI individuals are now demonized as criminals and terrorists simply because of their sexual orientation, reflecting how far Turkey has drifted away from fundamental rights and freedoms and the rule of law and due process,” Aykan Erdemir, director of the Turkey program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a former Turkish Parliament member, told VOA. Erdogan praised his party’s youth Monday in a video conference, saying, “You are not the LGBT youth, not the youth who commit acts of vandalism. On the contrary, you are the ones who repair broken hearts.” Two days later, he said “there is no such thing” as LGBT, adding that “this country is national and spiritual, and will continue to walk into the future as such.”  Yuksel of Amnesty International said the Turkish authorities’ recent anti-LGBT statements were “not only a reflection of the government’s homophobia but also a calculated political strategy.” “The authorities’ attacks on LGBT [individuals] are the latest frontier in a culture war launched by President Erdogan in an effort to rally his conservative base ahead of elections scheduled for 2023, though rumors suggest they may be held earlier,” she said.  U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Wednesday that the United States was concerned about demonstrations at Bogazici University and strongly condemned the anti-LGBT rhetoric surrounding them.  The U.N. human rights agency on Wednesday condemned “homophobic and transphobic comments by [Turkish] officials” and called for a “prompt release of students and protesters arrested for participating in peaceful demonstrations.”  #Turkey: We call for prompt release of students & protestors arrested for participating in peaceful demonstrations, and urge the police to stop using excessive force. We condemn homophobic & transphobic comments by officials, inciting hatred & discrimination against LGBT people. pic.twitter.com/EXF9RvMiyQ— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) February 3, 2021Turkey’s Foreign and Interior ministries did not respond to VOA’s requests for comment. But in a separate statement released Thursday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said, “It was determined that certain groups that are not from the university and are affiliated with terrorist organizations attempted to infiltrate into and provoke the events. “In this respect, necessary and proportional measures are taken within the law against these illegal acts that go beyond the scope of the right to protest.”  Bogazici’s significance Bogazici University was established in 1863 as Robert College by U.S. missionaries and became a public university in 1971. As one of Turkey’s most prestigious universities, its admission is highly competitive, as only the top percentile of the 2.4 million students competing in a national placement exam at Turkish universities study there free of charge.   “Bogazici University has been the gold standard of meritocracy and vertical mobility in Turkey,” Erdemir of FDD said. “The university’s pioneer role in introducing Western scholarship and values has made it a target of Turkey’s various Islamist and ultranationalist factions, who accuse the institution of serving ‘foreign’ interests,’ ” he said.  Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters. 
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French Prime Minister Jean Castex said Thursday that while the COVID-19 pandemic remains serious, he does not think another nationwide lockdown is necessary. But he urged people to take all necessary precautions to avoid contracting the coronavirus.During a COVID-19 news briefing from Paris, Castex said that while France’s infection rate remains too high, it is still lower than it was in October. He warned if the situation deteriorates, the government will not hesitate to call for a shutdown.The prime minster also announced that beginning Friday, the government will be scheduling a total of 1.7 million more vaccinations to be completed by end of March.He said France will begin receiving its first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, which does not have the same refrigerated storage requirements of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, allowing health officials to distribute the vaccine more quickly.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is facing domestic and international pressure to stop a crackdown on student protests that erupted after the Turkish leader’s decision to install a new rector at one of the country’s main universities. Critics say the move was aimed at silencing dissent at what many regard as one of the last remaining centers of liberal thought in Turkey. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. 
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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg admitted Thursday the alliance had a “challenging” relationship with the Trump administration and that he had some “difficult” conversations with former U.S. President Donald Trump.During a joint news briefing with Belgium’s prime minister, Alexander De Croo, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Stoltenberg was asked about his relationship with the Trump administration and whether he thought the alliance would survive it.  Stoltenberg said despite the differences he and NATO may have had with the former U.S. president, those kinds of challenges are “what makes NATO strong.”  He said the alliance has always enjoyed bipartisan support in the United States and that continues.The NATO chief added that NATO and the United States are doing more together now than they have done in many years.“We have more exercises, more U.S. troops, increased activities, European and North American allies together in Europe,” the NATO chief said. “So, I think the strength of the transatlantic bond is demonstrated by what you actually do.”Stoltenberg acknowledged that Trump’s insistence on NATO members increasing their defense budgets and playing a bigger role in supporting the alliance militarily made a difference. He said European allies have been stepping up, both in terms of military readiness and increased defense spending.Prime Minister Croo agreed and said that Europe has taken important steps toward self-reliance. “If we want to have more strategic autonomy for Europe, then we have to play our role,” he said.
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European markets were mixed Thursday amid continued volatility in the technology sector and caution over corporate earnings reports.    
 
Britain’s benchmark FTSE index was down 0.3% at midday. The CAC 40 index in France was 0.1% higher, while Germany’s DAX index was up 0.2%.
 
Markets in Asia and Australia closed mostly lower earlier in the trading day. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index lost just over 1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 0.6%, while Shanghai’s Composite index was 0.4% lower. The KOSPI index in South Korea plunged 1.3%, and Taiwan’s TSEC lost 0.4%    
 
Mumbai’s Sensex finished the trading day 0.7% higher.  
 
Australia’s S&P/ASX index fell 0.8%.
 
In commodities trading, gold was selling at $1,814.70, down 1.1%. U.S. crude oil was selling at $56.11 per barrel, up 0.7%, while Brent crude oil was 0.6% higher, selling at $58.82 per barrel.  
 
All three major U.S. indices were trending higher in futures trading ahead of Wall Street’s opening bell.  
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Testing began in Britain on Thursday to determine if different COVID-19 vaccines can be used together in a two-shot regimen.Researchers are aiming to inoculate more than 800 volunteers with one shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, followed either four or 12 weeks later with a booster shot of the vaccine developed jointly by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, or vice versa.The vaccines were developed with different technology — the Pfizer vaccine through messenger RNA (mRNA), while the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is adenovirus viral vector, or common cold virus.Health officials say if two vaccines developed with different technology are able to be used interchangeably, it could allow greater flexibility in immunization campaigns around the world.In a related development, The Guardian newspaper says an analysis of Israel’s mass vaccination program has found that a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine provides 90% protection against the novel coronavirus by 21 days. Researchers at Britain’s University of East Anglia contradict an earlier study from Israel that suggested one dose may not give adequate protection.Meanwhile, Oxford University says its COVID-19 vaccine is 76% effective at preventing infection for three months after a single dose. The findings were part of the same study released Wednesday that found the vaccine cut transmission of the virus by two-thirds.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.Preparations for the Australian Open, the first major tennis tournament of 2021, have been thrown into disarray after a worker at a quarantine hotel in Melbourne tested positive for COVID-19. The positive case prompted tournament organizers and local health authorities to order more than 500 players and support staff to isolate in their rooms until they are tested, and several warm-up tournaments that were scheduled for Thursday were canceled.The tournament was already off to a rough start after more than 70 players were placed in a strict 14-day lockdown after at least six people who arrived in Melbourne last month tested positive for COVID-19. The cases were linked to three of 17 charter flights that arrived in the southern city carrying more than 1,000 players and their entourages, plus tournament officials and media.The new COVID-19 case in Melbourne is the first confirmed infection in Victoria state in 28 days. City officials have reimposed an order for masks in indoor public places, as well as limits on the number of people who can gather indoors.Victoria state Premier David Andrews said in spite of the new positive case, the Grand Slam tournament will still begin next Monday as scheduled, but added there were “no guarantees.”
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At an appeals hearing Tuesday, Russian prosecutors accused journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva of being a “mouthpiece of the West” as the court upheld her conviction of “justifying terrorism.” The hearing came amid a wider backdrop of Moscow taking legal action against her employer, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. A Russian court last month fined the independent U.S.-funded news network for not complying with its foreign agents law. Russia’s use of legal action against RFE/RL is an attempt to cut off access to independent media, media and regional analysts say. Moscow has been “building a web of laws and restrictions non-stop against RFE,” said Thomas Kent in an interview with VOA’s Russian service. Kent was president of the network from 2016 to 2018. The fines against RFE/RL are a sign that Russia is implementing those laws, Gulnoza Said, from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), told VOA. FILE – The headquarters of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is seen with the United States, RFE/RL and the Czech Republic flags in the foreground, in Prague, Jan. 15, 2010.The network was fined 1.1 million rubles ($14,400 USD) last month for not complying with Russia’s newly revised foreign agents law. The fines were directed at the general director along with RFE services, including Radio Liberty and the Russian-language TV network Current Time that the produces with VOA. Current Time is a 24/7 television and digital network for Russian speakers, led by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in cooperation with Voice of America. Under amendments to the law last year, outlets receiving international funding must label their content as produced by “foreign agents.” RFE/RL is an independent grantee of the U.S. Agency For Global Media, which also oversees VOA. Both receive funding from Congress but are editorially independent. Russia’s decision to add further provisions to its law was criticized by international rights groups including Amnesty International, who in a FILE – Russian journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva, charged with publicly justifying terrorism, arrives for a court hearing in Pskov, Russia, July 6, 2020.In Prokopyeva’s case, the appeals hearing reflected a wider trend of Russian authorities using legal action against independent voices, media analysts said. The journalist was convicted last year of “justifying terrorism” — a charge upheld by the military appeals court Tuesday. The accusations stem from comments Prokopyeva made in an interview about a suicide bombing. When the lower court convicted Prokopyeva, it fined the journalist and confiscated her equipment. At the time, RFE/RL’s acting president, Daisy Sindelar, condemned the lower court’s decision, saying, “The portrayal of her words as ‘justifying terrorism’ is a deliberate and politically motivated distortion aimed at silencing her critical voices.” Said told VOA the appeal verdict was disappointing. CPJ awarded Prokopyeva last year with its International Press Freedom Award. “It’s so emblematic of how Russian authorities treat journalists, not just those who work for outlets like RFE/RL that are funded from abroad, but any journalists, including those working for local media who dare to criticize the authorities, or even say something that’s not in line with the Kremlin narrative,” Said told VOA. Russian authorities see Western reporting as an attempt to interfere in Russian affairs and don’t like its positions on human rights and press freedom, Said added. “Some of them probably very sincerely believe that the West has an agenda of destroying (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s regime by having RFE/RL report on various issues, including corruption,” she said. Kent shared a similar view, saying attempts to obstruct reporting “comes down to the government feeling that it has the right to decide what information Russian people receive and that the Russian people are not competent to figure out themselves.” VOA’s Misha Gutkin contributed to this report.
 
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Canada became the first country Wednesday to formally designate the Proud Boys a terrorist entity, according to the nation’s FILE – Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio wears a hat that says The War Boys during a rally in Portland, Ore., Sept. 26, 2020.“They don’t do anything except protest. … To be put on the level of ISIS is simply an overreach,” Tarrio said. The designation could allow Canadian police to handle crimes committed by the group as terrorist activity as well as empower authorities to seize financial assets.Tarrio said the move will only serve to inhibit the group’s “free speech.” Reputation for violenceThe Proud Boys is considered a far-right, male chauvinist extremist organization with a reputation of engaging in violent activities at political rallies in the United States and Canada. When asked about the group’s objectives, Tarrio told VOA, “We’re a beer-drinking club.” Members have been under increasing scrutiny in the United States after embracing the former Trump administration’s nationalist policies, and being a major agitator during previous protests and last month’s riot at the Capitol that left five people dead.According to the U.S.-based Southern Poverty Law Center, members of the Proud Boys were “aggressively front and center during the attack on the Capitol.” The SPLC also defines the Proud Boys as a hate group.During a presidential debate in September 2020 with then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden, then-President Donald Trump urged the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” when a moderator asked him to denounce the group. After the attack on the Capitol, Jagmeet Singh, head of Canada’s opposition New Democratic Party, urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to declare the Proud Boys a terrorist group. The Canadian government added a total of 13 groups to its terrorism list, including three other neo-Nazi or far-right organizations — The Base, and the Atomwaffen Division, which operate mostly in the U.S., and the Russia-based Russian Imperial Movement, which has operated in Europe, the Middle East and other regions.  
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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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