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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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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday there would be “tough times ahead” for businesses, as another international company announced it was suspending operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Johnson spoke with reporters as it was announced that Cineworld will temporarily close 127 theaters in Britain and 536 theaters in its U.S. Regal movie theater chain following news that the latest James Bond film will be postponed again.The closings will affect 40,000 employees in the United States and 5,000 in Britain.Johnson, while encouraging people to support their local movies theaters, said that despite government efforts to support jobs impacted by the pandemic, “clearly there are going to be tough times ahead.” He encouraged people to support their local movie houses that observe COVID-safe practices. Johnson also acknowledged that more than 15,000 coronavirus cases had been missed and not been transferred into the computer database due to a technical glitch. He said the cases, which were all positive between Sept. 25 and Oct. 2, and their contacts had been identified once the error was discovered.Johnson said the current infection rate in Britain was “pretty much where we thought we were,” and the next few days would tell whether the extra restrictions put in place in several parts of the country were working.He said if people followed the measures put in place in their areas, the so-called “rule of six” — limiting gatherings to six or less — self-isolation following contact, masks and hand-washing, he had “no doubt that we will be able to get on top of it, as indeed we did earlier this year.””This is all very much in our hands collectively,” he said.
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The World Health Organization says roughly one in 10 people around the world may have been infected with the coronavirus.  The head of the health emergencies program at the World Health Organization, Michael Ryan, said Monday that the agency’s “best estimates” indicate 10 percent of the world’s population could have contracted the virus.  That estimate, which would amount to more than 760 million people, is more than 20 times the number of confirmed cases in the world and would still leave more than 90 percent of the population susceptible to the virus. Speaking to a special session of the WHO’s 34-member executive board in Geneva, Ryan said the figures vary between countries but the estimate means “the vast majority of the world remains at risk,” adding that “we are now heading into a difficult period.” The number of confirmed worldwide cases tallied by the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center surpassed 35 million Monday, a week after surpassing 1 million coronavirus deaths. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is seen outside the BBC headquarters, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in London, October 4, 2020.Several European nations hit their own pandemic milestones with Germany reporting Monday its total confirmed cases exceed 300,000, Britain recording 500,000 cases, and Spain becoming the first European country to surpass 800,000 total coronavirus cases. In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson sought on Monday to play down a failure in his country’s testing data system that did not initially show 16,000 coronavirus test results. “To be frank, I think that the slightly lower numbers that we’d seen didn’t really reflect where we thought that the disease was likely to go,” Johnson said. Also Monday, Britain’s Cineworld, the second-largest movie theater chain in the world, announced it would temporarily close its British and U.S. theaters. Coronavirus lockdown orders and restrictions on group gatherings have badly hurt the movie industry. Cineworld said the move would affect 45,000 jobs.  To address broader job losses in the country’s economy, the British government on Monday launched a new $300 million program aimed at helping people get back to work.  In the United States, about two-thirds of U.S. states reported an increase in new coronavirus cases in the past week, mostly in the West and Midwest, according to data tracked by the Washington Post. The United States has recorded more than 7.4 million cases of coronavirus and nearly 210,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.  A man walks with his family, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2020, in the Borough Park neighborhood of New York. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he’s ordering schools in certain New York City neighborhoods closed within a day to slow a flare-up of the coronavirus.New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered schools in several coronavirus “hot spots” around the state to close beginning on Tuesday, including parts of the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. U.S. President Donald Trump remained hospitalized Monday after testing positive for COVID-19 last week.  In New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday that restrictions in the city of Auckland would be lifted Wednesday.  The measures were put in place to stamp out an outbreak in the country’s largest city in August, which threatened to reverse New Zealand’s progress toward eliminating the coronavirus.  In France, starting Tuesday, Paris bars will close for two weeks and restaurants will begin using new sanitary protocols, according to the prime minister’s office.   France on Sunday reported 12,565 new cases of coronavirus, while 893 COVID-19 patients had been admitted into intensive care over the past week.   Iceland’s government announced new coronavirus restrictions Monday following a spike in cases. The government ordered bars, gyms and entertainment venues to close and sharply reduced the number of people allowed to gather in public. In Russia, Moscow’s Ministry of Education announced that city schools would switch to a distance learning format as cases have climbed to more than 10,000 per day in Russia. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced Monday she is self-isolating after attending a meeting last week with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Von der Leyen said she tested negative on Thursday and would be tested again Monday.  
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Social activists in Brazil say the coronavirus pandemic is causing an increase in the number of homeless people in country’s largest city, Sao Paulo. Many lost their jobs and found themselves risking their health by crowding into long lines for food distribution. At the Sao Miguel Arcanjo Church, volunteers try to help, but it’s a tiny effort against a mountain of challenges facing the population.  Edgar Maciel reports from Sao Paulo.Camera: Edgar Maciel 
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European Commission Chair Ursula von der Leyen said Monday that she will self-isolate after learning she was exposed last week to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.  Von der Leyen was in Portugal’s capital, Lisbon on September 29, where she attended several meetings and met with various Portuguese officials.In a message posted on Twitter Monday, the head of the European Union’s executive branch said she was told one of those meetings was attended by “a person who yesterday (Sunday) tested positive.”   In subsequent tweet Monday, von der Leyen said her latest test came back negative, but added she would continue isolating until Tuesday evening.    Her isolation will keep her close to work: She has a small living quarters next to her office in the EU headquarters in Brussels.Two weeks ago, EU Council President Charles Michel was forced to postpone a summit of EU leaders because he was quarantining.
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In Madrid, the mayor has bowed before the law of the land, but has vowed to take Spain’s central government to the courts to try to reverse new more restrictive coronavirus lockdown rules.  In Marseilles, the mayor has expressed her fury with Emmanuel Macron’s government for ordering the closure of all restaurants and bars in France’s second largest city, saying nothing justifies the order.  In a string of northern English towns the anger is echoed. There, mayors are also questioning the orthodoxy of lockdowns, arguing that infection rates are trending up even in locked-down towns. FILE – A sign promoting social distancing is hung on a post near the Crown and Anchor pub following a spike in cases of COVID-19 to visitors of the pub in Stone, Britain, July 30, 2020.They are not going as far as to ignore government instructions, although last week, Andy Preston, mayor of Middlesbrough, a struggling post-industrial town in Yorkshire, came close, suggesting at one point he might defy the order.Preston has bemoaned the central government’s decision to ban households mixing in pubs, restaurants and public spaces in the town of 138,000, saying new strict rules will have a detrimental effect on jobs as well as on mental health.   FILE – A view shows a Teeside University lecture taking place at the Middlesbrough’s Town Hall, in Middlesbrough, Britain, Sept. 28, 2020.Preston is not alone. City and regional leaders in several European countries are becoming increasingly frustrated with the pandemic restrictions central governments are imposing from on high. Local leaders say they are better placed to know when and how to tighten restrictions, or whether they are needed at all. They fear central governments are not getting the balance right between protecting lives and saving livelihoods and businesses. Resurgence The emerging pattern of pushback coincides with an alarming rise in infection rates in Europe. National governments are warning that the surge in cases, if not contained could end up overwhelming hospitals. A general view taken from a wheel shows people gathering during a protest against the government’s restrictions, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Konstanz, Germany, Oct. 4, 2020.The surge in cases is now being seen, too, in Italy and Germany, countries that had appeared to be bucking the trend. They were thought to have been squelching a second wave of infections being seen in neighboring countries. But on Saturday, Italy reached its highest daily tally since 24 April with authorities reporting 2,844 new infections, up from 2,499 cases the day before.  Italy is one of the few countries where regional and local authorities tend to be even keener on lockdowns than central government, often imposing restrictions ahead of direct orders from Rome. People wear face masks as local authorities in Rome order face coverings to be worn at all times out of doors in an effort to counter rising coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infections, Oct. 2, 2020.In Campania, the regional president Vincenzo De Luca Saturday ordered all residents to wear face masks when they are outside their homes. “There is no third way. Masks must be worn on the face, not on the elbow. If the alternative is between having people dying on the street or taking a pleasant stroll, there will be no doubt … everything will close.” Campania is one of Italy’s most densely populated and poorest regions and it is now registering  the highest daily tally of new infections in the country. “We must return to the strict behavior of February, March and April, otherwise we get sick,” he warned.  Anger building But in other countries municipal frustration is boiling amid mounting fears of permanent economic damage. In both Britain and France, local leaders complain they are not being consulted before the announcement of new restrictions and are given no opportunity to help shape the rules.“The Marseille town hall was not consulted,” complained Michèle Rubirola, the mayor, last week after the government imposed tighter restrictions on the city. The decision to shutter restaurants and bars and left her “astonished and angry,” she said. Bars and restaurants owners demonstrate agianst the closure orders due to COVID-19, in Marseille, southeastern France, on Oct. 2, 2020.The city’s first deputy mayor, Benoît Payan, criticized the restrictions and said the government had ignored a plea for a 10-day reprieve to show that the city’s own measures were working.“Once again our territory is being sanctioned, punished, singled out,” he says. “Our city has been put in virtual confinement without anyone having been consulted. Marseille deserves better than being beaten down, or of serving as an example,” he added. Many small business owners in Marseille agree with their local leaders. One restaurant owner, Laurent Catz, told Le Figaro newspaper the decision was “catastrophic” for his business.” “We cannot ignore the health situation but it is almost a death sentence for the profession,” he said. “We are still recovering and we are being shut down again.” Another restaurateur, Frédéric Leclair, told the newspaper: “I have trouble understanding this decision, especially since I have a beautiful terrace where I can enforce social distancing. FILE – A man wearing a face mask walks past the closed terrace of a restaurant near Le Vieux Port in Marseille, southern France, on Sept. 28, 2020.Lack of uniformity in determining the reasons for lockdowns is not helping Britain’s ruling Conservatives to calm mounting frustration. Some city mayors and opposition parties in Britain are questioning whether bias dictates which towns and areas get locked-down.Jonathan Ashworth, a senior Labor party politician, told the BBC: “Because there is no clear guidelines as to why an area goes into restrictions and how an area comes out of restrictions then there is a suspicion that there is political interference – I hope there isn’t. But until the government publishes clear guidelines, that suspicion will always linger.” The government is being accused by some of sparing wealthy Conservative voting areas from local coronavirus lockdowns. Critics point out that Labor-voting areas with comparatively lower infection rates have been facing tougher restrictions than their more affluent neighbors.  Dominic Harrison, director of public health in the town of Blackburn, wrote to ministers last week warning that more economically challenged boroughs were “ being placed into more restrictive control measures at an earlier point in their … case rate trajectory.” Other critics complain that districts represented by Cabinet ministers tend to escape local lockdown orders, despite sometimes having higher case numbers than districts ordered to shutter.   Government officials say the incidence rate is “only one of a set of considerations regarding when it is appropriate to impose and release restrictions.” A Health Ministry spokesperson said in a statement: “While we recognize how much of an imposition these measures are, they are based on the latest scientific evidence in order to suppress the virus and protect us all while doing everything possible to support the economy.”  But critics of the regional and local lockdowns warn the economic consequences are now becoming too hard to bear and risk leaving a permanent scar. The issue of public health versus public welfare and wealth is likely only to become more heated, say analysts, as unemployment rises and a rising number of businesses close permanently.   Pragmatism, individualism  Municipal and regional critics of central government-dictated lockdowns appear to be catching the public mood in some countries. “National solidarity and unthinking compliance is evolving into a more pragmatic, individualist mood,” according to commentator Janice Turner. “Every time the rules change, they lose a little more faith,” she says. The rules are becoming white noise and as they do so “more people will resort to what they think is right,” she adds.   A “Zero Covid” strategy won’t work long-term, critics warn. Government officials across Europe counter they are only following the science. But this is now being questioned by some scientists themselves, who say the trade-offs are not something they should decide.FILE – A man sits in an empty cafe in London, Sept. 24, 2020.“Both the virus and the ways of tackling it cause harm and need to be balanced: for example, how much should young people’s education be compromised to protect older people from infection? This is a ‘wicked problem’ with no winners in which we are trying to trade jobs, freedoms and health against each other,” says Graham Medley,  professor of infectious disease modeling at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Writing in The Times newspaper he said: “While scientists can ensure that any strategies are underpinned by the best evidence and research, they should have no greater say in them than economists, ethicists, historians and the wider public. The question of whether New Zealand’s approach is ‘better’ than Sweden’s is as much a social as a scientific one,” he added.  FILE – Medical staff prepare to take a COVID-19 tests at a drive through community based assessment center in Christchurch, New Zealand, Aug. 13, 2020.New Zealand and Sweden have pursued dramatically different pandemic strategies. Sweden has taken a much softer more hands-off approach, while New Zealand put in place lockdown measures earlier this year even before their first case was recorded. In Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the president of greater Madrid’s regional government, has warned that more restrictions will be “the ruin of Madrid and the ruin of Spain.” The Spanish economy contracted by 18.5% in the second quarter of this year. What she has dubbed “arbitrary rules” will result in “queues of hungry people again and unemployment figures that will multiply tenfold.” On the streets of Middlesbrough last week, the town mayor’s frustration with the new more restrictive rules appeared to resonate with many locals saying they fear that combating the virus is elbowing out the equally important goal of saving livelihoods.  Paula Hoare, 27, told reporters, “The mayor is sticking up for the town where there is already massive poverty.”   
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Seven bodies were found in a region straddling the French-Italian border near Nice on Sunday after torrential rains swept houses and roads away, officials in both countries said.Five of the bodies were discovered in northwestern Italy, including four washed up on the shore between the towns of Ventimiglia and Santo Stefano al Mare, near the French frontier. Some of the corpses might have been swept down the coast from France.Two more were found in France, including a shepherd found by an Italian search and rescue team. The other body was found in a vehicle that had been swept away by flash-flooding in the village of Saint-Martin-Vésubie.It brings to nine the number of people found dead after fierce rains and howling gales lashed the border area on Friday. French firefighters said another 21 people were missing, eight of them known to be as a direct result of the storm.The bad weather caused millions of euros in damage, with several road bridges swept away in Italy, and streets in some towns littered with debris, mud and overturned cars.Officials in the Piedmont region reported a record 630 mm (24.8 inches) of rain in 24 hours in Sambughetto, near Switzerland, more than half its annual average rainfall.In Limone Piemonte, a three-story house was swept off its foundations and into a river. In the nearby village of Tanaro, floodwaters destroyed the local cemetery, sweeping away dozens of coffins.In France, almost 1,000 firefighters were drafted into the Alpes-Maritimes region to look for the missing and re-establish communications. More than two dozen primary and secondary schools in the area are closed until further notice, local authorities said.Up to 500 mm (19.5 inches) of rain fell in less than 10 hours, a volume not seen since records began, Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Saturday.
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Police in Minsk, Belarus used water cannon to disperse crowds as protests against President Alexander Lukashenko continued for the ninth straight Sunday. An estimated 100,000 people took to the streets of the capital Sunday.Since the longtime president claimed victory in a contested election August 9, protesters have regularly taken to the streets demanding his resignation and the release of political prisoners.Lukashenko maintains he won the poll in a landslide — garnering 80% of all ballots — despite widespread claims at home and abroad the vote was heavily rigged to keep him in power.For Belarus Protesters, Battle is for Long HaulDemonstrations intensified after an embattled Lukashenko was secretly sworn in for yet another term, but protesters realize the end may not come soonOver the weekend, Belarus canceled the accreditation of all foreign journalists.Late last week, the European Union imposed sanctions on about 40 Belarusian officials accused of falsifying the election results and cracking down on the subsequent protests. Lukashenko was not on the list.Public anger has stewed over the crackdown in the wake of the protests that have seen more than 7,500 arrests and police violence against demonstrators.Hundreds have emerged from police custody with bruises and tales of torture at the hands of Lukashenko’s security agents.Lukashenko has said the protests are encouraged and supported by the West and accused NATO of moving forces near Belarusian borders. The alliance has denied the accusations.
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Heavy fighting continued Sunday between Armenian and Azerbaijan forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, a primarily ethnic Armenian region in Azerbaijan.Azerbaijani officials said Armenian forces had begun attacking Azerbaijan’s second largest city, Ganja. Unverified videos on Twitter from government officials show damaged buildings.Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry rejected accusations that Azerbaijan’s military had targeted civilians. Officials in Nagorno-Karabakh have said nearly 200 of their service personnel had been killed. Azerbaijan confirmed the deaths of at least 24 civilians.Armenian, Azerbaijani Forces Continue to ClashOngoing conflict over breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh is threatening to erupt into all-out warIn a statement released Sunday, the International Committee of the Red Cross condemned the violence.“All feasible measures must be taken to protect and spare civilians and civilian infrastructures like hospitals, schools and markets. Water supply for civilians must also be protected. These are obligations under international humanitarian law,” Martin Schüepp, ICRC Eurasia regional director in Geneva, said in the statement.Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said late Saturday that his forces “raised the flag” over the strategic town of Madagiz and had taken several villages.The Armenian Defense Ministry said separatist forces in Nagorno-Karabakh had fended off a large Azerbaijani attack, and spokeswoman Shushan Stepanian pointed to intense fighting “along the entire front line,” saying Armenian forces had shot down three Azerbaijani planes.Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry denied any aircraft were shot down and said Armenian personnel had shelled civilian territory.     Azerbaijan has not offered details on military casualties.Vahram Poghosyan, a spokesman for Nagorno-Karabakh’s president, said Saturday on Facebook that intelligence showed that about 3,000 Azerbaijanis were killed in the fighting, without providing details.Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Ovannisian said later Saturday that 2,300 Azerbaijani troops were killed, including about 400 in the previous day; however, this claim cannot be verified.President Aliyev has demanded the withdrawal of Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh as the only way to end the fighting.Meanwhile, Nagorno-Karabakh authorities have called on the international community to “recognize the independence” of the enclave as “the only effective mechanism to restore peace.” Armenian and Azerbaijani forces ignored calls this past week by the United States, France and Russia for an immediate cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh, as fighting escalated to levels not seen since the 1990s. The three countries co-chair the OSCE Minsk Group, which is tasked with finding a peaceful solution. The OSCE is the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.Armenian separatists seized Nagorno-Karabakh, formerly an autonomous territory within 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 collapsed in 2010.
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