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An investment deal between China and the European Union restricts Europeans from investing in Chinese media and entertainment companies but does not block Chinese firms from investing in European ones, according to newly released details.  Despite mounting alarm about Chinese disinformation and propaganda campaigns in Europe, the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment pact, announced Friday, gives Chinese firms a significant advantage in the media sector, critics say.  FILE – National security adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Feb. 4, 2021.The deal, which was signed in principle in December, has drawn fire from Washington. Days before the agreement was struck, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan urged the Europeans to delay completing negotiations, calling in a tweet for “early consultation with our European partners on our common concerns about China’s economic practices.” Critics on both sides of the Atlantic say the deal will give China preferential access to European markets while Beijing continues to tamp down Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement and maintain detention centers in Xinjiang province, where China’s Communist government has interned more than a million Uyghurs, according to rights groups. Growing criticismThe agreement still has several stages to go before adoption and needs to be ratified by the European Parliament. The rules governing investment access to the media and entertainment sector are quickly becoming the focus of criticism from some European lawmakers, mostly members of the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), the largest grouping in the European Parliament.  In a statement, the EPP has urged European commissioners to “develop an EU-wide regulatory system to prevent media companies either funded or controlled by governments to acquire European media companies.”  China has invested around $3.5 billion in European media firms in the past decade. EU officials say the investment deal is merely enshrining access rules that the bloc and China had agreed under World Trade Organization terms.  FILE – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet remotely, in Brussels, Dec. 30, 2020.The deal “does not create any new rights for the Chinese investors in (the) media sector,” according to a European Commission spokesperson. Under the terms, Chinese investors in media companies should be treated the same as European investors and enjoy similar market access. But the deal does not afford European investors the same rights. French lawmaker Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, a liberal in the European Parliament, has “even more questions than before,” since further details of the investment deal became public last week.  She said the EU is treating China as a partner, but Beijing is not reciprocating. Other lawmakers point to recent studies tracking Chinese influence that show when Chinese firms, mainly state-owned, invest in European media, China’s coverage of the new acquisitions turn more positive. In a study published last year, MapInfluenCE, a foreign policy research group operated by the Association for International Affairs, concluded that “local audiences in Poland, Czechia, and Slovakia have increasingly become direct targets of not only ‘mask diplomacy,’ but more complex propaganda efforts promote a positive image of China, strain transatlantic relations and directly attempt to rewrite narratives around sensitive issues.” Eleven member states, mostly central European, including Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, remain concerned about the deal and are reserving the right to treat Chinese investors differently.  Media restrictionsChina is a major trading partner for the EU. Over the past 20 years, European companies have invested $174 billion in China. The European Commission said the investment agreement will provide overall improved market access and fairer rules for European companies in China, investors and service providers.  FILE – European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis speaks at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, March 10, 2021.”The agreement provides a clear and enforceable framework of rules, which will give EU businesses greater access and more certainty when investing in China,” the bloc’s trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said in a statement last week. Critics of the deal say there is no level playing field when it comes to the media. China’s state-controlled CCTV channels are broadcast without hindrance across Europe, but restrictions are placed by China on European broadcasters.  Outside the EU, Britain and China have disagreed over the media. Last month, the Beijing government banned BBC World News after the channel ran a string of reports on accusations of systematic rape of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.  FILE – Britain’s Foreign Affairs Secretary Dominic Raab walks outside Downing Street in London, Britain, Feb. 3, 2021.British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called the move an “unacceptable curtailing of media freedom.”  The U.S. State Department condemned the decision, calling it part of a wider campaign to suppress free media in China. China’s National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) said BBC World News had “seriously violated” broadcast guidelines, including a “requirement that news should be truthful and fair” and not “harm China’s national interests.”  Earlier this year, British media regulator Ofcom revoked state broadcaster China Global Television Network’s (CGTN) license to broadcast in Britain. The details of the EU-China investment pact will likely add to the Biden administration’s dismay over the EU’s decision to advance the deal. U.S. President Joe Biden wants a “united front” when it comes to China to increase leverage on Beijing.  Analysts have warned for weeks that the EU and the Biden administration will not see eye to eye on the best ways to handle an increasingly assertive China. 
 
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This month marks the fifth anniversary of Turkey’s deal with the EU that expanded a mass exodus of refugees and migrants to Europe in exchange for aid. But as Dorian Jones reports for VOA from Ankara, the future of the deal is in question as Ankara calls for revisions to the agreement.
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Germany, France and Italy became the latest European countries to halt the rollout of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine Monday, as scientists investigated reports of possible adverse side effects among several people in Norway who received the injection. Norwegian officials said Saturday that one person had died from a brain hemorrhage and three others were hospitalized with blood clots shortly after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine. “So far, we cannot speak to whether the cases are connected to the vaccine. But due to the seriousness of the cases, we are investigating thoroughly,” Sigurd Hortemo, chief physician at the Norwegian Medicines Agency, told reporters in Oslo. A woman receives the AstraZeneca vaccination at a drive-through site, in Milan, Italy, March 15, 2021.The World Health Organization (WHO) said the AstraZeneca drug is safe to use and urged countries to continue with their vaccination programs. German Health Minister Jens Spahn said Monday the decision to pause the rollout was a “purely precautionary measure. Millions of AstraZeneca vaccinations have been administered across the globe. All of us are very aware of the consequences of this decision, and we did not take this decision lightly,” Spahn told a press conference in Berlin. French President Emmanuel Macron said the suspension would be lifted as soon as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave its approval.  “The decision, which has been taken out of precaution, in conformity with our European policy, is to suspend, by precaution, vaccinating with the AstraZeneca vaccine in the hope that we can resume quickly if the EMA gives the green light,” Macron told reporters Monday. A pharmacist administers the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to a patient in a pharmacy in Roubaix, France, March 15, 2021.The suspension appears to be further undermining confidence in the AstraZeneca vaccine among the European public. Germany and France had already been accused of fueling skepticism after recommending in January that the drug not be given to people over 65, a position both governments later reversed. “I would not have taken (the AstraZeneca vaccine) myself,” 77-year-old Dutch citizen Marja Vestrik told Reuters on Monday, “though I think it’s going to be all right in the end. If I had the choice, I wouldn’t take AstraZeneca.” Other countries outside Europe have also paused AstraZeneca vaccinations, including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia. AstraZeneca supportWHO said there is no evidence that the AstraZeneca vaccine causes blood clots and urged countries to continue using it. Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, a clinical scientist, said that all the vaccines approved by WHO had excellent safety records.  “Of the 330 million vaccines doses that have been deployed, we are not aware of any one confirmed COVID vaccine-related death. There have been deaths following vaccination in people, but people die of diseases every day,” Swaminathan said at a virtual press conference Monday. FILE – Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks with a man waiting to receive an Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, during his visit at a vaccination center at Cwmbran Stadium in Cwmbran, south Wales, Britain, Feb. 17, 2021.AstraZeneca insisted Monday that the vaccine is safe and echoed WHO’s view that there is no evidence of a link to blood clots. Out of the 17 million people in Europe who have received its vaccine, AstraZeneca says fewer than 40 have developed blood clots, which health experts say is a lower rate than in the general population. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave his support to the AstraZeneca vaccine Monday, which was developed in conjunction with the University of Oxford.  “We have one of the toughest and most experienced (medicine) regulators in the world. They see no reason at all to discontinue the vaccination program for any of the vaccines that we’re currently using,” Johnson said. The AstraZeneca vaccine is a key pillar of many countries’ mass inoculation programs. It is relatively cheap and does not need to be stored at ultra-low temperatures, so it is seen as particularly suitable for less well-funded health systems, especially in parts of Africa. FILE – Dr. Ngong Cyprian, left, is the first Nigerian to receive the first dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine at the National Hospital Abuja, Nigeria, March 5, 2021.Nigerian health workers began to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine Friday.  “We don’t believe that this information is a reason for us to slow down our COVID-19 vaccination response,” Lagos State Health Commissioner Akin Abayomi said Friday. Vaccine skepticismScientists fear the halt in vaccinations could affect global confidence in the vaccines.  “It clearly has to be investigated. I think the big concern, though, is that we do know that, especially at a time when the disease is still actually very common and increasing across a number of European countries, that ultimately any delay in vaccinations will lead to more severe cases and more deaths,” Paul Hunter, a professor at the Norwich School of Medicine, told VOA in an interview Monday. “It will make it more difficult for people to accept the vaccine. It will put people off. And if it does that, as it almost certainly will, it will lead to more people getting ill, more people getting severely ill and more people dying.” Hunter added that investigations into reported side effects could have unintended consequences.  “As soon as you start worrying about a particular adverse outcome, then more people are likely to report that outcome. And you can actually almost generate a false impression of an epidemic purely because of increased reporting, because people have heard this sort of thing on the news,” he said. The AstraZeneca vaccine has just received official approval in Brazil, one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic. It has yet to be authorized for use in the United States, as regulators await the results of Phase 3 trials, expected in the next few weeks. 
 
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Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny is being held in a prison camp in Russia’s Vladimir region northeast of Moscow known for its strict control of inmates, a message posted on the opposition politician’s Instagram account confirmed on Monday.Navalny’s precise location had been unknown after his legal team said last week that he had been moved from the nearby Kolchugino jail and that they had not been told where he was being taken.On Monday, Navalny confirmed he was fine and being held at the IK-2 corrective penal colony in the town of Pokrov, about 100 km (60 miles) east of Moscow.”Hi everyone from ‘Heightened control sector A’,” Navalny said in a message posted online shortly after his lawyers visited him at the facility.”I have to admit that the Russian prison system has managed to surprise me. I never imagined that it was possible to build a real concentration camp 100 kilometers from Moscow.”The post was accompanied by a picture of Navalny sat on a sofa with his hair cropped close to his head.Navalny, 44, one of President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critics, was jailed earlier this year for parole violations in a decision that the West has condemned as politically motivated.He is due to serve out a two-and-a-half year sentence and is only able to communicate with the outside world via his lawyers.The Instagram post said that swearing was banned at the facility and that the ban was widely observed by fellow inmates who seemed scared to turn their heads twice.He said he had not seen any prison violence or suggestion of it himself but could believe stories he had heard about past cases of violence.”There are video cameras everywhere, they keep watch on everyone and make reports for the slightest infractions. I think someone high up has read 1984 by Orwell,” he said.He said he was woken up every hour during the night because he had been deemed a flight risk.”But if you regard everything with humor, you can live here. So on the whole everything is fine with me,” he said.Navalny returned to Russia in January from Germany where he had been recuperating from being poisoned with what many Western nations said was a nerve agent. The Kremlin has denied involvement in his illness and questioned if he was poisoned.Western countries have called for Navalny’s release, and the United States and European Union have imposed sanctions against Russian officials over the case.
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Britain said Monday it was imposing new sanctions on Bashar al-Assad’s regime, including asset freezes and travel bans on the Syrian dictator’s close allies.The announcement came on the 10th anniversary of the start of the Syrian uprising. The six sanctioned individuals include Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Miqdad, presidential adviser Luna al-Shibl, and two military generals who Britain said were responsible for the violent repression of civilians by troops under their command.The Foreign Office said they also include two prominent businessmen, one of whom, Yassar Ibrahim, allegedly “acts as a front” for the “personal hold on the Syrian economy” wielded by Assad and his wife, Asma, while millions of Syrians go without food.Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab condemned the Assad regime for subjecting the Syrian people “to a decade of brutality for the temerity of demanding peaceful reform.”“Today we are holding six more individuals from the regime to account for their wholesale assault on the very citizens they should be protecting,” Raab said in a statement.The sanctions were the first against the Syrian leadership under Britain’s new autonomous sanctions regime after Brexit.
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The Vatican decreed Monday that the Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex unions since God “cannot bless sin.”The Vatican’s orthodoxy office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a formal response Monday to a question about whether Catholic clergy can bless gay unions.The answer, contained in a two-page explanation published in seven languages and approved by Pope Francis, was “negative.”The decree distinguished between the church’s welcoming and blessing of gay people, which it upheld, but not their unions.The Vatican holds that gays much be treated with dignity and respect, but that gay sex is “intrinsically disordered.” Catholic teaching holds that marriage between a man and woman is part of God’s plan and is intended for the sake of creating new life.Since gay unions are not intended to be part of that plan, they cannot be blessed by the church, the document said.“The presence in such relationships of positive elements, which are in themselves to be valued and appreciated, cannot justify these relationships and render them legitimate objects of an ecclesial blessing, since the positive elements exist within the context of a union not ordered to the Creator’s plan,” the response said.God “does not and cannot bless sin: He blesses sinful man, so that he may recognize that he is part of his plan of love and allow himself to be changed by him,” it said.Francis has endorsed providing gay couples with legal protections in same-sex unions, but that is in reference to the civil sphere, not within the church. His comments were made during an interview with a Mexican television station, Televisa, in 2019, but were cut by the Vatican until they appeared in a documentary last year.
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International deliveries of arms were flat in the period from 2016 to 2020, ending more than a decade of increases, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a report on Monday.The United States, France and Germany, three of the world’s biggest exporters, increased deliveries, but decreases in exports from Russian and China offset the rise, SIPRI said.It was the first time since 2001-2005 that the volume of deliveries of major arms between countries — an indicator of demand — did not increase from the previous five-year period, SIPRI said.While the pandemic has shut down economies across the world and pushed many countries into deep recessions, SIPRI said it was too early to tell whether the slowdown in arms deliveries was likely to continue.”The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could see some countries reassessing their arms imports in the coming years,” Pieter Wezeman, senior researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme, said in a statement.”However, at the same time, even at the height of the pandemic in 2020, several countries signed large contracts for major arms.”The United Arab Emirates, for example, recently signed an agreement with the United States to purchase 50 F-35 jets and up to 18 armed drones as part of a $23 billion package.Middle Eastern countries accounted for the biggest increase in arms imports, up 25% in 2016-20 from 2011-15.Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest arms importer, increased its arms imports by 61% and Qatar by 361%.Asia and Oceania were the largest importing regions for major arms, receiving 42% of global arms transfers in 2016-20. India, Australia, China, South Korea and Pakistan were the biggest importers in the region.”For many states in Asia and Oceania, a growing perception of China as a threat is the main driver for arms imports,” said Siemon Wezeman, senior sesearcher at SIPRI. 
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Queen Bey is closer to sitting on her Grammys throne: The singer won her 26th Grammy on Sunday, almost matching, and on track to surpass, Alison Krauss’ record of 27 wins.Beyoncé, this year’s leading contender with nine nominations, won two honors during the pre-ceremony including best rap performance for “Savage” with Megan Thee Stallion and best music video for “Brown Skin Girl.” She shares the latter with daughter Blue Ivy Carter, who is also having a historic night: At 9 years old, she’s the second youngest to win a Grammy.Beyoncé’s other nominations, including song and record of the year, best R&B performance and best rap song, will broadcast during the live show, which kicked off with host Trevor Noah telling jokes about the coronavirus pandemic and the year that was 2020.He was live from downtown Los Angeles, with attendees wearing masks and sitting, socially distanced, at small round tables.  That was followed by performances from Harry Styles, who is competing for his first Grammys this year, and Billie Eilish, who won five Grammys last year and picked up her sixth honor during the preshow.Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa and Beyonce Battle for Grammys Top Prizes  Beyoncé, now the most nominated female artist in Grammy history with 79 career nods, leads all comers with nine nominationsOther performances, taped days before the big show, will air throughout the night, including Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Cardi B, BTS, Bad Bunny, Megan Thee Stallion, DaBaby, Dua Lipa, Post Malone, Chris Martin, Lil Baby, John Mayer, Maren Morris and Doja Cat.During the preshow, Fiona Apple and Kaytranda were also double winners Sunday. John Prine and Chick Corea both earned two wins posthumously. Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Dan + Shay, James Taylor, H.E.R., Beck, Brandi Carlile, Burna Boy, Tiffany Haddish and Rachel Maddow also won Grammys.While Beyoncé is set to have a historic night, history could repeat itself and she could be shut out of winning a top award — a common occurrence for R&B and rap artists throughout Grammy history. Of her 26 wins, only one has been for one of the big four Grammys, song of the year. She has lost album of the year three times and record of the year five times.Jay-Z has never won a top award, and he and his wife join a list of mostly Black performers who have only won in the rap and R&B categories, including Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Mariah Carey, Eminem, Drake, Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige and more.This year The Weeknd was the one who was snubbed. Despite having the biggest hit of 2020 with “Blinding Lights” and a top-selling, multihit album, he didn’t earn any nominations.  Still, Beyoncé and Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” could become the second hip-hop song to win record of the year.Taylor Swift could make history, too, and become the first woman to win the show’s top prize, album of the year, three times. Her first surprise album of 2020, “Folklore,” is competing for the top honor, an award she first won in 2010 for “Fearless,” and again in 2016 for “1989.”  Artists competing with Swift for album of the year include Coldplay, Post Malone, Dua Lipa, Jhené Aiko, HAIM, Black Pumas and Jacob Collier, who picked up a win during the pre-ceremony.The Grammys were originally scheduled for Jan. 31 but were pushed back because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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The World Food Program is leading a project to restore school feeding programs for vulnerable children who have been cut off from this nutritional lifeline because of the COVID-19 pandemic.An estimated 388 million children or one in two worldwide had been receiving school meals when the pandemic struck more than a year ago. The World Food Program says this is the highest number of children in history who had been benefiting from this vital source of nourishment.By April of last year, the U.N. Food agency reports 199 countries were forced to close their schools because of COVID-19 lockdown measures. As a result, it says, 370 million children now no longer receive daily school meals — for many, their only meal of the day.WFP spokesman Tomson Phiri said his agency has begun to assemble a coalition of stakeholders to help governments restore and boost access to school feeding programs for hundreds of millions of poor children worldwide. He said participants are drawn from governments, development agencies, U.N. and private agencies as well as other sectors.“The coalition aims to find sustainable and innovative funding sources for school feeding programs, strengthen evidence and guidance to improve said programs, as well as to bring together multiple sectors to achieve better outcomes for school children globally,” he said.Phiri said this initiative comes at a crucial time. He calls school feeding a game changer for many, not just for the children. Phiri said parents, smallholder farmers and communities as a whole benefit when children are not deprived of food essential for their health and well-being.“Activities help stave off hunger, support longer-term health and help a child to learn and thrive. This is especially true for girls. In places where there is a school meals program, girls attend as well as to stay in school longer. Child marriage rates go down and teen pregnancies decrease,” said Phiri.The World Food Program says it expects more partners will join the coalition over the coming months before the project is launched at the Food Systems Summit on the margins of the General Assembly in September or October.The summit, which will be convened by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, aims to transform the way the world produces and consumes food. 
 
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Dame Zaturoski from Struga, North Macedonia, is a lawyer by training, but his true passion is making models of boats and ships. Reporter Miki Trajkovski went to North Macedonia to see his latest creation and filed this story narrated by Anna Rice.
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London’s Metropolitan Police was under heavy pressure Sunday to explain its actions during a vigil for a woman whom one of the force’s own officers is accused of murdering.  Hundreds defied coronavirus restrictions to gather and protest violence against women, but the event ended with clashes between police and those attending.  Home Secretary Priti Patel said scenes from Saturday’s vigil in south London were “upsetting” and she is seeking a full report on what happened from the Metropolitan Police. The capital’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, said the police response was “at times neither appropriate nor proportionate.”  Police were seen scuffling with some women at the event, and one woman was seen pinned to the ground by two officers. Several women were led away in handcuffs as other attendees chanted “Shame on you” at police. The force later said four people were arrested for violating public order and coronavirus regulations.  Defending the force’s actions, Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball said “hundreds of people were packed tightly together,” posing a very real risk of transmitting the virus. She added that officers had repeatedly encouraged those attending to leave, but “a small minority” of people chanted at police, pushing and throwing objects.  “We accept that the actions of our officers have been questioned,” Ball said. “We absolutely did not want to be in a position where enforcement action was necessary. But we were placed in this position because of the overriding need to protect people’s safety.” Many of those attending the vigil were already wary of police because a serving Metropolitan Police officer, Wayne Couzens, was charged with the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old woman who vanished March 3 while walking home in London. Her body was found a week later.  The case has sparked a national outcry and a heated debate on women’s safety. Organizers had planned an official vigil at Clapham Common, a park near where Everard was last seen alive, but were forced to cancel the event because of COVID-19 restrictions. A huge crowd turned up Saturday nonetheless. Jamie Klingler, who organized the canceled “Reclaim These Streets” event, blamed police for denying women their right to have a silent vigil in the first place. The force got the angry reaction Saturday because they refused to facilitate a peaceful rally, she said.  “I think we were shocked and really, really sad and to see videos of policemen handling women at a vigil about violence against women by men … I think it was painful and pretty triggering to see,” Klingler told Britain’s PA Media news agency Sunday.  Couzens, 48, appeared in court Saturday for the first time. He was remanded in custody and has another appearance scheduled Tuesday at London’s Central Criminal Court.  The Metropolitan Police has said it is “deeply disturbing” that one of its own is a suspect in the case. The force said Couzens joined its ranks in 2018 and most recently served in the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command, an armed unit responsible for guarding embassies in the capital and Parliament. Everard was last seen walking home from a friend’s apartment in south London at about 10:30 p.m. on March 3. Her body was found hidden in an area of woodland in Kent, more than 50 miles southeast of London, on Wednesday. A post-mortem examination was underway, police said Friday. 
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British-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe appeared before Iran’s Revolutionary Court Sunday, facing charges of “propaganda against the system.” “Legally, the court should announce the verdict in a week, but it is up to the judge. I am very hopeful that she will be acquitted,” said her lawyer Hojjat Kermani. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in 2016 on charges that she was plotting to overthrow Iran’s government, a charge she has denied. Kermani said the trial was held in a “calm atmosphere” and the “final defense” was made.  Zaghari-Ratcliffe was released from house arrest last week and her ankle bracelet was removed, but she was not allowed to travel to join her family in Britain.    She was released from prison last year in March as the coronavirus began to snake around the world.  She had been imprisoned for five years.   British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said Zaghari-Ratcliffe must be allowed to return home to Britain to her husband and daughter.  At the time of her arrest, Zaghari-Ratcliffe worked for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, a charity that operates independently of media firm Thomson Reuters and its news subsidiary Reuters. Sunday’s trial comes after Redress, a human rights aid organization, released a statement saying Zaghari-Ratcliffe is in urgent need of mental and physical health care after enduring hours of interrogation while blindfolded and solitary confinement. 
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