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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed Wednesday to enact measures to protect British professional soccer players from online abuse. Punishment for someone found guilty of such abuse could include banishment from games. The move comes after online abuse, some of it racist, was directed at three Black players for the English national team who missed their penalty shots in the Euro 2020 final shootout on Sunday, leading to an Italian win. According to the Guardian newspaper, an analysis of 585,000 social media posts directed at the English team during the entire Euro 2020 tournament found that 44 messages were explicitly racist. More than 2,000 were “abusive.” “I do think that racism is a problem in the United Kingdom, and I believe it needs to be tackled. And it needs to be stamped out with some of the means that I’ve described this morning,” Johnson told Parliament as he announced his plan. “I repeat that I utterly condemn and abhor the racist outpourings that we saw on Sunday night. And so, what we’re doing today is taking practical steps to ensure that the football banning order regime is changed, so that if you are guilty of racist abuse online of footballers, then you will not be going to the match — no ifs, no buts, no exemptions and no excuses,” he added. But it’s unclear how much of the online abuse actually comes from the U.K. The Daily Mail reported that the Premier League, the top division of professional soccer in England, found that roughly 70% of online abuse directed at British professional soccer players comes from outside the U.K. According to Yahoo News, the Greater Manchester Police said they had arrested a man Wednesday for social media posts directed at players for England’s national team. Johnson added that in addition to going after internet trolls, his government would potentially fine social media companies if they failed to quickly remove offensive content. “Last night, I met representatives of Facebook, of Twitter, of TikTok, of Snapchat, of Instagram, and I made it absolutely clear to them that we will legislate to address this problem in the Online Harms Bill. And unless they get hate and racism off their platforms, they will face fines amounting to 10% of their global revenues,” Johnson said. Some information in this report comes from Reuters. 
 
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Pope Francis was seen leaving the hospital Wednesday, 10 days after undergoing planned surgery to remove half of his colon. Witnesses said a car carrying Francis, 84, was seen leaving Rome’s Gemelli Polytechnic hospital Wednesday morning. Doctors removed half of the pontiff’s colon on July 4 because of a severe narrowing of his large intestine, his first major surgery since he became pope in 2013. It was a planned procedure, scheduled for early July when the pope’s audiences are suspended anyway and Francis would normally take some time off. Francis will have several more weeks to recover before beginning to travel again in September. There are plans for him to visit Hungary and Slovakia in a September 12-15 trip, and then make a quick stop in Glasgow, Scotland, in November to participate in the COP26 climate conference. Other possible trips are also under review. The Vatican had originally said Francis could be discharged last weekend, but later said he would stay a few more days for further recovery and rehabilitation therapy. The pope appeared Sunday for the first time in public since the surgery, looking in good form as he delivered his weekly prayer from the 10th floor hospital balcony, surrounded by young cancer patients. He used the occasion to call for free health care for all.  On Tuesday afternoon, the eve of his release, he visited the pediatric cancer ward, which is on the same floor as the papal hospital suite. The Argentine pope had part of one lung removed when he was a young man but has otherwise enjoyed relatively robust health. 
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France’s Bastille Day celebrations, though scaled back, returned Wednesday to the famed Champs-Elysees in Paris, after a one-year absence due to COVID-19.
 
French officials limited the crowd size to about 10,000, less than half the 25,000 that usually line the famed boulevard to watch the traditional parade. Spectators reportedly had to show special passes proving they had been fully vaccinated, recently recovered from the virus, or had a negative coronavirus test. Heavy rain lowered attendance.  
 French President Emmanuel Macron poses with volunteers of the Civic Service of the General National Service (SNU) at the end of the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, France, July 14, 2021.French President Emmanuel Macron led the festivities as about 5,000 participants marched in the parade and French jets flew overhead streaming smoke in the colors of the French flag.
 
This year’s parade paid tribute to French-led European special forces known as Takuba, which were sent to Africa’s Sahel region. About 80 military troops from Sweden, Estonia, Italy, Belgium, Portugal and Holland opened the military parade.
 
Last year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, the parade was canceled and replaced by a ceremony honoring front-line health care workers. It was the first time since World War II the parade had been canceled.
 
The holiday commemorates the storming the of the Bastille, a fortress used to hold political prisoners in Paris on July 14, 1789, sparking the beginning of the French revolution. 
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China’s bid to expand its influence in Eastern Europe could hit a snag if Hungary’s controversial Prime Minister Viktor Orban is defeated in what is shaping up to be an unexpectedly close election next year.Hungary under Orban has fostered ever-closer ties with China, which sees the country as a linchpin of its efforts to reach deep into Europe with elements of its global Belt and Road initiative involving infrastructure and cultural projects on several continents.Among those projects is a new railroad running from the Hungarian capital, Budapest, to Belgrade, Serbia. Hungary is also the proposed site of the first overseas campus of Fudan University, one of China’s top educational institutions.FILE – Demonstrators protest against the planned Chinese Fudan University campus in Budapest, Hungary, June 5, 2021.In a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping late last month which has since been made public, the mayor of Budapest and several other prominent Hungarian politicians pledged to terminate both projects if a new opposition coalition comes to power in next year’s parliamentary election.Until recently, that prospect would have seemed remote, given that Orban has retained power in three successive landslide elections and has steadily increased his control over the nation’s media.FILE – On June 11, 2021, leaders of six opposition parties in Hungary — DK, Jobbik, LMP, Momentum, MSZP, and Dialogue — announce the coalition has established common ground and will lay out a governing program in the fall.(Photo courtesy Dialogue for Hungary)But six opposition parties joined forces in an anti-Orban coalition late last year and have been running neck and neck with the prime minister’s Fidesz party FILE – Budapest’s mayor candidate of the center left opposition party Gergely Karacsony addresses the audience after his victory on Oct. 13, 2019.Gergely Karacsony, who defeated a Fidesz-backed candidate to become mayor of Budapest in 2019, was already an outspoken critic of Orban’s outreach to China, which has included a move to block the European Union from criticizing Beijing’s crackdown on individual rights in Hong Kong.”EU cohesion on foreign policy is key to protecting our values and sustaining the EU as a global player. Time and again Viktor Orban sabotages that unity and protects in our Union the interest of autocracies,” Karacsony said in a statement. Hungary’s “next government will break with all that!”Karacsony has already named streets in Budapest after the democracy movement in Hong Kong and in solidarity with victims of the Chinese Communist Party’s oppression in Tibet and Xinjiang.The Budapest mayor has also taken aim at plans for a Fudan University campus in his city, saying it “would put in doubt many of the values that Hungary committed itself to 30 years ago” after the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe.Since Orban took office in 2010, Hungary has been widely accused of moving away from democratic principles. Even so, its membership in Western alliances, including the European Union and NATO, and the efforts of opposition parties have kept the Beijing-backed railroad and university project from advancing unchallenged.During a conversation with Orban in April, Xi described the Budapest-Belgrade railroad as the “leading force” for closer ties between the two countries. But critics say the project, first proposed in 2013, is nowhere near completion.The plan for a Fudan campus has also sparked public protests in Budapest, prompting the Orban government to suggest there could be a referendum on the project in the future. Mareike Ohlberg, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and an expert on China’s effort to influence foreign governments, told VOA that an opposition victory in Hungary next year would present a setback for Beijing at the EU.”The Hungarian government has been the Chinese government’s most reliable country to draw on repeatedly to prevent statements at the EU level, most recently a criticism of the National Security Law in Hong Kong,” she said in a written interview.Ohlberg added: “Even if the opposition does not do a 180-degree turn on China policy, it will probably be a less ready ally of Beijing’s in Brussels.”
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The Taliban warned Tuesday that if Turkey extends its military presence in Afghanistan the Islamist group will view Turkish troops as “occupiers” and wage “jihad” against them.The warning came amid fresh battlefield moves that critics say show the Taliban are planning a military takeover of Afghanistan in defiance of their peace pledges, raising the prospects of a full-blown civil war.The United States has asked Turkey to secure Kabul’s airport after all American and NATO allied troops withdraw from the country by the end of next month.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday without elaborating that he had agreed with Washington on the “scope” of how to secure and manage the airport.The Taliban condemned the deal as “reprehensible” and demanded Turkey review its decision.“We consider stay of foreign forces in our homeland by any country under whatever pretext as occupation,” the group said in a media release. “The extension of occupation will arouse emotions of resentment and hostility inside our country towards Turkish officials and will damage bilateral ties.”The security and smooth running of the Hamid Karzai international airport in the Afghan capital is crucial for preserving diplomatic missions and foreign organizations operating out of Kabul, where a bomb explosion Tuesday killed at least four people. Hostilities elsewhere in Afghanistan also have escalated to record levels.A blood-stained man rests after he helped people who were injured in a deadly bomb explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 13, 2021.Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Monday evening that Turkey agreed to some points with U.S. counterparts on running the airport.  He said work towards a deal continues.“If the airport does not operate, the countries will have to withdraw their diplomatic missions there,” Akar said.Hundreds of American troops are expected to stay in the Afghan capital, guarding the sprawling U.S. embassy compound there.Taliban forces have dramatically extended their territorial control across Afghanistan by overrunning scores of districts without any resistance since U.S. troops formally started withdrawing from the country in early May.In most cases, government forces either retreated to safety or surrendered to the advancing insurgents.A convoy of Afghan Special Forces is seen during the rescue mission of a police officer besieged at a check post surrounded by Taliban, in Kandahar province, July 13, 2021.The battlefield gains have enabled the Taliban to effectively encircle major Afghan cities, including provincial capitals.In Washington, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby on Monday also voiced concern that the Taliban are planning to militarily take control of the country.“It is clear from what they are doing that they have governance designs certainly of a national scale. It is clear from what they are doing that they believe there is a military solution to the end of this conflict,” Kirby told reporters.“We continue to believe that the most sustainable and the most responsible end and solution to this war is a political one, one through negotiated diplomacy,” Kirby stressed.Afghan authorities have vowed to defend and keep the Taliban from major cities, saying security forces have killed hundreds of insurgents in recent days.Kabul has also protested and criticized regional countries for stepping up their diplomatic engagements with the Taliban in pursuit of a peaceful settlement to the war.“The Taliban delegation is traveling to the regional countries at a time when its brutal attacks have killed more than 3,500 people, displaced more than 200,000 of our compatriots, disrupted public order and life, and economic activities in tens of districts,” ministry said.The Taliban took control of Afghanistan after emerging victorious in the civil war of the 1990s and introduced harsh Islamic laws to govern the conflict-torn country before they were ousted by the U.S.-led foreign invasion in late 2001.The Islamist movement has since been waging a violent insurgency against the U.S.-backed government in Kabul.Washington negotiated and signed a troop withdrawal deal with the Taliban in February 2020 in return for security assurances and pledges the insurgents would negotiate a peace arrangement with Afghan rivals for a sustainable peace in the country.However, the slow-moving U.S.-brokered intra-Afghan negotiations, which started in Qatar last September, have failed to produce a peace deal and remain deadlocked. Some information in this report was provided by Reuters.  
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Pope Francis has been steadily recovering from the scheduled intestinal surgery he underwent on July 4. The Vatican has not yet provided a date for his release from the Rome hospital where his surgery was performed. His stay has now been extended for a few more days.The Vatican said Tuesday that Pope Francis would leave the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic, where he is recovering, “as soon as possible.”
 
In its daily medical update, the Vatican did not provide a date for the pope’s discharge. The statement said that the pope is continuing his planned course of treatment and rehabilitation.
 
The Vatican had originally said Pope Francis would likely be kept in the hospital for a week but has since said he would stay in the hospital for a few more days, thus extending his treatment there.
 
In its statement Tuesday, the Vatican said that among the many patients that Pope Francis has met during these days, he offered special thoughts to those who are bedridden and cannot go home. “May they live this time as an opportunity, even if experienced in pain, to open themselves with tenderness to their sick brother or sister in the next bed, with whom they share the same human frailty,” the statement said.
 
The 84-year-old pontiff was admitted to the hospital on July 4 for what the Vatican said was a planned surgery on his colon needed to treat a form of diverticulitis. The operation is said to have removed half of the pope’s colon.
 
Following the surgery, the Vatican said the pope was recovering well, had gotten out of bed, was walking, greeting other patients and hospital staff and was working. Although he briefly ran a brief fever last week, the Vatican said all scans and tests were normal.
 
On Sunday Pope Francis appeared in good form when he appeared to the public for the first time since his surgery to deliver his weekly address from the balcony of the 10th floor of the hospital.
 
The pontiff said that during his days at the hospital he experienced the importance of having a good health system that is accessible to everyone, such as the one that exists in Italy and in other countries. The pope made a call for free health care for all.
 
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Last year, the COVID pandemic saw Turkey canceling one of the world’s oldest sporting events: the centuries-old Kirkpinar oil wrestling tournament. For Turkish and international fans, the festival’s return offers hope that pandemic restrictions are finally ending. Dorian Jones reports from Edirne in northwestern Turkey. 
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European Union foreign ministers agreed Monday on an ambitious global infrastructure plan linking Europe to the world. 
  
The infrastructure scheme is designed to rival Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, which Western governments fear encourages countries to take on large Chinese loans that can then be leveraged by Beijing for political purposes.   German Foreign minister Heiko Maas (L) talks with Crotian Foreign minister Gordan Grlic Radman (R) during a Foreign Affairs Council meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels on July 12, 2021.“We see China using economic and financial means to increase its political influence everywhere in the world. It’s useless moaning about this, we must offer alternatives,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told Reuters as the foreign ministers’ summit concluded in Brussels. 
  
Brussels has already inked partnership deals with India and Japan to coordinate transport, energy and digital projects connecting Europe and Asia. Tokyo and New Delhi have also voiced worries about Chinese infrastructure loans making poorer countries beholden to Beijing and have warned about Beijing using commerce as a tool for statecraft and a means to expand political clout. 
  
Montenegro, a member of NATO and a candidate to join the EU, is cited by Western diplomats as the latest casualty of what they call China’s “debt-trap diplomacy.” The Balkan country borrowed nearly $1 billion from China in 2014 to fund a Chinese-built 41-kilometer stretch of highway outside the capital, Podgorica. The loan has driven Montenegro deep into debt and is threatening to wreck its economy. 
  
The EU infrastructure plan mirrors a similar pledge the Group of Seven richest democracies made last month to back infrastructure partnerships, using Western development bank loans and first-loss guarantees to private companies, to rival the Belt and Road Initiative, often nicknamed the New Silk Road.   FILE – A map illustrating China’s silk road economic belt and the 21st century maritime silk road, or the so-called “One Belt, One Road” megaproject, is displayed at the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong, China, Jan. 18, 2016.The West’s new assertiveness  
 
Monday’s initiative continues a recent phase of greater assertiveness by the EU towards China. It follows diplomatic efforts by US President Joe Biden to cajole European allies to take more aggressive action against China, including on forced labor practices, breaches of international trade rules as well as over what Washington sees as Beijing’s problematic global infrastructure financing schemes. 
 
And Mr. Biden has urged America’s European allies to shape a much more united defense of democracy and human rights. China’s crackdown on Hong Kong and on its Uyghur minority in the province of Xinjiang led in May to EU lawmakers stopping ratification of the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, a trade deal between the EU and China which was signed just in December.FILE – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping hold a video conference, Dec. 30, 2020.The EU has imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for rights abuses, prompting retaliation by Beijing, which in turn penalized several EU lawmakers and officials. 
  
President Xi earlier this month said in a nationally televised speech marking the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party that Beijing would no longer listen to “sanctimonious preaching.”Chinese President Xi Jinping waves next to Premier Li Keqiang and former president Hu Jintao at the end of the event marking the 100th founding anniversary of the Communist Party of China, on Tiananmen Square in Beijing, July 1, 2021.He warned: “We will never allow anyone to bully, oppress or subjugate China. Anyone who dares try to do that will have their heads bashed bloody against the Great Wall of Steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people.”  Uneven approach 
  
The EU national governments are far from united in their thinking about China.  
 
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron are seeking to revive the stalled investment deal with China and have been emphasizing the need for cooperation with China, saying Beijing’s assistance is crucial for global efforts to reverse climate change and overcome the coronavirus pandemic. 
  
Luxembourg’s foreign minister Jean Asselborn cautioned Monday against making China an adversary. 
  
Formally, the EU’s strategy towards China seeks to balance relations with Beijing and Washington. The approach focuses on tackling “specific challenges posed by China without pursuing an outright political confrontation,” said Grzegorz Stec, a EU-China expert in a paper for the Royal United Services Institute, a British research policy group. ‘Sinatra’ doctrine   He notes that a year ago EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell “remarked that in managing its relationship with China the EU ‘should be like Frank Sinatra’ and pursue ‘my way,’” but he adds, “the Sinatra doctrine has faded over the past year” with debate under way over China taking place between EU member states. “The outcome may well be a more assertive Europe,” he says.  
 
Others want the Sinatra doctrine to fade faster. Lithuania and a group of smaller EU countries have been calling for at the adoption of a much tougher policy towards Beijing. 
  
Last week, Lithuania’s foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, complained of Franco-German dominance in deciding EU-China relations. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has called on European Council President Charles Michel to organize a strategic discussion on China among the 27 EU leaders. In a letter to Michel, first reported by Politico.eu, a Brussels-based new site, Nausėda said: “Regrettably, in recent years China has become less of a cooperating partner and more of an unfair competitor and a systemic rival.” 
  
Pepijn Bergsen, a research fellow at Britain’s Chatham House, says the EU is likely to continue to try to pursue a balancing act between Washington and Beijing for economic reasons and to avoid being drawn into a geo-political tussle. But he says it is a strategy that is unsustainable in the long run.  
 
“While wishing to remain neutral between the two is understandable, particularly from an economic perspective for countries such as Germany, this is likely to turn out to be a difficult balancing act,” he said in a paper released last week. 
  This report includes information from Reuters and Politico.
 
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Last year, the COVID pandemic saw Turkey canceling one of the world’s oldest sporting events: the centuries-old Kirkpinar oil wrestling tournament. For Turkish and international fans, the festival’s return offers hope that pandemic restrictions are finally ending. Dorian Jones reports from Edirne in northwestern Turkey. 
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England’s defeat on penalty kicks in the final of the European soccer cup caused a barrage of online racist attacks against Black players who missed goals in the shootout. The Euro 2020 soccer final between Italy and England played at Wembley stadium Sunday night was nerve-racking for fans of both teams. Italians were very concerned when England scored their goal just two minutes into the game. England fans started worrying when Italy drew even in the second half.And on both sides, all fans were anxious about who would win when no team managed to score in extra time and the penalty shootout became inevitable.English supporters react while watching the game during extra time at a fan zone in Manchester, England, July, 11, 2021 during the Euro 2020 soccer championship final match between England and Italy at Wembley Stadium in London.England was the favorite at the start of the game, as it was playing at home in front of tens of thousands of fans, and fans were convinced the team would manage to bring the cup home for the first time. Italians were hoping the cup would return to Rome after 53 years.In the end, Italy won the shootout 3-2 when three of England’s Black players missed their spot-kicks. A barrage of racist attacks on social media followed, which led England’s Football Association to release a statement Monday morning condemning the racist abuse of its players.Italy’s players celebrate with trophy after winning the Euro 2020 soccer championship final match between England and Italy at Wembley Stadium in London, July 11, 2021.The statement said, “the FA strongly condemns all forms of discrimination and is appalled by the online racism that has been aimed at some of our England players on social media.”It added that “anyone behind such disgusting behavior is not welcome in following the team.”The FA said it would do everything “to support the players affected, while urging the toughest punishments possible for anyone responsible.”England manager Gareth Southgate, who shouldered the responsibility for the team’s loss, praised his players and condemned the online slurs.“They should be, and I think they are incredibly proud, of what they’ve done. For some of them to be abused is unforgivable, really,” said Southgate.England’s manager Gareth Southgate, left, embraces Bukayo Saka after he failed to score a penalty during a penalty shootout during of the Euro 2020 soccer championship final match between England and Italy at Wembley stadium in London, July 11, 2021.The England team has been praised for the high-profile, anti-racist stance it has maintained during this Euro championship and before.Prime Minister Boris Johnson posted his comment on Twitter, saying, “this England team deserves to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media.” He added that “those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves.”London police have opened an investigation. Twitter, for its part, said it has taken down more than 1,000 tweets and suspended several accounts used to post racist abuse directed at the England players. 
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U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet is calling for action and concrete measures to end systemic racism and racial violence against Africans and people of African descent. The high commissioner has presented a series of recommendations to address existing problems in a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council.
 
The report was mandated by the Council a year ago in the aftermath of the killing of African American George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis, in the U.S. state of Minnesota.  
 
Bachelet called Floyd’s murder a tipping point. She said it has shifted the world’s attention to the human rights violations routinely endured by Africans and people of African descent.
 
The report provides a comprehensive view of the inequalities, marginalization, and lack of opportunities that render many people of African descent powerless, trapped in poverty and victimized by a system of social injustice.FILE – United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet looks on after delivering a speech on global human rights developments during a session of the Human Rights Council, in Geneva, June 21, 2021.The report focuses on lethal incidents at the hands of law enforcement. Bachelet says her office has received information about at least such 190 deaths of Africans and people of African descent. She notes 98% have occurred in Europe, Latin America, and North America.  
 
She said there has been a strikingly consistent failure to see justice done in all these cases.
 
“Three key contexts in which police-related fatalities stood out: The policing of minor offenses, traffic stops and stop-and-searches; the intervention of law enforcement officials as first responders in mental health crises; and special police operations in the context of the ‘war on drugs’ or gang-related operations.… Moreover, law enforcement officers are rarely held accountable for human rights violations and crimes against persons of African descent,” Bachelet said.
 
The killing of George Floyd was a rare exception. Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin whose actions resulted in the death of Floyd was captured on video and witnessed by millions, was found guilty of his crime and sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.
 
In a video statement, Floyd’s brother Philonius, said he still feels the horrific pain of watching his brother pass away.
 
“He was tortured to death in broad daylight. That was a modern-day execution…It is difficult knowing that you can run from the police, and they still will shoot you in the back with [you having] no weapon. You do not have any weapon but at the same time they still get qualified immunity,” he said.
 
In view of the profound and wide-ranging injustices, Bachelet said there is an urgent need to confront the legacies of enslavement and to seek reparatory justice.
 
Her recommendations include acknowledging the systemic nature of racism to transform the structures. They call for holding law enforcement officials accountable for crimes, guaranteeing the right of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly during anti-racism protests, and taking steps to address the harms caused by means of a wide range of reparations measures.
 
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