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A Hague-based special prosecutor indicted Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and nine others Wednesday for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during Kosovo’s 1998-99 war for independence from Serbia.In a press release Wednesday, the Special Prosecutor’s Office alleged that the 10 people charged were “criminally responsible for nearly 100 murders” during the war, which involved “hundreds of known victims of Kosovo Albanian, Serb, Roma, and other ethnicities and include political opponents.” Other crimes include forced disappearances, persecution and torture. “[The indictment] is the result of a lengthy investigation and reflects the SPO’s determination that it can prove all of the charges beyond a reasonable doubt,” the release said. The Office filed the indictments on April 24. A Kosovo Specialist Chamber pre-trial judge will decide whether to confirm the charges after reviewing the indictment. The Kosovo Specialist Chamber and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office were formally established in 2016 as a Kosovo court based in the Netherlands. It operates under Kosovo law but is funded by the European Union and staffed by international judges and prosecutors. The announcement Wednesday came three days before Thaci and Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti were scheduled to visit the White House for a summit with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Richard Grenell, President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Serbia and Kosovo, tweeted Wednesday that Thaci canceled his Washington trip.Hoti and Vucic will still attend, he wrote.We look forward to Saturday’s discussions which will be led by President Vucic and Prime Minister Hoti. https://t.co/j7KhhfbQX1
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) FILE – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks at a news conference in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 12, 2020.Speaking about the upcoming White House talks, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called it an opportunity to restart dialogue between all parties by “making a real effort to find a political solution for the situation in Kosovo.”  “And of course we would strongly welcome the resumption of talks between Belgrade and Pristina to try to find a solution. It is not for NATO or any other countries to dictate the outcome. But the fact that they meet is at least an encouraging first step to the resumption of talks,” Stoltenberg said in response to questions from VOA’s Serbian Service. He stressed that NATO has good relations with both sides. The Western Alliance also has a long history in the Balkans, helping to end wars in Bosnia-Herzegovina and in Kosovo, noted Stoltenberg.  VOA’s Serbian Service contributed to this report. 
 
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Russia has held its long awaited celebrations to mark the end of World War Two, with the Kremlin dismissing concerns over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic to hold a grand military parade on Red Square. As Charles Maynes reports from Moscow, it’s not the only sign of Moscow opening up.
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Coronavirus hospitalizations and caseloads hit new highs in over a half-dozen states as signs of the virus’ resurgence mounted, with newly confirmed infections nationwide back near their peak level of two months ago.  
After trending downward for six weeks, the U.S. caseload has been growing again for over a week, particularly in the South and West. Some 34,700 new cases were reported nationwide Tuesday, according to the count kept by Johns Hopkins University. The number was higher than any other day except April 9 and the record-setting date of April 24, when 36,400 cases were logged.
 
While new cases have been declining steadily in early U.S. hot spots such as New York and New Jersey, several other states set single-day case records Tuesday, including Arizona, California, Mississippi, Nevada and Texas. Some of them also broke hospitalization records, as did North Carolina and South Carolina.  
“The question of how we’re doing as a nation is: We’re not doing so well. How are we doing as a state? Not doing so well,” said Dr. Jeffrey Smith, the county executive in Santa Clara County, California, home to Silicon Valley. Nearly 5,600 people have died of the virus in California, the most populous state.VOA Graphic COVID-19 Cases June 2020Cases are also surging in some other parts of the world. India reported a record daily increase of nearly 16,000 new cases. Mexico, where testing rates have been low, also set a record with more than 6,200 new cases.
But China appears to have tamed a new outbreak in Beijing, once again demonstrating its ability to quickly mobilize its vast resources by testing nearly 2.5 million people in 11 days.
In the U.S., the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told Congress that the next few weeks are critical to tamping down the surge and that people should avoid crowds or at least wear masks in them.  
Hours later, President Donald Trump rallied hundreds of young conservatives in a megachurch in Arizona as the state reported a record 3,600 new infections.
Ahead of the event, the Democratic mayor of Phoenix, Kate Gallego, made clear that she did not believe the speech could be safely held in her city, and she urged the president to wear a face mask. He did not. Trump has refused to wear a mask in public, turning it into a conservative-vs.-liberal issue.
In China, an outbreak that has infected more than 200 people in the capital this month appeared to be waning. China on Wednesday reported 12 cases, down from 22 the day before. Beijing reported seven new cases, down from 13.
Officials in Beijing said they tested more than 2.4 million people between June 12 and June 22. That’s more than 10% of the capital’s population of about 20 million.  
Authorities began testing people in and around food markets, then expanded the initiative to restaurant staff and the city’s 100,000 delivery workers. China also said it used data to find people who had been near markets for testing. It did not elaborate.
South Korea, which tamed its first wave of infections, is seeing another rise — this time in the Seoul region, where most South Koreans live. Authorities reported 51 cases Wednesday. The country has reported 40 to 50 new cases a day over the past two weeks.  
In India, with a population of more than 1.3 billion, the capital city of New Delhi is a rising concern, with the government criticizing its poor contact tracing and a lack of hospital beds. India has reported more than 450,000 cases of the virus, including more than 14,000 deaths.
Mexico reported nearly 800 new deaths on Wednesday. The country has recorded more than 190,000 cases and over 23,000 deaths, though officials acknowledge both are undercounts because of extremely low testing rates. Mexico has performed about half a million tests, or one for every 250 inhabitants.
In Europe, countries are both easing and increasing restrictions as the outbreaks evolve. Slovenia reintroduced mandatory use of face masks in public transportation and other enclosed public spaces after cases spiked in recent days, while Belgium said theaters and swimming pools could reopen next month. Infections there have nosedived over the past two months.  
In Africa, African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief John Nkengasong said the outbreak is “picking up speed very quickly,” with a steep increase in cases and deaths as more countries loosen lockdowns. Africa has seen nearly 325,000 cases and over 8,600 deaths.
Worldwide, more than 9.2 million people have been confirmed infected, and close to a half-million have died, by Johns Hopkins’ count.
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The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on five Iranian ship captains who had delivered oil to Venezuela, and the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reaffirmed Washington’s backing for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.   FILE – Secretary of State Pompeo speaks during a press conference at the State Department, June 24, 2020 in Washington.Speaking at a press conference at the State Department, Pompeo said the ships delivered around 1.5 million barrels of Iranian gasoline and related components, and warned any mariners against doing business with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose ouster Washington wants.   “As a result of today’s sanctions, these captains’ assets will be blocked. Their careers and prospects will suffer from this designation,” Pompeo said in a statement later. “Mariners who are considering work with Iran and Venezuela should understand that aiding these oppressive regimes is simply not worth the risk,” he said.   The Trump administration, which is seeking both to block Iran’s energy trade and bring down Maduro, has threatened reprisals and warned ports, shipping companies and insurers against facilitating the tankers.   The OPEC member’s exports are hovering near their lowest levels in more than 70 years and the economy has collapsed, but Maduro has held on — to the frustration of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.   Iran has since April sent five tankers totalling about 1.5 million barrels to the leftist government of fuel-starved Venezuela, though the shipments have done little to alleviate hours-long lines at gas stations. 
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson sparred with opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer in Parliament Wednesday about Johnson’s strategies for dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic in Britain.Considering Johnson’s announcement Tuesday that much of Britain would reopen, effective July 4, Starmer said local leaders across the country do not have the proper guidance or powers to implement lockdowns, should there be a spike in coronavirus cases. He asked Johnson to define what a local lockdown might look like and what guidance those leaders might expect to receive.Johnson dismissed Starmer’s criticism, saying the government had a “very effective cluster-busting operation” in place, and local governments understand how it works. Speaking about the National Health Service’s “track-and-trace” app, Starmer said 33,000 people are estimated to have COVID-19 in England, but only 10,000 people with the virus were reached by contact tracers. The opposition leader noted, “This is a big gap,” and warned that if the app isn’t running, “we can’t open the economy.”Johnson said the Labor leader was giving a “false impression” of what the NHS app is doing and said that it is a “formidable achievement.” He said “no country currently has a functioning track-and-trace app.”Starmer noted Germany’s app, which reports say has been downloaded 10 million times. Italy, Singapore and South Korea also have tracing apps in use.
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U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Polish President Andrzej Duda at the White House Wednesday, as Duda finds himself locked in a surprisingly tight race for reelection back home.Polish voters will decide in four days whether the right-wing president will serve a second term in office.Duda, a close ally of Trump, reportedly hopes that Trump will announce more U.S. military assistance for Poland, which has expressed a need for more military support since Russia’s 2014 annexation of nearby Crimea.The hastily arranged meeting comes after Trump’s sudden announcement earlier this month to cut U.S. troops in Germany from 34,500 to 25,000, triggering speculation that Trump could decide to reassign some of them to Poland.Polish media reports say the U.S. could also provide fighter jets and military cargo planes.A senior U.S. official said it would be premature to discuss troop deployment in Europe.Michal Baranowski, the director of the German Marshall Fund, a Washington-based non-partisan public policy think tank, said Duda hopes his meeting with Trump will increase his prospects of reelection.“President Duda will have an opportunity to look very presidential and that’s, I think a big part of this,” he said.Baranowski added that the meeting, Trump’s first with a foreign leader since the coronavirus pandemic was declared in March, could also bolster support for Trump in Polish American communities in swing states before the U.S. presidential election in November.While Duda is currently the frontrunner in the Polish election, Rafal Trzaskowski, a centrist opposition candidate, has been catching up in the polls.Commentator Boguslaw Chrabota wrote in the Rzeczpospolita daily newspaper that Duda was “desperately looking for a triumphant ending” to his campaign.But Chrabota also said the meeting with Trump carried “considerable risk” if he promises to use large amounts of taxpayers’ money to pay for U.S. military hardware.Poland has agreed in recent years to buy fighter jets, rocket launchers and missiles from the U.S. and has closely aligned itself with Trump. 
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With the death toll surpassing 100,000 deaths, Latin America has emerged as the world’s newest epicenter for the novel coronavirus pandemic. Brazil leads the region with 1,145,906 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 52,645 deaths, making it the world’s second-highest number of cases in both categories after the United States, according to Johns Hopkins University. The nation recorded 39,436 new confirmed cases over the last 24-hour period on Tuesday, including more than 1,300 deaths.   The pandemic has reached such a crisis that a federal judge ordered President Jair Bolsonaro to wear a face mask in public or pay a fine of nearly $400 a day.  A man, wearing a protective face mask walks past a mural depicting a tug-of-war between health workers and President Bolsonaro, with a message that reads in Portuguese: “Which side are you on?”, Sao Paulo, June 19, 2020.The judge said Bolsonaro is violating local law in Brasilia aimed at slowing the spread of the virus. Bolsonaro has so far refused to cover his mouth at large political rallies where he comes in close contact with voters and children.  Bolsonaro has shrugged off the pandemic as just a “flu” and said anyone worried about the virus is just being neurotic.  Analysts attribute the rise in confirmed cases and deaths in the Latin American region to a combination of widespread poverty, widespread distrust of the government, and leaders, such as Bolsonaro and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who have either downplayed or dismissed the true risk of the virus and failed to impose stringent lockdowns.   With the rising death toll in Latin America, the total number of deaths around the world now stands at more than 477,000, part of a combined 9.2 million cases.  Wearing face coverings, John Williams, right, and Jeff Lee play chess, June 23, 2020, in Santa Monica, Calif.US has most cases, deaths
The United States continues to lead the world in both categories with 2.3 million confirmed cases and 121,228 deaths.  According to The Washington Post, seven states — Arizona, Arkansas, California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas — have reported their highest number of COVID-19 hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic.   Its top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told a congressional panel Tuesday there will be more testing, not less, even after President Donald Trump asked health officials to slow down testing.   The White House has said the president wasn’t serious when he said more testing is the reason there are so many cases in the U.S. But Trump said Tuesday that he wasn’t joking.  From left to right, Dr. Robert Redfield, Dr. Anthony Fauci, ADM Brett P. Giroir and Dr. Stephen M. Hahn testify before a House Committee on Energy and Commerce on the Trump administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, June 23, 2020.Fauci also said he is cautiously optimistic a coronavirus vaccine will be available as early as the end of 2020. But he has previously said even if a vaccine is ready, there is no guarantee it will work or give any long-term protection.  Ban on American travelers The New York Times reports that European Union nations plan to stop U.S. citizens from crossing its borders because of what officials call the U.S. failure to control the virus.  The newspaper is basing its story on what it says are draft lists of who will be allowed to travel to the EU starting July 1. It says it confirmed the lists with two EU officials in Brussels, but the Times says none of the 27 EU members are obligated to adopt it.  The World Health Organization says the coronavirus pandemic is still growing even as countries start to ease lockdowns and other restrictions.    “The epidemic is now peaking or moving towards a peak in a number of large countries,” WHO emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan said.  People wait in a queue for the COVID-19 rapid antigen test in New Delhi, India, June 24, 2020.Several nations, including Germany, South Africa and India — which reports about 15,000 new cases of COVID-19 every day — are looking at reimposing lockdowns and preparing to treat an influx of new cases.   WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it took three months for the world to confirm its first 1 million cases, but just eight days for the most recent 1 million to be identified.  “The greatest threat we face now is not the virus itself. It’s the lack of global solidarity and global leadership,” Tedros said without naming any specific country or leader he believes has failed.   Serbia’s Novak Djokovic returns the ball during an exhibition tournament in Zadar, Croatia, June 21, 2020.Tennis star, wife test positive
Meanwhile, tennis star Novak Djokovic said Tuesday he and his wife have tested positive for COVID-19 after he hosted a series of exhibition events he organized in his native Serbia and Croatia.  Three other players who participated in the matches also tested positive for the virus, which could threaten professional tennis’s hopes of resuming play this year. 
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U.S. and Russian negotiators signaled progress Tuesday in talks on a possible replacement to a nuclear arms reduction treaty due to expire next February. But there are significant hurdles ahead — including China’s opposition to being included in the talks.At issue is the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, restricting the number of deployed nuclear warheads held by the U.S. and Russia, the world’s two biggest nuclear powers.  U.S. negotiator Marshall Billingslea says working group discussions may take place in late July or early August, paving the way for a possible second round of talks in Vienna.  “We did indeed hold productive talks with Russia. Indeed, the talks were so productive that we found enough common ground to warrant the establishment of several technical working groups to dive further into the details of what a future trilateral arms control agreement should look like,” Billingslea said.But there are major sticking points moving forward. Washington wants any new deal to subject China to restrictions — and include all nuclear weapons, not just strategic weapons.  Beijing, with an estimated fraction of the U.S. and Russian arsenal, has repeatedly refused to join the talks. The differences between Washington and Beijing were highlighted this week in clashing Twitter postings and official comments by the two sides.  For its part, Russia says other nuclear powers, including France and Britain, should join future talks, but on a voluntary basis.  Heading the Russian delegation, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also noted progress in Vienna, according to Russia’s TASS news agency, but also that “substantial differences” remained.  The discussions in the Austrian capital are the first between Moscow and Washington on their nuclear arsenals after more than a year’s break.  President Donald Trump has withdrawn from several U.S. treaties with Russia, including those on overflights and intermediate-range nuclear forces.  The New START treaty can be extended another five years, if both sides agree. Experts say that could pave the way for a wider-ranging and more stringent deal. Without the treaty, Washington and Moscow could be left without any significant limits on their nuclear weapons for the first time in decades.  
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A powerful earthquake centered near the southern Mexico resort of Huatulco on Tuesday killed at least five people, swayed buildings in Mexico City and sent thousands fleeing into the streets.  Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said one person was killed in a building collapse in Huatulco, Oaxaca. Otherwise he said reports were of minor damage from the magnitude 7.4 quake, including broken windows and collapsed walls. Oaxaca Gov. Alejandro Murat said a second person was killed in an apparent house collapse in the mountain village of San Juan Ozolotepec and a third died in circumstances he did not explain. Federal civil defense authorities reported two more deaths: A worker at the state-run oil company, Pemex, fell to his death from a refinery structure, and a man died in the Oaxaca village of San Agustin Amatengo when a wall fell on him. Mexico earthquake locator mapPemex also said the quake caused a fire at its refinery in the Pacific coast city of Salina Cruz, relatively near the epicenter. It said one worker was injured and the flames were quickly extinguished. Churches, bridges and highways also suffered damage during the quake. López Obrador said there had been more than 140 aftershocks, most of them small. Seismic alarms sounded midmorning with enough warning for residents to exit buildings. Power was knocked out to some areas. Helicopters flew over downtown Mexico City and police patrols sounded their sirens. People brace themselves against a wall during an earthquake, in Mexico City, June 23, 2020.Groups of people still milled around in close proximity on streets and sidewalks in some neighborhoods of the capital about an hour after the quake. Many were not wearing masks despite past appeals from municipal officials for them to do so as a way to curb the spread of the new coronavirus. Inside a Mexico City military barracks converted to COVID-19 hospital, medical staff suited in protective equipment tried to calm anxious patients. Unable to evacuate isolation areas, patients huddled under a large beam in the women’s ward while a nurse tried to calm one having a panic attack. Teresa Juárez could only wish for it to pass quickly from her hospital bed where she lay connected to oxygen. Diabetic and with high blood pressure, Juárez said she thought about her five children. “It’s horrible, you’re here and you don’t know what to do,” she said. The U.S. Geologic Survey said the quake hit at 10:29 a.m. (11:29 a.m. Eastern) along Mexico’s southern Pacific coast at a depth of 16 miles (26 km). The epicenter was 7 miles (12 km) south-southwest of Santa Maria Zapotitlan in Oaxaca state.It was felt in Guatemala and throughout south and central Mexico. A damaged building is seen after an earthquake in Mexico City, Mexico, June 23, 2020.In Huatulco, a laid-back beach destination known for surfing and small protected coves, the earthquake knocked goods off shelves and some rubble from buildings. Mari González of the Princess Mayev hotel in Huatulco said staff and guests were able to evacuate the building before the quake, but that 45 minutes after the initial quake they were still outside as strong aftershocks continued.  “It was strong, very strong,” she said. González said there was some visible broken glass and mirrors, but no major damage. The staff was waiting for the aftershocks to dissipate before fully evaluating the property. Local news media reported damage to some buildings in the state capital, Oaxaca city. State officials said they were looking for damage. The USGS estimated that some 2 million people felt strong or moderate shaking and another 49 million felt weak or light shaking.  The earthquake hit a quake-prone region where four underground tectonic plates come together. In the past 35 years, there have been at least seven magnitude 7 or greater earthquakes, killing around 10,000 people — most of them in a 1985 8.0 quake. “This has the potential to be a deadly earthquake and cause significant damage,” U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Paul Earle said. “This area is capable of and has had larger earthquakes in the past.” “There will be aftershocks,” Earle said. “It is not unexpected to see a magnitude 6 at this point and a number of smaller ones.” This quake happened when the Cocos plate, which is to the southwest of the area, slipped under the North American plate, Earle said. “You’ve got all sorts of plates and they’re moving quickly,” Earle said. “The important thing is how fast the plates are moving relative to each other.” 
  
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A powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake shook southern Mexico Tuesday, killing at least two people and damaging several buildings.  The quake was centered near the Pacific coast resort of Huatulco and was felt nearly 700 kilometers away in Mexico City, causing buildings to sway and sending thousands of residents into the streets.Much of the damage is minor, with broken windows and collapsed walls. But authorities say one person was killed when a building in Huatulco collapsed, and a second died after a house in the mountain village of San Juan Ozolotepec fell.  Mexico earthquake locator mapThe state-run oil company Pemex said the quake caused a fire at its Salina Cruz refinery which was quickly put out.  At least 140 aftershocks have been felt.  Geologists say southern Mexico, where four tectonic plates merge, is particularly vulnerable to strong earthquakes. An 8.0 magnitude quake hit the area in 1985.   
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A powerful earthquake centered near the resort of Huatulco in southern Mexico swayed buildings Tuesday in Mexico City and sent thousands into the streets.  The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake had a magnitude of at least 7.4 and hit at 10:29 a.m. local time along Mexico’s southern Pacific coast at a depth of 26 kilometers.Seismic alarms sounded as the quake struck with enough warning for residents to exit buildings. Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, in a message posted to social media said he was not aware of any serious damage done by the quake, but urged people to go outside where they would be safe, should any weakened buildings collapsePower was knocked out to some areas, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.The epicenter was 12 kilometers south-southwest of Santa Maria Zapotitlan in Oaxaca state. It was felt in Guatemala and throughout south and central Mexico.Earthquakes of this magnitude can be extremely dangerous. In 2017, a magnitude 7.1 quake killed hundreds of people in and around Mexico City. 
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The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said Tuesday it is seeking to investigate record high temperatures reported from inside the Arctic Circle June 20.
 
At a news conference in Geneva, WMO spokeswoman Clare Nullis told reporters the U.N. weather agency is seeking to verify the reported 38 degrees Celsius temperature in the Russian town of Verkhoyansk, amid a prolonged Siberian heat wave and increased wildfire activity.
 
The WMO says it will confer with Russia’s weather agency, Roshydromet. If the temperature is confirmed, a team of investigators will then search the WMO’s archives to ensure it is indeed a record.
 
Nullis said the Russian weather agency reports that the region of Eastern Siberia where the record was reported “has very, very cold extremes in winter but is also known for its extremes in summer.”  
 
Even so, she said, Siberia has had a very warm spring, with temperatures running about 10 degrees Celsius above normal.  
 
Nullis said that heat helped drive May temperatures up globally, making it one of the highest temperatures ever.
 
The WMO reports the Arctic is among the fastest warming regions in the world and is heating at twice the global average. Annual surface air temperatures from 2016 to 2019 in the Arctic have been the highest on record.  
 
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Tuesday announced plans to further relax COVID-19 restrictions, including the opening of pubs, restaurants and hair salons beginning July 4.
 
Speaking before Parliament, Johnson said social distancing of two meters apart will be advised, but where they cannot, at least one meter is now acceptable, provided there are other “mitigations” such as masks.  He said hair salons will also reopen with appropriate precautions, including the use of visors.
 
Johnson said he would like to open other “close contact” services such as nail salons as soon as they show they can operate in a “COVID-secure way.”
 
The prime minister said beginning July 4, they will allow most “leisure facilities” and tourist attractions to reopen “if they can do so safely,” including outdoor gyms and playgrounds, movie theaters, museums, galleries, theme parks and arcades, libraries, social clubs and community centers.
 
Johnson said the National Health Service (NHS) will be conducting test-and-trace activities, and he encouraged businesses and citizens to cooperate with the effort and respond to any local outbreaks by collecting contact details from customers.  
 
Britain has had one of the highest death rates in the world during the pandemic, but the number of cases in the country has fallen steadily in recent weeks, allowing for the easing of restrictions.  
 
Johnson said the government will not hesitate to “apply the brakes” and reintroduce restrictions, even at a national level, should COVID-19 cases rise again.
 
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A powerful earthquake centered near the resort of Huatulco shook southern and central Mexico on Tuesday. There were no immediate reports of the extend of damage or injury.The U.S. Geologic Survey said the quake that hit at 10:29 a.m. (11:29 a.m. Eastern) had a magnitude of 7.4 and was centered along the Pacific coast of Oaxaca state. 
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Novak Djokovic tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday after taking part in a tennis exhibition series he organized in Serbia and Croatia. The top-ranked Serb is the fourth player to test positive for the virus after first playing in Belgrade and then again last weekend in Zadar, Croatia. His wife also tested positive. “The moment we arrived in Belgrade we went to be tested. My result is positive, just as Jelena’s, while the results of our children are negative,” Djokovic said in a statement. Djokovic has been criticized for organizing the tournament and bringing in players from other countries amid the coronavirus pandemic. Viktor Troicki said Tuesday that he and his pregnant wife have both been diagnosed with the virus, while Grigor Dimitrov, a three-time Grand Slam semifinalist from Bulgaria, said Sunday he tested positive. Borna Coric played Dimitrov on Saturday in Zadar and said Monday he has also tested positive. There were no social distancing measures observed at the matches in either country. “Everything we did in the past month, we did with a pure heart and sincere intentions,” Djokovic said. “Our tournament meant to unite and share a message of solidarity and compassion throughout the region.” Djokovic, who has previously said he was against taking a vaccine for the virus even if it became mandatory to travel, was the face behind the Adria Tour, a series of exhibition events that started in the Serbian capital and then moved to Zadar. He left Croatia after the final was canceled and was tested in Belgrade. The statement said Djokovic was showing no symptoms. Despite the positive test, Djokovic defended the exhibition series. “It was all borne with a philanthropic idea, to direct all raised funds towards people in need and it warmed my heart to see how everybody strongly responded to this,” Djokovic said. “We organized the tournament at the moment when the virus has weakened, believing that the conditions for hosting the Tour had been met. “Unfortunately, this virus is still present, and it is a new reality that we are still learning to cope and live with.” Djokovic said he will remain in self-isolation for 14 days and also apologized to anyone who became infected as a result of the series.  
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The former CEO of German payment service provider Wirecard has been arrested, accused of inflating the company’s balance sheet in an accounting scandal that centers on a missing sum of 1.9 billion euros ($2.1 billion), prosecutors in Munich said Tuesday.
Markus Braun resigned on Friday after the company said that auditors couldn’t find accounts containing the money. On Monday, Wirecard said it has concluded that the money probably doesn’t exist.
Prosecutors said a court issued an arrest warrant shortly afterward and Braun, who had been in Vienna, turned himself in on Monday evening.
He is accused of inflating the company’s balance sheet and revenue using sham income from business with third-party acquirers, “possibly in collaboration with further perpetrators,” in order to “portray the company as financially stronger and more attractive for investors and clients,” they said in a statement.
Braun, an Austrian who had led Wirecard since 2002, was arrested on suspicion of incorrect statements of data and market manipulation.  
Prosecutor Anne Leiding said it remains to be seen whether the case may expand to include other offenses, and investigators have yet to determine “how often, for example, these incorrect results were used to obtain loans from other banks.”
After Braun turned himself in, “he pledged his cooperation” in a first meeting with investigators, Leiding told reporters.
Wirecard AG was once regarded as a star of the growing financial technology sector, but its shares have fallen sharply after the company became the subject of multiple Financial Times reports about accounting irregularities in its Asian operations. Wirecard disputed the reports, which started in February 2019, and said it was the victim of speculators.
On Monday the company fired its chief operating officer, Jan Marsalek, who had been suspended from the management board last week. German news agency dpa reported that Marsalek had been in charge of overseeing daily operations including in Southeast Asia, where the possible fraud occurred.
Two Philippine banks that were said to hold the missing money in escrow accounts said in recent days that they had no dealings with Wirecard, and the country’s central bank chief said none of the missing money entered the Philippines’ financial system.  
In the early hours of Monday, Wirecard said its management board “assesses on the basis of further examination that there is a prevailing likelihood that the bank trust account balances in the amount of 1.9 billion euros do not exist.”
Wirecard said it is in “constructive discussions” with banks on continuing credit lines, and is “assessing options for a sustainable financing strategy for the company.” It said it is examining other possible measures to keep the business going, including restructuring and disposing of business units.
After huge declines last week and on Monday, Wirecard shares rallied somewhat on Tuesday. They were up 19.8% in Frankfurt trading at 17.29 euros. 
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In January 2015, a stunned France reeled from the first of multiple terrorist attacks it would endure. The target: the saucy and irreverent Charlie Hebdo newspaper, known for poking fun at religions and just about everything else.    Brandishing pencils and banners, millions flooded the streets of Paris, defending the right to free expression.    Then came the troop and police patrols. And that November, after another deadly  terror strike on the Bataclan theater and other popular nightspots, a tough, months-long emergency law. Rights activists claimed free speech and other basic rights were slowly and enduringly eroding. Five years later – as France weathers another crisis and another state of emergency – they fear that is happening again, under the coronavirus pandemic.  “We think it could be durable, and that the COVID crisis is a pretext to push different surveillance technologies,” says Benoit Piedallu of digital rights group, La Quadrature du Net.   Critics point to a raft of areas where they believe personal freedoms have been compromised under the health emergency, which saw France imposing one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns.  Some – such as reports of racial profiling and police violence during confinement – are not new, but allegedly are heightened with the health crisis. Along with George Floyd’s killing in the United States, they are helping to fuel nationwide protests against police violence.    Other COVID-19-fighting measures – including the use of drones to police the lockdown and a new virus-tracing app – are sparking accusations of a creeping French surveillance state.  On June 17th, France’s CNIL data protection watchdog warned that new technology, including cameras and thermal scanners, to help track compliance with coronavirus rules, risked citizen fears of surveillance and undermining democracy. The organizations using these tools, including France’s RATP public transport firm and Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport, say they have taken measures to respect privacy rights.  To be sure, similar concerns are being echoed elsewhere around the globe as governments fight the pandemic. But in France – where authorities still promote the country’s revolution-era moniker as the “land of human rights” – activists say the new measures fit a years’-long pattern.  “The principle of a state emergency is exceptional restrictions to rights and freedoms to respond to a crisis,” said Anne-Sophie Simpere, spokeswoman for Amnesty France. “But by experience, each time we’ve had a state of emergency, we’ve never returned to the state of ‘before.’”    Liberty is the rule, government says French authorities argue otherwise, claiming the health restrictions are exceptional and basic liberties are the norm.  Daily death tolls are down to a few dozen at most from an April high of more than 800.  “Tens of thousands of lives have been saved by our choices, our actions,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a June 14 address to the nation announcing a further easing of restrictions.  With the government’s scientific advisory body claiming the pandemic under control, authorities plan to lift the state of emergency next month, although they warn that some measures may be reinstated if cases rise again.  French have sharply criticized the government for underfunded health services and a dearth of masks, yet there is much less opposition to the health restrictions.  A May survey by Harris Interactive, released just before France began unwinding lockdown, found nearly that two-thirds of respondents said they endured confinement “easily.”  “I didn’t think it was too strict, and I didn’t find my liberties infringed,” said Gilda, a Paris resident catching some sun in a newly opened park. Gilda declined to provide her last name, as did her husband, who said he found some measures a “bit overboard.” “They did it for us to avoid having more deaths,” said 19-year-old student Hanae Violay, who said she strictly followed the lockdown rules. “I think it was a good decision.”  Critics say the survey findings are no surprise. Polls showed similar approval for the 2015 emergency law, with two-thirds of French backing it early on.    “People want less democracy during these periods, because they are afraid,” said Arie Halimi, lawyer for the French Human Rights League. “And fear is the most important leverage for states.” The 2015 emergency measures – allowing police to conduct raids and impose house arrest without previous judicial green light – were extended several times. That year, Macron’s centrist government replaced them with a tough new anti-terror law, making permanent some of the exceptional powers.   Divided opinions: drones and tracing app    Rights groups fear a similar situation today. Last month, France’s highest administrative court barred the use of drones to monitor lockdown compliance, after the Rights League and the Quadrature du Net filed a privacy complaint. Authorities previously used drones to surveil yellow-vest protests and migrant movements, among other purposes.  The drone ban is not permanent; it is supposed to last only until technological or other ways to address the privacy concerns. “That doesn’t mean they can’t be used in the future,” said Halimi, of the Rights League, asserting that France risks entering an “Orwellian era.”   Also controversial is a virus-tracing app released earlier this month, making France the first major European country to use one. Dubbed “StopCovid,” the smart phone application aims to warn users if they have been around someone who later tested positive.  Downloading it is voluntary, and the government insists it will be temporary and fully respect privacy rights. “You have to be confident and trust your state,” French Digital Minister Cedric O told The Associated Press. “But we’re in a democratic state; we have checks and balances.”Authorities have claimed early success, with roughly 1.4 million French downloading the app within days after it was rolled out. Still, that amounts to less than 2 percent of the population. Surveys suggest fewer than half of all French plan to use it. That is not enough, many experts say, for it to work effectively.    Both data watchdog CNIL and the French parliament greenlighted the technology, but critics still worry about digital creep.  An April letter signed by hundreds of academics raised concerns that the data gathered by the app could be repurposed for mass surveillance ends, a fear also raised by rights advocates.    “Protecting health rights is also a fundamental right,” said Amnesty’s Simpere. “But today for us, the balance between efficiency of an application like StopCovid and fundamental rights isn’t respected.”   Scott Marcus, senior fellow at Brussels think-tank Bruegel, said the French app “looks reasonable,” and appears to reflect government promises to limit sharing health data, although he questions its effectiveness.    The more fundamental question, he said, for French and other Europeans to consider, is “How much do you trust your government?”   “Essentially the data collection shouldn’t be longer than absolutely necessary, and shouldn’t be retained longer than absolutely necessary,” Marcus said. “The COVID-19 problem could be with us for years. So it’s a genuine worry.” 
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A man accused of ramming his car into the front gate of the Chinese Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Monday night is under arrest. The incident, which attracted a heavy police response, is under investigation in the Argentine capital. Police said no-one was hurt, including the 24-year-old Argentine driver. The Chinese ambassador to Argentina was not at the embassy at the time of the incident. There are reports the driver was seen on social media saying that he “knows the truth about COVID-19” and needed “help from the Chinese Embassy.”A source at the Foreign Ministry told the French News Agency, AFP,  the man drove into the closed gate after he was refused permission speak to officials inside the embassy. The Buenos Aires Times says unconfirmed reports in local outlets claimed the driver was allegedly looking for political asylum at the Chinese Embassy. 
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Peruvian lawmakers are set to consider legislation as early as Thursday that aims to protect sections of the Amazon rain forest from outsiders, including purveyors of the oil industry. Reuters news agency says indigenous leaders seeking the support of lawmakers are concerned the oil industry lobby may block the legislation from coming up for a vote. Indigenous leaders reportedly met with President Martin Vizcarra on Friday ahead of the vote. The president’s government is said to oppose the proposed legislation that strengthens protections for the Amazon already in place. Jorge Pérez, president of the Regional Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon, told Reuters the legislation will guarantee the lives and human rights of the thousands of isolated groups, who up to now have been exposed to high risk extractive activities in their region. Felipe Cantuarias, president of the Peruvian Hydrocarbon Society industry lobby group, says passing the bill would disrupt operations and hurt business. 
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French President Emmanuel Macron says he “won’t tolerate” the role that Turkey is playing in Libya, calling it an obstacle to peace. Turkey has been supplying arms to the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, which is fighting a rival administration headed by General Khalifa Haftar. At a news conference in Paris Monday with Tunisian President Kais Saied, Macron accused Turkey of ignoring a U.N. arms embargo against Libya and calls by the European Union for an end to all foreign intervention in Libya.  “I already had the opportunity to clearly say it to (Turkish) President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan: I consider today that Turkey plays in Libya a dangerous game and is in breach of all commitments it took during the Berlin conference,” Macron said. Relations between France and Turkey have become increasingly tense since an encounter between French and Turkish warships in the eastern Mediterranean two weeks ago.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan participates in a teleconference with European leaders, in Istanbul, Tuesday, March 17, 2020.France claims the Turkish ship flashed radar lights at a French vessel on a NATO mission to investigate whether the Turkish vessel was smuggling arms to Libya.  France accused Turkish sailors of taking up light weapons. Turkey called the French charges baseless. Libya has been in turmoil since longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi was toppled and killed in 2011.  The country is currently split between the government in Tripoli and Haftar’s eastern-based government, which is backed by Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates. After more than a year of fierce fighting for control of the capital, which has been largely stalemated, the Tripoli-backed forces appear to have secured control of the city, observers say, but not before sending thousands of civilians fleeing for their lives from the fighting.   
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Half-a-year ago Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron Soviet-style fist for a quarter of century, looked to be unassailable. But the former collective farm manager, whose aides and supporters like to dub him “father,” is now being widely labeled a “cockroach” — and his opponents are vowing to “squash the pest” come August when he faces a presidential election.
 
In the past, Lukashenko has managed elections in much the same way as Russian leader Vladimir Putin – disqualify serious opponents from running, fiddle the tallies and silence independent media, according to international election monitors. During the last poll in 2015, many Belarusians observed the upheaval in neighboring Ukraine and took fright, deciding they preferred the leaden, if impoverishing, stability of Lukashenko over unpredictable and possibly ruinous change, say analysts.
 
But this time, Lukashenko is threatened not by a so-called “color revolution” but with a “slipper uprising,” thanks to popular blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky, who was arrested at a rally last month after an alleged assault on a police officer.  
 
Tikhanovsky was behind the labeling of Lukashenko as a “cockroach,” saying he resembled the insect in a popular children’s poem called “The Mighty Cockroach.” He had taken to driving around Belarus campaigning with a giant slipper tied to the roof of his car — a signal of his intention to flatten Lukashenko.FILE – Blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky speaks during a rally of supporters of opposition politicians amid the coronavirus pandemic, in Minsk, Belarus May 24, 2020. Charged with public disorder and accused of being a foreign agent after the security services claimed to have unearthed $900,000 in cash during a subsequent search of his home, Tikhanovsky is blocked from running. His 38-year-old wife, Svetlana, has stepped up as a substitute to challenge Lukashenko.  
 
And she has become, on paper, the incumbent Lukashenko’s biggest threat, following the detention on Friday of another challenger, Viktor Babaryko, a 56-year-old former banker, who was arrested for alleged financial crimes, along with his campaign manager, his son. “Babaryko is detained because he was the organizer and leader of illegal activities,” Ivan Tertel, head of the state control committee, told AFP news agency.  
 
Tertel also accused Babaryko of conspiring with Russian “puppeteers.”
 
The arrests of Tikhanovsky, Babaryko and other Lukashenko critics— which have triggered street protests in the streets of Minsk, the Belarus capital, and earned a rebuke from the European Union  — puts Svetlana Tikhanovskaya even more in the spotlight.  
 
Even before Babaryko’s detention, 16% of Belarusians backed her candidacy, according to an unofficial poll run by the news site Tut.by. Police have told the website not to publish any more polls. And the signs are that she is unnerving the idiosyncratic authoritarian leader unaccustomed to challenge. Midweek she told reporters an anonymous caller told her to pull out of the election, warning the Tikhanovskys’ ten-year-old son and four-year-old daughter could be taken away from them if she refused.FILE – Supporters of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya collect signatures in support of her nomination as a candidate in the upcoming presidential election, in Minsk, Belarus, May 24, 2020.She says she had considered backing down, but has decided to continue, determined to be a champion for Belarusians, many of whom “don’t know that in Europe you can say what you think without fear.” She added, “I’ve never wanted to be a politician, let alone the president. This is just how things have turned out.”
 
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has become an unlikely revolutionary figurehead. She describes herself as just a stay-at-home mother and wife. One of the couple’s children has special needs. But the enthusiasm for change is clear. Towns across the landlocked country of nine million have seen protests and crowds appear to support her candidacy and the campaigns of other opposition candidates. She acknowledges “people at these rallies are supporting Sergei, not me.”
 
Her husband, who has been compared to Alexei Navalny, the blogger turned opposition leader in neighboring Russia, says he is playing “the main role in my wife Svetlana Tikhanovskaya’s election campaign; her role will be only a nominal one.” He has in the campaign team other popular bloggers.
 
Despite last week’s arrests people in Minsk are lining up again to sign the nomination papers of candidates opposing Lukashenko, according to Belarusian journalist Hanna Liubakova. She tweeted Sunday: “3 leading #Lukashenko’s rivals collected more than 730,000 signatures in less than a month. If you count 3 other alternative candidates, it is more than a million. This campaign has already shown that the level of activism and political engagement is incredibly high.”  
 
Candidates have to gather at least 100,000 signatures to be qualified to stand. FILE – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko chairs a meeting with officials in Minsk, Belarus, June 19, 2020.The opposition to Lukashenko is being fueled by an increasingly parlous economic situation, a coronavirus crisis, which the president downplayed from the start and cheerily told Belarusians to take saunas and drink vodka to avoid falling ill, and just a weariness with his rule and stagnation, analysts say. Younger Belarusians seem impervious to Lukashenko’s warnings of chaos, if he’s not reelected to his sixth term. And they are immune seemingly to the Soviet-like stability their elders favor.  
 
Lukashenko is not being helped in his political struggle by neighboring Russia. His relationship with Vladimir Putin has long been a fitful one with the two falling out frequently and then circling back for convenience sake. A senior Russian diplomat based in Minsk described to VOA once the “shouting match” he overheard during a phone conversation between the pair.  
 
Analysts say Putin’s major objective towards Belarus is to ensure — much as his goal is with Ukraine — that it doesn’t end up as a pro-Western enclave on Russia’s borders, say analysts. The Belarusian leader has long played the West against Russia and vice versa. He observed a neutral stance over Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and hosted peace talks in Minsk to try to find a solution to the war in eastern Ukraine.
 
But he has relied on Russia financially for help — and that has been less forthcoming with subsidies and oil supplies in recent months, punishment, analysts and diplomats say, for Lukashenko’s resistance to Putin’s efforts to draw Minsk deeper into the Russian orbit.
 
Few analysts predict that anyone other than Lukashenko will be allowed to win the Aug. 9 poll — and they warn that Belarus could quickly be plunged into a Maidan-like uprising that saw the 2014 ouster of Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine.  
 
Protests are spreading across Belarus as opposition to Lukashenko grows, local media and human rights organizations report. On Friday, more than 10 cities across the former Soviet republic saw protests with dozens of activists arrested by the security forces. The independent human rights group Viasna says least 120 people were detained.
 
Lukashenko appears to be preparing for the likelihood of a violent reaction to his seemingly inevitable electoral win, claiming on Friday that by arresting Babaryko and dozens of political activists he had foiled a Ukraine-style revolutionary plot hatched by foreign conspirators from “both the West and from the East,” who are intent on fomenting unrest in Belarus.
 
Former aide Alexander Feduta, now a political analyst, has warned that Lukashenko is ready to use force to stay in power. The arrests are an indication of that, he says.
 
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U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that he would only meet with Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro to discuss his departure from power, after an interview in which he suggested otherwise.
 
 Axios published an interview with Trump in which he said he would be open to meeting with Maduro and appeared to waver in his support for opposition leader Juan Guaido, whom the U.S. and a number of other countries had formally recognized as interim president after contested elections in 2018.
 
“I would maybe think about that … Maduro would like to meet. And I’m never opposed to meetings,” Trump told Axios. “But at this moment, I’ve turned them down.”
 
But on Monday Trump tweeted “My Admin has always stood on the side of FREEDOM and LIBERTY and against the oppressive Maduro regime!”  
 
“I would only meet with Maduro to discuss one thing: a peaceful exit from power!” the tweet continued.Unlike the radical left, I will ALWAYS stand against socialism and with the people of Venezuela. My Admin has always stood on the side of FREEDOM and LIBERTY and against the oppressive Maduro regime! I would only meet with Maduro to discuss one thing: a peaceful exit from power!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2020Guaido met with Trump in February as a guest for the State of the Union address in an attempt to rekindle his campaign to depose Maduro. In a statement about his visit, the White House said it would continue to work to “confront the illegitimate dictatorship” in Venezuela.
 
The United States and other countries blame Maduro’s socialist policies for a political and economic crisis threatening regional stability, while recognizing Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate interim leader. 
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is urging the immediate release of two Canadians detained by China on allegations of espionage. In a statement released Monday, Pompeo said the United States was “extremely concerned” about their safety. “These charges are politically motivated and completely groundless,” said Pompeo. Full U.S. statement on FILE – People hold signs calling for China to release Canadian detainees Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig during an extradition hearing for Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver, Canada.The two were arrested shortly after Canada detained Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. warrant. China has said that the two incidents are unrelated but some experts believe Kovrig and Spavor are being used as pressure against Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called the arrests of the two men “arbitrary.” Secretary of State Pompeo on Monday also echoed what he said was Canada’s call for immediate consular access to its two citizens, in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. “China has prohibited such access for almost six months, and the world has no knowledge of the two Canadians’ condition,” said Pompeo. 
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France has weathered multiple crises in recent years: terrorism, yellow protests, and now, coronavirus. Successive governments champion the country’s revolution-era moniker as the land of human rights – but critics say they don’t always live by it. That includes the response to COVID-19. For VOA, Lisa Bryant reports from Paris.
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