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One of the most popular holiday beach resorts in Argentina is the site of a poignant memorial to the people who have died from the novel coronavirus.People in Mar del Plata planted 504 small Argentine flags on Bristol Beach, as the pandemic continues to spread through the interior of the country.Residents said they chose the popular beach ahead of the start of the summer season to draw attention to the rising toll of people contracting coronavirus and dying from COVID-19.One of the Mar del Plata residents placing the flags on the beach said her sympathy for COVID-19 victims extends beyond her hometown.COVID-19 infections reportedly are down in Buenos Aires and its metropolitan area, but nationwide, Argentina still has one of the highest coronavirus tallies in Latin America and the world.Argentina has reported more than 840,000 cases of the new coronavirus and 22,710 deaths.
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As U.S., French, and Russian officials hold mediation talks in Geneva, fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region continues, with thousands of people fleeing into both Armenia and Azerbaijan.  While families say they are exhausted from the battles that span more than 30 years, they also say only victory for their side will truly end the conflict.  VOA’s Heather Murdock has this report from Goris, Armenia.
Camera: Yan Boechat
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Turkey’s backing of Azerbaijan in the conflict with Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave is coming under increasing scrutiny. Despite international pressure, Turkey is rejecting calls to back an unconditional cease-fire, as Ankara steps up its support of Azerbaijan’s military goals. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.Producers: Berke Bas, Rod James. Videographers: Berke Bas, agencies.
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Britain and Ukraine have signed a bilateral agreement to support Kyiv’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russia’s “malign influence,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office says. The U.K.-Ukraine Political, Free Trade, and Strategic Partnership Agreement was signed Thursday, the second day of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s visit to Britain.The deal “lays the foundation for an intensified bilateral relationship in areas including trade, defense and political cooperation,” Johnson’s office said in statement.It replaces key elements of an existing partnership agreement between Ukraine and the European Union.FILE – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, left, is welcomed by European Council President Charles Michel ahead of an EU-Ukraine summit at the European Council in Brussels, Oct. 6, 2020.Britain formally left the bloc in January but remains bound by most of its rules until the end of the year. It is now looking to its post-Brexit future in 2021.Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and threw its support behind separatists in Ukraine’s east, where some 13,200 people have been killed in an ongoing conflict.During their meeting in Downing Street, Johnson and Zelenskiy discussed “the importance of working together to counter Russia’s malign influence, both in Ukraine and in the wider region,” according to the prime minister’s office.The statement said Johnson “stressed that reform and rule of law drive economic growth, and reiterated the UK’s commitment to Ukraine’s reform programme.”In a separate statement, Johnson said his country was Ukraine’s “most fervent supporter.””Whether it’s our defense support, stabilization efforts, humanitarian assistance or close cooperation on political issues, our message is clear: we are utterly committed to upholding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” he said.Britain has been “a staunch defender of Ukraine’s right to self-determination,” the statement noted, adding that British troops had trained more than 18,000 members of Ukraine’s armed forces since 2015.The new deal, which Johnson said “signals the next chapter in our relationship,” includes a comprehensive preferential free trade agreement covering goods and services, tariffs and quotas, his office said.It also details commitments to cooperate on peaceful conflict resolution, defense and security, climate change and human rights.Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Taran and the British Secretary of State for Defense Ben Wallace on Oct. 7 signed a memorandum on strengthening cooperation in the defense sector. 
 
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Hundreds of mourners gathered in the Central Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod on Wednesday to pay their respects to Irina Slavina, a Russian journalist who colleagues said was dedicated to truth.On Friday, Slavina, editor-in-chief of the news website Koza Press, tied herself to a bench near the Interior Ministry in Nizhny Novgorod and set herself on fire. Hours before, the 47-year-old journalist had posted on Facebook, “In my death, I ask you to blame the Russian Federation.” Slavina was known widely in the region for reporting on local government and pro-opposition movements, and for helping to coordinate marches in memory of Boris Nemtsov, the Russian politician assassinated near the Kremlin in 2015. Friends and colleagues say Slavina faced years of harassment for her work, and they blamed intimidating actions by security forces for the journalist’s death.On Oct. 1, police and members of Russia’s investigative committee raided the journalist’s apartment as part of a criminal investigation into Mikhail Ioselevich, a businessman and pro-opposition activist.  Ioselevich is accused of carrying out activities for an organization declared “undesirable” in Russia – a reference to the group Open Russia. Authorities accuse the opposition group, which is financed by Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, of funding protests in the region. Slavina and Open Russia had both denied that the journalist had links to the organization.At least 12 agents searched Slavina’s apartment in the early morning raid, taking phones, laptops and other devices belonging to the journalist and her husband and daughter. “I was left without my means of production,” the journalist wrote about the raid.Authorities had previously issued fines to Slavina over her articles about the Open Russia movement, as well as for her participation in opposition rallies, and reporting on issues including the coronavirus pandemic.Russia’s Investigative Committee (SKR) said it has opened an investigation into the journalist’s death and would conduct a “posthumous psychological and psychiatric examination.” The regional governor, Gleb Nikitin, brought flowers to her memorial and also promised an investigation, Current Time reported.Huge lossSlavina’s death was described by Askhat Kayumov, an environmental activist in Nizhny Novgorod, as “a huge human tragedy” and “loss for the entire region.”“There are very few honest journalists in the country, we have lost one of them,” Kayumov told VOA’s Russia Service, before adding that he couldn’t saying anything more. “It hurts too much.”Arkady Galker, chair of the Nizhny Novgorod branch of the International Memorial, a nonprofit that researches political repression in Russia, said Slavina was the most famous independent journalist in the region.”Her publications were closely watched,” Galker said. “Even in the power circles, Irina Slavina’s articles were treated with special attention, because they understood it was valuable information.”“If Irina Slavina wrote something negative about our city officials, they could have very serious problems with their bosses,” Galker said.Koza Press, the news outlet Slavina founded, had a reputation as a serious publication that was read not only in the region, but also abroad, Galker said. “Irina and I knew each other very well, and we worked especially closely together when they were preparing marches in memory of Boris Nemtsov,” Galker said.“Irina participated not only in their organization, but also covered [the marches] in her publication,” Galker said. “She turned out to be the bravest person who led those who came to honor Nemtsov on the fourth anniversary of his murder.”Galker said he believes the investigation into Ioselevich is an attempt to intimidate opposition activists in the region.The International Memorial chair said security agents who raided Slavina’s apartment arrived armed with chainsaws that could cut through a door in minutes.“I regard these actions against Irina as state terror, as deliberate pressure and intimidation,” Galker said.“Both in her journalistic materials and in public statements Irina has always been very persistent, and has never shown how she was hurt by the campaign of bullying, unleashed on her in Nizhny Novgorod region, when they tried to discredit her. And now it is clear that at some point she simply could not take it anymore.”The SKR regional office said that Slavina’s death was not connected to the search of her apartment because she was a witness, not a defendant.In response, Igor Kalyapin, chair of the Interregional Committee Against Torture, wrote in his blog, “Apparently, in the opinion of the Nizhny Novgorod SKR, only the accused can suffer psychological trauma from an attack on a private domicile. A law-abiding man should perceive the morning search by a team of 12 people with the participation of special police forces as  normal. And the seizure during this search of digital media, notebooks and computer, law-abiding person, professional journalist should be perceived with joy and gratitude.”Alexander Kynev, a political scientist who knew Slavina, said the political situation in Nizhny Novgorod had deteriorated in the past three years.“What is happening in the city in recent years? Endless criminal cases against everyone. It all started with the dismantling of the old elite of the former mayor of the city. It did not stop there: harassment of journalists; endless fines; courts; searches. The same pressure was started against the public,” Kynev said.Sociologist and publicist Igor Yakovenko told VOA that Slavina’s case illustrates the desperation and persecution of Russian journalists.”I think that any journalist, if he wants to remain in Russia, periodically or even constantly feels some despair,” Yakovenko said. “If you want to be a journalist in Russia, you start either writing for yourself for little reward, or you are killed or put in jail.This report originated in VOA’s Russia Service
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America’s allies in Europe are watching closely as the U.S. presidential election enters its final leg. Transatlantic relations have at times been strained under President Trump, and some key European allies hope for a return to more stability under a Joe Biden presidency. But some other NATO members have welcomed Donald Trump’s demands for Europe to pull its weight. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
Camera: Henry Ridgwell    Producer: Jon Spier
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Millions of Peruvians affected by the coronavirus pandemic will begin receiving their second Universal Family Bonus worth $223 starting Saturday.The Andina Peru News Agency reports that President Martin Vizcarra appealed to beneficiaries Wednesday to help his administration by not gathering outside the banks, saying they do not need to visit the banks to make an inquiry.Vizcarra said a call center is set up to answer more than 1,000 calls at a time about the process.He also said the government is launching a media campaign Thursday to teach citizens how to use a weblink to check their eligibility.Vizcarra assured recipients of the first $223 grant in June that they would receive a second Universal Family Bonus.Peru has been hard hit by the coronavirus. So far, more than 835,000 people have become infected with the disease and more than 33,000 deaths have been recorded.
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Authorities in Mexico are trying to trace the origin of a light plane carrying just under 400 kilos of cocaine, which crashed following an air chase.Mexico’s Defense Ministry announced Wednesday that two people on board the plane died.Reuters reports that authorities say Mexican military helicopters chased the plane for hundreds of kilometers over Mexico airspace Monday before it ran out of fuel and crashed in central Mexico.The crash occurred less than two weeks after authorities said a business jet stolen in Mexico crashed in Guatemala, near a jungle airstrip, carrying a stash of drugs and weapons.Authorities say the plane made a stop in Venezuela for an unknown reason before the crash.Prosecutors in Guatemala said at least two bodies were found at the crash site.The Associated Press reports Guatemala confiscated more than 50 aircraft last year on suspicion of transporting drugs.
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America’s allies in Europe are watching closely as the U.S. presidential election enters its final leg.Transatlantic relations have at times been strained since U.S. President Donald Trump took office, and analysts say some European capitals hope for a return to more stability under a Joe Biden presidency.Other European NATO allies have welcomed Trump’s demands for Europe to pull its weight and meet military spending targets, as the continent faces several strategic challenges on its borders.Shortly after his 2016 election victory, Trump called NATO “obsolete,” because he said the organization “wasn’t taking care of terror.” That alarmed NATO allies shaken by Russia’s 2014 forceful annexation of Crimea and invasion of eastern Ukraine.Different toneBy 2017, Trump’s tone had changed. Hosting NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House in April of that year, Trump reaffirmed his support for the alliance.“The secretary-general and I had a productive discussion about what more NATO can do in the fight against terrorism. I complained about that a long time ago, and they made a change. And now, they do fight terrorism. I said it was obsolete. It’s no longer obsolete,” Trump told reporters.FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump waves to reporters as he departs with first lady Melania Trump to participate in his first presidential debate with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in Cleveland, Ohio, Sept. 29, 2020.For Europe, the unpredictability has been difficult, security analyst Julie Norman of University College London said in a recent interview with VOA.”His foreign policy has tended to be rather rash, rather unpredictable. And of course for allies, that’s not really something that you want. You want an ally who’s going to be reliable, especially an ally like the United States that traditionally has been such a heavyweight,” Norman said.What do NATO allies think of Biden? Since the presidential campaign has had little debate on foreign policy so far, according to Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Center for European Reform, they must look at Biden’s record.“We know that Trump is no friend at all of NATO, and we believe that Biden, from his past record, is much more favorable to NATO. And NATO remains the bedrock of British security, as well as European security more generally,” Bond told VOA.Trump’s supporters often say he should be judged on his actions rather than his words. The president oversaw the deployment of U.S. troops and hardware to Poland in 2017 as part of NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence mission, the biggest deployment since the Cold War. Trump remains a popular figure in Poland and other former Soviet states.“For some of those states, there would still probably be a preference for Trump to stay in the White House,” Norman said.Hard truths for Europe?Trump has accused Germany of being “delinquent in its payments” to NATO and plans to withdraw 20,000 troops stationed in the country. While the tone is abrasive, the president tells truths that Europe does not want to hear, argued political commentator Matthew Parris, a former British Conservative member of Parliament.“He has, in an instinctive way, been right about quite a few things — that perhaps there was a need to push back against China on trade issues. Perhaps America is going to end up in a very similar place to Britain on COVID. Perhaps nobody actually knows the answer, and we don’t know the answer any better than Donald Trump. He’s right about NATO spending. He’s right about many European countries not pulling their weight,” Parris told VOA in a recent interview.Trump has taken an increasingly tough stance on China. That may not change, whoever wins the White House, said Norman.FILE – Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden gestures while speaking during the first presidential debate, Sept. 29, 2020, at Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio.“Many Democrats, Biden included, share some of the concerns that Trump had around China and that many Europeans have around China, as well,” she said. “That’s in regard to security issues, and to some degree, and perhaps talked about more on the European side, human rights issues, as well.”Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the U.S. and Americas program at the Chatham House policy institute in London, said the biggest transatlantic divergence has been on climate change. Many in Europe see Biden as more sympathetic to their viewpoint.Stakes are high“Here is a value and a collective problem that Europeans can only achieve a solution to if they work with the United States, and if they work with China. … So, I think it’s very clear to Europe that the stakes could not be higher in this election from what is arguably the most important issue, at the international level, over the next 10 or 15 years,” she said.From Russia to conflicts in Libya and the Middle East to tensions with Turkey, Europe faces numerous strategic challenges. Despite the European Union’s call for the bloc to be more self-sufficient, analysts say the U.S. will likely play a key role in each of these arenas. Allies are watching closely as the United States chooses its next commander in chief.
 
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After a surge in COVID-19 cases over two weeks, Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon Wednesday announced new restrictions for the country, including the closing of all pubs in Glasgow and Edinburgh and a 16-day nationwide ban on indoor alcohol consumption beginning Friday.The number of COVID-19 cases in Scotland has been accelerating since mid-September, with 1,054 new cases reported by the government on Wednesday, driven by infections in the “central belt” — or central Scotland — which includes the two major cities.Sturgeon announced the new restrictions before the Scottish parliament. Beginning Friday, she said, areas where all licensed premises will have to close completely — with the exception of hotels for residents — are Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Arran, Lothian and Forth Valley.She said pubs, restaurants and cafes outside the central belt will be able to continue to serve alcohol outdoors until the existing curfew time of 10 p.m. Those establishments can serve food and non-alcoholic drinks indoors but must close by 6 p.m. for the 16-day period.Sturgeon said the hospitality industry isn’t being closed completely because the government understands the benefit of some socializing in terms of reducing loneliness and isolation, “of giving people, particularly those who live alone, somewhere they can meet a friend for a coffee and a chat.”More restrictions will be imposed in those regions for two weeks beginning Oct. 10, including on indoor group exercise for over people 18 and over.Sturgeon also said people should avoid public transport in the central belt, except where necessary.Pubs and restaurants were already required to close at 10 p.m. in Scotland, in line with England and Wales. The country also has a ban on people visiting other homes. 
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A Greek court issued a landmark ruling Wednesday that the far-right political party, Golden Dawn, is a criminal organization.Golden Dawn first won seats in parliament in 2012 and became the third-largest party during the country’s crippling debt crisis as it gained supporters with an anti-immigrant and an anti-austerity agenda.Prosecutors began investigating and arresting party leaders over a series of crimes after a supporter was arrested in 2013 for killing musician and rapper Pavlos Fyssas, who was aligned with the political left.Just before Wednesday’s ruling, the appeals court in Athens convicted Golden Dawn supporter Yiorgos Roupakias of Fyssas’ murder.Magda Fyssa, mother of anti-racist Greek rapper Pavlos Fyssas, who was killed in 2013 by Golden Dawn supporter Giorgos Roupakias, reacts after a trial of leaders and members of the far-right Golden Dawn party, in Athens, Greece, Oct. 7, 2020.The trial into whether Golden Dawn was a criminal organization began in 2015. The party said at the time it was the target of a politically motivated witch hunt.Prosecutors charged 65 people that included 18 former Golden Dawn legislators with being members of a criminal organization.Dozens of other party members and alleged associates are facing charges ranging from murder to perjury in connection with a series of attacks on immigrants and left-wing activists.FILE – Leader of Greece’s far-right Golden Dawn party Nikos Mihaloliakos testifies during the trial of members and leaders of the party in a Court in Athens, Greece, Nov. 6, 2019.The courtroom erupted in cheers after Wednesday’s ruling, as did thousands of others outside the court. But the situation deteriorated outside when isolated groups of self-styled anarchists hurled Molotov cocktails at police, who responded with tear gas and a water cannon.Amnesty International, which helped establish a system to record racially motivated violence in the country, said the ruling could enhance efforts to fight hate crimes.The Golden Dawn party did not win a single seat in last year’s parliamentary election that the conservative New Democracy party won by a landslide. 
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The U.S. National Hurricane Center Wednesday said Hurricane Delta has come ashore along the northeastern coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula with maximum sustained winds of 175 kilometers per hour.The storm, which had exploded in strength Tuesday, weakened somewhat over the past 18 hours but remains a powerful and dangerous storm. Forecasters say life-threatening winds and storm surge are hitting the Yucatan peninsula and flash flooding is likely in urban areas and rural areas, where mudslides are possible.Heavy rain from the storm continues to batter Cuba to the east.Forecasters predict Delta will intensify as it moves into the warm, deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico later Wednesday.  They say all computer models indicate Delta will once again become a category 4 storm.A category 4 storm — based on the Sapphire-Simpson scale by which hurricane strength is measured — has maximum sustained winds of between 209 and 251 kph. The hurricane center projects Delta will turn to the northwest towards the central U.S.  gulf coast over the next day. While it could weaken as it approaches the coast by late Thursday, it is expected to become considerably larger and is likely to bring hazardous conditions from western Louisiana to Florida.Forecasters say if Delta maintains hurricane strength through landfall, it will become the fourth to hit the region this year, following Hanna, Laura and Sally. Weaker tropical storms Marco and Beta hit the area this year, as well. Delta is the 25th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. When it officially formed Monday, it marked the earliest a hurricane season has reached 25 named storms since records have been kept. 
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Turkey’s bid to become a member of the European Union appears to be in jeopardy after the bloc’s executive branch on Tuesday said it is displeased by what it called Ankara’s failures to sustain democracy and fight corruption. In its annual report on the country, the European Commission cited too much political power in the hands of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which has resulted in a poor economy and eroded the independence of the judiciary. The report also said Turkish authorities continue to pressure civil society, aid groups and the media. “Turkey remains a key partner for the European Union. However, Turkey has continued to move further away from the European Union with serious backsliding in the areas of democracy, rule of law, fundamental rights and the independence of the judiciary,” the commission said. But Turkey, which began its EU membership talks in 2005, rejected the commission’s criticisms, describing them as prejudiced, according to the AP. Turkey’s bid to become a member of the EU has not been an easy one in spite of its position as an important socio-economic partner to the EU, in part because Turkey has helped prevent migrants from entering the bloc through its borders with Greece and Bulgaria. For this reason, the EU has paid Turkey about $7 billion to motivate Ankara to stop Syrian refugees in the country from heading to Europe. Nonetheless, Turkish disputed claims over Cyprus and Erdogan’s crackdown on perceived opponents since a failed coup in 2016 have ruined much of the progress made in becoming the 28th member of the EU. “The report presented today confirms that the underlying facts leading to this assessment still hold, despite the government’s repeated commitment to the objective of EU accession,” said the commission. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said the report reflects “the EU’s prejudiced, unconstructive and double-standard approach.” The report failed to mention the EU’s own “responsibilities and commitments” and criticized Turkey with “unfounded arguments,” the ministry said in a statement. “Our sincere wish is for the EU to look at the EU candidate country Turkey, not through the selfish and narrow vision of certain circles, but through the common interest and vision of our continent,” it said.  
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Experts from a global chemical weapons watchdog confirmed Tuesday that the substance used to poison Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was from the banned Soviet-style Novichok family of potent nerve agents.  The Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, his wife, Yulia, and son, Zahar, pose for a picture in Berlin, in this undated image obtained from social media October 6, 2020. (Courtesy of Instagram @NAVALNY/Social Media)Russia has repeatedly denied accusations that it was involved in the incident and has widely rejected the medical findings by German military doctors that identified the nerve agent last month.  Moscow requested assistance from OPCW on October 1 to confirm the presence of poison. According to a statement of their findings, experts said that an analysis of the samples taken from Navalny prove that a nerve agent from the Novichok family was used against him.  In response to the OPCW findings, the German government said Tuesday that it would talk with European Union partners about its next steps in the investigation.  “Any use of chemical weapons is a serious matter and cannot remain without consequences,” said German government spokesman Steffan Seibert. “These results constitute a matter of grave concern,” the OPCW said. “The use of chemical weapons by anyone under any circumstances … (is) … reprehensible and wholly contrary to the legal norms established by the international community.” The Kremlin was accused of using a similar nerve agent in a 2018 in an attempt to assassinate Sergei Skripal, an ex-Soviet spy and Moscow critic. Poisoned Former Spy Sergei Skripal Discharged From UK Hospital

        Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal has been discharged from a British hospital more than two months after he was poisoned with a nerve agent and left fighting for his life, health officials said Friday.

Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious in the English city of Salisbury on March 4, and spent weeks in critical condition.

Britain has accused Russia of poisoning the pair with a military-grade nerve agent, a claim Moscow denies.The poisoning has sparked a Cold War-style diplomatic…
If Navalny’s case is anything like the incident with Skripal, who acted as a double agent for the U.K., punishment could include financial sanctions against Russian officials. In his first video interview since the poisoning, Navalny told prominent Russian YouTube blogger Yury Dud in a segment released Tuesday that the Kremlin critic believes Russian intelligence services are responsible for the attack.  Navalny went as far as accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering the poisoning.  In the video interview, Navalny alleges that he was targeted by Russian authorities that believed he posed a threat to Putin’s ruling party in the following year’s parliamentary elections. In recent years, the opposition activist has become one of Putin’s most influential critics, in part because of his efforts to wage a combination of protests and anti-corruption campaigns against the Kremlin.   
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Since anti-government protests began in Belarus, the number of people who have been the victims of retaliation for publicly coming out against the government of longtime leader Alexander Lukashenko is uncountable. Activists say the repression is taking many forms:  Some protesters have suffered physical attacks while others have lost their jobs – they say – in retribution.  Ricardo Marquina has more from Minsk in this report narrated by Jonathan Spier.
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About 25 residents from remote Easter Island who have been stranded far from their loved ones for more than six months because of the coronavirus will finally be able to return home this week on a French military plane.
The group has been stranded on Tahiti in French Polynesia. Many arrived in March planning to stay for just a few weeks, but they got stuck when the virus swept across the globe and their flights back home on LATAM airlines were canceled.
A second group of about 15 Tahitians have also been stranded on Easter Island because of the flight cancelations.
French authorities announced Tuesday they would use an Airbus A400M Atlas turboprop to repatriate both groups in a flight that would take about six hours in each direction.
Also named Rapa Nui, Easter Island is a Chilean territory located midway between Polynesia, in the South Pacific, and South America.
The French state department said it launched the mission following a request from Chilean authorities, and it was being conducted in close coordination with the French embassy in Santiago, Chile. The plane is currently deployed with the French military in Tahiti.
The group of Easter Islanders had been begging authorities for help for months — in Spanish, in French, and in English. They had even written to Chilean President Sebastián Piñera. The Associated Press first wrote about their plight last month.
“I’m so happy!!!” said the group’s unofficial leader, Kissy Baude, in a WhatsApp message to the AP. “We are very happy and relieved to finally be able to return home and to know that the Tahitians stranded in Rapa Nui will also return home in the same mission.”
Baude thanked authorities in France, French Polynesia, Chile and Easter Island for putting the logistics in place, including airport management and a 14-day virus quarantine they will undergo at a health center when they arrive back on Easter Island.
Among those stranded is a 21-year-old mom who gave birth to her second son just a few days ago without her husband by her side, because he was back home. It was unclear whether she and her newborn would be ready to return home on Thursday’s flight.
Home to about 8,000 people, Easter Island is a tiny speck in the vast Pacific Ocean renowned for its imposing moai — giant heads carved from volcanic rock by inhabitants hundreds of years ago. For Easter Islanders, Tahiti has long been a stopping-off point, a connection to the rest of the world.
Until the virus struck, LATAM airlines ran a regular return route from Santiago, Chile, to Easter Island and on to Tahiti. LATAM said it suspended the route in March because of the virus and doesn’t have a timeline for restarting it. No other airlines offer a similar service.
“The resumption of this flight is subject to the development of the pandemic and travel restrictions in place,” the airline said in a statement last month.
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The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Delta, which first formed as a named tropical storm early Monday, has become a powerful category 4 hurricane with winds in excess of 215 kilometers per hour in just over 27 hours.The hurricane center reports the storm began Tuesday as a category 2 hurricane, based on the scale used to measure storm strength, with winds at about 175 kph. The storm increased in strength to a category 3 storm over several hours, but meteorologists say it took just 20 minutes to reach category 4 strength.Delta is forecast to strike Cancun and the Yucatan Peninsula on Wednesday with maximum sustained winds approaching 225 kph.  After crossing the Yucatan,  forecasters say the storm is likely to lose strength, but as it takes a sharp right turn to the north northeast across the warm waters of the southern Gulf of Mexico, it is expected to regain its strength in the next 48 to 72 hours.The hurricane center says cooler water and wind shears could weaken the storm a bit as it moves north, but Delta is expected to remain a dangerous hurricane when it approaches the U.S. Gulf Coast later in the week.Forecasters say if Delta maintains hurricane strength through landfall, it will become the fourth to hit the region this year, following Hanna, Laura and Sally. Weaker tropical storms Marco and Beta hit the area this year, as well.  Delta is the 25th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. When it officially formed Monday, it marked the earliest a hurricane season has reached 25 named storms since records have been kept.
 
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Germany’s Interior Ministry Tuesday released a new report showing that right-wing extremism is not a systemic problem among the nation’s security forces.  At a Berlin news conference, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told reporters the study, conducted by Germany’s domestic security agency, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, BfV, indicated less than one percent of Germany’s police forces, security agencies and military personnel espouse far-right worldviews and sympathies.Seehofer said the report shows “the overwhelming majority” of security employees abide by the Constitution. He said, “This means also that we have no structural problem with right-wing extremism among security forces at the federal or state level.”Nonetheless, the report, which surveyed police forces in the country’s 16 federal states, showed a total of 377 cases in which officers have been suspected of having far-right links over the last three years.The report cited 319 cases among state security agencies and 58 among federal agencies.  Seehofer said “Each of these cases is a disgrace, also because it affects everyone within the security forces.”The report, part of a wider inquiry into far-right extremism in the civil service, seeks to dispel concerns that authorities have turned a blind eye to potentially violent nationalists gaining footholds in the uniformed services.It is a highly sensitive issue in a country still haunted by the extermination of six million Jews by Hitler’s Nazi regime during World War II.Seehofer commissioned the wider report into the scope of extremism within the civil service last year after the shooting death of a pro-immigration politician by a suspected far-right sympathizer in Hesse, and a deadly attack outside a synagogue and a kebab restaurant in the city of Halle.
 
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Britain is home to many Russian nationals, both friends and foes of the government back home. They are attracted by the lifestyle, the banks and boutiques, and the established Russian community in the British capital. But for some Russian political exiles who have fled to London and to other Western European cities, it has proved impossible to escape the long arm of the Kremlin. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.PRODUCER: Jon Spier 
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Peaceful, pro-democracy protests are continuing in Belarus following a contested election on Aug. 9, when incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory for a sixth consecutive time. In recent days, as protesters marched through Belarusian cities demanding new elections, U.S. lawmakers passed — for the fourth time in the last 16 years — an expanded version of the Belarus Democracy Act, a bill imposing sanctions on Belarus’s authoritarian leader and his allies. VOA’s Igor Tsikhanenka has more.
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Tensions are running high in Haiti’s capital Tuesday, a day after hundreds of university students clashed with police during a protest over the death last week of a university student. Students burned cars and blocked roads Monday in Port-au-Prince, where one person was shot and killed.  University student Gregory Saint-Hilaire was killed last Friday during a small protest by students demanding employment opportunities. Students are blaming police for the deaths of Saint-Hilaire and another person killed during Monday’s protests. The government condemned the death of Saint-Hilaire, adding that police are investigating the circumstances of his death.  
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Peru’s main airport is receiving international flights for the first time in six months after restrictions were put in place to help control the spread of the coronavirus. Speaking at Monday’s reopening in the capital city Lima, Peruvian President Martín Vizcarra expressed confidence that everything had been done to guarantee the opening of international flights does not increase the risk of the coronavirus spreading. Jorge Chavez International Airport is now accepting flights to and from 11 destinations, including Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile. Jorge Alvarado, a Chilean citizen who lives and works in Peru said it was emotional returning to Peru for the first time in several months to see his wife.  Peru has resumed limited operations for domestic flights in July, but flights to and from the United States and Europe are still not allowed.  So far, Peru has confirmed more than 829,000 coronavirus infections and more than 32,800 deaths since the outset of the pandemic in March. 
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Hurricane Delta, the ninth storm of the Atlantic season, prompted forecasters to issue warnings for Mexico and Cuba, with the U.S. Gulf coast in striking distance later this week.  The U.S.-based National Hurricane Center said Mexico issued a hurricane warning for the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from Tulum north and west to Rio Largartos, including Cozumel. A hurricane watch remains in place for western Cuba, including the Province of Artemisia. The Cayman New service reports the center of Hurricane Delta is expected to pass near the southwest Cayman Islands early Tuesday, bringing heavy rains to the region. The Cayman Islands remain under a tropical storm watch. Forecasters expect Hurricane Delta will continue to gain strength over the coming days as it moves toward the southern Gulf of Mexico. 
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British rock band Led Zeppelin on Monday effectively won a long-running legal battle over claims it stole the opening guitar riff from its signature 1971 song Stairway to Heaven. The band, one of the best-selling rock acts of all time, was handed victory after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the case, meaning that a March 2020 decision by a U.S. appeals court in Led Zeppelin’s favor will stand. Lead singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page had been accused in the six-year-long case of lifting the riff — one of the best-known openings in rock music — from a song called “Taurus,” written by the late Randy Wolfe of the U.S. band, Spirit. Wolfe, who performed as Randy California, drowned in 1997, and the case was brought by a trustee for his estate. It has been one of the music industry’s most closely watched copyright cases, potentially exposing Plant and Page to millions of dollars in damages. Led Zeppelin was the opening act for Spirit on a U.S. tour in 1968, but Page testified in a 2016 jury trial in Los Angeles that he had not heard Taurus until recently. The Los Angeles jury found the riff they were accused of stealing was not intrinsically similar to the opening chords of Stairway to Heaven. Francis Malofiy, who represented Wolfe’s estate, said on Monday that Led Zeppelin “won on a technicality” and said that the lawsuit had accomplished its goal. “Today, the world knows that 1. Randy California wrote the introduction to Stairway to Heaven; 2. Led Zeppelin are the greatest art thieves of all time; and 3. Courts are as imperfect as rock stars,” Malofiy said in a statement. Led Zeppelin has yet to comment on the conclusion of the case. 
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