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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson does not particularly wish for the Brexit transition period to end without a new trade deal in place but believes that Britain could live with such an outcome, he said on Sunday.   With the Dec. 31 expiry of the transition period fast approaching, Johnson and the head of the EU’s executive, Ursula von der Leyen, agreed in a phone call on Saturday to step up negotiations on a post-Brexit deal.   “I think it’s there to be done,” Johnson said during an interview on BBC television.   “Alas, there are some difficult issues that need to be fixed, and there’s no question that the EU needs to understand that we’re utterly serious about needing to control our own laws and our own regulations, and similarly they need to understand that the repatriation of the UK’s fisheries … is very important.”   Asked whether he was worried about the potential impact of a no-deal situation in the middle of the COVID pandemic, Johnson said: “I don’t want the Australian WTO-type outcome, particularly, but we can more than live with it.   “I think the people of this country have had enough … of being told that this will be impossible or intolerable. I think we can prosper mightily under those circumstances.”   The government last week told importers and exporters they would have to complete extra paperwork whether there was a deal or not and that a lack of preparation on their part could lead to 100 km queues of trucks.   That prompted accusations from the opposition that ministers were setting up industry to take the blame for any chaos that might follow a botched Brexit.   The EU says that any deal must be sealed by the end of October, or in the first days of November at the latest, to leave enough time for ratification by the bloc before the end of the year.   More trade talks are due in London next week and in Brussels the following week before the 27 national EU leaders meet over Oct. 15-16 to assess progress. London has also said it wants clarity by Oct. 15 on whether a deal is possible or not.   An estimated trillion euros ($1.17 trillion) of annual trade would be at stake if they fail to reach an agreement. ($1 = 0.8537 euros)      
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Belgium has arrested and charged three men suspected of involvement in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.A spokesperson for the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement Saturday that the three had been “charged with serious human rights abuses.”Eric Van Duyse said two had been arrested Tuesday in Brussels and the third had been arrested Wednesday in Hainault province.Van Duyse did not give any details about the suspects but said that their identities had been verified with the help of testimony from witnesses in Rwanda.He said one of the men is under electronic surveillance and the other two are in detention.Van Duyse said whether the men will be tried will depend on information compiled by the investigating magistrate and the prosecutor’s office.The arrests were first reported Friday by the Belgian weekly magazine Le Vif.About 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, were killed in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.The U.N.’s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda indicted more than 90 people and tried 80 of them before it ceased operation in 2015.Since 2001, Belgium has held five trials for Rwandans implicated in the killings, giving prison terms up to 20 years.A Belgian court found former senior Rwandan official Fabien Neretse guilty of genocide in December and sentenced him to 25 years in prison.
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Guatemalan authorities said Saturday they have disbanded a caravan of migrants heading north from Honduras, bound for the U.S. border, sending more than 3,000 back home over the past few days.Since Thursday, when thousands of migrants began crossing into Guatemala without permission, authorities said most had “opted to return” and were sent back to Honduras on buses.The caravan had split into two groups Friday, with one headed for the Peten region of northern Guatemala, and the other for the Mexican border city of Tapachula.The group headed for northern Guatemala ran into a roadblock manned by police and soldiers, where so many of their fellow migrants were turned around.A few small groups of migrants could still be seen walking along the highway Saturday morning.Olvin Suazo, 21, and three friends, all farm workers in their early 20s from Santa Barbara, Honduras, said they would continue north.Guatemalan Vice Minister of Foreign Relations Eduardo Sanchez called on Honduras to stop such large groups of migrants, calling them a health risk amid the pandemic.The migrants are headed to the U.S. because of poverty exacerbated by widespread job losses sparked by the pandemic in Latin America.Their journey came two years after a caravan that formed shortly before the U.S. midterm elections and became a campaign issue. Those migrants initially received support from communities along the way, particularly in southern Mexico.But Mexico deployed National Guard troops and immigration agents to intercept large groups of migrants after U.S. President Donald Trump, who is seeking reelection, threatened tariffs on Mexican imports if it did not stem the flow of migrants to the U.S. border.Mexico’s migration authority chief Francisco Garduno said this week the government would deploy hundreds of military and immigration personnel to its border to prevent the caravan from entering the country.Mexican President Lopez Obrador suggested the caravan was associated with the November 3 U.S. presidential election.“It has to do with the election in the United States,” Obrador told reporters. “I don’t have all the elements, but I think there are indications that it was put together for this purpose. I don’t know to whose benefit, but we’re not naive.”The Trump administration said Thursday it would admit a record low 15,000 refugees during the coming year.Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has vowed to raise the refugee cap to 125,000, saying accepting persecuted people is consistent with American values. 
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Iran has temporarily released French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah, who has been in jail after being convicted of security breaches, her lawyer said Saturday on Twitter.”Fariba Adelkhah has come out [of prison] on leave with an electronic ankle bracelet,” Saeid Dehghan said in a tweet, without giving any other details of the release.There was no immediate official statement on the case from Iran’s judiciary.France had in June demanded that Adelkhah, 61, an anthropologist held since 2019, be released immediately, saying her detention was harming trust between the two countries.Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have arrested dozens of dual nationals in recent years, mostly on espionage charges.In March, Iran granted temporary release to British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, along with thousands of other prisoners, following concerns about the spread of the coronavirus in prisons.In March, Iran and France exchanged prisoners: academic Roland Marchal for engineer Jalal Ruhollahnejad.Since then, however, there had been little sign that Adelkhah would be released. She was sentenced in May to six years in prison on security-related charges.Relations between France and Iran have improved over the last year but remain tense because of Iran’s nuclear activities, its ballistic missile program and regional activities.
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Heavy fighting continued between Armenia and Azerbaijan forces Saturday in the conflict over the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, officials from both countries said.Armenian and Azerbaijani forces seemingly ignored calls this week by the U.S., France and Russia for an immediate cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic-Armenian breakaway province inside Azerbaijan.Armenian Defense Ministry officials said they had repelled a large attack by Azerbaijan along the front line and shot down three planes.Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry denied any planes being shot down and said Armenian personnel had shelled civilian territory.Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said his forces had taken control Saturday of the strategic village of Madagiz.The attacks took place after Stepanakert, the regional capital, came under fire by Azeri forces, media reports said.The fighting has killed at least 150 people on both sides in the turbulent South Caucasus region since fighting began September 27, the two countries said.Azerbaijan’s president has demanded the withdrawal of Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh as the only way to end the fighting.Both sides previously had dismissed the demands for a truce in the disputed region, where fighting has escalated in recent days to levels not seen since the 1990s.Armenian separatists seized Nagorno-Karabakh from Azerbaijan in a bloody war in the 1990s that killed an estimated 30,000 people.Talks to resolve the conflict have been halted since a 1994 cease-fire agreement among Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh.Peace efforts in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, mediated by the Minsk Group, composed of the United States, France and Russia, collapsed in 2010.
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Two people died and nine people were missing in France and Italy after a storm hit along the border of the two countries, bringing record rainfall in places and causing flooding that swept away roads and damaged homes, authorities said Saturday.The storm, dubbed Alex, ravaged several villages around the city of Nice on the French Riviera. Nice Mayor Christian Estrosi called it the worst flooding disaster in the area for more than a century after flying over the worst-hit area by helicopter.”The roads and about 100 houses were swept away or partially destroyed,” he told French news channel BFM.”I have been particularly shocked by what I saw today,” French Prime Minister Jean Castex told a news conference after visiting affected areas, adding he was concerned that the death toll could rise.Roads, bridges goneAt least eight people were missing in France, authorities said. These included two firefighters whose vehicle was carried away by a swollen river, according to local witnesses cited by several French media.Television images from both countries showed several roads and bridges had been swept away by floodwater, and numerous rivers were reported to have left their banks.In Italy, at least two people died — one a firefighter hit by a falling tree and another a man in his 30s whose car was swept into a river after a road subsided, local authorities said.As night fell, one Italian was still unaccounted for, while another 16 people earlier feared missing, including a group of six German trekkers, had all been found safe.Officials in the Piedmont region reported a record 630 mm (24.8 inches) of rain in just 24 hours in Sambughetto, close to the border with Switzerland. The Piedmont regional chief, Alberto Cirio, called on the government to declare a state of emergency.The water level in the River Po jumped by 3 meters (9.84 feet) in just 24 hours.Villages cut offEric Ciotti, a member of the French parliament who is from one of the worst affected villages in the area, Saint-Martin-Vésubie, said several villages located in steep-sided valleys of the mountainous region were cut off.Meteo France said that 500 mm (19.69 inches) of rain was registered over 24 hours in Saint-Martin-Vésubie and close to 400 mm in several other towns — the equivalent of more than three months of rain at this time of the year.There was more rainfall than on October 3, 2015, when floods caused the death of 20 people in and around the French Riviera city of Cannes, Jérémy Crunchant, the director of civil protection, told France Info.In Venice, a long-delayed flood barrier system successfully protected the lagoon city from a high tide for the first time on Saturday, bringing big relief following years of repeated inundations.
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The United Nations reports widespread human rights violations are rampant in both government- and rebel-controlled areas of Ukraine, as well as in the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula.The report by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has been submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council.There is immediate concern about the increase in violence in the lead-up to local elections October 25 in government-controlled areas of Ukraine. Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif says extreme right-wing groups are attacking peaceful political gatherings, the offices of political parties, and political activists in their homes.“We are further concerned that the impunity accompanying these acts of violence creates a climate of fear and self-censorship encouraging further attacks. … The office also documented attacks against members of the media, as well as attacks against LGBTI people, and people perceived to be LGBTI,” Al-Nashif said.Al-Nashif says the credibility of the election will depend upon the ability of Ukrainian authorities to protect people from these attacks so they can exercise their right to vote freely and without fear.Justice system violationsThe report highlights widespread human rights violations in the Ukrainian justice system, including arbitrary arrest and detention, unreasonable trial delays, and the use of torture and coerced confessions.Al-Nashif says access to justice remains out of reach in the self-proclaimed Russian-backed republics in eastern Ukraine.“Individuals are often held incommunicado and subjected to torture and ill-treatment in order to extort confessions,” she said. “Cases are dealt with behind closed doors, with individuals denied access to lawyers of their choice.”The report details human rights violations in Crimea by the Russian occupying power against Crimean Tatars, including torture, forced confessions and the suppression of religious practice for several groups, including Protestants, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims and Messianic groups.Ukraine’s First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Emine Dzhaparova corroborates the U.N. report. As a Crimean Tartar herself, she is particularly critical of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and of its alleged repressive actions to shut down the voices of dissent.
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Hundreds of Honduran migrants are encountering problems from Guatemalan and Mexican security forces as they continue their journey to the United States.
 
Fears of a confrontation intensified Friday as about 1,000 migrants, who lacked food after walking hundreds of kilometers from Honduras, were blocked by about 100 police and army soldiers at a roadblock in northern Guatemala.
 
Saturday morning, hundreds of the migrants who entered Guatemala without registering were bused back to the Guatemalan border after running into the roadblock.
 
Small groups of migrants were still walking before dawn Saturday along the highway where the roadblock is located, but a short while later none of the estimated 1,000 migrants remained in the area. Undeterred, many of the migrants’ plan to continue their trek to the U.S.
 
Guatemalan authorities said the original group of about 2,000 migrants was split after 108 agreed to return to Honduras, some traveling north to the roadblock, and others walking, hitching rides or catching buses to Guatemala City.
 
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei promised to apprehend the migrants and send them back to the border, declaring they represent a health threat during the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
The migrants are heading to the U.S. as Latin America suffers from widespread job losses sparked by the pandemic.
 
Their journey comes two years after a caravan was formed shortly before the U.S. midterm elections and became a hot campaign issue. The migrants initially received support from communities along the way, particularly in southern Mexico.
 
But Mexico deployed National Guard troops and immigration agents to intercept large groups of migrants after U.S. President Donald Trump, who is seeking reelection, threatened tariffs on Mexican imports of it did not stem the flow of migrants to the U.S. border.
 
Mexico’s migration authority chief Francisco Garduno said this week the government would deploy hundreds of military and immigration personnel to its border to prevent the caravan from entering the country.
 
Mexican President Lopez Obrador suggested the caravan was associated with the November 3 U.S. presidential election.   
 
“It has to do with the election in the United States,” Obrador told reporters. “I don’t have all the elements, but I think there are indications that it was put together for this purpose. I don’t know to whose benefit, but we’re not naive.”
 
The Trump administration said Thursday it would admit a record low 15,000 refugees during the coming year.
 
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has vowed to raise the refugee cap to 125,000, saying accepting persecuted people is consistent with American values.
 
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A festive, jubilant crowd thronged Berlin’s historic Brandenburg Gate 30 years ago Saturday, celebrating the reunification of Germany less than a year after the Berlin Wall had fallen.Located in Berlin’s eastern communist sector, the Brandenburg Gate had been inaccessible to West Germans for 28 years. But not on October 3, 1990, with strains of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy in the background as exultant crowds marked the dawn of a new era in German and European history.“The day has come in which for the first time in history the whole of Germany has found its lasting place in the circle of Western democracies,” declared Richard von Weizsäcker, the federal German president who was suddenly the head of state of a larger Germany.“Farewell to an unloved country,” Britain’s ambassador to East Germany, Patrick Eyers, wrote in his final dispatch to London as envoy on the eve of German reunification.“At midnight tonight the German Democratic Republic will cease to exist as a state,” he wrote. “In what mood do the people of the GDR come to unity? … My impression is one of deep emotion, of contentment mixed with a certain trepidation in the face of the uncertainties ahead. But none of them is looking back.”Back in London, then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher shared the trepidation. She had opposed speedy reunification, fearing a united Germany would dominate Europe, changing the power dynamics of the European Union. She also feared that Soviet hardliners might view it as a humiliation, prompting them to undermine then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, complicating the unwinding of the Cold War.“I fear that he will feel isolated if all the reunification process goes the West’s way,” she said in a quote by her biographer, Charles Moore.The following year, Soviet hardliners did try to oust Gorbachev in a bungled coup attempt. Thatcher’s position pitted her against many in her own Cabinet and other European leaders, as well as against George H. W. Bush’s White House. Bush aides thought she was being impractical and that rapid German reunification was inevitable. They dubbed her a “Cold warrior” who was over-anxious about the consequences of German reunification.Thirty years on, the old East-West divide remains at play. In the third and final volume of his authorized Thatcher biography, Herself Alone, published last year, Moore, a former editor of Britain’s Daily Telegraph, notes that one of the Russians who became convinced that his country had been humiliated by the West during this era-shattering period was Vladimir Putin, a former a KGB officer who served in East Germany.In 2017, Putin described the manner of German reunification as Gorbachev’s “mistake” and criticized him during an interview for failing to secure binding guarantees from the West that there would be no eastward expansion of NATO. Gorbachev had initially called for a united but neutral Germany – a proposal rejected by West Germany, the U.S. and Poland, another newly emerging democracy on Russia’s border.Gorbachev backed down.Difficult adjustmentIn the years following reunification, many East Germans became increasingly disillusioned as they struggled to adjust themselves to new realities.Many began to feel that they had not been reunited with their Western cousins, but instead had been taken over by them. They complained of Westerners disparaging their achievements and disdaining their educations as subpar. Many older East Germans lamented the increased pace of life, based more on commercial principles. They mourned the loss of predictability, while all too often forgetting the constraints and repression of communism.With inefficient factories closing, unemployment soared with some towns seeing one in five workers jobless, souring the vision of “blooming landscapes” they had been promised by German chancellor Helmut Kohl when the wall came down. Berlin pumped billions of euros into the East but many older East Germans complained that at least under communism they were guaranteed work and free health care. Many youngsters left, shrinking Germany’s population in the East by 2.2 million, leaving their parents and grandparents feeling like second-class citizens. There was a surge of support for a newly formed socialist political party, the Linkspartei – or “Left” party.Three decades on, the former East Germany is catching up economically with its Western sibling, but a series of reports and studies in the runup to Saturday’s 30th anniversary of German reunification suggests stark divides remain. “I had hoped that in this … 30th year after German reunification, we would be further along than we are,” said Marco Wanderwitz, the government ombudsman for the former communist East Germany.German politicians point to a narrowing of the per capita GDP gap between its eastern and western regions as an example of the resounding success of German reunification. Per capita GDP in eastern Germany has reached 79.1%, a gain of 42 percentage points since 1990. Ironically, in some areas, Germans in the country’s east are doing better than their counterparts to the west. Women in the former GDR are more likely to work full time in part because of better childcare facilities, a legacy of the region’s communist past.But one government study shows that, on average, salaries in the East are only 88.8% of those in the West. Eastern Germany has more people out of work and lower property values. “In an extraordinary manner, in many ways Germany looks like it’s still divided,” the left-leaning daily newspaper TAZsaid. Der Spiegel magazine laments that the “feelings of mistrust and alienation between East and West have not disappeared.”A government report overseen by Wanderwitz also sadly notes the lack of satisfaction Germans in the East feel toward the political system. While more than 90% of western Germans think democracy is the “best suited form of government,” only 78% of East Germans agree. Wanderwitz notes: “Trust in state institutions is also some cases is at a shockingly low level.” Even so, he says that while “some things have taken longer than planned … in many areas we can basically say: unity accomplished.”Easterners, known as Ossies, say unity will be accomplished only when they are taken more seriously. They say their origins determine their position in society and their prospects far more than they do for Westerners. They complain they are underrepresented in the top echelons of German public life. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was born in the East, is one of the few Ossies in the top political ranks of the country, and not one dean in Germany’s 81 universities is from the former communist half of the country. In last year’s regional government elections, the East saw a surge in support for the anti-immigrant, nationalist far-right AfD party, testimony to the rift between the country’s prosperous West and its still-adjusting East.
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Armenian and Azerbaijani forces continued fighting Saturday for the seventh day over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, ignoring international calls for a cease-fire.   
 
Armenia says the territory’s capital, Stepanakert, was the target of bombing by Azeri forces.  
 
Authorities in the breakaway territory have warned that the “last battle” for the region has begun. They called on the international community Saturday to “recognize the independence” of Nagorno-Karabakh as “the only effective mechanism to restore peace.”
 
In a statement issued late Friday, the second this week, the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Igor Popov of Russia, Stéphane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States, expressed their “alarm at reports of increasing civilian casualties” and strongly condemned the continued violence.  
 
“Targeting or threatening civilians is never acceptable under any circumstances,” the statement said, adding that “the co-chairs call on the sides to observe fully their international obligations to protect civilian populations.”
 
Armenia responded positively Friday to a call by the Minsk Group for a cease-fire between its forces and Azerbaijani forces, engaged in a conflict that is threatening to escalate into all-out war.Armenia is “ready to engage” with the OSCE Minsk Group “to reestablish a cease-fire regime based on the 1994-1995 agreements,” the country’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday.
 
Azerbaijan’s president has demanded the withdrawal of Armenian forces from Nagorno-Karabakh as the only way to end the fighting.
 
Both sides previously had dismissed demands for a truce in the disputed region, where fighting has escalated in recent days to levels not seen since the 1990s.  Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds of others injured in the fighting that erupted September 26.
 
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A festive, jubilant crowd thronged Berlin’s historic Brandenburg Gate 30 years ago Saturday, celebrating the reunification of Germany less than a year after the Berlin Wall had fallen.Located in Berlin’s eastern communist sector, the Brandenburg Gate had been inaccessible to West Germans for 28 years. But not on October 3, 1990, with strains of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy in the background as exultant crowds marked the dawn of a new era in German and European history.“The day has come in which for the first time in history the whole of Germany has found its lasting place in the circle of Western democracies,” declared Richard von Weizsäcker, the federal German president who was suddenly the head of state of a larger Germany.“Farewell to an unloved country,” Britain’s ambassador to East Germany, Patrick Eyers, wrote in his final dispatch to London as envoy on the eve of German reunification.“At midnight tonight the German Democratic Republic will cease to exist as a state,” he wrote. “In what mood do the people of the GDR come to unity? … My impression is one of deep emotion, of contentment mixed with a certain trepidation in the face of the uncertainties ahead. But none of them is looking back.”Back in London, then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher shared the trepidation. She had opposed speedy reunification, fearing a united Germany would dominate Europe, changing the power dynamics of the European Union. She also feared that Soviet hardliners might view it as a humiliation, prompting them to undermine then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, complicating the unwinding of the Cold War.“I fear that he will feel isolated if all the reunification process goes the West’s way,” she said in a quote by her biographer, Charles Moore.The following year, Soviet hardliners did try to oust Gorbachev in a bungled coup attempt. Thatcher’s position pitted her against many in her own Cabinet and other European leaders, as well as against George H. W. Bush’s White House. Bush aides thought she was being impractical and that rapid German reunification was inevitable. They dubbed her a “Cold warrior” who was over-anxious about the consequences of German reunification.Thirty years on, the old East-West divide remains at play. In the third and final volume of his authorized Thatcher biography, Herself Alone, published last year, Moore, a former editor of Britain’s Daily Telegraph, notes that one of the Russians who became convinced that his country had been humiliated by the West during this era-shattering period was Vladimir Putin, a former a KGB officer who served in East Germany.In 2017, Putin described the manner of German reunification as Gorbachev’s “mistake” and criticized him during an interview for failing to secure binding guarantees from the West that there would be no eastward expansion of NATO. Gorbachev had initially called for a united but neutral Germany – a proposal rejected by West Germany, the U.S. and Poland, another newly emerging democracy on Russia’s border.Gorbachev backed down.Difficult adjustmentIn the years following reunification, many East Germans became increasingly disillusioned as they struggled to adjust themselves to new realities.Many began to feel that they had not been reunited with their Western cousins, but instead had been taken over by them. They complained of Westerners disparaging their achievements and disdaining their educations as subpar. Many older East Germans lamented the increased pace of life, based more on commercial principles. They mourned the loss of predictability, while all too often forgetting the constraints and repression of communism.With inefficient factories closing, unemployment soared with some towns seeing one in five workers jobless, souring the vision of “blooming landscapes” they had been promised by German chancellor Helmut Kohl when the wall came down. Berlin pumped billions of euros into the East but many older East Germans complained that at least under communism they were guaranteed work and free health care. Many youngsters left, shrinking Germany’s population in the East by 2.2 million, leaving their parents and grandparents feeling like second-class citizens. There was a surge of support for a newly formed socialist political party, the Linkspartei – or “Left” party.Three decades on, the former East Germany is catching up economically with its Western sibling, but a series of reports and studies in the runup to Saturday’s 30th anniversary of German reunification suggests stark divides remain. “I had hoped that in this … 30th year after German reunification, we would be further along than we are,” said Marco Wanderwitz, the government ombudsman for the former communist East Germany.German politicians point to a narrowing of the per capita GDP gap between its eastern and western regions as an example of the resounding success of German reunification. Per capita GDP in eastern Germany has reached 79.1%, a gain of 42 percentage points since 1990. Ironically, in some areas, Germans in the country’s east are doing better than their counterparts to the west. Women in the former GDR are more likely to work full time in part because of better childcare facilities, a legacy of the region’s communist past.But one government study shows that, on average, salaries in the East are only 88.8% of those in the West. Eastern Germany has more people out of work and lower property values. “In an extraordinary manner, in many ways Germany looks like it’s still divided,” the left-leaning daily newspaper TAZsaid. Der Spiegel magazine laments that the “feelings of mistrust and alienation between East and West have not disappeared.”A government report overseen by Wanderwitz also sadly notes the lack of satisfaction Germans in the East feel toward the political system. While more than 90% of western Germans think democracy is the “best suited form of government,” only 78% of East Germans agree. Wanderwitz notes: “Trust in state institutions is also some cases is at a shockingly low level.” Even so, he says that while “some things have taken longer than planned … in many areas we can basically say: unity accomplished.”Easterners, known as Ossies, say unity will be accomplished only when they are taken more seriously. They say their origins determine their position in society and their prospects far more than they do for Westerners. They complain they are underrepresented in the top echelons of German public life. Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was born in the East, is one of the few Ossies in the top political ranks of the country, and not one dean in Germany’s 81 universities is from the former communist half of the country. In last year’s regional government elections, the East saw a surge in support for the anti-immigrant, nationalist far-right AfD party, testimony to the rift between the country’s prosperous West and its still-adjusting East.
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Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has called on a lawmaker from her own ruling Scottish National Party to resign after she traveled by train following a positive test for COVID-19. Westminster Member of Parliament Margaret Ferrier was suspended Thursday by her party after breaking self-isolation rules to attend Parliament in London while awaiting results of a coronavirus test, which later came back positive. After experiencing symptoms consistent with COVID-19, the 60-year-old lawmaker sought out testing on Saturday, and then traveled from Glasgow to London on Monday because she was “feeling much better.” She received the positive results later that evening, just hours after speaking for four minutes during a coronavirus debate in the Commons chamber. Ferrier returned to Scotland by train Tuesday morning despite the positive test results. It is mandatory for people in Britain to self-isolate if they test positive for the coronavirus, with fines of 1,000 pounds for those who violate the rule. Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon speaks during the Scottish government’s daily briefing on the coronavirus outbreak, at St. Andrew’s House, Edinburgh, in this handout picture released by the Scottish Government on Oct. 2, 2020.From her Twitter account Friday, the first minister said, “I’ve spoken to Margaret Ferrier and made clear my view that she should step down as an MP. I did so with a heavy heart—she is a friend & colleague—but her actions were dangerous & indefensible. I have no power to force an MP to resign but I hope she will do the right thing.”Ferrier apologized for her actions via Twitter on Thursday, saying there was no excuse. “Despite feeling well, I should have self-isolated and waited for my test, and I deeply regret my actions.” Ferrier said she took full responsibility and urges everyone not to make the same mistakes she has. She also said she notified the police and the House of Commons regarding her actions. There has been no reaction regarding Sturgeon’s call for her to resign. 
 
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French President Emmanuel Macron Friday called Islam “a religion that is in crisis all over the world,” in a speech addressing what he calls “separatism” in France’s Islamic community.
 
In remarks delivered in the western Paris suburb of Les Mureaux, Macron said Islam is a religion in deep crisis worldwide, even in countries where it is the majority religion, because of “tensions between fundamentalism and political projects … that lead to very strong radicalization.”
 
The French president said in France there is a “parallel society” of radical Muslims thriving outside the values of the nation, a “separatism” as he describes it, that thrives in some neighborhoods around the country, where Muslims with a radical vision of their religion take control of the local population to inculcate their beliefs.
 
But Macron said everyone can share in the blame for this so-called separatism.
 
“We ourselves have built our own separatism, that of our neighborhoods. This is the ghettoization that our republic, initially with the best intentions in the world, allowed to take place,” said the French leader Friday.He noted France’s concentration of populations into districts according to their origins, which has also concentrated educational and economic difficulties as well.
 
Macron said where French secular society failed Islamic youth, radicals stepped in.
 
The French president said the government will offer legislation in December to “reinforce secularism and consolidate republican principles.”Macron to Outline France’s Controversial Anti-Separatism BillFrance’s Muslim community – Europe’s largest – worries new law could deepen anti-Islamic sentimentsHe called secularism “the cement of a united France,” and added: “Let us not fall into the trap laid by … extremists, who aim to stigmatize all Muslims.”
 
During his speech, Macron repeatedly stressed the importance of schools in instilling secular values in young people and said that the government would require private schools to agree to teach them. Beginning next year, with few exceptions, the 50,000 French children who are currently educated at home would be required to attend school with fellow students, he said.
 
The bill would include additional education funding as well.
 
The remarks come as a trial is underway in Paris over the deadly January 2015 attacks on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket by French-born Islamic extremists. Last week, a man from Pakistan stabbed two people near Charlie Hebdo’s former offices in anger over its publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. 
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President Donald Trump has tested positive  for the coronavirus, joining a small group of world leaders who have been infected. Trump is 74, putting him at higher risk of serious complications. Here’s a look at other leaders who have had the virus. Some are sending Trump their wishes for a speedy recovery.Boris Johnson
The British prime minister was the first major world leader confirmed to have COVID-19, after facing criticism for downplaying the pandemic. He was moved to intensive care in April after his symptoms dramatically worsened a day after he was hospitalized for what were called routine tests. He was given oxygen but did not need a ventilator, officials said. He later expressed his gratitude to National Health Service staff for saving his life when his treatment could have “gone either way.” Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, also tested positive in March and showed mild symptoms.Jair Bolsonaro
The Brazilian president announced his illness in July and used it to publicly extol hydroxychloroquine, the unproven malaria drug that he’d been promoting as a treatment for COVID-19 and was taking himself. For months he had flirted with the virus, calling it a “little flu,” as he flouted social distancing at lively demonstrations and encouraged crowds during outings from the presidential residence, often without a mask.  Juan Orlando Hernandez
The Honduras president announced in June that he had tested positive, along with two other people who worked closely with him. Hernández said he had started what he called the “MAIZ treatment,” an experimental and unproven combination of microdacyn, azithromycin, ivermectin and zinc. He was briefly hospitalized and released. He has added his voice to growing pleas for equitable access to any COVID-19 vaccine, asking the recent U.N. gathering of world leaders, “Are people to be left to die?”  Alexander Lukashenko
The president of Belarus, who dismissed concerns about the virus as “psychosis” and recommended drinking vodka to stay healthy, said in July he had contracted it himself but was asymptomatic. Belarus is one of the few countries that took no comprehensive measures against the virus. Other top officials in former Soviet states who were infected include Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.Prince Albert ii of Monaco
The palace of Monaco in March said the ruler of the tiny Mediterranean principality tested positive but his health was not worrying. He was the first head of state who publicly said he was infected.Alejandra Giammattei
The Guatemalan president said he tested positive for the virus in September. “My symptoms are very mild. Up to now, I have body aches, it hurt more yesterday than today, like a bad cold,” he said during a televised address. “I don’t have a fever, I have a bit of a cough.” He said he’d be working from home.Jeanine Anez
The virus drove the Bolivian interim president into isolation in July, but she said she was feeling well.  Juis Abinader
The newly elected president of the Dominican Republic contracted and recovered from COVID-19 during his campaign. He spent weeks in isolation before the country’s July election.Iran
Iran, the epicenter of the Mideast’s initial coronavirus outbreak, has seen several top officials test positive. Among them are senior Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri and Vice President Massoumeh Ebtekar. Cabinet members have tested positive, too.  India  
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, 71, recently tested positive but his office said he had no symptoms and was quarantined at home. Home Minister Amit Shah, the No. 2 man in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, was hospitalized for COVID-19 last month and has recovered. Junior Railways Minister Suresh Angadi last week was the first federal minister to die from COVID-19.Israel
Israel’s then-Health Minister Yaakov Litzman tested positive in April and recovered. Litzman is a leader in Israel’s ultra-Orthodox community, which has seen a high rate of infection as many have defied restrictions on religious gatherings. The minister for Jerusalem affairs, Rafi Peretz, tested positive over the summer as cases surged nationwide and recovered.South Africa
The country’s defense minister, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, mineral resources and energy minister, Gwede Mantashe, and labor minister, Thulas Nxesi, were infected as cases surged in June and July.South Sudan
Vice President Riek Machar was among several Cabinet ministers infected.Gambia
Vice President Isatou Touray tested positive in July along with the ministers of finance, energy and agriculture.  Guinea-Bissau
Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam in April said he tested positive.
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A British judge will deliver a decision January 4 on whether to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States to face charges, including espionage.District Judge Vanessa Baraitser made the announcement at London’s Old Bailey Court after nearly four weeks of hearings.The U.S. has requested extradition of Australian-born Assange on 17 espionage charges and one charge of misusing computers in connection with Wikileaks’ 2010 and 2011 publication of thousands of confidential U.S. cables, mainly relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.A group of protesters gathered in front of the court in support of Assange.After the court adjourned, Stella Moris, Assange’s fiancée and the mother of his two young children, called for his release.”Julian is a publisher,” she said. “Julian is also a son, he’s a friend. He’s my fiancé and a father. Our children need their father, Julian needs his freedom, and our democracy needs a free press. Thank you.”Kristinn Hrafnsson, a Wikileaks editor, said extradition would mean ”darkness for us all.””After all these four weeks, we should be in no doubt that there is only one thing that has to happen as an outcome of these proceedings,” Hrafnsson said. “If Julian Assange is extradited it will mean darkness for us all. It cannot happen. We must take a stand. There can only be one outcome: no extradition.”Assange’s lawyers, fighting the U.S. extradition request, say the charges were politically motivated and that his mental health is at risk, arguing that U.S. prison conditions breach Britain’s human rights laws, adding that Assange and his lawyers were surveilled while he was in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.Lawyers representing the United States said that many of those arguments related to issues to be addressed in a trial and have no bearing on extradition.
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If you want to send money to someone in Haiti, collect money sent to you in Haiti, or exchange U.S. dollars for Haitian gourdes, you’re out of luck as of October 1.Haiti’s money exchange businesses are shuttered, and agents are on strike to protest a new regulation issued by Haiti’s central bank, Banque de la Republic d’Haiti (BRH).  Law 114-2, announced by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on September 18, aims to “regularize” money transfer procedures by mandating all transactions be paid out in Haitian gourdes. U.S. dollars cannot be collected even when the amount is sent in dollars, unless the recipient has a bank account with a balance in U.S. dollars.”We feel they are trying to target the middle class. This is not in our interest, so we are in the streets protesting as a first measure to let the officials know we won’t accept this,” said Renel Pierre, president of the National Union of Haitian Money Exchange Agents (Union Nationale Des Sous Agents de Transfers d’Haiti, UNATHA), in an interview with VOA Creole during the protest.  Renèl Pierre, president of the National Union of Haitian Money Exchange Agents, speaks during a protest in Port au Prince, Haiti. (Matiado Vilme/VOA)Pierre said the agents are especially angry about not having access to U.S. dollars.”It’s not good for the people, it’s not good for business,” he said. “I feel threatened,” a money transfer employee who participated in the protest told VOA Creole. “Look at how many people this decision is putting out of work. I’m not working today; this affects my children and other people who are connected to this business. Factories are starting to close. This is not good for Haiti.”The man, who did not want to give his name, said transfer agents would like to discuss the new measure with officials and negotiate better terms. Diaspora remittancesThe Haitian diaspora sent about Frantz Bernard Craan, president of the Haitian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. (Photo Renan Toussaint)According to Craan, in September 2018 the government issued a decree mandating all businesses display their prices in gourdes, but because of the economic crisis that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, most businesses did not adhere to it. So in September 2020, the Minister of Commerce issued a communique giving all businesses operating in Haiti 72 hours to display their prices in gourdes.Discussions followed on how to make that happen without causing too many disruptions for businesses and consumers. A memorandum was signed on September 22, he told VOA.  “As I have said, the only matter that concerns us for now is doing transactions in gourdes, but the memorandum also includes additional measures which should allow for — if everyone does their part — stabilizing the exchange rate. Because when there is instability such as we saw in 2019-2020, where the rate of inflation reached 40% and a 60% correction was needed, that makes it very difficult for businesses and consumers alike,” Craan said. Opposition support for protestThe money transfer protest received support from opposition party Pitit Dessalines leader Jean Charles Moise, who decried the measure as extremely unfair to the poor.  Jean Charles Moïse, leader of Pitit Dessalines opposition party, speaks in Port au Prince, Haiti. (Matiado Vilme/VOA)”It’s as if they take us for fools,” he told VOA Creole. “They know this will benefit them (the banks). When you force people to do business in gourdes, it will create an artificial shortage of U.S. dollars in the country. People won’t find dollars they need to conduct business. That will spark inflation, too, and a shortage of goods. People must be paid remittances in U.S. dollars.” Support for regulation Human rights lawyer Fanfan Levelle thinks the BRH regulation is a good idea.  “I agree with law 114-2, but I also think (BRH) needs to relieve the pressure on other sectors of the economy,” Levelle  said. “When you say money exchanges must pay out remittances in gourdes it’s a good decision, but let’s say a person is renting a home to someone living abroad who sends them $4,000 in U.S. dollars for rent that they go to cash in. They will receive that according to the exchange rate on the day the transaction occurred, which could cause them to fall short.”  He also expressed concern the measure will create new problems going forward.  A money transfer business is shuttered in protest of new regulation, in Port au Prince, Haiti. (Matiado Vilme/VOA)Central bank criticism  Out on the streets of Port-au-Prince, dozens of people participated in a sit-in in front of the BRH office.  “Our demands will increase by the day,” Etzer Jean Louis, leader of the Assembly of Political Opposition Parties (Ansanm Oganizasyon Politik de l’Opozisyon), told VOA, adding that this is his seventh sit-in. “We asked him (BRH chief Jean Baden Dubois) to lower the exchange rate, he refuses to listen to reason — instead, he issued this 114-2 law. We are defending the people and we can’t let this go.”  Jean Louis also criticized Dubois, who was previously the director-general of the bank, as being unqualified for the position he holds.  “The Central Bank governor Jean Baden Dubois is not an economist, we know he’s not an economist — they put him here as a figurehead to serve the oligarchy and do their bidding. The people need to breathe. They are oppressed,” he said. Businesses that regularly use money transfer services were also in the streets of Port-au-Prince on Thursday, in a show of solidarity. They told VOA they will keep supporting the exchange agents and money transfer owners until the BRH goes back on its decision.  
 
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EU leaders overcame a diplomatic stalemate Friday to agree on sanctions on Belarus after a long evening of summit talks, assuring Cyprus the bloc would stand firm on Turkey for its oil and gas drilling in the Mediterranean.The agreement to sanction some 40 Belarus officials accused of rigging an Aug. 9 presidential election allows the EU to make good on its promise to support pro-democracy protesters in Minsk and regain some credibility after weeks of delays.”We have unblocked sanctions on Belarus,” a senior EU official told Reuters.Another EU diplomat said: “It’s a decent compromise,” but gave no details.The EU’s chairman and chief executive were to give a news conference in the early hours of Friday.While Britain and Canada have imposed sanctions on Minsk to show support for pro-democracy demonstrations there, the impasse in the 27-nation EU, where decisions are taken by unanimity, has cost the bloc credibility, diplomats say.Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, on the day of his island’s 60th anniversary of independence from Britain, had demanded a much tougher stance on Turkey as the price for supporting Belarus sanctions.He said the EU must send a message that Ankara’s oil and gas exploration along the coast of the Mediterranean island is unacceptable.Germany pushed back against the imposition of EU sanctions on Turkey, fearing it would disrupt efforts to cool tensions with Greece.Turkey, both a candidate to join the EU and a member of NATO, has slid toward authoritarianism under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan but remains a strategically located partner that the EU cannot ignore.In a sign that the diplomatic stand-off is easing at least between Athens and Ankara, NATO announced on Thursday that the two alliance members had set up a “military de-confliction mechanism” to avoid accidental clashes at sea. 
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About 2,000 Honduran migrants hoping to reach the United States entered Guatemala on foot Thursday morning, testing the newly reopened frontier that had been shut by the coronavirus pandemic. Authorities had planned to register the migrants as they crossed and offer assistance to those willing to turn back, but the group crossed the official border at Corinto without registering, according to Guatemala immigration authorities. Outnumbered officials made no attempt to stop them. Before the crossing, Edwin Omar Molino, a 17-year-old from Cortes, said he wanted to leave Honduras because he couldn’t find work. He blamed President Juan Orlando Hernández for running the country into the ground.  “Even when you want to find a job, there aren’t any. That’s why we leave our country,” Molino said. “There’s the pandemic, and it scares me,” he added. But he said he wouldn’t be able to help his family get ahead without taking the risk. Migrants get a free ride from a trucker toward the Guatemalan border after leaving San Pedro Sula, Honduras, Oct. 1, 2020.Central American migrants began traveling in large groups in recent years, seeking safety in numbers and in some cases avoiding the cost of smugglers. Calls for a new migrant caravan to leave Oct. 1 had circulated for weeks on social media. The odds of a large migrant caravan reaching the U.S. border, already low, have grown increasingly slim over the past year. Under pressure from the United States, Mexico deployed its National Guard and more immigration agents to break up attempted caravans last year. They dispersed large groups of migrants attempting to travel together in southern Mexico. Crossing into the U.S. legally is virtually impossible now with the pandemic, and entering illegally is as difficult as ever. The departure of the new group was reminiscent of a migrant caravan that formed two years ago shortly before U.S. midterm elections. It became a hot issue in the campaign, fueling anti-immigrant rhetoric. While the caravans draw attention, they account for only a small fraction of the daily migration flow by small groups that pass unnoticed through Central America and Mexico.  The migrants who arrived at the Guatemala border on Thursday had set out walking the previous night from San Pedro Sula, jumping the gun on their own scheduled departure. At the border, Guatemalan officials were asking the migrants to provide documents showing a negative COVID-19 test — even though last week they said they wouldn’t require a test for those spending less than 72 hours in the country. Dozens of Guatemalan police and soldiers were maintaining order.  But about 2,000 migrants hustled through without registering. In addition, AP journalists saw others crossing the border illegally near the formal crossing. There were no reports of violence.  In the past, authorities have set up roadblocks deeper in the country to winnow larger groups. A regional agreement allows citizens of Honduras to transit through Guatemala. Migrants attempt to cross the border from Corinto, Honduras, into Corinto, Guatemala, Oct. 1, 2020.Those who walked down dark streets Wednesday night away from San Pedro Sula’s bus station carried small knapsacks, and many wore masks. They appeared to be mostly young men, though there were the occasional small children being pushed in strollers. Governments throughout the region made it known they were watching Wednesday. Mexico’s immigration agency said in a statement that it would enforce “safe, orderly and legal” migration and not do anything to promote the formation of a caravan. The U.S. Embassy in Honduras said Wednesday on Twitter that migration to the U.S. was more difficult than ever right now — and more dangerous because of the coronavirus. Poverty, crimeBut the factors driving migrants to leave Central America certainly haven’t eased during the pandemic. As economies have suffered, there are ever fewer jobs to be had, and the struggle for families to put food on the table has only worsened. Some migrants also cited the ever-present high rate of crime. The U.N.’s International Labor Organization said Wednesday that at least 34 million jobs have been lost in Latin America because of the pandemic. The ILO lists Latin America and the Caribbean as the worst-hit region in the world in terms of lost working hours, with a drop of 20.9% in the first three quarters of the year. Status of bordersThe flow of migrants north from Central America had slowed dramatically during the pandemic as countries throughout the region closed their borders. Most migrant shelters along the principal routes closed their doors to new arrivals as they tried to keep the virus from spreading to vulnerable populations. Mexico and the United States deported hundreds of migrants back to their home countries to try to empty detention centers. Guatemala has now opened all of its borders, including the one with Mexico. But the U.S.-Mexico border remains closed for nonessential travel, and the U.S. government effectively shut down the asylum system at its southern border during the pandemic.  Mexico tried to bus asylum-seekers stuck at its northern border to other parts of the country and back to their home countries. Mexico has typically offered migrants the opportunity to seek asylum there, but many have their minds set on the United States. Migrants are also likely to find it more difficult to find work in Mexico now as the economy is expected to contract 10% this year because of the impact of the pandemic. 
 
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Britain’s primary environmental agency announced that beginning Thursday a ban on all “single-use” beverage straws is in effect, making it illegal for businesses to sell or supply them to individual customers.
 
The ban was passed and set to take effect in April, but the COVID-19 pandemic prompted law makers to postpone its implementation so as to not impose a further burden on businesses.
 
A statement Thursday from Britain’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural affairs says the ban includes plastic straws, stirrers and cotton swabs.
 
In a statement on its official web site, the agency says it is estimated Britain uses 4.7 billion plastic straws, 316 million plastic stirrers, and 1.8 billion plastic-stemmed cotton swabs annually, many of which find their way into the ocean.
 
In the statement, Britain’s Environment Secretary George Eustice said single-use plastics cause “real devastation to the environment” and the government is firmly committed to tackling the issue.
 
He said the ban on straws, stirrers and cotton swabs is just the next step in “our battle against plastic pollution and our pledge to protect our ocean and the environment for future generations.”
 
Exemptions to the ban include disabled persons or those who need them for medical purposes. Some catering businesses also will be allowed to use plastic straws or stirrers in certain circumstances, and businesses may sell some of the banned items to other businesses. 
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Millions of Madrileños were preparing to go into lockdown once again Thursday as authorities in Western Europe’s worst hotspot shut down the Spanish capital to try to halt a new surge in COVID-19 cases. The Spanish government gave regional authorities 48 hours to comply with new restrictions which will affect this city of more than 3 million people and nine surrounding communities.  Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the head of Madrid’s city government, said regional authorities will abide by the order but will challenge the Spanish government in the courts, widening a rift between her conservative regional administration and the minority left-wing coalition central government. Other regions such as Catalonia, Andalusia and Galicia have also opposed the new restrictions. Madrid authorities say the lockdown will damage the economy of the Spanish capital which thrives on its bars, restaurants and — in normal times — tourists. A waiter wearing a protective face mask waits for customers in his terrace at Plaza Mayor square amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, in Madrid, Spain, Oct. 1, 2020.The dispute has been widely criticized by health workers and epidemiologists who say the bickering has hindered attempts to save lives in Europe’s worst-hit city. Spain, with the highest infection rate in the European Union, has reported 300 coronavirus cases per 100,000 inhabitants during the past two weeks. Madrid, where over a third of all Spain’s cases have been recorded, reported 735 cases per 100,000 people. By Thursday, Spain had recorded 769,188 cases — the highest in Western Europe — and 31,791 deaths. Efforts wane As the pressure on the city’s hospitals and health centers has mounted, doctors said authorities have given up its track and trace program. “They have left us to our own fate,” Angela Hernández, vice president of the Madrid Doctors Association, told VOA. She said track and trace teams in Madrid have stopped trying to reach people who have tested positive for COVID-19, including school children and any family or friends. “With no track and tracing, it means this can only get worse even if they close down the city,” said Hernández. “The politicians should have used this moment to help the public regardless of political differences. … Instead, they just want to perpetuate their own positions.” People queue for a rapid antigen test for COVID-19 in the southern neighborhood of Vallecas in Madrid, Spain, Oct. 1, 2020.The new curbs will apply to Madrid, with a population of over 3 million, and nine surrounding municipalities with populations of at least 100,000 each. Borders will be closed to outsiders for non-essential visits, with only those traveling for work, school or medical visits allowed to cross. Bars and restaurants will be subject to a curfew between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. Residents will not have to stay at home, as happened during the state of emergency in March, but can move around their own areas. Protests  Ayuso agreed to abide by the lockdown order but said the battle was not over. “Madrid is not in rebellion. We will obey them but we will go to court to oppose them. This plan destroys Madrid,” she said. A partial lockdown has already been imposed in many of the poorer areas of Madrid with high infection rates, prompting demonstrations. Protesters said they felt marginalized by the conservative authorities who were putting jobs at risk. “It is OK for me to travel to Salamanca to serve at the tables of the rich, but they put restrictions on my area where I live,” said Gema Ordoñez, a waitress who works at a cafe in one of the most exclusive areas of Madrid and lives in Vallecas, an area placed under partial lockdown. “Many people where I live do not have jobs with contracts. If they have to stay at home because someone has tested positive for the virus, they will lose their jobs.” A man wearing a face mask to prevent the spread of the coronavirus walks in the southern neighborhood of Vallecas in Madrid, Spain, Oct. 1, 2020.Rafael Bengoa, a former World Health Organization director and one-time adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama, said shutting down Madrid was the only option. “Imposing partial lockdowns does not work. There is community transmission so it means a total lockdown must happen,” he told VOA. Echoes of a bitter past The bitter political fighting evokes dark memories and raises alarms in a nation that has yet to fully heal from a 1936-1939 civil war between forces on the left and right that resulted in the deaths of an estimated half-million people.  Jason Webster, the author of Violencia which tells the history of Spain’s violent past, said: “Sadly, what’s happening now in Madrid — the petty point-scoring, politicians caring more about damaging their opponents than actually serving the people who elected them — is nothing new.  “People are used to it, but the damage lingers and festers until seemingly out of nowhere there comes an explosion. Only time will tell whether that will happen again.” 
 
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Barbados intends to remove Britain’s Queen Elizabeth as head of state and become a republic. Observers say the former British colony has debated such a move for decades, but the Black Lives Matter movement and resentment over Britain’s treatment of Caribbean migrants have acted as catalysts. But one prominent British MP is blaming China for pressuring Barbados into breaking ties with Britain, as Henry Ridgwell reports from London.  PRODUCER: Jon Spier
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Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is calling on Georgian authorities to guarantee the safety of journalists covering the parliamentary election campaign in the country after TV crews were attacked during clashes between pro-government and pro-opposition activists.”We call on the leaders of the two parties to condemn these attacks and we urge the authorities to conduct an exhaustive and transparent investigation in order to identify those responsible,” the Paris-based watchdog said in a statement  on October 1, warning that the environment for journalists has “worsened” in the run-up to the October 31 vote.RSF said at least five journalists covering the campaign were physically attacked in the southern town of Marneuli on September 29 during clashes between members of the ruling Georgian Dream party and the opposition United National Movement.Jeyhun Muhamedali, one of four journalists with the opposition TV channel Mtavari Arkhi, was hospitalized with a head injury sustained during the violence, in which a camera and microphone were damaged, according to the group.A camera operator with Georgia’s public broadcaster GPB was also attacked and his camera smashed.Georgian police have launched an investigation into the violence and into the obstruction of journalists’ work.”The state has an obligation to guarantee journalists’ safety. With four weeks to go to a high-stakes election, impunity for those responsible for violence must be combatted,” said Jeanne Cavelier, the head of RSF’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk.The South Caucasus country is ranked 60th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2020 World Press Freedom Index. 
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Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has told a German magazine that Russian President Vladimir Putin was behind his poisoning.In excerpts of his comments released Thursday by Der Spiegel, Navalny said, “I don’t have any other versions of how the crime was committed.”The Kremlin has denied any involvement.Navalny fell ill on an August 20 flight and was initially hospitalized in the Siberian city of Omsk.Russian doctors said they found no trace of poisoning, but after Navalny was transferred to a hospital in Germany, tests there showed he was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok, originally developed by the former Soviet Union. Subsequent tests by French and Swedish laboratories confirmed that result.The same type of nerve agent was used in a 2018 attack against a former spy in Britain.Navalny is a frequent critic of Putin and told Der Spiegel he plans to return to Russia.“My job now is to remain the guy who isn’t scared,” he told the magazine. “And I’m not scared.”Navalny spent 32 days in the hospital, and his German doctors have said he could make a full recovery.  
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Hundreds of Central American migrants have begun a long journey on foot in hopes of reaching the United States.The Associated Press reports the caravan left San Pedro Sula, Honduras, late Wednesday for the Guatemala border, which reopened two weeks ago after restricting travel for months to slow the spread of the coronavirus.Although smaller than caravans of recent years that numbered in the thousands, the group has gotten the attention of Mexico and the United States.A Twitter message from the U.S. Embassy in Honduras on Wednesday seemed to discourage the journey, saying that migration to the U.S. was more difficult than before and more dangerous because of the coronavirus.Mexico said in a statement it would make sure the activities of the migrants are legal and not disruptive.The flow of Central American migrants heading north has slowed during the pandemic, but migration experts note the factors and conditions spurring people to leave the region have not abated.
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