RIYADMEDIA

A pro-European reformer has won the presidency of Moldova — defeating her Moscow-backed opponent in a second-round vote that centered around the economy, corruption, and what course the small, one-time Soviet republic would choose in the tug and pull between Russia and the West.With all the Incumbent Moldovan President Igor Dodon speaks to media in Chisinau, Moldova, Nov. 16, 2020.Her opponent, the incumbent President Igor Dodon, earned the support of 42% of voters despite support from Moscow and a scorched earth Moldova’s presidential candidate Maia Sandu, poses for a selfie photo with her supporters as she leaves the Action and Solidarity Party office in Chisinau, Nov. 16, 2020.East vs West dimensions?The Moldovan election appeared to be the latest challenge to Russia’s continued influence over former Soviet republics it once ruled.Russian President Vladimir Putin has openly backed Dodon and had called on Moldovans to support his bid for another term. Russian political advisers arrived from Moscow to help manage the campaign.Indeed, Dodon has been a loyal Kremlin ally in return, calling for good relations, attending key Kremlin events, and sitting out calls to sanction Russia over its seizure and annexation of Crimea from neighboring Ukraine.Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting via video conference in Moscow, Nov. 5, 2020.“This certainly serves the vital interests of the Russian and the Moldovan people,” he added. In addressing the course of her future foreign policy on Monday, Sandu said she would seek a “true balance” by pursuing “pragmatic dialogue with all countries” including Europe, Russia and the United States.Sandu supporters argue the incoming president was simply sticking with a pragmatic approach to foreign policy that had served her well in the past.”Maia does come from this chain of pro-European politicians in Moldova,” says the European Council on Foreign Relations’ Nicu Popescu, who served as foreign minister under Sandu when she was prime minister for a period in 2019.“But she’s also someone who sees pro-Europeanism as not built through hostile relations with Russia,” he told VOA.“Much of the Moldovan population wants this approach,” he added. 
…

Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology reported a “high intensity” explosion Monday at the Stromboli volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, located off the southern coast of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea.The institute’s surveillance cameras captured the event in visual and thermal format early Monday. The explosion could be seen sending ash and steam at least 100 meters into the air and streams of lava rapidly running down the center-south side of the volcano. The institute reported the event lasted four minutes. “From the seismological standpoint,” it “was characterized by a sequence of explosive events and landsliding,” it said.The institute also reported no variation in the overall condition of the volcano.The Stromboli volcano is one of the most active on Earth, with minor explosions and random lava flows descending from the crater directly into the sea. It has been erupting almost continuously since 1932. Light from its nighttime eruptions is visible for long distances, earning it the title, “Lighthouse of the Mediterranean.”
…

The European Commission, the European Union’s administrative branch, announced  Monday a deal with to purchase 405 billion doses of a potential coronavirus vaccine from German bio-tech company CureVac. The announcement comes just days after EU officials announced a similar deal with German company BioNTech and U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for an initial 300 million doses of the vaccine candidate they jointly produced, which, they say, has proven 90 percent effective against COVID-19 in late-stage testing. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters the deal with CureVac is, of course, conditional on their vaccine proving to be safe and effective.  Von der Leyen said the fifth CureVac is fifth company the alliance has contracted with a for its COVID-19 vaccine portfolio.FILE – A sign marks the headquarters of Moderna Therapeutics, which is developing a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Cambridge, Mass., May 18, 2020.She said they are already working on a deal with U.S. pharmaceutical company Moderna, for a sixth contract. On Monday, Moderna announced testing showed its vaccine candidate to also be better than 90 percent effective. Von der Leyen said the European Commission hopes to have finalize their contract with Moderna soon.  She said all the vaccines must independently tested by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) before they will be accepted. She said, “We do not know at this stage which vaccine will end up being safe and effective… And this is why we need to have a broad portfolio of vaccines based on very different technologies.” European nations continue to see a surge in COVID-19 cases, and many have implemented at least partial nationwide lockdowns until the end of the month. 
…

 Security forces in Pakistan sealed off a main highway into the capital, Islamabad, for a second day Monday to contain thousands of Islamists gathered outside the city to protest the reprinting of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in France. 
 
Witnesses and organizers said around 5,000 followers of the far-right Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, or TLP, began rallying on Sunday in neighboring Rawalpindi city and vowed to march toward the French Embassy in Islamabad.   Supporters of Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan, a religious political party, chant slogans while they block a main highway during an anti-France rally over the remarks of French President Emmanuel Macron, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Nov. 16, 2020.Rally participants were chanting anti-France slogans and demanding the expulsion of the French ambassador. 
 
Pakistani authorities, however, deployed thousands of riot police and paramilitary forces, and placed shipping containers at key entry points to block participants from entering the capital. Cell phone service in and around Islamabad was also switched off to prevent rally organizers from coordinating with each other.  
 
Protesters attempted to remove roadblocks Sunday night in their bid to enter the city, prompting police to respond with tear gas. The ensuing clashes spilled into Monday morning, injuring more than a dozen police officers.  Activists and supporters of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) gather beside empty tear gas shells fired by police during an anti-France demonstration in Islamabad, Nov. 16, 2020. An officer told VOA one of their personnel suffered “critical” injures, saying some of the demonstrators were “armed with long sticks that had daggers tied to them.” The clashes also left several protesters injured, according to hospital sources in Rawalpindi. 
 
The Pakistani capital remained under virtual lockdown even on Monday evening, with telecommunication services suspended for a second day in a row and security forces struggling to disperse the rally.  
 
Commuters between Islamabad and Rawalpindi and those traveling to the capital from other parts of Pakistan faced lengthy delays on alternate routes into the capital.  
Islamic parties in Pakistan have routinely organized scattered protests since early September against French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo for republishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that Muslims deem as blasphemous.  
 
Last month, a history teacher was decapitated outside a school near Paris after he had shown his students caricatures of the Prophet when the class discussed free speech.FILE – Floral tributes to Samuel Paty, the French teacher who was beheaded on the streets of the Paris suburb of Conflans St Honorine, are seen at the Place de la Republique, in Lille, France, Oct. 18, 2020.While French authorities were investigating the slaying of Samuel Paty and cracking down on suspected Islamist militants, a Tunisian man fatally stabbed three people in a cathedral in Nice. 
 
French President Emmanuel Macron has defended the right of publishers in his country to depict cartoons of the Prophet, drawing strong condemnation and triggering anti-France protests in Muslim countries.  
 
Islamabad has formally lodged a complaint with France over what it called a “systematic Islamophobic campaign” in the European nation. 
 
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has accused Macron of attacking the Muslim faith and urged Islamic countries to work together to counter what he called growing repression in Europe. 
 
“European powers, Western countries must understand that you cannot use freedom of speech as a weapon to cause Muslims pain by insulting our Prophet. Unless this is understood, the cycle of violence will keep happening,” Khan cautioned in a statement earlier this month.  
 
The ongoing violent protest outside Islamabad is not the first time the hardline cleric and TLP chief, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, has organized demonstrations over blasphemy-related issues in Pakistan.  
 
Rizvi’s followers, at his call, almost paralyzed parts of Pakistan in 2018 following the acquittal by the Supreme Court of a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, who had been wrongly accused of disrespecting the Prophet Muhammad.  
…

A suspected Islamic State gunman who opened fire aboard a high-speed train in France in 2015 is going on trial Monday in Paris.  Ayoub El Khazzani, a Moroccan national, was heavily armed when he opened fire and shot a passenger after the train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris crossed the border into France on August 21, 2015. A Frenchman, a Briton and three Americans, two of them in the military but on leave at the time, tackled Khazzani and disarmed him.  Khazzani, 31, is charged with “attempted terrorist murder.”  He had joined the Islamic State group in Syria in May 2015. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in jail. A judicial source has said that Khazzani had confessed to investigators he planned to attack U.S. soldiers and not civilians. FILE – Then-French President ollande poses with British businessman Chris Norman, US student Anthony Sadler, US Airman First Class Spencer Stone and US National Guardsman Alek Skarlatos (R) during a ceremony at the Elysee Palace, Aug. 24, 2015.At a ceremony to award the Americans the Legion of Honor days after the attack, France’s then president, Francois Hollande said that “one need only know that Ayoub El Khazzani was in possession of 300 rounds of ammunition and firearms to understand what we narrowly avoided, a tragedy, a massacre.”  FILE – Ambulances gather in the street outside the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo’s office, in Paris, Jan. 7, 2015. Masked gunmen stormed the offices of a French satirical newspaper Wednesday, killing at least 11 people before escaping,The train attack occurred between two deadly attacks in Paris that year. The first, in early January at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket, killed 12 people and injured 11 others. In November, a group of jihadists would kill 130 people in coordinated attacks in the French capital. American actor and director Clint Eastwood turned Khazzani’s drama into a movie titled The 15:17 to Paris, the time the gunman opened fire. Eastwood and the three Americans have been summoned to testify at Khazzani’s trial.       
…

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and other leaders Monday for economic and security talks. The top U.S. diplomat is also taking part in a wreath-laying ceremony for terrorism victims in Paris. Counterterrorism and global threats were among topics the State Department said Pompeo would be discussing Monday in his meetings with Macron and with Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, second from right, pauses as he participates in a wreath-laying ceremony in homage to victims of terrorism at Les Invalides in Paris, Nov. 16, 2020.Pompeo is on a multi-nation tour that next takes him to Turkey to meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world’s Greek Orthodox Christians. He is also due to visit Georgia, and then Israel, where Pompeo will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and discuss U.S.-brokered agreements for Israel to normalize relations with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.  Diplomats said Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al-Zayani is set to join a three-way meeting with Pompeo and Netanyahu. Other stops on Pompeo’s tour include the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. 
…

The opposition candidate in Moldova is the projected winner of the runoff presidential election. With almost all the vote counted by Sunday evening, pro-European Maia Sandu was leading with about 57% of the vote, compared to incumbent, pro-Russian president Igor Dodon’s 43%, according to results published on the Moldovan Central Election Commission website.   Sandu, 48, a former prime minister and a former World Bank employee, ran for Moldova’s top job with a pro-European political platform against a president who had promised to keep close ties with Moscow as a traditionally “strategic partner.” Her supporters celebrated overnight in front of opposition headquarters in the center of the capital Chisinau and were chanting “President Maia Sandu” and “a country for young people.”Incumbent Moldovan President Igor Dodon and his wife Galina smile while walking out of a voting station during the country’s presidential election runoff in Chisinau, Moldova, Nov. 15, 2020.Dodon, 45, who was the economy minister under a communist government between 2006 and 2009, said he “voted for peace, social justice and Christian values.”  “We must maintain good relations with the European Union and with Russia,” Dodan said. In the first round of voting on November 1, Sandu, the center-right politician caught the incumbent president by surprise, although she did not garner enough votes to avoid the runoff.   Moldova, a Soviet republic until 1991, with a population of a little more than 3.5 million, has long been divided between those who promote strong ties with the European Union and those who favor close relations with Moscow.  
…

Belarusian police detained more than 1,000 people Sunday during protests across the country demanding the resignation of President Alexander Lukashenko and a new election following a disputed vote in August.The Vyasna human rights group said most detentions were made in Minsk, where black-clad security forces used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse thousands of demonstrators. Two people were beaten by masked security officers inside a grocery store.At least 18 journalists, including four contributors to RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, were among those detained in Minsk and other cities, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists.Belarusian riot police block the road to stop demonstrators during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, Nov. 15, 2020.Russia, meanwhile, has supported Lukashenko in the ongoing standoff.Lukashenka vowed Friday not to hand over power and slammed his political opponents and demonstrators.Lukashenko said his country should integrate with Russia and Moscow-led organizations to avoid what he called “color revolutions,” a term often used to describe pro-Western political upheavals.His remarks came as the European Union again condemned violent crackdowns against Belarusian protesters and threatened to impose more sanctions on Minsk following the death of Bandarenka.Several protesters have been killed and thousands of people arrested since authorities declared Lukashenka the landslide winner of the vote.There have also been credible reports of torture during a widening security crackdown.Most of the country’s opposition have been arrested or forced to leave the country.
…

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is self-isolating after being told he came into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, officials said Sunday.”He will carry on working from Downing Street, including on leading the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic,” a statement from his office said.Johnson “is well and does not have any symptoms of COVID-19,” it added.Johnson met with a small group of lawmakers for about a half-hour on Thursday, including one who subsequently developed coronavirus symptoms and tested positive.He was notified by the National Health Service’s Test and Trace system Sunday and told he should self-isolate because of factors including the length of the meeting.Officials said they will discuss with parliamentary authorities how Johnson can take part remotely in parliament’s business. He plans to “continue speaking to the country during his self-isolation period,” they added.The statement didn’t say how long Johnson plans to isolate, but U.K. health authorities’ guidance is that anyone contacted by Test and Trace should quarantine for 14 days.In April, Johnson was hospitalized in intensive care after contracting the coronavirus.
…

Giant, aging cables that support one of the world’s largest single-dish radio telescopes are slowly unraveling in this U.S. territory, pushing an observatory renowned for its key role in astronomical discoveries to the brink of collapse.The Arecibo Observatory, which is tethered above a sinkhole in Puerto Rico’s lush mountain region, boasts a 1,000-foot-wide (305-meter-wide) dish featured in the Jodie Foster film “Contact” and the James Bond movie “GoldenEye.” The dish and a dome suspended above it have been used to track asteroids headed to Earth, conduct research that led to a Nobel Prize and helped scientists trying to determine if a planet is habitable.”As someone who depends on Arecibo for my science, I’m frightened. It’s a very worrisome situation right now. There’s a possibility of cascading, catastrophic failure,” said astronomer Scott Ransom with the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves, a collaboration of scientists in the United States and Canada.Last week, one of the telescope’s main steel cables that was capable of sustaining 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms) snapped under only 624 pounds (283 kilograms). That failure further mangled the reflector dish after an auxiliary cable broke in August, tearing a 100-foot (30-meter) hole and damaging the dome above it.  Officials said they were surprised because they had evaluated the structure in August and believed it could handle the shift in weight based on previous inspections.  It’s a blow for the telescope that more than 250 scientists around the world were using. The facility is also one of Puerto Rico’s main tourist attractions, drawing some 90,000 visitors a year. Research has been suspended since August, including a project aiding scientists in their search for nearby galaxies.The telescope was built in the 1960s and financed by the Defense Department amid a push to develop anti-ballistic missile defenses. It has endured more than a half-century of disasters, including hurricanes and earthquakes. Repairs from Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, were still under way when the first cable snapped.  Some new cables are scheduled to arrive next month, but officials said funding for repairs has not been worked out with federal agencies. Scientists warn that time is running out. Only a handful of cables now support the 900-ton platform.”Each of the structure’s remaining cables is now supporting more weight than before, increasing the likelihood of another cable failure, which would likely result in the collapse of the entire structure,” the University of Central Florida, which manages the facility, said in a statement Friday.University officials say crews have noticed wire breaks on two of the remaining main cables. They warn that employees and contractors are at risk despite relying heavily on drones and remote cameras to assess the damage.  The observatory estimates the damage at more than $12 million and is seeking money from the National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency that owns the observatory.  Foundation spokesman Rob Margetta said engineering and cost estimates have not been completed and that funding the repairs would likely involve Congress and discussions with stakeholders. He said the agency is reviewing “all recommendations for action at Arecibo.””NSF is ultimately responsible for decisions regarding the structure’s safety,” he said in an email. “Our top priority is the safety of anyone at the site.”Representatives of the university and the observatory said the telescope’s director, Francisco Córdova, was not available for comment. In a Facebook post, the observatory said maintenance was up to date and the most recent external structural evaluation occurred after Hurricane Maria.The most recent damage was likely the result of the cable degrading over time and carrying extra weight after the auxiliary cable snapped, the university said. In August, the socket holding that cable failed, possibly the result of manufacturing error, the observatory said.The problems have interrupted the work of researchers like Edgard Rivera-Valentín, a Universities Space Research Association scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Texas. He had planned to study Mars in September during its close approach to Earth.”This is the closest Mars was going to be while also being observable from Arecibo until 2067,” he said. “I won’t be around the next time we can get this level of radar data.”The observatory in Puerto Rico is considered crucial for the study of pulsars, which are the remains of stars that can be used to detect gravitational waves, a phenomenon Albert Einstein predicted in his theory of general relativity. The telescope also is used to search for neutral hydrogen, which can reveal how certain cosmic structures are formed.”It’s more than 50 years old, but it remains a very important instrument,” said Alex Wolszczan, a Polish-born astronomer and professor at Pennsylvania State University.He helped discover the first extrasolar and pulsar planets and credited the observatory for having a culture that allowed him to test what he described as wild ideas that sometimes worked.  “Losing it would be a really huge blow to what I think is a very important science,” Wolszczan said.An astronomer at the observatory in the 1980s and early 1990s, Wolszczan still uses the telescope for certain work because it offers an unmatched combination of high frequency range and sensitivity that he said allows for a “huge array” of science projects. Among them: observing molecules of life, detecting radio emission of stars and conducting pulsar work.The telescope also was a training ground for graduate students and widely loved for its educational opportunities, said Carmen Pantoja, an astronomer and professor at the University of Puerto Rico, the island’s largest public university.She relied on it for her doctoral thesis and recalled staring at it in wonder when she was a young girl.”I was struck by how big and mysterious it was,” she said. “The future of the telescope depends greatly on what position the National Science Foundation takes…I hope they can find a way and that there’s goodwill to save it.”
…

Peru’s interim president resigned Sunday, just five days after taking office, sparking celebrations in the capital, Lima.National protests have persisted calling for the removal of Manuel Merino, after parliament ousted relatively popular President Martin Vizcarra last week.Merino stepped down shortly after a congressional session called on him to resign after two people were killed in protests against his appointment.”I want to let the whole country know that I’m resigning,” he said in a televised address.Congress was expected to name another president – the third this week – on Sunday evening.Elections are scheduled for April 2021.Thousands of people have taken to the streets since Merino’s appointment. The Health Ministry said two people were killed Saturday in a large, peaceful march that was met with shotgun pellets and tear gas from police.Congress voted overwhelmingly to oust Vizcarra last week, citing his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic. Peru Lawmakers Set to Swear-in New Leader After Voting to Remove President From Office  Peru president said he will not challenge lawmakers decision to remove him from officeThe legislators initially sought to impeach Vizcarra on an allegation he received more than $630,000 in kickbacks for construction projects while serving as governor in southern Peru from 2011-2014. He denies the allegations.
…

Belarusian police have detained scores of protesters who were demanding the resignation of Alexander Lukashenko and a new presidential election following a disputed vote in August.Black-clad security forces used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse thousands of demonstrators in the capital, Minsk, on Sunday.The Vyasna human rights group said at least 179 protesters were detained in Minsk and other cities, including in Homel, Hrodna, and Mogilev.Demonstrators in Minsk carried the banned white-red-white flags that have become a symbol of the political opposition in Belarus and chanted slogans like, “Lukashenko! Tribunal!” and “Love live Belarus!”Mobile Internet was down and several subway stations in central Minsk were closed.FILE – Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, leader of the opposition from Belarus, speaks to the media during a press statement in Berlin, Germany, Oct. 6, 2020. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanouskaya, who has said the vote was rigged in Lukashenko’s favor and considers herself the rightful winner, described the crackdown on protesters on November 15 with “gas, grenades and firearms” as “devastating” and called for international support for the demonstrators.”We ask our allies to stand up for the Belarusian people and human rights. We need a humanitarian corridor for the injured, support for the media, international investigation of crimes,” she wrote on Twitter.Tikhanouskaya left Belarus for Lithuania after the vote amid threats to her and her family.Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus for 26 years, has faced almost daily protests calling for his resignation since a presidential election on August 9 that the opposition says was rigged and which the West has refused to accept.Russia, meanwhile, has supported Lukashenko in the ongoing standoff.Lukashenka on November 13 vowed not to hand over power and slammed his political opponents and demonstrators.Lukashenko said his country should integrate with Russia and Moscow-led organizations to avoid what he called “color revolutions” — a term often used to describe pro-Western political upheavals.His remarks came as the European Union again condemned violent crackdowns against Belarusian protesters and threatened to impose more sanctions on Minsk following the death of a 31-year-old Belarusian man on November 12 who is believed to have been badly beaten by masked security forces.Several protesters have been killed and thousands of people arrested since authorities declared Lukashenka the landslide winner of the vote.There have also been credible reports of torture during a widening security crackdown.Most of the country’s opposition have been arrested or forced to leave the country.
…

The U.N. human rights office says the government of Belarus continues to commit human rights violations with impunity against peaceful protesters three months after the country’s disputed presidential elections.Belarusian citizens remain outraged at the outcome of the August 9 presidential election that returned Alexander Lukashenko to power in an election widely seen as fraudulent. They continue to voice their grievances by taking to the streets in protest.U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said the government has responded to these peaceful demonstrations in a heavy-handed manner, with the use of unnecessary or excessive force by law enforcement officials.“Arbitrary mass detentions continue. To date, it is estimated more than 25,000 people have been detained, including more than 1,000 who took part in solidarity protests in the capital, Minsk, and throughout Belarus on the 8th of November. Many of those detained have faced administrative charges, in some cases being held for up to 15 days, but the Belarusian authorities are increasingly bringing criminal charges against people,” he said.Colville said at least 127 students taking part in demonstrations have been expelled from their courses. He said dozens of medical workers and doctors in solidarity with the opposition have been detained. He said the government reportedly has frozen the bank accounts of a charity assisting some 60 alleged victims of violence and torture.On Thursday, a 31-year-old man, Roman Bondarenko, reportedly died after he allegedly was assaulted by masked men and ill-treated by a member of the security forces. Belarusian officials have denied any role in the death.People gather to honor 31-year-old Raman Bandarenka, who died at a Minsk hospital after several hours of surgery due to serious injuries in Minsk, Belarus, Nov. 13, 2020.If the allegations are proven to be true, Colville said Bondarenko’s death takes government abuse to a whole new level.“The latest statement from the investigative committee – is an investigative body in Belarus continues to indicate that the authorities for now do not acknowledge that those who attacked Mr. Bondarenko were police officers or otherwise associated with the security apparatus,” he said.The U.N human rights office is calling on the Belarusian authorities to conduct a thorough, independent investigation into this incident and to publicly share its results. It says the perpetrator should be brought to justice if a crime was found to have been committed.President Lukashenko, meanwhile, denies that the election was fraudulent and refuses to step down. 
…

Turkish President Erdogan visited breakaway Northern Cyprus on Sunday to meet its newly elected leader who backs his call for a “two-state” solution to the divided island’s five-decade conflict if U.N.-mediated talks yield no results.With Turkey’s support, former prime minister Ersin Tatar won a tight presidential vote last month that could further strain ties with the internationally-recognized Cypriot government to the south. Tatar’s predecessor had backed reunification.Turkey is alone in recognizing Northern Cyprus as an independent state. Cyprus was split after a Turkish invasion in 1974 triggered by a brief Greek-inspired coup.Turkey’s government said Erdogan and Tatar would discuss how to strengthen ties and also the situation in the broader Eastern Mediterranean, where Turkey has clashed this year with Cyprus, Greece and the European Union over offshore territorial rights.The EU, which has threatened to impose sanctions on Turkey next month over illegal oil and gas exploration at sea, admitted Cyprus into the bloc in 2004. Erdogan has said separate administrations were the only solution after U.N.-mediated peace talks between Cyprus and North Cyprus broke down in 2017. Ankara has proposed an informal meeting between Turkey, Greece, Turkish and Greek Cypriots and the United Nations.Before last month’s election, Northern Cyprus partially reopened the beach town of Varosha, a fenced-off resort area abandoned in no-man’s land since 1974.Turkey backed the move while the United States, Greece and Greek Cypriots criticized it. 
…

In an unassuming house in rolling hills east of the Hungarian capital, a small family firm is helping oil the wheels of the world’s big pharmaceutical companies on the path to a coronavirus vaccine. Biologist Noemi Lukacs, 71, retired to Szirak, her birth village, to establish English & Scientific Consulting (SciCons) and manufacture a genetic sensor so sensitive that a few grams can supply the entire global industry for a year. “We produce monoclonal antibodies,” Lukacs told Reuters in the single-story house where she was born, now partly converted into a world-class laboratory. The white powder ships worldwide from here, micrograms at a time. “These antibodies recognize double-stranded RNA [dsRNA],” she explained. DsRNA is a byproduct of viruses replicating, so its presence signals the presence of a live virus, long useful in virus-related research. More importantly, dsRNA is also a byproduct of the process used by U.S. giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech to create their experimental COVID-19 vaccine which is more than 90% effective according to initial trial results last week.And because dsRNA can be harmful to human cells, it must be filtered out from any vaccine to be used in humans. Several filtering methods exist, but the most widely used way to do quality control is to expose the vaccine to Lukacs’ antibodies. Not only will the antibodies show if there is any dsRNA in the vaccine, they will also tell researchers how much of it is present. Only once completely freed from dsRNA can the vaccine be administered. The result: a line of big pharma representatives outside her door. Hungarian biologists Alexandra Torok and Noemi Lukacs check the purity of an antibody, a genetic sensor of sorts, in Szirak, Hungary, Nov. 13, 2020.The small company is growing rapidly, yet its revenue was only 124 million forints (just over $400,000) last year, with profits at 52 million forints. That feeds five employees and even leaves some for local charity projects in Szirak. To Lukacs, that is just fine. The success of the RNA field, long frowned upon, is vindication enough. Dog in the race The former university professor followed the race to the vaccine closely and rooted especially for the contestants who look set to come first: those using modified RNA to train cells of the human body to recognize and kill the coronavirus. The RNA was her dog in the race. The modified RNA, or mRNA, methodology is a whole new group of drugs, with the COVID vaccine the first product likely to get regulatory approval and go into mass production. But more applications are expected, which has Lukacs overjoyed. “Once you get into the RNA field, it is an extremely exciting area,” she said, recalling decades of struggles when the rest of the scientific community did not share her excitement. Or most of the rest, that is. Another Hungarian woman, Katalin Kariko, working across the Atlantic, patented the method that enables the use of RNA and promises to free the world not only of the coronavirus but scores of other diseases. In the process, Kariko — now the Vice President of Germany’s BioNTech, which was first alongside U.S. giant Pfizer to break through with a vaccine earlier this month  — became an early SciCons customer. The COVID breakthrough and other RNA uses may necessitate more use of Lukacs’s antibodies as well, but they do not anticipate much of a boon. “We would be happy to sell more of it,” said Johanna Symmons, her daughter and the small company’s chief executive. “We probably will too. But it’s not like we’ll get silly rich.” Being part of the solution reaps its own rewards. “We have cooperated with most vaccine manufacturers, and certainly almost all of the ones using the mRNA method,” she said with a hint of pride. “We have been a small screw in this large machine.”    
…

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said early Sunday that reconnaissance aircraft had found that Tropical Storm Iota has strengthened into the 13th hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season.The meteorologists said Iota is “rapidly strengthening” into a major hurricane as it approaches Central America, a region recently pummeled by Hurricane Eta.The weather forecasters said Iota is moving with maximum sustained winds of 120 kph.The agency has issued hurricane warnings for Providencia, in Colombia, as well as portions of Honduras and Nicaragua.
…

As Tropical Storm Iota barreled toward Central America, authorities on Saturday urged communities to evacuate before it unleashed “life-threatening” flooding across a region still recovering from Hurricane Eta’s devastation.Iota was expected to intensify to major hurricane strength or just short of it by the time it smashes into the jungles of the Miskito Coast of Nicaragua and Honduras on Monday.The storm comes as Central America is still coping with the massive destruction wrought by Hurricane Eta, which slammed the region two weeks ago, prompting flooding and mudslides that have killed scores of people across a huge swath stretching from Panama to southern Mexico.On Saturday morning, Guatemalan authorities said a mudslide had buried 10 people in Chiquimula state, near the border with Honduras. Emergency workers rescued two people and recovered three corpses; five people were still missing. Saturday’s mudslide followed last week’s partial collapse of a mountain onto the village of Queja, in the central Guatemalan region of Alta Verapaz, which killed and buried alive dozens of residents.FILE – Guatemala’s president, Alejandro Giammattei, speaks during a news conference in Guatemala City, Feb. 7, 2020.Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei expressed on Saturday his concern about the approach of Iota, saying he had ordered evacuations for areas expected to be affected. “We are concerned about the area of Alta Verapaz and Quiché. We believe that they are the areas where we could have the greatest impact,” said Giammattei. “We hope God helps us.”In Honduras, where Eta killed 64 people and damaged roads, bridges and crops, President Juan Orlando Hernández on Saturday urged people in the path of Iota to evacuate to the nearest shelters. “Iota is going to put our lives and our economy at risk again,” he said.Residents of the community of Cruz de Valencia in northwestern Honduras began evacuating. “We have to get out. We have to save our lives,” said resident Erick Gomez, who said he survived the flooding from the last hurricane by clinging to a tree to avoid being swept away by the rushing water. “We are afraid of what we just suffered with Eta, and we do not want to go through the same thing again.”The U.S. National Hurricane Center warned that Iota could bring flash flooding and mudslides across northern Colombia and Central America as early as Monday. It is expected to pack maximum winds of 110 mph (177 kph) as it approaches landfall. 
 
At 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT), Iota was about 780 kilometers (485 miles) east-southeast from the Nicaraguan-Honduran coast, with maximum sustained winds of 80 kilometers per hour (50 mph). It was moving at 8 kph (5 mph) in a west-southwest direction.
…

The leader of Armenia’s opposition Homeland party, Artur Vanetsyan, has been arrested and accused of plotting to overthrow the government and kill the country’s embattled prime minister, as the country’s main security body said it had thwarted an assassination attempt.Vanetsyan, who formerly headed Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS), was detained after his arrival for a meeting with the service’s Investigative Department on Saturday, according to his lawyer.”Vanetsyan was detained on suspicion of usurping power and preparing the assassination of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan,” attorney Lusine Sahakian wrote on Facebook.In addition, Sahakian wrote, “illegal searches” were carried out in the apartment of Vanetsyan’s parents and an office affiliated with the Homeland party.Both Sahakian and Vanetsyan’s Homeland party condemned the moves as politically motivated.NSS statementThe NSS has not confirmed Vanetsyan’s arrest, but in a statement Saturday it said that it had thwarted an assassination attempt against Pashinyan.”The National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia has revealed cases of illegal acquisition and storage of weapons, ammunition and explosives by a group of people with the aim of seizing power in the Republic of Armenia,” the statement said. “It is clarified that the attackers, who did not agree with the domestic and foreign policy of the state, intended to seize power by killing the head of government.”The Homeland party said in a statement that Vanetsyan’s arrest was part of the Armenian authorities’ efforts to quell opposition protests against a Russia-mediated cease-fire agreement that stopped fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces in Nagorno-Karabakh.Pashinyan’s agreement to the truce with Azerbaijan on Tuesday prompted a furious reaction in the Armenian capital, with protesters storming government buildings and parliament.Homeland is one of 17 Armenian opposition groups that launched the protests and demanded Pashinyan’s resignation. They accuse Pashinyan of capitulating to Azerbaijan and committing high treason.10 arrestsOn Wednesday, 10 prominent opposition figures, including Vanetsyan, were arrested and accused of “organizing illegal violent mass disorder.” The detentions were denounced by the opposition as illegal, and the opposition figures were released two days later.Vanetsyan, 40, was appointed as head of the NSS immediately after the 2018 revolution that brought Pashinyan to power. He quickly became an influential member of Pashinyan’s entourage, overseeing high-profile corruption investigations initiated by Armenia’s new leadership.Vanetsyan resigned in September 2019 after a falling out with the prime minister. He has since repeatedly accused Pashinyan of incompetence and misrule, prompting angry responses from the premier and his political allies.While the Moscow-brokered truce ended fighting that has killed more than 2,000 soldiers and civilians on each side, it has been rejected by Armenians because it allows Azerbaijan to keep large swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh.Nagorno-Karabakh is recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but its majority Armenian population has governed its own affairs since Azerbaijani troops and Azeri civilians were pushed out of the region in a war that ended in a cease-fire in 1994.The most recent fighting broke out in late September.
…

In a bitter farewell to his home of 21 years, Garo Dadevusyan wrenched off its metal roof and prepared to set the stone house on fire. Thick smoke poured from houses that his neighbors had already torched before fleeing this ethnic Armenian village about to come under Azerbaijani control.The village is to be turned over to Azerbaijan on Sunday as part of territorial concessions in an agreement to end six weeks of intense fighting with Armenian forces. The move gripped its 600 people with fear and anger so deep that they destroyed the homes they once loved.The settlement — called Karvachar in Armenian — is legally part of Azerbaijan, but it has been under the control of ethnic Armenians since the 1994 end of a war over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. That war left not only Nagorno-Karabakh itself but also substantial surrounding territory in Armenian hands.After years in which sporadic clashes broke out between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces, full-scale fighting began in late September this year. Azerbaijan made relentless military advances, culminating in the seizure of the city of Shusha, a strategically key city and one of strong emotional significance as a longtime center of Azeri culture.Two days after Azerbaijan announced it had taken Shusha, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a Russia-brokered cease-fire under which territory that Armenia occupies outside the formal borders of Nagorno-Karabakh will be gradually ceded.Muslim Azeris and Christian Armenians once lived together in these regions, however uneasily. Although the cease-fire ends the fighting, it aggravates ethnic animosity.Garo Dadevusyan, right, wrenches off its metal roof and prepares to set the stone house on fire in Kalbajar before leaving the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, Nov. 14, 2020. The village is to be turned over to Azerbaijan Nov. 15.”In the end, we will blow it up or set it on fire, in order not to leave anything to Muslims,” Dadevusyan said of his house.He spoke while taking a rest from salvaging what he could from the home, including metal roof panels, and piling it onto an old flatbed truck.The truck’s final destination was unclear.”We are homeless now, do not know where to go and where to live. Do not know where to live. It is very hard,” Dadevusyan’s wife, Lusine, said, choked by tears as the couple gave the interior of the house a last look.Dadevusyan’s dismay extended to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Armenia and Russia keep close relations and Russia has a sizable military base in Armenia, so many Armenians had hoped for support from Moscow. Instead, Russia facilitated the cease-fire and territorial concessions and is sending in nearly 2,000 peacekeepers to enforce it.”Why has Putin abandoned us?” Dadevusyan asked.Cars and trucks stuck in a huge traffic jam climb along the road from Kalbajar to a mountain pass leaving the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, Nov. 14, 2020.On Saturday, kilometers-long columns of cars and trucks carrying fleeing residents jammed the road to Armenia.Scores of local people flocked to Dadivank, an Armenian Apostolic Church monastery dating to the ninth century, as priests removed sacred items to be taken away. Many of the visitors took photos of themselves at the site nestled in the mountains near Karvachar, suggesting they did not expect to see it again.People look at bells, removed from the Dadivank, an Armenian Apostolic Church monastery dating to the ninth century, as ethnic Armenians leave the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, Nov. 14, 2020.A small group of Russian peacekeepers watched from across the road, some sitting on their armored vehicles.The monastery’s abbot, the Reverend Hovhannes Ter-Hovhannisyan, walked over to greet them.”It’s very important to us that the Russian peacekeepers came today in order to preserve peace, because not all the questions of our future have been resolved,” he said. “But I am sure that justice will triumph.”Hundreds of thousands of Azeris were displaced by the war that ended in 1994. It is unclear when any civilians might try to settle in Karvachar — which will now be known by its Azeri name, Kalbajar — or elsewhere.Any returns could be wrenching. Settlers will confront the burned, empty shells of houses — or worse. Agdam, which is to be turned over next week, once was a city of about 40,000, but now is an empty sprawl of buildings that were destroyed in the first war or later ruined by pillagers grabbing building materials.Returning also is potentially dangerous because of the remnants of war. The Azerbaijani general prosecutor’s office said one man was killed and another injured Saturday when they triggered a mine left over from the fighting in Fizuli, an area now under Azerbaijani control.For the Dadevusyans, their sudden relocation is overwhelming beyond words.”When you spent 21 years here and now need to leave it … ,” Garo Dadevusyan said, trailing off, as smoke from nearby burning houses choked the air. Soon, he knew, his house would be one of them.
…

Demonstrators on the Canary Islands on Saturday demanded better living conditions for thousands of migrants who have reached the Spanish archipelago from Africa.A slow procession of hundreds of demonstrators, some on foot and some in cars, crossed the island of Gran Canaria before reaching the Arguineguin dock in the town of Mogan, where nearly 2,000 migrants are living in tents in conditions that an immigration judge has called “inhumane and degrading.”Over 700 migrants in small boats were rescued Saturday, coast guards said, bringing the number of people who have reached the islands by the dangerous Atlantic route from Africa to nearly 17,000 this year — more than 10 times last year’s total.Deepening economic hardship due to the coronavirus pandemic is pushing more people in developing nations to seek better lives elsewhere, while tightened security in the Mediterranean means more migrants are attempting the Atlantic crossing, with many dying along the way.”We are here fighting for a more dignified reception for these people who arrive in our island to find a better life,” said one demonstrator, teacher Famara Brito.Aid groups estimate about 4,000 migrants are living in tourist hotels because of the lack of refugee reception centers. The Federation of Hospitality and Tourism Enterprises of Gran Canaria called on the government Saturday to act so hotels could be used again for tourists.Spain’s regional policy minister said Friday that it would expand naval patrols around the Canary Islands and set up more migrant centers in response to the surge in arrivals.
…

Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua announced evacuations Friday as a second major hurricane in days closed in on Central America with the region still reeling from deadly storm Eta last week.
 
Eta killed more than 200 people across Central America, with heavy rain bursting riverbanks and triggering landslides as far north as Chiapas, Mexico.
 
The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami has now confirmed that another major hurricane is approaching Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala, whose populations total more than 30 million.
 
The NHC forecasts Tropical Storm Iota to become a Category 2 or 3 hurricane as it moves into the same shell-shocked countries, hitting Nicaragua and Honduras by late Sunday or early Monday — less than two weeks after Eta hit.
 
Authorities in Honduras on Friday ordered the evacuation by police and the army of people in the area of San Pedro Sula — the country’s second city and industrial capital, located 180 kilometers north of Tegucigalpa.
 
“Our red alert [in Honduras] orders mandatory evacuations,” Julissa Mercado of Honduras’ Emergency Response Agency told AFP.
 
The San Pedro Sula valley was hit hard by Eta and about 40,000 people are still in shelters across the country.
 
In Nicaragua relief agencies began to evacuate some indigenous communities from the Coco River, on the border with Honduras, which could be affected by heavy rains and floods due to the storm.
 
“We are asking you to calmly prepare” for the hurricane that “threatens to cause floods and disasters,” Rose Cunnigham, the mayor of Waspam, on the border with Honduras, urged the community over a local radio station.
 
Waspam authorities on Friday sent boats to evacuate the community in Cabo Gracias a Dios, the cape where the Coco River flows into the Caribbean along the “Mosquito Coast”, and buses to transport people from the village of Bihmuna.
 
Guatemala’s disaster management agency CONRED meanwhile called on residents in the country’s most threatened areas in the north and northeast to voluntarily evacuate to shelters. It also recommended avoiding waterways and other risky areas.  
 
“Our ground is already oversaturated,” said Guatemala’s President Alejandro Giammattei.  
 
“So, it’s to be expected that we will have more farming and infrastructure damage,” he warned after meeting his Honduran counterpart, Juan Orlando Hernandez, in Guatemala City.
 
Eta hit the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua as a Category 4 storm and was one of the strongest November storms ever recorded.
 
Warmer seas caused by climate change are making hurricanes stronger for longer after landfall, increasing the destruction they can wreak, scientists say.
 
Guatemala’s Giammattei on Friday accused industrialized nations of being responsible for the catastrophes caused by climate change that are ravaging the area.
 
“Central America is one of the regions where climate change is felt the most,” he told reporters.
 
The region is hit by “catastrophic floods, extreme droughts and the greatest poverty” but nonetheless receives “the least help on behalf of these industrialized nations”, he said.
 
This year’s hurricane season has seen a record 30 named tropical storms wreak havoc across the southeastern United States, the Caribbean and Central America.
 
The NHC was even forced to switch to the Greek alphabet after 2020’s storms exhausted its list of Latin names.
 
…

Tropical Storm Iota should strengthen into a major hurricane by the time it smashes into the jungles of the Miskito Coast of Nicaragua and Honduras on Monday, a region still recovering from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Eta.Iota formed Friday afternoon, and the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said it could be blowing winds of up to 193 kph when it collides with Central America, two weeks after Eta battered the area.”Flooding and landslides from heavy rainfall could be significant across Central America given recovery efforts underway after Hurricane Eta,” the NHC said.Eta sparked floods and mudslides that killed scores of people across a huge swath of terrain stretching from Panama to southern Mexico.No area was harder hit than the central Guatemalan region of Alta Verapaz, where a mountain partly collapsed onto the village of Queja, killing and burying dozens of residents alive.At 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT) Iota was about 539 kilometers south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, packing maximum sustained winds of 64 kph. It was moving at a slow 5 kph in a west-southwest direction.Dangerous winds, rising sea levels and downpours could menace the coast of Nicaragua and Honduras from Sunday night, the Miami-based NHC said.The center expected to issue hurricane watches for portions of those areas by late Friday or early Saturday.Through Wednesday morning, Iota could spark life-threatening flash flooding and cause rivers to burst their banks in parts of Haiti, Jamaica and Central America, the NHC said.In Honduras, evacuations were already under way in Sula Valley, and officials said they would on Saturday start letting water out of a major dam in anticipation of Iota, the record-breaking 30th storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.
…

Mexican senators on Friday began weighing a sweeping initiative to legalize recreational use and sale of marijuana, a proposal that could create the world’s largest marijuana market in a country battered by a violent war against drug gangs.The Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that recreational marijuana should be permitted, and lawmakers in 2017 legalized the use of medicinal marijuana. But the country has yet to pass laws that would legalize its recreational use or regulations for medicinal marijuana.Lawmakers are now rushing to try to meet a Dec. 15 deadline set by the Supreme Court for legalization, with the support of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who wants to remove the drug as a source of income for violent drug gangs.Discussed by the Senate’s health, justice and legislative studies commissions on Friday, the marijuana bill would allow licensed sale of marijuana, let users carry up to 28 grams of the drug and grow as many as four cannabis plants in their homes.It would also create the Mexican Institute for Regulation and Cannabis Control within the Health Ministry.Among the restrictions, children and teenagers would be prohibited from smoking pot or being involved in its cultivation and sale, and the drug would not be allowed while driving.The possible legalization of hemp, a product derived from marijuana, for industrial use in sectors such as construction or food production, has not yet been hammered out, a legislative staffer told Reuters.However, the bill does propose allowing the sale, import and export of non-psychoactive cannabis products for industrial use.Major companies are positioning themselves for a time when Mexico opens up what would be the world’s biggest legal cannabis market in terms of population, where the drug can be lawfully cultivated and sold.Pro-marijuana activists have called for the passage of the bill in recent weeks with a cannabis “garden” next to the Senate, where police have turned a blind eye to recreational users freely lighting up joints.   
…

As the remnants of Hurricane Eta disappear in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, meteorologists say a tropical depression in the southern Caribbean Sea is likely to strengthen into 2020’s 30th named storm.The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Tropical Depression 31 was about 500 kilometers south-southeast of Jamaica and was slowly moving to the west-southwest. Forecasters said conditions were right for the system to gradually intensify into Tropical Storm Iota.It was expected to begin moving west-northwest by Saturday and move across the central Caribbean. It could approach the coastlines of Nicaragua and northeast Honduras by late Sunday, by which time it could be a major hurricane.FILE – A rescue dog and his handler search for survivors after a massive, rain-fueled landslide in the village of Queja, Guatemala, Nov. 7, 2020, in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Eta.That is very bad news for the Central American region, which is still trying to recover from powerful Hurricane Eta that brought disastrous flooding and landslides to Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala last week.The storm, which existed for more than 10 days, moved offshore late last week, restrengthened as it crossed the Caribbean, and came ashore twice in the U.S. state of Florida — once in the southern part of the state and, earlier this week, near Tampa on the Gulf Coast — bringing more than 40 centimeters of rain and life-threatening floods.The storm moved east across Florida and north up the U.S. East Coast, where it brought heavy rains and flooding to North Carolina and southern Virginia before moving out to sea.Meanwhile, the season’s 29th named storm, Tropical Storm Theta, continued to spin in the far eastern Atlantic. At last report it had maximum sustained winds of 95 kph, but it posed no threat to land.Theta broke the record for the most named storms in a season, set in 2005.
 
…