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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to meet Wednesday in Brussels with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and top diplomats from several U.S. allies as the United States launches it plans to withdraw forces from Afghanistan.U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is also participating in a meeting that includes German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi DiMaio, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.The Biden administration ended months of speculation about U.S. plans in Afghanistan by saying Tuesday it would withdraw remaining troops by September 11. That date is the anniversary of the 2001 attacks that saw al-Qaida terrorists hijack passenger planes and crash them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC.The attacks prompted the United States to topple the Taliban in Afghanistan in an effort that eventually grew to include more than 130,000 troops from 50 NATO and partner nations. Since 2015, the remaining forces, which now number fewer than 10,000, have been tasked with training and assisting Afghan security forces.U.S. officials have said the decision to leave Afghanistan would be taken in conjunction with NATO allies.Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, left, meets with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, in Brussels, April 13, 2021.Blinken began his visit to Brussels on Tuesday with a focus on Ukraine, saying the United States supports an autonomous Ukraine, as Western allies watch a Russian buildup of forces along the border between the two countries.“The U.S. stands firmly behind the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Blinken said, adding that he would discuss Ukraine’s “Euro-Atlantic aspirations” this week. The White House said President Joe Biden also “emphasized the United States’ unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” during a phone call Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.“The president voiced our concerns over the sudden Russian military build-up in occupied Crimea and on Ukraine’s borders, and called on Russia to de-escalate tensions,” the White House said in a readout of the conversation, adding Biden “proposed a summit meeting in a third country in the coming months to discuss the full range of issues facing the United States and Russia.”The Kremlin is overseeing the largest movement of Russian troops, tanks and missiles along the Ukrainian border since the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, according to Ukrainian and U.S. officials. Russia has conducted at least three military training exercises adjacent to the Ukrainian border since mid-March.“This meeting is extremely timely given what is happening along the Ukrainian border with Russia,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said just before talks with Blinken. The Ukrainian foreign minister expressed confidence that Western countries would also act to temper Russian aggression, which he said would force Ukraine to pay too high a price if left unchecked.Two U.S. warships are set to arrive in the Black Sea this week amid an escalation in fighting in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed troops.The conflict began when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and has since killed some 14,000 people, according to Ukraine’s government.Blinken spoke with Stoltenberg about the situation Monday and said there was mutual agreement that “Russia must end its dangerous military buildup and ongoing aggression along Ukraine’s borders.”  Stoltenberg expressed support for Ukraine as he spoke alongside Kuleba on Tuesday, saying “NATO stands with Ukraine.””Russia’s considerable military buildup is unjustified, unexplained and deeply concerning,” Stoltenberg said. “Russia must end this military buildup in and around Ukraine, stop its provocations and de-escalate immediately.”Kuleba said Ukraine “does not want war” and is “devoted to diplomatic and political means of settling the conflict.”But while highlighting the support of NATO, Kuleba also said, “Should Russia take any reckless move or start a new spiral of violence, it will be costly in all senses.” 
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The Taliban said on Tuesday they would not attend a summit on Afghanistan’s future in Turkey this month until all foreign forces leave their country.”Until all foreign forces completely withdraw from our homeland, (we) will not participate in any conference that shall make decisions about Afghanistan,” tweeted Mohammad Naeem, spokesman for the Taliban office in Qatar.His intervention came just hours after it emerged that the U.S. would withdraw its forces from Afghanistan about five months later than Washington had originally agreed with the insurgents.U.S. officials said President Joe Biden would withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan before this year’s 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.FILE – U.S. troops patrol at an Afghan National Army Base in Logar province, Afghanistan, Aug. 7, 2018.The drawdown, finally ending America’s longest war despite mounting fears of a Taliban victory, delays by around five months an agreement with the Taliban inked by former President Donald Trump to pull troops.There is a growing consensus in Washington that little more can be achieved in the conflict-torn nation.The decision came as Turkey announced an international peace conference on Afghanistan that the hosts hope could pave the way to a power-sharing arrangement.The conference, due to be held in Istanbul from April 24 to May 4, will seek to revive long-stalled peace talks that are being hosted in the Qatari capital Doha.
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U.S. President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call Tuesday that the United States is concerned about Moscow’s “sudden … military buildup” along Ukraine’s border and in occupied Crimea. He called on Russia to “deescalate tensions,” the White House said in a summary of the conversation.”President Biden emphasized the United States’ unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the White House said, but gave no assessment of Putin’s reaction to the U.S. leader’s remarks.Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, with the U.S. and Western allies condemning the takeover but doing nothing to block it. Since then, Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region have fought Kyiv’s troops, with skirmishes flaring periodically, sometimes intensely.FILE – Joe Biden (left), then vice president of the United States, shakes hands with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow, March 10, 2011.Washington initiated the call, according to the Kremlin, with both sides saying that Biden expressed the hope that the two countries could normalize relations.It is the second time the two leaders have talked by phone since Biden assumed power in late January.The White House readout of the call said Biden and Putin “discussed a number of regional and global issues, including the intent of the United States and Russia to pursue a strategic stability dialogue on a range of arms control and emerging security issues, building on the (five-year) extension of the New START Treaty.”It also said the U.S. president “made clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to Russia’s actions, such as cyber intrusions and election interference.””President Biden reaffirmed his goal of building a stable and predictable relationship with Russia consistent with U.S. interests,” the White House said.
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Belarusian authorities have stopped the European news network Euronews from broadcasting inside the country amid a campaign to muzzle independent media and journalists as part of the government’s crackdown on dissent following a disputed presidential election that returned strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka to power.The Information Ministry said in a  Police officers detain a demonstrator as they prevent an opposition action to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus, March 27, 2021.The demonstrators are demanding that Lukashenka leave and new elections be held, but Belarus’s strongman has been defiant. Security officials have arrested thousands and forced Tsikhanouskaya and other top opposition figures out of the country.Several protesters have been killed in the violence and some rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used against some of those detained.Meanwhile, Barys Haretski, deputy chairman of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, says the government has embarked on the largest crackdown on journalists and rights activists Europe has ever seen.”Since last summer, the authorities have systematically created, let us say, ‘a Great Wall of China’ around Belarusian society. They have repressed journalists and shut down media outlets,” said Haretski.Lukashenka, who has run Belarus since 1994, and other top officials have been slapped with sanctions by the West, which refuses to recognize him as the legitimate leader of the country.Minsk-based media expert Paulyuk Bykouski said the move to ban Euronews cuts off a main point of access to fair and unfiltered news for Belarusians, who “do not have access to such information projects as CNN, Fox News, and any other channels that could be a possible alternative to what is being broadcast by Belarusian state media and Russian television channels.”  
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday she is asking Parliament for temporary powers that would allow her federal government to implement nationwide coronavirus lockdowns to curb a third wave of the pandemic in the country.
 
Merkel spoke to reporters after her Cabinet approved a draft of legislation that would give her government the power to impose pandemic-related restrictions, including curfews and school and business closings in areas with high infection rates.
 
The chancellor said the measures are needed to “break the third wave of the pandemic and stop the rapid rise in infections” in those areas where infection rates are more than 100 per 100,000 residents for three consecutive days within a week.
 
Earlier this year, when laying out a plan for reopening the nation and lifting restrictions, Merkel mentioned the need for what she called “an emergency brake” should infections rise.  
 
Merkel said it is clear that emergency brake is overdue. Citing daily figures from the Robert Koch Institute for Infectious Diseases, she said the latest daily infection rate is at nearly 11,000 new cases, and nearly all the nation’s intensive care unit beds are in use. Merkel said she hoped Parliament would swiftly debate and pass the bill.
 
She again asked for Germans to show patience and noted the vaccine program has been “building momentum every day,” with the recent start of vaccinations in doctors’ offices.
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Much of Europe has been forced back into lockdown amid a deadly third wave of the coronavirus. In Britain however, pubs, shops and services reopened Monday as the government hailed its vaccination program for cutting infections. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.Camera: Henry Ridgwell 
Producer: Jason Godman  
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Much of Europe has been forced back into lockdown amid a deadly third wave of the coronavirus. In Britain however, pubs, shops and services reopened Monday as the government hailed its vaccination program for cutting infections. In Rome, around 200 restaurant and business owners staged a protest Monday outside parliament, demanding that the Italian government allows them to reopen.Restaurant and small-business owners take part in a protest calling for their businesses to be allowed to reopen, despite no authorization for the demonstration by the government, amid the coronavirus outbreak, in Rome, Italy, Apr. 12, 2021.Lockdown measures, which were originally meant to expire Monday April 12, were extended until May 3 amid a resurgence in coronavirus infections. “We call on the government to open immediately, respecting the rules and protocols which they have given us several months ago and which we have spent money investing in,” said Saviano Raffaele of the Tuscany Trade Union Association, attending the protest in Rome Monday. “We are tired of this, we need to return to work, we just can’t do it anymore,” said a restaurant owner from the northern Veneto region, who did not want to be named. Italy has recorded almost 19,000 deaths from the virus since its latest outbreak came to light on February 21, more than any other country. It is one of several European countries struggling with a third wave of the virus. FILE – Medical staff work in the intensive care unit where COVID-19 patients are treated at Cambrai hospital, France, March 25, 2021.France, Germany and several other states have extended lockdowns, and German doctors warn that more young people are being hospitalized with the virus. Chancellor Angela Merkel issued a stark warning Monday. “The number of infections is currently far too high,” Merkel said in a video message at the opening of the trade fair Hannover Messe. “The use of intensive care units in our hospitals is increasing again and we have to say that this third wave might turn out to be the toughest for us. And to break it, of course, the most important weapon we have is the vaccine.” The European surge is driven by the so-called B.1.1.7 variant of the virus, first identified in Britain, which was hit hard in January and forced back into lockdown. However, Britain is now bucking the European trend. Pubs, shops and services such as gyms and hair salons reopened Monday, as hospitalizations have fallen to levels last seen in the summer. More than 60 percent of British adults have received a first dose of vaccine and the government said Monday that a first vaccine dose had been offered to the nine most vulnerable groups, including all those aged over 50 and the clinically vulnerable. The country remains on track to vaccinate all adults by the end of July, as long as there is no disruption to supplies of the vaccines. Professor Anthony Harnden of Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization said the reopening of the economy was made possible by the success of the vaccine program. “There is a huge wave — third wave — of COVID sweeping Europe at the moment, and that’s in part due to the fact that not a very high proportion of their populations have been vaccinated,” Harnden told Reuters on April 8. “Vaccination programs are complicated things and they do rely on public confidence and stopping and starting and changing vaccination programs is not an easy thing to do,” Harnden said. “And if you do it, it runs the danger of losing confidence in that program. And so, we are very mindful of that in the U.K. [United Kingdom], so what we are doing — we have not been slow, we are being careful, we are being considered — and we are examining all the data in absolute detail and then making the decisions according to what we see in front of us.” FILE – Members of the public receive a dose of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine at a coronavirus vaccination center at the Fazl Mosque in southwest London, March 23, 2021.Polls show public confidence in the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine in Britain is around 75 %. However, a majority of people in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain believe the jab to be unsafe. Confusion over trial data led to the vaccine initially being restricted to people under-65 in some European countries, but in a policy reversal, several countries are now restricting the vaccine to older age groups, after cases of rare blood clots emerged among younger people. Scientists say the AstraZeneca vaccine remains safe and highly effective. “These (blood clots) are very rare events. They still exist, but we need to balance that against the risk of developing COVID or developing severe disease or even dying from COVID,” said Doctor Peter Drobac, a global health expert at the University of Oxford, who was not involved in the development of the vaccine. “And in most places and for most people, that is a much, much greater risk.” Europe is trying to boost public confidence. France’s prime minister was given the AstraZeneca vaccine on live television March 19. After a slow start, inoculation programs are gaining speed across Europe, using vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Janssen. Germany gave a record 720,000 doses in one day last week, and France administered over half a million doses the same day. Mass vaccination centres have opened at sports stadiums in France and Spain. “Vaccines are such an important part of the endgame, but we can’t necessarily vaccinate our way out of a surge,” Drobac added. “And so, the vaccination campaign needs to be done aggressively, but also needs to be balanced with other measures to keep the virus in check: masking, social distancing, some of the restrictions on our activities, and of course, testing contact tracing and isolation.” Europe’s troubled rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine has implications beyond its own borders, as global public confidence in the drug appears to be falling. The AstraZeneca shot is cheaper and easier to produce than other vaccines, and can be kept at normal refrigerator temperatures, notes Drobac. “That makes it very easy to transport and to store, even to last mile communities around the world. And so, for all of those reasons, I think this vaccine is of utmost importance. It’s kind of the backbone of the global vaccination campaign.” Drobac fears that some vaccines are being perceived as “inferior,” while others that are seen as more effective could be hoarded by richer countries. “That kind of ‘vaccine apartheid’ if you will, I think could be really difficult, and I do worry about it undermining confidence in low- and middle-income countries where, of course, vaccine uptake is going to be very important.” The African Union last week cancelled plans to procure the AstraZeneca vaccine, citing a desire to diversify its options. The bloc said the decision was unrelated to concerns over blood clots. Health experts say it could further fuel vaccine hesitancy, and they are calling for global awareness campaigns to counter misinformation.  
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed to Brussels on Tuesday to meet with European and NATO allies on a range of issues, including Russia’s buildup of forces along the border with Ukraine and coalition operations in Afghanistan.The visit comes three weeks after Blinken was in Brussels for a summit with his counterparts from NATO member states. Blinken spoke of the priority for the United States to focus on strengthening ties with allies during the previous meeting.“Glad to be heading back to Brussels. The United States is committed to rebuilding U.S. alliances, particularly with our NATO Allies,” Blinken Tweeted on Monday. “We remain steadfast in our support for NATO as the essential forum for Transatlantic security.”Glad to be heading back to Brussels. The United States is committed to rebuilding U.S. alliances, particularly with our @NATO Allies. We remain steadfast in our support for NATO as the essential forum for Transatlantic security. #USNATOpic.twitter.com/WSVjC7tSUk— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) April 13, 2021 Blinken’s schedule Tuesday includes talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.Russia’s recent movement of troops to the border area has raised concerns in the United States and elsewhere.Blinken spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg about the situation Monday and said there was mutual agreement that “Russia must end its dangerous military buildup and ongoing aggression along Ukraine’s borders.”Philip Reeker, the U.S. acting assistant secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, told reporters in previewing Blinken’s meetings that NATO talks about Ukraine would bring calls for Russia to show restraint and refrain from “escalatory actions.”Joining Blinken in Brussels is U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.Another major topic of discussion will be the situation in Afghanistan just weeks before a May 1 deadline set an agreement between the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump and the Taliban for the withdrawal of the remaining 2,500 U.S. forces from the country.Reeker said those talks would be an opportunity to follow up on discussions about Afghanistan from the ministerial meetings last month. Blinken said during the March talks that the United States wanted to “listen and consult” with NATO allies, while pledging to “leave together” when the time is right.
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Rome restaurateurs and other small-business owners clashed Monday with police for the second week in a row, demanding to be allowed to open after being shut down for much of the past year. Italy has been one of the hardest-hit nations over the course of the pandemic, with more than 114,000 deaths from COVID-19. The government has closed many of its restaurants, along with other stores and markets, for varying periods for much of the past year. They had been allowed to reopen at various times, only to be told to shut again when the virus surged. But now they want to reopen for good, and at least 200 people from around Italy joined Monday’s protest in a plaza close to Montecitorio Palace, the lower house of Parliament. Many carried signs or shouted “Work!” and “Freedom!” as they faced down police in riot gear.  A demonstrator gestures as she speaks to a police officer during a protest of restaurant and small-business owners who call for their businesses to be allowed to reopen amid the coronavirus outbreak, in Rome, Italy, April 12, 2021.Scuffles broke out between police and protesters after a small group of demonstrators attempted to break through police barricades. The restrictions prohibit dining and drinking at restaurants, bars and cafes through at least April in most regions, with only takeout or delivery services permitted. The government has allocated millions in aid to business sectors particularly hit hard by pandemic restrictions. While initial lockdowns to control the virus were widely accepted, business owners took to the streets after learning about the current shutdown extension.  
 
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