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One of Venezuela’s oldest newspapers was evicted from its own building Friday, after members of the National Guard, accompanied by a judge, executed a court order.
 
The Caracas offices of El Nacional were seized as part of a civil defamation case in which a court ordered the media outlet to pay more than US $13 million to Diosdado Cabello, a high-ranking official in Venezuela’s ruling Socialist Party and former president of the National Assembly.   
 
Miguel Henrique Otero, the paper’s editor-in-chief who lives in exile in Madrid, Spain, compared the court order to “a robbery” and said it was proof that freedom of the press no longer exists in Venezuela.  
 
In April, Venezuela’s Civil Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice ordered El Nacional to pay damages to Cabello as part of a civil defamation complaint filed after the outlet republished an article by Spanish news outlet ABC.
 
Cabello has denied any links to drug trafficking.  
 
Otero said the seizure was “worse than expropriation” — where a government takes ownership of a property for public benefit — because it did not involve any legal procedure.
 
Lawyers for El Nacional plan to appeal. Because the media group publishes only online, it is still able to produce news content.
 
“The value of the building has nothing to do with the compensation,” Otero said, adding that he believes the damages are “an arbitrary figure” that is unjustified.  
 
The journalist compared the case to when Venezuela expropriated the studios of Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV) in 2007. The then government of Hugo Chavez refused to renew the broadcaster’s license and a court ordered the military to seize control of RCTV’s equipment and installations, Reuters reported at the time.FILE – The last print edition of El Nacional, one of Venezuela’s oldest newspapers, is seen in a December 2018 photo. (VOA/Adriana Nuñez Rabascall and Alvaro Algarra)RCTV was replaced by the state-run TVES television channel, but in El Nacional’s case, Otero said, his building was turned over to Cabello. “They make him a millionaire,” he said.  
 
Cabello was cited on May 12 as saying on Twitter that the El Nacional building is not for the Venezuela government, and demanded that Otero pay the damages ordered by the court. “You can pay me in cash, or by check (with verified funds) I’ll use the money to buy vaccines. If not, I will have to seize your properties,” Cabello was cited as saying. 
 
The lawmaker said that he intends to use the building for a university of communications.
 
“The U.S. and media rights groups have condemned the actions against El Nacional.
 
Julie Chung, acting assistant secretary for the U.S. State Department’s bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, said on Twitter, “The raid on [El Nacional] is not against a building or property, but against freedom of the press. This responsibility for this violation falls directly on the regime.”
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) described the court order as “the latest step in a long and arbitrary process of judicial harassment and abuses” against El Nacional for its reporting on corruption.   
 
“By taking control of the headquarters of one of the most influential outlets in the country, Venezuelan authorities have shown they will go to extraordinary lengths to suppress independent news,” Natalie Southwick, who heads CPJ’s South and Central America program said in a statement.
 
Venezuela has a poor press freedom record, scoring 148 out of 180 counties, where 1 is the most free, according to an annual index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The media watchdog cites harassment of independent media, arbitrary arrests and a “tense climate” that has led many journalists to flee.
 
Founded in 1943, El Nacional is one of Venezuela’s oldest newspapers. Under Nicolás Maduro’s government, it has faced obstacles to its reporting, including administration officials who refuse to speak to its staff, government advertising being pulled, and a shortage of paper forcing the daily to eventually move online.  
 
As part of the Cabello lawsuit, a court in 2015 imposed a travel ban on Otero and around 20 other journalists, staff and shareholders at the paper, according to the CPJ.
 
Otero told VOA that the newspaper’s archives “are outside” of the building. Venezuelan analysts, intellectuals and journalists say that with nearly 80 years’ history, El Nacional has one of the largest and more complete archives in the country.
 This article originated in VOA’s Spanish-language division. 
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The United States announced this week that it will share an additional 20 million coronavirus vaccine doses with other countries, in addition to the 60 million it has already committed. The unanswered question: where will the vaccines go?U.S. State Department Coordinator for Global COVID Response Gayle Smith sidestepped that issue Wednesday during a rapid-fire teleconference, despite repeated, urgent inquires from journalists in the Caribbean, India, Brazil, Africa, East Asia, and the European Union. However, Smith emphasized the U.S. is working closely with the global COVAX facility to determine where the vaccines are needed most, and how they can be most equitably distributed.    FILE – Gayle Smith, State Department Coordinator for Global COVID-19 Response and Health Security, speaks about U.S. leadership in fighting the coronavirus pandemic at the State Department in Washington, April 5, 2021.“We have not made the decisions on allocations yet,” she said, repeatedly. “We’ll have that information for you sometime in the near term. What we are doing is looking at every region in the world and we are well aware of the extremely low vaccine coverage on the African continent.”  Health experts at the United Nations estimate that of the 1.4 billion doses administered worldwide, only 24 million have reached Africa — less than 2%. The other point Smith emphasized: Despite the fact that the U.S.’s top adversaries, China and Russia, are ramping up their own vaccine donations around the world, this move by the U.S. is not a case of “vaccine diplomacy.” Smith stressed repeatedly that the U.S. will distribute according to need, and not to curry favor.      “Our view, with respect to vaccine diplomacy — and I think a really important point here — is that vaccines are tools for public health,” she said. “They are the means for bringing this pandemic to an end. We do not see them, do not intend to use them as a means for influence or pressure. And our decisions will be made on the basis of need, public health data and again, collaboration with key partners, absolutely including COVAX.”   However, Smith did note that the U.S. is the biggest donor of vaccines to the COVAX facility, and urged other wealthy nations to step up. She also noted that this vaccine donation will be accompanied by investments in vaccine manufacturing sites around the world, and U.S. assistance to improve other countries’ access to therapeutics and testing.     In making the donation announcement earlier this week, President Joe Biden explained his rationale for sending these vaccines, which were funded in large part by U.S. taxpayers, across the planet. “There’s a lot of talk about Russia and China influencing the world with vaccines,” he said. “We want to lead the world with our values, with this illustration of our innovation and ingenuity, and the fundamental decency of American people. Just as in World War II, America was the arsenal of democracy, in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic our nation is going to be the arsenal of vaccines for the rest of the world.” 
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An international team of scientists gathering in Spain Wednesday will launch a project to determine once and for all where famed explorer Christopher Columbus came from by examining his DNA.While Columbus has long been claimed by Italy, there is also speculation he may have been Spanish, Portuguese, Croatian or even Polish. There is little known about his early history, and the project is designed to settle the question.In 2003, a team from the Spanish University of Granada’s medical school established, through DNA research, that bones in a tomb in the cathedral of Seville were those of Columbus, settling a dispute with the Dominican Republic which claimed his body was buried there.  At that time DNA technology was not advanced enough to determine much else.  Breakthroughs in the technology since then, however, have made it possible to now roughly ascertain the area of person’s ancestry.  The bones of Columbus, his son Hernando and his brother Diego are to be examined at Granada University, with genetic material sent to laboratories in Italy and the United States.To kick off the project, the University of Granada is hosting a gathering what it is calling the first world meeting of Columbus researchers, who are presenting evidence for their different theories about the explorer’s origins. The scientists and historians brought with them documentation, artifacts and reportedly even some genetic material.Columbus’s four transatlantic voyages on behalf of Spanish monarchs between 1492 and 1504 opened a door to Europe’s colonization of the Americas, then known as the New World.Columbus died on May 20, 1506, and was buried in the Spanish city of Valladolid.
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The European Union has slammed Belarus for its closure of the country’s biggest independent online news publication, Tut.by, as one of its reporters left prison after serving six months for her reporting on the death of a protester killed during a crackdown on demonstrations against authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka. In a statement on May 19, an EU spokesman called the blocking a day earlier of the popular news site an “act of continued repression and intimidation” against independent media. Belarusian authorities also raided Tut.by’s offices in Minsk and other regions, and the homes of its journalists and employees, breaking the door leading to the apartment of Maryna Zolatava, the site’s editor in chief. The Minsk-based Vyasna (Spring) human rights group said on May 19 that 12 women and two men who worked for the publication had been detained. “The harassment of journalists must stop and all those detained must be immediately released, together with all political prisoners,” EU spokesman Peter Stano said in the statement. “The EU continues to stand by the people of Belarus in their call for respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms and will continue to support civil society and independent media,” he added. The EU statement came hours after Katsyaryna Barysevich was released from a penal colony in the southeastern city of Homel on May 19 after serving her sentence for articles she wrote on the death of Roman Bandarenka, who was protesting against Lukashenka’s victory claim in an August 9 presidential election that the opposition says was rigged. The articles included medical details that contradicted official statements that Bandarenka was drunk at the time of his death.Barysevich told journalists after her release that her incarceration “failed to break” her and that she looked at the absurdities of her situation to ease her mind.”I learned to look calmly at all of the crazy things around me. I cannot say that somebody broke me, or that I entered a jail in November as one person and left it as a different one. To my big surprise, it turned out that I am a very strong person…. There was a moment on the first day [of my arrest] when I wanted to cry but when I saw 19- and 20-year-old students in my cell… I understood that crying is not an option for me,” Barysevich said. 
“I had a brown card that is given to individuals with the status of ‘inclined to extremism,’ so I was transported handcuffed along with two women sentenced to nine years and 10 years in prison for murder. They were laughing that they were not handcuffed, while I was!” she said. The doctor, Artsyom Sarokin, was handed a suspended two-year prison term and ordered to pay a fine of 1,450 rubles ($555) for disclosing the information to Barysevich. The Committee for the Protection of Journalists condemned the raids on the offices of Tut.by and its affiliates across the country, as well as the homes of the company’s editors. A total of 14 employees from the media group were detained as suspects in an alleged tax evasion case. “It’s clear that authorities’ only real motive is to censor Belarus’ premier independent news website out of fear of its reporting. Authorities must release all Tut.by employees immediately and without charge, and should allow the outlet to work freely,” Gulnoza Said, the New York-based watchdog’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator, said in a statement. A co-owner of Tut.by, Yulia Charnyauskaya, also was detained on May 18 but rushed to a Minsk hospital with heart problems, where she spent several hours. Her current whereabouts are unknown, Vyasna says. A Tut.by co-founder, Kiryl Valoshin, told Current Time on May 18 that there is sizeable support in Belarus for the publication, which has over 3 million online users. But he said he doubted that an escalating crackdown on the media and civil society in the country following protests over a disputed presidential election last August will stop any time soon. “Unfortunately, let us admit that the level of violence and lawlessness in the country is so high that even the possible closure of Tut.by will not make its supporters do something more than express their thoughts on social networks,” Valoshin said, adding that he hopes Tut.by will be able to continue operating in some form. Belarusian authorities have stepped up their repression of journalists and bloggers ever since the start of mass protests sparked by the presidential election. Tut.by has been under pressure for months. Outrage over what was seen as a rigged vote to hand Lukashenka a sixth term in office brought tens of thousands onto the streets to protest the outcome. Security officials have cracked down hard on the demonstrators, arresting thousands, including dozens of journalists who covered the rallies, and pushing most of the top opposition figures out of the country. Some rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used by security officials against some of those detained. Lukashenka, who has run the country since 1994, has denied any wrongdoing with regard to the election and refuses to negotiate with the opposition on stepping down and holding new elections. The European Union, United States, Canada, and other countries have refused to recognize Lukashenka, 66, as the legitimate leader of Belarus and have slapped him and senior Belarusian officials with sanctions in response to the “falsification” of the vote and postelection crackdown. 
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It’s a grand day for the French. Cafe and restaurant terraces reopened Wednesday after a six-month coronavirus shutdown deprived residents of the essence of French life — sipping coffee and wine with friends. The French government is lifting restrictions incrementally to stave off a resurgence of COVID-19 and to give citizens back some of their signature “joie de vivre.” As part of the plan’s first stage, France’s 7 p.m. nightly curfew was pushed back to 9 p.m. and museums, theaters and cinemas reopened along with outdoor cafe terraces. President Emmanuel Macron, among the first to take a seat at a cafe terrace, was seen chatting with Prime Minister Jean Castex, who was attending a movie later in the day. Actress Emmanuel Beart went to a movie theater opening in the center of Paris where her latest film “L’Etreinte” (“The Embrace”) was showing — among the scores of movies produced during the shutdown.Parisians wait for the early first cinema screening and one year delay premiere of ‘Mandibules’ by French director Quentin Dupieux in Paris, May, 19, 2021.France is not the first European country to start getting back a semblance of social and cultural life. Italy, Belgium, Hungary and other nations already have started allowing outdoor dining, while drinking and eating indoors began Monday in Britain’s pubs. Eateries in France have been closed since the end of October, the longest time of any European country except Poland, where bars and restaurants reopened Saturday for outdoor service after being closed for seven months. Some French cafe and restaurant owners have spent days preparing for Wednesday’s milestone, even though rain is forecast for large swaths of the country, including Paris. Still, the government has put limits on how much fun can be had. Restaurants are can fill only 50% of their outdoor seating areas and put no more than six people at a table. Movie theaters can only seat 35% of capacity, while museums must restrict entries so there is 8 square meters of space (86 square feet) per visitor. Starting June 9, the French government plans to extend the curfew until 11 p.m. and to permit indoor dining at restaurants and bistros starting. The final phase of the three-stage reopening plan is scheduled for June 30, when the curfew will end and all other restrictions will be lifted, if pandemic conditions allow. France has recorded more than 108,000 deaths due to COVID-19, among the highest tolls in Europe. But deaths, admissions to critical care units and the coronavirus infection rate are now on the decline. “What counts is the dynamic,” Health Minister Olivier Veran told BFMTV. Vaccinations “have changed the givens.” About 40% of France’s adult population has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. Rain or shine, restrictions or not, a good number of people are expected to take advantage of their new freedom on Wednesday. At least that’s what Jérôme Haeffelin, the owner of Le Ponthieu, a Right Bank bistro in a crowded district of Paris, hopes. He invested 20,000 euros ($24,000) to create an outdoor terrace. “We’ll try hard to enforce (the rules), to stack the odds in our favor and stay open in the long run,” Haeffelin said. 
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are set to meet Wednesday on the sidelines of the Arctic Council ministerial in Reykjavik, Iceland. It will be the first face-to-face meeting for the top U.S. and Russian diplomats and comes at a time of heightened tension between their countries.  The meeting will also set the stage for a planned summit next month between U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The U.S. State Department said Wednesday afternoon’s session “will provide an opportunity to test the proposition of whether we can achieve a relationship with Moscow that is more stable and predictable.” Blinken on Tuesday urged the global community to avoid militarizing the Arctic.  The United States has previously accused Russia of requiring foreign ships to seek permission to pass through the region and to allow Russian maritime pilots to board the vessels while threatening violence against noncompliant ships.   “We’ve seen Russia advance unlawful maritime claims, particularly its regulation of foreign vessels transiting the Northern Sea route, which are inconsistent with international law,” Blinken said at a joint media briefing with Iceland’s foreign minister.  Blinken’s remarks came a day after Lavrov warned Western countries not to claim rights to the Arctic.  “It has been absolutely clear for everyone for a long time that this is our territory, this is our land,” Lavrov told reporters in Moscow. “We are responsible for ensuring our Arctic coast is safe.”  As climate change accelerates the melting of the Arctic’s ice sheet, the Arctic becomes more accessible.  In recent years, Putin has made Russia’s Arctic region a higher strategic priority, raising tensions with Arctic Council members over its investments in military infrastructure and mineral extraction.  The United States has recently been at odds with Russia over Moscow’s jailing of Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, Russia’s buildup of military forces near Ukraine, and a cyberattack on the largest U.S. gas pipeline by hackers believed to be in Russia.  Russia says its government was not involved in the cyberattack. It has accused the United States of trying to interfere in its domestic issues, including the jailing of Navalny. 
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A Paris summit on supporting African nations hard-hit by COVID-19’s fallout wrapped up Tuesday with sweeping calls for massive financial and vaccination support for Africa — and a broader sea change in relations between donor nations and the continent. French President Emmanuel Macron called earlier for a new deal for Africa. Among the goals he and other leaders outlined were doubling COVID-19 vaccination targets for Africa by the end of 2021 under the COVAX vaccine-sharing scheme; persuading International Monetary Fund member states to triple so-called special drawing rights monetary reserves for Africa to $100 billion; and giving Africa the ability to produce and distribute COVID-19 shots at home.  Macron said this moment could be seized to respond to broader, long-standing — and, so far, unaddressed — challenges facing Africa. He said an economic and strategic new deal with Africa would not happen overnight, but the talks had triggered a new dynamic.  French President Emmanuel Macron holds a news conference with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, Senegal’s President Macky Sall and President of Congo Democratic Republic Felix Tshisekedi in Paris, May 18, 2021.The same message was heard from Senegal’s President Macky Sall. He said a paradigm shift is under way in Africa’s relationship with richer nations — from having programs imposed on it to co-constructing what is needed. That offers hope, he said, because Africans know their problems better than anyone.  More than a year in the making, this meeting — gathering leaders from Africa, Europe and global financial institutions — was backdropped by a series of bleak statistics on the pandemic’s toll on Africa. If the continent has been less hard hit by the pandemic than other places, it is suffering in many other ways, with tourism and other revenues drying up.  Africa’s economy is expected to grow just over 3 percent this year — about half the world average. It faces a nearly $300 billion spending shortfall over the next few years. Experts fear millions more Africans may tip into poverty — and less than 3 percent of Africans have been vaccinated against the virus.  There is no durable exit from the continent’s economic crisis, IMF Chief Kristalina Georgieva said, without beating the health crisis. She said ramping up the vaccination campaign will generate trillions of dollars in additional output benefiting not only Africa but also richer economies.  “We have worked on the pathway to accelerate the exit from the health crisis, and to sum it up, it would require 40 percent vaccinations of everyone everywhere by 2021 — that is very important for Africa — 60 percent vaccinations by the middle of 2022. And then we have a hope of turning this page,” Georgieva said.Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi, who is also African Union chair, said having Africans manufacture and supply COVID-19 vaccines could help overcome the reluctance among some of being inoculated with foreign shots.He called for greater debt relief and market access for the continent — and for international financing to take into account its fight on terror. But he also said African governments need to do their share by establishing good governance, fighting corruption and supporting Africa’s youth.  Tuesday’s financing summit wraps up two days of high-level talks on Africa. On Monday, IMF members states agreed to clear billions of dollars Sudan owes the institution as part of broader support for Khartoum’s democratic transition, and Macron announced scrapping Sudan’s $5 billion debt to France.
 
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French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday he would make his first visit to Rwanda at the end of this month, a possible breakthrough in relations overshadowed by France’s role during the 1994 genocide. “I confirm I am going to Rwanda at the end of the month. The visit will be one of politics and remembrance but also economic,” Macron said at the end of an Africa summit in Paris. He added he had agreed with his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame, whom he met on the sidelines of a summit meeting on Monday, “to write a new page in relations”. His visit will be the first trip by a French president since Nicolas Sarkozy visited the country in 2010. Kagame told journalists from the France 24 television channel and RFI radio Monday that Rwanda and France have a “good basis” to create a relationship after a landmark report acknowledged France bore overwhelming responsibilities over the 1994 genocide. “We are in the process of normalization,” he added. Macron moved to repair ties with Rwanda by commissioning a report by historians into the role of French troops in the genocide, in which about 800,000 people were killed.  It concluded in March that France had been “blind” to preparations for the massacres of members of the Tutsi ethnic group by the Hutu regime, which was backed by France. Kagame has in the past accused France of “participating” in the genocide, but he said he accepted the findings of the French commission that Paris was not complicit in the killings. “It’s not up to me to conclude that this is what they should have said,” Kagame said. “It is something that I can accommodate.”  
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the global community Tuesday to avoid militarizing the Arctic region, one day after Russia warned the West against making territorial claims in the area. Blinken is in Reykjavik, Iceland, for talks on climate change and to take part in an Arctic Council ministerial meeting. The United States has previously accused Russia of requiring foreign ships to seek permission to pass through the region and to allow Russian maritime pilots to board the vessels while threating violence against noncompliant ships.  “We’ve seen Russia advance unlawful maritime claims, particularly its regulation of foreign vessels transiting the Northern Sea route, which are inconsistent with international law,” Blinken said at a joint media briefing with Iceland’s foreign minister. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Icelandic Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir hold a meeting at the Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik, Iceland, May 18, 2021.Blinken’s remarks came a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned Western countries not to claim rights to the Arctic. “It has been absolutely clear for everyone for a long time that this is our territory, this is our land,” Lavrov told reporters in Moscow. “We are responsible for ensuring our Arctic coast is safe.” As climate change accelerates the melting of the Arctic’s ice sheet, the Arctic becomes more accessible. In recent years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made Russia’s Arctic region a higher strategic priority, raising tensions with Arctic Council members over its investments in military infrastructure and mineral extraction. The U.S. State Department said earlier the leaders would discuss “the global community’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and the need for greater climate action, promoting women’s rights and equality, and Arctic security.”  Blinken lauded U.S. President Joe Biden’s return to the Paris climate agreement and resolve to fight combat climate change during a meeting with Icelandic President Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson and Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir.  Blinken also toured a geothermal plant in Reykjavik. Talks with RussiaOn the sidelines of the Arctic Council ministerial meeting Wednesday, Blinken will hold his first face-to-face encounter with Lavrov. The meeting comes at a time of heightened tension between the U.S. and Russia and will set the stage for a planned summit next month between U.S. President Joe Biden and Putin. The State Department said the meeting between Blinken and Lavrov is an opportunity to discuss building a “more predictable relationship with Russia” and “working on areas where we have mutual interests.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to employees at the U.S. Embassy in Reykjavik, Iceland, May 18, 2021.A senior State Department official told reporters traveling with Blinken that the Biden administration has made progress in its relationship with Russia with respect to reaching an agreement to extend the START nuclear weapons treaty, but that it has also faced areas of difficulties.  “We were able to do the extension of the important New START Treaty for five years right off the bat, but we also look at areas where Russia has behaved aggressively and undertaken malign efforts for which, as the president said, there will be a cost,” the official said.  The United States has recently been at odds with Russia over Moscow’s jailing of Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, Russia’s buildup of military forces near Ukraine, and a cyberattack on the largest U.S. gas pipeline by hackers believed to be in Russia. Russia says its government was not involved in the cyberattack. It has accused the United States of trying to interfere in its domestic issues, including the jailing of Navalny. Trip to DenmarkBefore traveling to Iceland, Blinken was in Denmark, where he held talks about economic, security and climate issues, as well as the Biden administration’s ongoing push to boost ties with U.S. allies. “Looking forward to deepening our partnership on mutual goals, including combating the climate crisis, enhancing defense cooperation, ensuring energy security and partnering in the Arctic,” Blinken said after meeting with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.  Great visit today with @Statsmin Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen. Looking forward to deepening our partnership on mutual goals including combatting the climate crisis, enhancing defense cooperation, ensuring energy security, and partnering in the Arctic. pic.twitter.com/g5D9tRVGUn— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) May 17, 2021After the meeting, Frederiksen said the Biden administration is taking a different approach from the Trump administration.   “That means a desire for cooperation around the Arctic region, where changes are taking place,” she said.  Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said, “Today, America is back. … And let me tell you, America has been missed.” Blinken said the United States is determined “to reinvigorate its alliances and partnerships and also our engagement with international institutions.” The Biden administration has renewed emphasis on international organizations, including rejoining the World Health Organization and the Paris climate agreement and reengaging with the United Nations Human Rights Council. 
 
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Spain’s prime minister flew to the country’s North African enclave Tuesday to contain a migration crisis with neighboring Morocco after 6,000 migrants swam or walked over the border.  Spain deployed troops and extra police to repel crowds who were trying to get around security fences from Morocco into the tiny Spanish territory after a huge incursion of migrants the day before.   Videos emerged that appeared to show Moroccan soldiers opening security gates to let migrants through to the Spanish port city.  “This sudden arrival of irregular migrants is a serious crisis for Spain and Europe,” said Pedro Sanchez in a televised address to the nation before travelling to Ceuta and Melilla, another Spanish enclave bordering Morocco.   European Union leaders backed Spain, saying the mass incursion in Ceuta was a breach of the bloc’s borders.  European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas called for a “strong protection of our borders.”  Experts suggested this huge influx, which included entire families, was an attempt by Morocco to pressure Spain to alter its policy toward Western Sahara, the disputed territory to which Rabat lays claim.   Morocco and Spain have been mired in a diplomatic dispute over the presence in Spain of a Polisario Front leader, whose movement has fought for the independence of Western Sahara.  The leader, Brahim Ghali, is receiving treatment at a hospital in Logroño in northern Spain, after he was diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.    FILE – Brahim Ghali attends celebrations marking the 45th anniversary of the creation of the SARD, on Feb. 27, 2021, at a refugee camp, near Tindouf, Algeria.The Polisario Front fought a long war against Morocco to win the independence of the disputed Western Saharan territory, which was a Spanish colony until 1975.   Rabat claims the territory as part of Morocco partly as it contains important deposits of phosphates, but the Polisario Front has demanded an independence referendum.  Ignacio Cembrero, a Spanish journalist who writes frequently on Morocco, said Rabat had relaxed security measures on the border with Ceuta to try to force Madrid to change its stance on Western Sahara.  “The Moroccan foreign minister, Naser Burita, said in January that Rabat wanted Spain to change its policy to support Moroccan claims over Western Sahara. This is how it puts pressure on Madrid,” he told VOA.  Spain has long maintained a solution to the dispute can only come from an agreement brokered by the United Nations.  Moroccan Foreign Minister Naser Burita asked last week whether Spain wanted to “sacrifice relations with Morocco” by failing to inform Rabat of Ghali’s presence in Spain.    Analysts said it appeared Morocco was playing a familiar game by relaxing its border controls to prove a political point against its neighbor Spain.  “What has happened in Ceuta is another example of how Morocco plays with migration as a manner to pursue its own interests. The EU should not give ground faced with this pressure,” Estrella Galan, director of the non-profit Spanish Commission to Aid Refugees, told VOA.  Spain’s foreign minister, Arancha González Laya, dismissed claims the arrival of thousands of Moroccans in Ceuta was linked to the row over Ghali.  “I cannot speak for Morocco, but what they told us a few hours ago, this afternoon, is that this is not due to the disagreement over Ghali,” she told Cadena Ser, a Spanish radio station.  “Spain has been very clear and detailed about the (Ghali) case. It is simply a humanitarian issue.”  
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The International Energy Agency (IEA) issued a report Tuesday outlining what it calls a “viable but narrow” path to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by the year 2050, a plan that boldly calls for no new investment in fossil fuel projects and the end of the internal combustion engine by 2035.
 
The Paris-based agency’s report, “Net Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector,” says current climate pledges by countries to achieve the net-zero goal “even if fully achieved would fall well short of what is required to bring global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to net zero by 2050” and limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the goal established by the Paris climate accords.
 
In a statement, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said the report “shows the priority actions that are needed today to ensure the opportunity of net-zero emissions by 2050 — narrow but still achievable — is not lost.” The plan lays out more than 400 milestones to guide the global journey to net zero by 2050.  
 
They include no investment in new fossil fuel supply projects, and no further final investment decisions for new unabated coal plants; no sales of new internal combustion engine passenger cars by 2035; and for the global electricity sector to have already reached net-zero emissions by 2040.
 
The IEA plan requires the immediate and massive deployment of all available clean and efficient energy technologies, combined with a major global push to accelerate innovation. The pathway calls for annual additions of solar photovoltaic (PV) generation to reach 630 gigawatts by 2030, and those of wind power to reach 390 gigawatts. Together, that is four times the record level set in 2020. For solar PV, it is equivalent to installing the world’s current largest solar park roughly every day.
 
Birol said such a historic surge in clean energy investment would “create millions of new jobs” and lift global economic growth.
 
The report comes out with an eye toward the November global climate summit in Glasgow in six months, when world leaders will meet to outline climate measures.
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Following a lull in arrivals of migrants in Italy due to the pandemic, hundreds have now resumed risking their lives in search for a better future in Europe. As weather conditions improve and with the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in Italy, traffickers are taking advantage and overcrowding vessels with migrants from the Libyan coastline.
Rescue missions to save hundreds of migrants have resumed in the Mediterranean waters between Libya and the small Italian island of Lampedusa as calm seas and warmer temperatures have seen a significant rise in vessels attempting to make the crossing. 
  
Human traffickers are also taking advantage of a drop in COVID-19 infections and lifting of restrictions to travel between regions in Italy. The improving situation is raising concerns that the surge in migrant crossings will continue during the summer.   FILE – Migrants return to the Lampedusa reception center after they were unable to board quarantine ship GNV Azzurra due to strong winds, in Lampedusa, Italy, May 11, 2021.Aid workers aboard the German charity ship Sea Eye 4, which began its first mission to help migrants in distress at the beginning of this month, say the vessel has already rescued more than 400 people. They are calling on EU officials to give the ship access to a safe port. 
  
A spokeswoman on board the ship, Sophie Weidenhiller, says the migrants were from different African nations, some from Syria and Bangladesh, and were rescued in various operations. 
  
In one case it reached a boat after receiving a distress call but instead of finding the expected 50 migrants on board, it found the boat empty. Many migrants are attempting the crossing in vessels that are deemed far from seaworthy.   
 
“In less than 72 hours our crew was able to rescue more than 400 people in distress at sea. Among them we have pregnant women, we have children, we have babies, we have many unaccompanied minors and everybody aboard here is exhausted. And that is why we need a port of safety as soon as possible so that we can bring those people who have suffered so much to safety,” said Weidenhiller. 
  
The German charity has warned that the crew is nearing the limit of their capacity to care for its migrant passengers. It is still awaiting a response from the EU on its request for permission to dock as it heads towards Italy.    Malta refused it entry to its port. 
  
Commenting on the matter following the Maltese decision, Matteo Salvini, head of Italy’s right wing League party, said his country has a duty to defend its borders. 
  
The latest rescues come a week after more than 2,000 migrants landed on Lampedusa, overwhelming its reception center, which was then emptied so as to make space for new arrivals.   
 
Migrants have continued to arrive on the island.  
 
The Libyan coast guard has also been intercepting vessels and returning the migrants. 
U.N. and other agencies have said that over the past week they managed to take 1,000 migrants back to Libya. International Organization for Migration spokesman in Libya Safa Msehli said it provides support to the Libyan coast guard on the condition that no one is arbitrarily detained or otherwise subjected to human rights violations.  
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Spain faced a humanitarian and diplomatic crisis Tuesday after thousands of Moroccans took advantage of relaxed border controls in their nation to swim or paddle in inflatable boats onto European soil. By Tuesday morning, around 6,000 people had crossed the border into the Spanish city of Ceuta since the first arrivals began early Monday, the Spanish government said, including 1,500 thought to be teenagers. The city of 85,000 people lies in North Africa on the Mediterranean Sea, separated from Morocco by a double-wide, 10-meter (32-feet) fence. The sudden influx of migrants has deepened the diplomatic row between Rabat and Madrid in the wake of Spain’s decision to allow in for medical treatment the chief of a militant group that fights for the independence of Western Sahara. Morocco annexed the sprawling nation on the west coast of Africa in 1975. Migrants soaked with seawater still kept reaching Ceuta on Tuesday although in smaller numbers than the day before due to heightened vigilance on the Spanish side of the border, where additional police and military were deployed. “It’s such a strong invasion that we are not able to calculate the number of people that have entered,” said the president of Ceuta, an autonomous city of barely 20 square kilometers (7.7 square miles). “The army is in the border in a deterrent role, but there are great quantities of people on the Moroccan side waiting to enter,” Juan Jesús Vivas told Cadena SER radio. Vivas, a conservative, said the residents of Ceuta were in a state of “anguish, concern and fear.” He linked the sudden influx to Rabat’s shift on controlling migration after Spain gave compassionate assistance to Brahim Ghali, the head of the Polisario Front that has fought Morocco over control of Western Sahara. The Spanish government itself officially rejects the notion that Morocco is punishing Spain for a humanitarian move. Interior Minister Fernando Grande Marlaska said Tuesday that authorities had processed the return of 1,600 migrants by Tuesday morning and that the rest would follow soon, because Morocco and Spain signed an agreement three decades ago to return all those who swim into the territory. Many African migrants regard Ceuta and nearby Melilla, also a Spanish territory, as a gateway into Europe. In 2020, 2,228 chose to cross into the two enclaves by sea or by land, often risking injuries or death. The year before the figure peaked at 7,899, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry. On Tuesday, another 80 Africans also crossed into Melilla, 350 kilometers (218 miles) east of Ceuta on the North African coast, by jumping over the enclave’s double fence. 
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he will join talks on climate change and take part in an Arctic Council Ministerial meeting.The State Department said Blinken will meet with Icelandic President Gudni Johannesson and Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir to discuss “U.S.-Icelandic priorities related to climate change, human rights, bilateral cooperation, and the Arctic.”Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attends a news conference in Moscow, Russia, April 16, 2021.On the sidelines of the Arctic Council Ministerial meeting, Blinken will hold his first face-to-face encounter with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday. The meeting comes at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and Russia and will set the stage for a planned summit next month between U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.The State Department said the meeting between Blinken and Lavrov is an opportunity to discuss building a “more predictable relationship with Russia” and areas of mutual interest. Before traveling to Iceland, Blinken was in Denmark where he held talks about economic, security and climate issues, as well as the Biden administration’s ongoing push to boost ties with U.S. allies. “Looking forward to deepening our partnership on mutual goals, including combating the climate crisis, enhancing defense cooperation, ensuring energy security and partnering in the Arctic,” Blinken said after meeting with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.Great visit today with @Statsmin Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen. Looking forward to deepening our partnership on mutual goals including combatting the climate crisis, enhancing defense cooperation, ensuring energy security, and partnering in the Arctic. pic.twitter.com/g5D9tRVGUn— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) May 17, 2021 After the meeting, Frederiksen said the Biden administration is taking a different approach from the Trump administration.”That means a desire for cooperation around the Arctic region, where changes are taking place,” she said.Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said, “Today, America is back. … And let me tell you, America has been missed.”Blinken said the United States has a determination “to reinvigorate its alliances and partnerships and also our engagement with international institutions.”The Biden administration has put a renewed emphasis on international organizations, including rejoining the World Health Organization, the Paris climate agreement and reengaging with the U.N. Human Rights Council.The top U.S. diplomat Monday also had an audience with Queen Margrethe II and toured a quantum materials lab at the University of Copenhagen. His trip has been overshadowed by the violence between Israelis and Palestinians, which forced Blinken to cancel a scheduled event Monday to make calls related to the situation.
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About 3,000 Moroccans, a third of whom were presumed to be minors according to Spanish authorities, swam and used inflatable boats Monday to cross into Ceuta, the largest number of migrant arrivals in a single day into Spain’s enclave in northern Africa.A young male drowned attempting the crossing and others, including toddlers, were rescued suffering from hypothermia, health authorities said.The influx followed the souring of Spain’s relations with Morocco, its southern partner and key ally on controlling migration flows, over Madrid’s decision to allow the leader of a militant group fighting for independence from Morocco to receive hospital treatment.Ceuta and nearby Melilla are regarded as a steppingstone into Europe for African migrants. Hundreds of them risk injuries or death every year while trying to jump over fences, hide inside vehicles or swim around breakwaters that extend several meters into the Mediterranean Sea.But 3,000 people making the crossing in just one day strained police and emergency workers in the city of 84,000. The figure is nearly three times the total arrivals so far this year in the two Spanish territories and more than in 2020, when 2,228 people arrived by both land and sea.Footage published by El Faro de Ceuta, a local newspaper, showed people climbing the rocky wall of the breakwaters and running across the Tarajal beach, in the southeastern end of the city.Other videos verified by The Associated Press showed long rows of young men lining up at the gates of a warehouse managed by the local Red Cross, waiting to get registered by Spanish Civil Guard officers.Spain was deploying 200 more law enforcement officers to Ceuta, including anti-riot police and officers specialized in border control to speed up the return of those who arrived, the Interior Ministry said in a statement late Monday. Spain doesn’t grant Moroccans asylum status. It only allows unaccompanied migrant children to legally remain in the country under the government’s supervision.The influx of Moroccans came at the end of the Muslim celebrations of Ramadan, when many residents in Europe return home after visiting relatives in the northern African country. It also followed Madrid’s decision to host Brahim Ghali, the head of the Polisario Front that disputes Rabat’s claim on Western Sahara, who is recovering from COVID-19 in a hospital in northern Spain.The Spanish government, which allowed Ghali to enter the country under a disguised identity, has justified its decision to give him shelter on humanitarian grounds.The Moroccan foreign ministry said last month that Madrid’s move was “inconsistent with the spirit of partnership and good neighborliness.” In May, the ministry also said that Spain’s move would have “consequences.”Mohammed Ben Aisa, head of the Northern Observatory for Human Rights, a nonprofit group that works with migrants in northern Morocco, said that the influx was a mix of the seasonal attempts to reach Europe, the arrival of good weather and the recent tensions between Rabat and Madrid.”The information that we have is that the Moroccan authorities reduced the usually heavy militarization of the coasts, which come after Morocco’s foreign ministry statement about Spain’s hosting of Brahim Ghali,” Ben Aisa told The Associated Press.”The area is heavily monitored by security forces, and attempts there, whether to climb the fence or swim, are usually stopped,” he added.Spain has strong but complicated diplomatic ties with its southern neighbor. The two countries often cite their decades-old cooperation on controlling migration flows, which includes recurring payments to Rabat from Spain and the European Union as well as training to Morocco’s police and army, as the blueprint for the EU’s migration policies in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean.Cooperation with Moroccan intelligence on fighting extremism is also key for Europe.Asked by reporters whether the government of Rabat was deliberately relaxing controls on departing migrants, Spain’s foreign minister simply said she had no information.”We are not aware,” Arancha González Laya said before concluding brief media remarks. The ministry later declined to further elaborate.In a statement, the interior minister said that Spain “has been working tirelessly on a migration policy that concerns the whole of the European Union and Morocco, the country of origin of the people who have arrived swimming today.”A spokesman with the Spanish government’s delegation in Ceuta said that the crossings began at 2 a.m. in the border area of Ceuta known as Benzú and were then followed by a few dozen people near the eastern beach of Tarajal.The daylight didn’t stop the crossings from the nearby Moroccan town of Fnideq, as entire families with children swam or boarded inflatable boats, said the spokesman, who wasn’t authorized to be identified by name in media reports.A 10-meter-high (32-foot-high) double fence surrounds the eight kilometers (five miles) of Ceuta’s southwestern border with Morocco, with the rest of the tiny territory facing the Strait of Gibraltar and the European mainland across the sea.Several gates along the perimeter have been closed for over a year as Morocco has banned all travel by land in an attempt to avoid coronavirus infections. The decision has left jobless many locals who rely on work in Ceuta and Melilla or cross-border trade for a living.More than 100 young Moroccans also swam into the Spanish territory at the end of April. Authorities said most of them were returned to their country in less than 48 hours after being confirmed as adults.
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Britain lifted many of its coronavirus lockdown restrictions Monday as infection rates have fallen to their lowest level since August. But as Henry Ridgwell reports from London, there are growing concerns over the spread of a new mutation of the virus first seen in India.Camera: Henry Ridgwell    
 
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German Health Minister Jens Spahn announced Monday the nation would end its COVID-19 vaccination prioritizing and open inoculations to all adults who want them, effective June 7.Speaking to reporters in Berlin, Spahn said the current system of prioritization, in which the most vulnerable people — usually the elderly — are eligible for vaccines first, will have run its course by then. He said 70% of those above the age of 60 had received at least one shot — and about one quarter of them is fully vaccinated.A student tests himself on the coronavirus with a rapid test at the Freiherr vom Stein school in Bonn, western Germany, on May 17, 2021.He said 40 million vaccine doses have been given and around nine million people are fully vaccinated in the country of 83 million. But Spahn said the pace was accelerating and by the end of the month he expects about 40% of all people in Germany will have received at least one shot.Spahn defended the prioritization of the elderly and other vulnerable groups as “a moral obligation” and epidemiologically necessary. He said, “That was not bureaucracy; it has been saving lives.”Spahn also asked for patience, saying not all those seeking shots will be vaccinated immediately as of June 7 or even in the month of June. But he promised the vaccination campaign will continue as planned and that everyone in Germany who wants to be inoculated will have access to shots by the end of the summer.Spahn said the special COVID-19 measures implemented last month have worked, with the latest figures from the Robert Koch Institute’s Department of Infectious Diseases indicating the national infection rate has dropped below the key benchmark of 100 cases per 100,000 people over the past week. 
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Members of Colombia’s national police force who are responsible for abuses or acts of violence amid ongoing protests will be punished to the full extent of the law, the head of the force said.Demonstrators and human rights groups have repeatedly accused police officers of killing civilians, excessive use of force, sexual abuse and the use of firearms, both during current protests and previous ones.Accusations of possible abuse of a minor in the city of Popayan have sparked violent protests there this week.”They must respond before the authorities and whoever has knowingly committed a crime; the response will have the full weight of the law,” national police director General Jorge Luis Vargas told Reuters in an interview.”We are the first to reject illegal behavior by an officer and we will ask for forgiveness when there’s a judicial decision,” said Vargas.  Vargas said 122 disciplinary proceedings have been opened against police since protests began last month, while three have been arrested on murder charges tied to civilian deaths.”There cannot be, there must not be and there will not be impunity,” said the 30-year police veteran.Accused officers will have due process, he said, adding cops have also been the victims of physical aggression, firearm attacks and one incident where a mob set fire to a station.One police officer has died and nearly 900 have been injured.Police who have intervened to control looting and vandalism during protests have not used firearms, Vargas said. Instead non-lethal weapons are employed according to national and international rules.Groups like Human Rights Watch say misuse of non-lethal weapons can lead to deaths.Protesters, who originally called marches against a now-canceled tax plan, have expanded demands to include a basic income, an end to police violence and opportunities for young people, among other things.The protests’ death toll is disputed. The human rights ombudsman is investigating 41 civilian deaths, while the attorney general’s office has confirmed 14.Road blockades causing shortages will be broken up by the police whenever the government orders, Vargas said, repeating accusations that criminal groups and guerrillas have infiltrated protests to stoke violence.Leftist politicians and student groups have long demanded the police be transferred out of defense ministry control, use of lethal weapons during protests be banned, the riot police disbanded and officers implicated in abuse be tried in civilian and not military courts.Vargas ruled out the dissolution of the riot squad but said he supports more options for punishing police abuse.  
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The World Health Organization reports the COVID-19 pandemic has set back years of gains made in efforts to eliminate neglected tropical diseases, a diverse group of 20 illnesses that disproportionately affect impoverished communities in tropical areas. Neglected tropical diseases affect 1.7 billion people globally.  Forty percent are in Africa, a continent that encompasses most of the 10 high burden countries in the world.  Over the past decade, the World Health Organization reports great progress has been made in the treatment of many of these life-threatening and debilitating diseases.  It notes 42 countries around the world have eliminated at least one disease.However, Mwelecele Malecela, director of WHO’s department of control of neglected tropical diseases says she fears a lot of this good work could be undone because of the negative impact of COVID-19.  UN Calls for Action to Achieve a Malaria-Free WorldThis year’s commemoration of World Malaria Day celebrates progress being made in eliminating diseaseShe says the pandemic has caused disruptions and delays in NTD services.  She says mass treatment campaigns, surveys of affected areas, and the transport and delivery of medicines have been interrupted.”All the efforts that have been done to control neglected tropical diseases, to bring about elimination in most of the affected countries, will be reversed if the focus is not kept, a good focus on surveillance, a good focus on continued interventions in some of the countries which are nearing elimination,” said Malecela.WHO reports Guinea Worm disease is on the cusp of eradication, with only 27 human cases reported in six African countries last year.  In 1986, about 3.5 million human cases occurred annually in 21 countries in Africa and Asia.  WHO says Yaws, a chronic skin infection is a disease that can be eradicated in the Indian sub-continent.  Malecela cites several other success stories.”In terms of elimination of trachoma, we have Morocco, we have Ghana and more recently, we have Gambia,” said Malecela. “We have the elimination of lymphatic filariasis in Togo and in Malawi…In Yemen, which is outside Africa in the middle east, we have eliminated lymphatic filariasis under very difficult conditions.  But they have managed to do it and that has been a very impressive feat.” At the end of January, WHO formally launched a new road map aimed at driving progress towards a world free of NTDs by 2030.  Health officials consider the road map a key piece in ensuring countries build back better after COVID-19 by focusing on resilience and strengthening health systems.
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France announced Monday that it will grant Sudan a $1.5 billion loan to help the north African country pay off its debt to the International Monetary Fund.Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire made the announcement in Paris at the start of an international summit hosted by President Emmanuel Macron. The loan aimed at helping Sudan erase its total external debt of $50 billion and attract foreign investment to rebuild its economy. Sudan’s economy was shattered by decades of autocratic rule of former President Omar al-Bashir. Al-Bashir was ousted in 2019 by the military after a popular uprising and his regime replaced with a transitional civilian-military council.Khartoum is $1.3 billion in arrears to the IMF, while about half of its debts are with members of the Paris Club, a group of major creditor countries which helps other countries come up with an easier method of paying its debts.  
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Doubts are mounting about the efficacy of Russia’s Sputnik vaccine. Drug regulators in the Czech Republic and Brazil have withheld approval and counterparts in Slovakia have also expressed doubts.   FILE – The exterior of the European Medicines Agency is seen in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Dec. 18, 2020.European Union regulators are still assessing Sputnik for its effectiveness and safety but a former executive director of the European Medicines Agency, EMA, told the Politico.eu news site that objections raised about Sputnik by Brazil’s regulatory authority, Anvisa, would likely be taken seriously by their counterparts in Brussels. “It’s a very mature authority,” said Rasi, who added that its flagging of quality and safety issues are worrisome. Anvisa announced on April 28 that it was withholding approval because of “flaws in product development” which deviate from the quality standards recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).  The authority also noted “an absence or insufficiency of quality control, safety and efficacy data.” It raised concerns also with the vaccine’s efficacy for people “with low immunity and respiratory problems, among other health problems.” The Slovak medicines authority has also expressed worries about quality control and insufficient data. Irena Storová, head of SÚKL, told Slovakia’s Radiožurnál recently that the regulator received “only a fraction of the documentation that is submitted by default for the registration or assessment of a drug or medicine.” FILE – A scientist works inside a laboratory of the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology during the testing of a coronavirus vaccine, in Moscow, Russia, Aug. 6, 2020. (Russian Direct Investment Fund / Handout via Reuters)Sputnik was the first coronavirus vaccine to be registered, albeit only by the Russians and not by an authoritative international regulator. Funded by the state and developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute in Moscow, the rapid Russian approval last year in August of the vaccine, which was named for the satellite from half a century ago, was met with skepticism in the broader international scientific community.  Experts expressed their disapproval of Russian authorities for approving distribution before the completion of trials, suggesting the rapidity of authorization was done so as to be able to tout Russian scientific prowess.   Europeans Divided Over Sputnik Diplomacy COVID vaccine diplomacy is proving as divisive as vaccine nationalism — especially when it comes to Russia’s Sputnik Doubts about the vaccine’s efficacy dissipated somewhat last year within the Western scientific community due to a study by Russian scientists published by the authoritative British medical journal The Lancet, which suggested the vaccine has a 91.6% efficacy rate against COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.   Geopolitical motives 
Nonetheless, some Central European and Baltic governments have been trading barbs with the Kremlin for what they see as a “Sputnik diplomatic offensive” designed to foment political splits in the Western alliance.FILE – Workers take care of the shipment of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine at the airport in Caracas, Venezuela, March 29, 2021.Officials in Kyiv and Warsaw identify geopolitical motives behind Russia’s touting of the vaccine, especially in light of what they say has been a Russian disinformation campaign casting doubt on Western-developed vaccines. Russian officials say politics is behind Western skepticism of Sputnik. Lithuania’s prime minister has labeled the vaccine “another hybrid weapon” for the Kremlin to wield to try to “divide and rule” Europe. Ingrida Šimonytė says altruism isn’t what motivates the aggressive marketing by Russia of Sputnik. “Sputnik comes packed with many layers of propaganda and even not-hidden ambition to divide the EU countries and their partners in the South and in the East,” she said earlier this year. Facing shortfalls for Western vaccines amid the EU’s contentious rollout, other European states, though, started to buy Sputnik with Hungary first up followed by Serbia. Austria struck a deal and officials in Berlin and in several German regions expressed enthusiasm for the Russian vaccine. But with a boost in supplies of Western vaccines, appetite for Sputnik has dissipated and last week Germany’s Bild newspaper reported that the deal to sell the Sputnik V vaccine to Germany is dead.   Meanwhile, outside Europe, the Russian vaccine has been bought by more than 50 countries including Argentina, Mexico, and Turkey.  India, where the pandemic has spiraled out of control, has signed a deal for nearly 400 million doses.     Growing doubts But scientific doubts about Sputnik remerged last week when The Lancet published a paper by a team of scientists drawn from Europe, the U.S. and Russia questioning the 2020 study of the vaccine the medical journal published and flagging significant discrepancies in the data from the phase two and three trials conducted by the Gamaleya Research Institute, the vaccine’s developer. “Restricted access to data hampers trust in research,” the scientists said in last week’s study.  “Access to data underpinning study findings is imperative to check and confirm the findings claimed. It is even more serious if there are apparent errors and numerical inconsistencies in the statistics and results presented,” they said. The team included Enrico Bucci of Temple University in the U.S., Gowri Gopalakrishna from Amsterdam University and Raffaele Calogero from the University of Turin.  In reply, scientists from the Gamaleya Research Institute say data discrepancies occurred because of typing errors and they point to the approval of Sputnik by 51 countries showing they have been “fully transparent and comply with all regulatory requirements.” FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a video conference meeting with members of the Security Council at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, May 14, 2021. (Sputnik/Sergey Ilyin/Kremlin via Reuters)Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday during a video conference praised Russia’s vaccine, saying it as “reliable as a Kalashnikov assault rifle.”  Sputnik isn’t the only non-Western vaccine prompting reservations. Despite approval by WHO of China’s Sinopharm, some scientific researchers have expressed worries about the lack of data on that vaccine’s efficacy, too, and likewise with Sinovac, another Chinese vaccine.FILE – Health officials guard Zimbabwe’s donation of 200,000 Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine doses, which arrived at Mugabe International Airport in Harare on Feb. 15, 2021. The vaccines were a donation by Beijing. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)According to researchers outside China, Sinovac’s efficacy rate is around 50%, and Sinopharm’s 79%, much lower than that of the rates for U.S.-developed vaccines like Moderna and Pfizer, both of which are above 90%. 
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Germany’s Health Minister Jens Spahn said Friday the nation’s average COVID-19 infection rate over the past week has fallen below 100 per 100,000 residents for the first time in two months, a key threshold for lifting restrictions in the European nation.
Speaking to reporters while visiting a vaccine storage and distribution center in Quakenbruck, a city in Lower Saxony state, Spahn said the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases reported the national average infection rate fell to 96.5 per 100,000, its lowest level since March 20.  
He also said Germany’s vaccination program is gaining speed, with almost 36 percent of the population having received at least one shot, and more than 10 percent fully vaccinated. He said the nation set a record for vaccinations on Wednesday, with 1.35 million delivered.
A COVID-19 infection rate of 100 infections per 100,000 people is used as the threshold for imposing a nationwide “emergency brake,” imposing restrictions that include night-time curfews and limits on private gatherings. Should cases remain below this level, restrictions can be relaxed.
But Health Minister Spahn urged caution, saying care must be taken “to secure what has been achieved and not want too much too quickly, because that could backfire.” He said not all regions are rebounding evenly. He urged regional officials to wait for rates to fall below 50 per 100,000 before opening restaurants for indoor dining.  
Spahn also said that, as the weather is warming and people are thinking about travel, they should prioritize going to areas with low infection rates.
Last month, the German parliament approved temporary emergency powers for the federal government, allowing it to implement nationwide restrictions like curfews in response to a third wave of infections that was sweeping the nation. 
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The decision by India and the European Union to restart stalled talks on a free trade pact comes amid growing unease on both sides about China’s rise, according to analysts.   
 
The decision was announced following a summit of EU leaders in Portugal last week, which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi joined via video conference.    
   
The meeting was held days after the EU suspended efforts to ratify an ambitious investment agreement with China following tensions that have grown between the 27-member bloc and Beijing about its treatment of the Uyghur population in Xinjiang province.   
 
Although reviving trade negotiations that were abandoned by India and Europe in 2013 will not be easy, the move is being seen as part of efforts by both sides to build closer ties in what analysts call a new “geopolitical and geo-economic environment.”   
 
“The kind of questions that have been raised recently about China have propelled Europe and India to look at each other with a different set of priorities,” according to Harsh Pant, head of Strategic Studies at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi and Professor of International Relations at King’s College, London.   
   
“Also post the pandemic, many countries are looking closely at the issue of overreliance on China in trade and Europe, in particular, has been over dependent on China. And from India’s perspective, the West is going to be a very important partner as it re-evaluates every aspect of its foreign policy from the standpoint of the China equation,” says Pant.   
 
India has been moving to build deeper partnerships with countries like the United States, Japan and Australia following an eight-month military standoff with China along their disputed Himalayan borders. Although the standoff eased in March, tensions are still running high over several undemarcated stretches where both countries have deployed tens of thousands of troops.   
 
Both India and the European Union struck an optimistic note after the summit. Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said there was a strong economic rationale for relaunching trade talks as the European Union was India’s largest trading partner in 2019-20 with bilateral trade of about $ 90 billion. President of the European Council Charles Michel called it a “new important chapter” in ties.  
 
“We agreed to resume negotiations for a balanced, ambitious, comprehensive and mutually beneficial trade agreement which would respond to the current challenges,” according to a joint statement by both sides.   
 
A study by the European Parliament last year before Britain’s departure from the bloc had estimated the potential benefits of a trade deal with India for the EU at around 10 billion dollars. India is also due to start trade negotiations with Britain later this year.    
 
The bid to deepen ties with Europe goes beyond trade – a “connectivity partnership” launched by the two sides that aims at building joint infrastructure projects in third countries including Africa, Central Asia and the Indo-Pacific is also seen as a pushback against China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative.    
 
However, hammering out a trade deal will be challenging with some analysts warning that India has turned even more protectionist in recent years.   
 
India and the EU had halted seven years of negotiations in 2013 after hitting a roadblock over key differences – Europe wanted India to lower levies on its major exports, such as wines, spirits and auto components, while New Delhi wanted greater access for Indian professionals to work in Europe.   
 
“India is in a worse situation than in 2013 when trade talks were abandoned. Last year the government’s signal to industry was that they will be protected if they ramp up domestic production,” points out Biswajit Dhar, a professor at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University and an expert on international trade relations. “Now the question is whether they can accommodate Europe’s demands to open up the market. It’s going to be a tall ask – for example the Indian automobile industry which is one of the country’s important industries will resist any suggestion of tariff cuts.”   
 
But navigating the trade deal with Europe will be a key test for New Delhi as it seeks alternatives to China. In 2019 it abandoned a China-led regional trade pact – the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, after it failed to address Delhi’s concerns over market access.  
 
“For India it is a moment to underscore its credentials as a credible economic player because there are lots of questions about India’s ability to finalize trade deals,” points out Pant. “It has to show that it can walk the talk and can move forward on trade and economic matters with countries with which it has a strategic convergence.”  
 
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Paola Celeste Torres knows all too well the dangers for journalists in Nicaragua. She was working in the Radio Dario building in the city of León in April 2018 when arsonists set fire to the station.The attack, which destroyed the station’s equipment, took place during a period of View of the destroyed facilities of “Radio Dario” in the Nicaraguan city of Leon, on April 24, 2018, after it was set on fire during protests against President Daniel Ortega’s government on April 21.Torres is director of Sin Censura, or Without Censorship, a news outlet that broadcasts via social media. “We had a regular radio [broadcast], but seeing that we couldn’t continue working in the same location, we decided to move it to Facebook,” said Torres.Sin Censura used to be produced in the Radio Dario studios, but since the fire it has grown as a social media news platform focused on local stories. It has around 120,000 followers on Facebook and an audience that reacts and comments on the reporting.New media projects like Sin Censura are filling the gaps left in Nicaragua’s restrictive environment.The situation for the country’s media worsened in the wake of the 2018 protests. Several journalists went into self-imposed exile to avoid retaliation; those reporting in the field face violence; and independent outlets are censored or harassed, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The country scores 121 out of 180, where 1 is the freest, on RSF’s annual World Press Freedom Index. Nicaraguan officials say the government respects press freedom. But one official with whom VOA spoke said that some journalists “fall into debauchery.”Wilfredo Navarro, a deputy in the ruling Sandinista party, told VOA that “the media makes up news and says anything. … Journalists say what they want. They invent what they want.”José Cardoza, right, the creator of Nicaragua’s Primer Orden podcast, distributed on at least 25 digital platforms. (Houston Castillo/VOA)Innovation during adversityUsing a similar model as Sin Censura, the podcast Primer Orden, or First Order, uses social media to distribute its daily news summaries.Its founder, José Cardoza, records the news show in a small room, improvised as a radio studio, in Managua, then distributes it on multiple platforms.The podcast initially started as a hobby for Cardoza in 2018, because his other job in public relations didn’t allow him to dedicate himself “fully to journalism.” Cardoza decided to use the pandemic and recent unemployment as an opportunity.Since its creation, the format has varied. “Currently it is a little more adapted to the needs of the audience; to be informed in a few minutes,” Cardoza said. “In the first six minutes you already know what the situation is in Nicaragua.”The Primer Orden newscast now has a team of five who collaborate daily to produce content.Running a podcast has advantages, but the journalists still face obstacles. Like others in media, they receive threats, face police harassment and lack financial support.“The advantage is technology, the internet. You can listen to it again, share it and even be able to download it. However, you go to a conference to get an interview and you find a huge number of policemen outside the event,” said Javier Bermúdez, a Primer Orden journalist.The same problems affect more traditional media.Aníbal Toruño, director and owner of Radio Darío in León, said he admires the ability of his team to report despite the pressure and threats from police and government officials.“I see it as a great opportunity and a testament to the environment in which you work, that if you could reach 50,000 people, now you can reach 100,000 or 150,000,” said Toruño.Cooperation and support among colleagues and associations with other media are a bonus, Toruño said, adding that competition among outlets is over.The municipal Radio Camoapa Estéreo, which covers Nicaragua’s central region, relies on collaboration and a few journalists.“We have a network of friends who are there, they help us and support us, people who send us contributions,” said Juan Carlos Duarte Sequeira, its co-founder. “Many of us earn absolutely nothing, we have no salary. We are simply here because we believe in the project.”The country’s media also face obstacles from legislation, including a cybercrime law approved in October. The law establishes fines and in some cases jail time for spreading “false news.”Journalists and members of Nicaragua’s opposition raised concerns about the law, pointing out that other legislation has been used to retaliate against critics.”We have seen other colleagues to whom previous laws have been applied, accusing them of defamation, and receiving a prison sentence, even when they have not committed any crime,” said Torres, of Sin Censura.The journalist believes the law is a tool to punish the media and journalists, but her team put fear aside. “If we allow ourselves to be overcome by fear, we will close down and what will become of independent media? Communication? The people will be most affected.”Government deputy Navarro denied the cybercrime law is aimed at media.“Journalists can say what they want,” Navarro told VOA. “What we want to do with the cybercrime law is to prevent online sexual trafficking,” as well as “ensure that the internet is not used to generate chaos.”Uncertain futureMedia professors from private universities in León told VOA there is disenchantment with prospective students. In 2018, they received more than 80 applications. In 2021, only three.The professors, who asked that they and their institutions remain anonymous out of security concerns, said many students were disappointed to see the police repression.“They go for an assignment; and we tell them to take photos and images. And they experience firsthand when the police or other people ask them what they’re doing and demand photo ID,” one of the academics said.Many also do not see journalism as a profitable career, saying you need a second job to survive in media.Torres said that journalists are more often bearing the financial burden of running their own outlets.“When we lost sponsors, our advertisements, we had to … acquire a microphone or a tripod. We had to migrate to other alternative jobs to be able to subsist as individuals and as journalists,” she said.But Torres, said, “This is my passion, despite everything. Despite having been at Radio Darío when it was set on fire, having seen that terrorist attack against freedom of expression. I’m one of the survivors of the attack on Radio Darío, along with colleagues from Sin Censura … we have to fight.”This story originated in VOA’s Spanish language division.
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