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As President Biden hosts a virtual climate summit this Earth Day, a report out Thursday adds more fuel to the planet’s growing crisis, showing record-breaking temperatures in Europe and Arctic Siberia last year. It comes as the European Union announced a key climate deal and financing rules — both sharply criticized by green groups.
The findings of the European Union’s climate monitoring service, Copernicus, are grim. Europe was hit by record heat and rainfall last year. The Arctic overall saw its second warmest year. Both regions are warming faster than the global average.  “Europe has probably warmed at twice the rate compared to the globe since the pre-industrial [time]. Whereas the rate of warming in the arctic over the last two decades, have been at least five [times] that of the global rate,”  says Freja Vamborg,  a senior scientist at Copernicus, and lead author of the latest Europe climate report.  “Especially Arctic Siberia was by far the warmest on record last year, which had local impacts on sea ice, which in turn had an impact on temperatures.” FILE – An aerial view shows a forest fire in Krasnoyarsk Region, in Siberia, Russia July 17, 2020. (Julia Petrenko/Greenpeace/Handout via Reuters)Thursday’s report brings new impetus for action during the Biden administration’s two-day climate summit — especially for the European Union, long considered a climate leader.  The 27-country bloc reached a tentative deal Wednesday to make its climate goals legally binding. The EU aims to slash greenhouse gasses by at least 55 percent by 2030 — up from its previous 40 percent goal — and become climate neutral by 2050.   Its executive arm has also published its first set of criteria for green financing — intended to drive billions of investment dollars into activities formally labeled climate-friendly. The so-called taxonomy rules initially deal with areas like forestry and bioenergy. Other industries, like nuclear energy and natural gas, will treated later.  The EU’s financial services chief, Mairead McGuinness, told reporters the package aims to help make the EU’s climate neutrality goals a reality.  European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and EU Commissioner in charge of financial services, financial stability and the Capital Markets Union, Mairead McGuinness give a press conference in Brussels, Apr. 21, 2021.“Public money will not be sufficient. So, harnessing private investment for sustainable projects is absolutely key. The package today gives those who are investing, the knowledge of what is sustainable, but equally gives companies the tools to use in order to provide information to the market,”  she said.Not everyone agrees. Environmental groups have complained of a rushed process in reaching a climate deal. They also slam the first set of climate investment rules as shaped by political and business interests, rather than science. Several say they will stop advising the European Commission on drafting the rules. “The message is that the EU, which calls itself a climate leader, can’t even walk its own talk. It’s allowing activities which are harmful for the environment to be classed as green,” said Henry Eviston, a sustainable policy finance officer for the WWF’s European Policy Office. The environmental group blames lobbying by Sweden and Finland for watering down green financing rules related to bioenergy and forestry. It warns that other countries and companies are doing the same when it comes to areas like natural gas and nuclear energy.  Other observers agree the raft of competing interests make the drafting of green financing rules extremely difficult. Some fear if they are too stringent, they will thwart investment. But, says a Financial Times editorial echoing others, Brussels cannot ignore the science that’s at the heart of the climate change dilemma — and which these rules are supposed to address.  
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Ukraine’s president said Thursday that Russia’s troop reduction near the Ukraine border was reducing tensions between the countries but cautioned his country must remain alert.Russia earlier ordered tens of thousands of troops to return to their home bases following large-scale drills.“The reduction of troops on our border proportionally reduces tension,” tweeted President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “Ukraine is always vigilant, yet welcomes any steps to decrease the military presence & deescalate the situation in Donbass.”Donbass is a region in southeastern Ukraine where conflict between the countries has persisted since 2014, when Russia seized Crimea and began supporting separatists in the region.The U.S. and NATO have said the recent Russian troop buildup was the largest since Russia’s annexation of Crimea.Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered the troop reduction after declaring an end to the maneuvers in Crimea and western Russia.“The troops have shown their capability to defend the country, and I decided to complete the drills in the South and Western military districts,” Shoigu said.While Shoigu ordered the troops back to their bases by May 1, he said they should leave their weapons near the border in western Russia for more exercises later this year.Russia’s troop buildup occurred as more frequent violations of a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine raised concerns in the West, which called on Russia to pull back its forces.Russia, in turn, has long criticized the deployment of NATO troops near its borders.The Kremlin began conducting more military exercises as relations with the West deteriorated to post-Cold War lows over its seizure of Crimea, its interference in foreign elections, global cyberattacks and other issues.
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French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Thursday that Russia and President Vladimir Putin will face sanctions if opposition leader Alexey Navalny dies.
 
Speaking to France 2 television, Le Drian said, “We will take the necessary sanctions and it will be the responsibility of Mr. Putin and the Russian authorities. I hope we won’t go to that extreme.”
 
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan made similar comments to CNN Sunday, warning of unspecified “consequences” in the event of Navalny’s death.
 
Navalny was arrested in January after returning to Russia from Germany where he spent five months recovering from nerve agent poisoning.  Navalny blames the Russian government for the attack, while Russian officials deny the accusation.
 
The opposition leader and frequent critic of Putin has been in declining health since launching a hunger strike three weeks ago.
 
His supporters have turned out for rallies calling for his release.
 
Police arrested more than 1,700 protesters on Wednesday as demonstrations took place in dozens of Russian cities.
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U.S. officials say President Joe Biden is preparing to recognize the World War I-era mass killings of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as genocide.The officials, who spoke to several news agencies on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the sensitive topic, said the move could come Saturday, an annual day of commemoration for the victims.During his campaign for president last year, Biden said he would “support a resolution recognizing the Armenian Genocide and will make universal human rights a top priority.”“I expect we will have more to say about Remembrance Day on Saturday,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday when asked about Biden’s commitment. “But I don’t have anything to get ahead of that at this point in time.”In a letter Wednesday, a bipartisan group of 100 members of the U.S. House of Representatives urged Biden to become the first U.S. president to recognize the killings as genocide.“The shameful silence of the United States Government on the historic fact of the Armenian Genocide has gone on for too long, and it must end,” the lawmakers wrote. “We urge you to follow through on your commitments, and speak the truth.”Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said this week a move by Biden to recognize the killings as genocide would harm relations between the NATO allies.Historians say an estimated 1.5 million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Empire — the predecessor to modern-day Turkey — between 1915 and 1923.Armenians say they were purposely targeted for extermination through starvation, forced labor, deportation, death marches, and outright massacres.Turkey denies a genocide or any deliberate plan to wipe out the Armenians. They say many of the victims were casualties of the war or murdered by Russians. Turkey also says the number of Armenians killed was far fewer than the usually accepted figure of 1.5 million.
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The United States is warning the Russian government that it is responsible for whatever happens to opposition leader Alexey Navalny, whose condition is reportedly deteriorating while in custody. VOA’s Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine has the story.
Camera: Natasha Mozgovaya and Ricardo Marquina Montañana 
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Police arrested nearly 1,500 people Wednesday during a day of demonstrations throughout Russia calling for freedom for imprisoned opposition leader Alexey Navalny, whose health reportedly is in severe decline after three weeks of hunger striking, according to a group that monitors political detentions.The largest of the protests took place in Moscow, where thousands marched through the center city. Some of the people arrested were seized before the protests even began, including top Navalny associates in Moscow.Navalny’s team called for the unsanctioned demonstrations after weekend reports that his health is deteriorating and his life was in danger.”The situation with Alexey is indeed critical, and so we moved up the day of the mass protests,” Vladimir Ashurkov, a close Navalny ally and executive director of the Foundation for Fighting Corruption, told The Associated Press. “Alexey’s health has sharply deteriorated, and he is in a rather critical condition. Doctors are saying that judging by his test (results), he should be admitted into intensive care.”Navalny’s organization called for the Moscow protesters to assemble on Manezh Square, just outside the Kremlin walls, but police blocked it off. Instead, a large crowd gathered at the nearby Russian State Library and another lined Tverskaya Street, a main avenue that leads to the square. Both groups then moved through the streets.”How can you not come out if a person is being murdered — and not just him. There are so many political prisoners,” said Nina Skvortsova, a Moscow protester.In St. Petersburg, police blocked off Palace Square, the vast space outside the State Hermitage Museum, and protesters instead crowded along nearby Nevsky Prospekt.Turnout, arrest estimatesIt was unclear if the demonstrations matched the size and intensity of nationwide protests that broke out in January after Navalny, President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent opponent, was arrested. Turnout estimates varied widely: Moscow police said 6,000 people demonstrated in the capital, while an observer told Navalny’s YouTube channel that the crowd was about 60,000.The OVD-Info group, which monitors political arrests and provides legal advice, said at least 1,496 people were arrested in 82 cities — the largest tally being nearly 600 in St. Petersburg.Navalny’s team called the nationwide protests for the same day that Putin gave his annual state-of-the-nation address. In his speech, he denounced foreign governments’ alleged attempts to impose their will on Russia. Putin, who never publicly uses Navalny’s name, did not specify to whom the denunciation referred, but Western governments have been harshly critical of Navalny’s treatment and have called for his release.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 10 MB480p | 14 MB540p | 18 MB720p | 38 MB1080p | 74 MBOriginal | 91 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioIn Moscow, Navalny spokesperson Kira Yarmysh and Lyubov Sobol, one of his most prominent associates, were detained by police in the morning.Yarmysh, who was put under house arrest after the January protests, was detained outside her apartment building when she went out during the one hour she is allowed to leave, said her lawyer, Veronika Polyakova. She was taken to a police station and charged with organizing an illegal gathering.Sobol was removed from a taxi by uniformed police, said her lawyer, Vladimir Voronin.OVD-Info reported that police searched the offices of Navalny’s organization in Yekaterinburg and detained a Navalny-affiliated journalist in Khabarovsk.In St. Petersburg, the State University of Aerospace Instrumentation posted a notice warning that students participating in unauthorized demonstrations could be expelled.The 44-year-old Navalny was arrested in January upon his return from Germany, where he had spent five months recovering from a nerve agent poisoning he blames on the Kremlin. Russian officials have rejected the accusation.Soon after, a court found that Navalny’s long stay in Germany violated the terms of a suspended sentence he was handed for a 2014 embezzlement conviction and ordered him to serve 2 ½ years in prison.Hunger strikeNavalny began the hunger strike to protest prison officials’ refusal to let his doctors visit when he began experiencing severe back pain and a loss of feeling in his legs. The penitentiary service has said Navalny was getting all the medical help he needs.Navalny’s physician, Dr. Yaroslav Ashikhmin, said recently that test results he received from Navalny’s family showed sharply elevated levels of potassium, which can bring on cardiac arrest, and heightened creatinine levels that indicate impaired kidneys and that he “could die at any moment.”On Sunday, Navalny was transferred to a hospital in another prison and given a glucose drip. Prison officials rebuffed attempts by his doctors to visit him there.Russian authorities have escalated their crackdown on Navalny’s allies and supporters. The Moscow prosecutor’s office asked a court to brand Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and his network of regional offices as extremist organizations.Human rights activists say such a move would paralyze the activities of the groups and expose their members and donors to prison sentences of up to 10 years.Navalny’s allies vowed to continue their work despite the pressure.”It is, of course, an element of escalation,” Ashurkov told the AP. “But I have to say we were able to regroup and organize our work despite the pressure before. I’m confident that now, too, we will find ways to work. … We have neither the intention nor the possibility to abandon what we’re doing.”
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Over a year ago, when much of the world shuttered as the pandemic swept the globe, Mohammed al-Awas, 46, a Syrian refugee, was stranded with his wife and five children at a gas station in Turkey. Not far from the Greek border, some families were sheltered nearby in an area usually reserved for fixing cars, their personal belongings in black garbage bags piled up along the walls. Dozens of men, women and children, mostly refugees from Syria, loitered outside the station, not sure where to go next. Like the others, al-Awas wanted to cross the river to Greece. Turkey had declared the border open, so he had sold his furniture to make the journey. But Greece never opened its side of the border and many families were pushed back into Turkey, or were not able to cross at all. Mohammed al-Awas, 46, says while Turkey is safer than Syria, he has no way to support his family in Istanbul, April 17, 2021. (Heather Murdock/VOA)Asked if they were afraid of getting the coronavirus, most refugees at the gas station that day were blasé. They had survived war, abject poverty and life on the streets. The virus couldn’t be worse, they said. Moments later, police officers arrived, saying everyone would be boarding buses to Istanbul, whether they liked it or not. After a few weeks passed, al-Awas found himself in a small apartment in Istanbul, paid for by a charity. It was Ramadan and, as is common during the Islamic holy month, donors were eager to provide food and shelter for the poor. Still, al-Awas was despondent. “I stay up all night, every night, worrying about how to keep my children off the streets,” he said. Ramadan 2021 A year later, it is once again Ramadan, but humanitarian aid for refugees is scarcer than ever. Some aid workers say collections are down as much as 90% and the piecemeal food aid they have to distribute is not nearly enough to go around. “Last year, businesspeople were sending extra support for refugees because of the pandemic,” explained Aya Sultan, an aid worker. “But this year, when we called the same people, they said they had a terrible year economically.” Turkey hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees, more than any other country in the world. These children are pictured in Istanbul, April 17, 2021. (Heather Murdock/VOA)In Istanbul, like in so many places, many businesses have failed, many shops have closed and people who once had more than enough face an uncertain future. Traveling to Europe to seek asylum has become more difficult and more dangerous, but al-Awas recently returned from another attempt, where after 14 days of walking through the forest, he injured his leg. When Greek authorities caught him, he got into their car without a word. He couldn’t go on. “We walked through the forests at night and drank water from rivers,” he said. “It was snowing and my feet were wet when I twisted my ankle and fell.” Weeks later, al-Awas still walks with a limp, but says he will keep going back until he either reaches Europe or finds a way to work and educate his children here in Turkey. At the moment, they cannot even enroll in online schooling, and he works sporadically, making barely enough for food. “I spent a lot of money to go but then I was forced to come back, broke,” he explained. “There is no work here, nothing to do. It is terrible.” Pushbacks In 2015, Greece was an entryway to Europe and refugees who reached Greek shores swiftly shuttled across the country en route to more prosperous countries, like Germany, which was publicly welcoming newcomers. In the same year, more than a million refugees made their way to Europe in a matter of months, and as their numbers swelled, borders closed. Now, Greece’s 50,000 refugees are likely to remain in the country, according to the International Rescue Committee. Many of the nearly 120,000 asylum-seekers in Greece are stuck in camps, sometimes for years, with applications pending. Meanwhile, many of Turkey’s nearly 4 million refugees are still trying to get into Greece, and they are often expelled shortly after their arrival. The expulsions are often violent and some families return beaten, without money, mobile phones and sometimes without even their shoes. The United Nations refugee agency, the UNHCR, has expressed alarm over the pushbacks, and European Union officials have called for investigations into Greek breaches of international human rights laws. Greece staunchly denies any such breaches and defends its rights to secure its own borders, and the borders of Europe. At a press conference in Greece late last month, Ylva Johansson, the EU Home Affairs commissioner, partially blamed the continent’s “lack of a Europeanized migration policy” for the alleged abuses. “That means that member states at our external border have been under huge pressure … in the absence of a European solution,” she said. Marwa al-Awas, Mohammed’s wife, fears travel to Europe but sees no other way to educate her children, April 17, 2021. (Heather Murdock/VOA)Al-Awas, however, doesn’t plan to wait for a solution as he prepares once again to attempt to walk into Greece and make his way to northern Europe. When asked if they want their father to try again, his children grimaced and his eldest son barked, “No!” But his wife, Marwa, smiled sadly, and said it is their only hope for a sustainable future. “I am afraid, very afraid,” she explained. “But he won’t give up. He will make another attempt.” VOA’s Shadi Turk contributed to this report.
 
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The police killing of 46-year-old Black man George Floyd in Minneapolis last year triggered Black Lives Matter protests around the world. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the murder conviction reached Tuesday against former officer Derek Chauvin has been welcomed in many countries — but equality activists say there is still much work to be done. 
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United Nations human rights experts said Wednesday that jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s life is in “serious danger” and appealed to Moscow to allow Navalny to seek emergency medical treatment in another country.“We urge the Russian authorities to ensure Mr. Navalny has access to his own doctors and to allow him to be evacuated for urgent medical treatment abroad, as they did in August 2020,” the experts said in a statement.The 44-year-old Kremlin critic has been detained since January in a high security prison under conditions that may amount to torture, said the experts, who also contend he has been “denied access to adequate medical care.”The Kremlin did not immediately respond to the U.N. experts.Navalny began a hunger strike three weeks ago, about two months after his immediate January 17 arrest upon arrival in Moscow for alleged parole violations after returning from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve agent poisoning in Russia.Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service said Navalny violated the probation terms of his suspended sentence from a 2014 money laundering conviction, which he denounced as politically motivated.Navalny has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering Russia’s security services to poison him, a charge the Kremlin has repeatedly denied.  Several European laboratories have confirmed that Navalny was poisoned with Novichok, a nerve agent developed by the former Soviet Union.A Russian court ruled earlier this year that Navalny must remain in jail, rejecting an appeal. The United States and other Western countries have strongly condemned Navalny’s arrest and demanded his unconditional release. Navalny’s jailing sparked very large protests across Russia shortly after his arrest, with tens of thousands of people demanding his release and chanting anti-Putin slogans.Police arrested scores of Navalny supporters who protested Wednesday across Russia, according to OVD-info, a Russian human rights monitoring group.The U.N. experts who issued the warning about Navalny’s health are Special Rapporteurs Irene Khan, Nils Melzer, Morris Tidball-Binz and Tlaleng Mofokeng. 
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Police in central Berlin have clashed with protesters outside the German parliament, which is considering a bill to give Chancellor Angela Merkel the power to impose tougher restrictions as the nation suffers a third wave of coronavirus infections.
 
A police spokesman said officers had to break up the protest because people were not wearing masks or keeping a minimum safe distance. He said about 60 people were detained, and that while police had to use pepper spray against other demonstrators who threw bottles and tried to climb over barriers, acts of violence were minimal.
 
Many of the protesters waved German flags and banners saying coronavirus lockdowns undermine values enshrined in the constitution. Many Germans are sensitive to any measures they perceive as threatening their freedom because of the country’s Nazi and Communist past. Demonstrations against the proposed legislation have been staged in the last few weeks in towns across the country.
The measure passed the lower house of the German parliament – the Bundestag – Wednesday on a 342-250 vote, with 64 abstentions. It will be considered Thursday in the upper house – the Bundesrat – where Germany’s states are represented. If it passes there, the special powers it grants the federal government will be in effect until June.
 
Under the bill, Merkel’s government could impose tough measures including sweeping shutdowns and 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfews in regions with more than 100 new infections per 100,000 people over seven days.
 
It also could force schools to revert to virtual teaching in states where the infection rate exceeds 165 — a tighter requirement than the 200 contained in an earlier draft of the law.
 
Only one state had an incidence rate below 100 Wednesday, while seven topped 165 — including the two most populous, Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia.
 
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Germany’s top court has refused to issue an injunction blocking the country’s participation in the European Union’s 750 billion-euro (more than $900 billion) coronavirus recovery fund, clearing the way for the launch of the fund and its common borrowing aimed at supporting green and digital economic development.
The Federal Constitutional Court said Wednesday it turned back a motion for a preliminary injunction from a group including economics professor Bernd Lucke, a founder of the populist Alternative for Germany who has since left the party.
The group argued that the European Union treaty forbids the common borrowing backed by member countries’ taxpayers to support the recovery fund and its spending on projects to help bring the economy back up to speed after the pandemic recession.
Germany’s participation was approved by a wide majority in the parliament March 25. The Lucke group filed suit immediately, asking the court to halt Germany’s participation in the fund until the case could be decided on its merits. Wednesday’s rejection of that request by the court opens the way for President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to sign the legislation governing Germany’s participation into law.
The economic stimulus from the fund is intended to buttress monetary support from the European Central Bank in the form of bond purchases and rock bottom interest rate benchmarks.
The court said a “summary examination” didn’t point to a “high probability” of the plan violating provisions that protect the German parliament’s responsibility for the budget, but didn’t indicate when it would decide on the substance of the complaint — whether such debt is permissible.
Analysts have downplayed its chances of success, but said any delay could hurt the recovery.
Top European Central Bank official Isabel Schnabel said in an interview with Der Spiegel published on April 9 that an indefinite delay of the funding “would be an economic catastrophe for Europe.”
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