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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Brussels on Monday for meetings this week that the State Department says are aimed at boosting ties with NATO allies and partnering on issues such as climate change, counterterrorism and ongoing efforts in combating the coronavirus pandemic.  Blinken is scheduled to take part in a meeting of NATO foreign ministers Tuesday and Wednesday, and to also hold talks with NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.  FILE – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Feb. 15, 2021.”It’ll be an opportunity for the secretary and the foreign ministers to discuss the NATO 2030 initiative,” Philip Reeker, acting assistant secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, told reporters ahead of Blinken’s trip. “Proposals under that (2030 initiative) for alliance adaptation, concerns over China and Russia, as well as climate change, cybersecurity, hybrid threats, combating terrorism, energy security — clearly the global pandemic enters into this, and other common challenges that we face together.”   After four years of foreign policy under former President Donald Trump that focused only on prioritizing U.S. interests, Reeker said Blinken will deliver a speech in Brussels outlining a commitment to “rebuilding and revitalizing alliances,” while highlighting the importance of NATO.   “We know we’re stronger and better able to overcome challenges when we face them together, and we’re going to modernize our alliances, mend them as needed, and deal with the world as we face it,” Reeker said.  Blinken’s arrival in Europe on Monday came as the United States issued coordinated sanctions with the European Union on both China and Myanmar. The Myanmar sanctions targeted top officials who are linked to last month’s military coup, while the China sanctions were aimed at several Chinese officials accused of human rights abuses against the Muslim Uyghur minority in China’s Xinjiang province. FILE – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell hold a joint news conference, in Brussels, Belgium, Jan. 8, 2020.Regarding Iran, Reeker said the top U.S. diplomat will consult with EU colleagues about the prospects of the United States and Iran mutually returning to the agreement signed in 2015 that limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.  Both the United States, which left the deal under Trump in 2018, and Iran, which responded by taking steps away from its commitments, have expressed a willingness to observe the agreement once again, but each has signaled the other side should start first.  The final part of Blinken’s trip agenda is bilateral talks with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sophie Wilmès. 
 
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The United States, the European Union, Britain and Canada have imposed sanctions on several Chinese officials for human rights abuses against the Muslim Uyghur minority in China’s Xinjiang province, prompting retaliation from China.  U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. sanctions were taken in solidary with U.S. allies.  “A united transatlantic response sends a strong signal to those who violate or abuse international human rights, and we will take further actions in coordination with like-minded partners,” Blinken said in a statement Monday.  FILE – Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks on foreign policy at the State Department in Washington, March 3, 2021.The U.S. Treasury Department said Monday it was sanctioning two Chinese officials — Wang Junzheng, former deputy party secretary in Xinjiang, and Chen Mingguo, director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau.  The EU and Britain sanctioned those same officials, along with two others — Wang Mingshan, a member of the Communist Party’s standing committee in Xinjiang, and Zhu Hailun, former head of China’s Xinjiang region.   China’s Foreign Ministry responded immediately after the first sanctions were announced, denouncing them as “based on nothing but lies and disinformation.”  China then announced its own sanctions against 10 European individuals and four institutions, saying they had “maliciously spread lies and disinformation.” Those sanctioned included five members of the European Parliament.   The EU sanctions are the first significant economic penalties it has placed on China since 1989, when Beijing was cited for its violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square.  The EU accused Chen of being responsible for “arbitrary detentions and degrading treatment inflicted upon Uyghurs and people from other Muslim ethnic minorities, as well as systematic violations of their freedom of religion or belief,” according to its Official Journal.   FILE – Residents line up inside the Artux City training center in western China’s Xinjiang region, Dec. 3, 2018.The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Public Security Bureau was also sanctioned by Britain and the European Union.  All 27 EU governments agreed to the sanctions.  Canada’s foreign ministry said: “Mounting evidence points to systemic, state-led human rights violations by Chinese authorities.”  Separately Monday, Blinken along with the foreign ministers of four countries — Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada — released a joint statement that said the evidence of China’s abuses in Xinjiang, “including from the Chinese Government’s own documents, satellite imagery, and eyewitness testimony is overwhelming.”  “We will continue to stand together to shine a spotlight on China’s human rights violations,” they said. Human rights advocates say about 1 million Uyghurs are being held in camps. Some accuse Beijing of torture, forced sterilization and forced labor.   China maintains its actions in Xinjiang are to root out Islamic extremism.   Zhang Ming, China’s ambassador to the EU, said last week that sanctions would not impact Beijing’s policies and warned of retaliation.    “We want dialogue, not confrontation. We ask the EU side to think twice. If some insist on confrontation, we will not back down, as we have no options other than fulfilling our responsibilities to the people in our country,” he said.   
 
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European Union solidarity is breaking down amid a vaccine debacle that analysts say may have long-lasting repercussions for the future of European political integration.Member states are divided over the wisdom of imposing a vaccine export ban threatened by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The ban is mainly focused on Britain, a bid to secure more vaccines for the EU, but critics warn it could backfire on the bloc and tarnish its much vaunted commitment to free trade and internationalism.And there is also an emerging dispute on whether the vaccines the bloc is receiving are being distributed fairly by the European Commission among the EU’s 27 member states.Five central European and Baltic countries, led by Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, have complained of unequal treatment and plan to raise more forcefully their objections over the apportionment at a summit Thursday of EU heads of state and government.“The last few weeks have shown that deliveries are currently not being made according to population keys and that this is set to intensify in the coming months,” reads a complaint signed by Kurz and four other national leaders.The disgruntled national leaders added: “This approach clearly contradicts the political goal of the European Union — the equal distribution of vaccine doses to all member states. If the distribution were to continue in this way, it would result in significant unequal treatment — which we must prevent.”Cases and frustration growingThe mood in European capitals is turning sour. Locals complain they can’t see the light at then of the pandemic tunnel. Coronavirus infections are rising rapidly across the continent, in contrast to Britain and America, where much quicker and nimbler vaccine rollouts are seeing a significant falloff in the rate of confirmed cases.Much of the frustration among member states is being directed at von der Leyen, who was the driving force behind persuading member states to sign on to a vaccine procurement and distribution program managed by the authorities in Brussels.Medical workers prepare doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Antwerp, Belgium, March 18, 2021.She and EC commissioners argued a bloc-wide approach would alleviate the risk of vaccine rivalry between member states as they scrambled to place procurement orders and would advertise the strengths of the EU, which in turn would help garner more public support for greater political integration.But it hasn’t turned out that way and Europe is lagging behind on inoculation as a third wave of the pandemic hits the continent. EU countries are short overall on vaccines — but are also sitting at the same time on millions of doses of the British-developed AstraZeneca vaccine because of public doubts about its safety.Seventeen states, including France and Germany, paused administering Astra jabs last week because of worries that the vaccine caused blood-clots, but then reversed the halt, leaving behind however residual public fear about Astra and increasing incidents of Europeans refusing Astra jabs.Vaccine fightVon der Leyen on Sunday raised the vaccine war stakes with London, threatening again to block AstraZeneca from exporting jabs manufactured in the EU to Britain if the Anglo-Swedish company doesn’t first meet its supply obligations to EU countries. Brussels says Britain has grabbed more than its “fair share” of vaccines and hasn’t been sending to Europe any Astra vaccines produced in Britain. The British argue their contract pre-dates the EU’s by several months and because the EU was late in ordering, it is suffering the consequences.“We have the possibility to forbid planned exports,” Von der Leyen told German newspapers. “That is the message to AstraZeneca, ‘You fulfill your contract with Europe before you start delivering to other countries.’” An export ban would likely target not just the Astra vaccines manufactured in the EU but also the export of Pfizer-BioNTech doses, which are produced in Belgium.Privately, British officials say they would consider retaliating if a ban is imposed by blocking crucial ingredients shipped from Yorkshire needed for the manufacture in Belgium of the Pfizer vaccine. The U.S. drug maker has warned Brussels that production at its main vaccine plant in Belgium would “grind to a halt,” if Britain opted to retaliate.The threat of an export ban is causing alarm among several member states, with Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden all against the proposal to block vaccine exports. They have warned it would tarnish the bloc’s reputation as a champion of free trade and the rule of law. Belgian officials say they’re worried that export bans would impair supply chains that rely on international trade.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke with Alexander De Croo, the Belgian Prime Minister. “We discussed our efforts to tackle COVID-19. We also touched on the importance of global supply chains and on common efforts to speed up vaccine production,” De Croo said after the conversation. British officials say they are hopeful about shaping an alliance against Brussels on the issue of an export ban and remain confident German Chancellor Angela Merkel would also oppose such a drastic step.EC commissioners place some of the blame for the slow pace of inoculations largely on member states. EU countries have vaccinated barely 10% of the bloc’s population compared to Britain which has inoculated more than 50%. EU officials say they are being scapegoated by member states.But major EU powers, including Germany and Italy, are pointing the finger at Brussels, and their leaders are tiring of what they say are severe shortages in EU supplies. A German official told VOA the EU commissioners are proving to be “the gang that can’t shoot straight.”The Sputnik optionJens Spahn, the German health minister, told reporters “there is not yet enough vaccine in Europe to stop the third wave through vaccination alone. Even if the deliveries from EU orders now come reliably, it will still take several weeks until the risk groups are fully vaccinated.” He has warned Germany might decide to buy Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine even before the EU medicines regulator has authorized it. “I am very much in favor of us doing it nationally, if the EU does not do something,” he said Saturday.German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, looks on as Health Minister Jens Spahn, left, and Interior Minister Horst Seehofer talk prior to the weekly cabinet meeting in Berlin, March 17, 2021.Mario Draghi, the Italian Prime Minister and a former head of the European Central Bank, has also raised the prospects of ignoring the EU and purchasing the Russian vaccine. With case numbers spiraling out of control in Italy, there are fears that the third wave could be as deadly as the first wave, and Draghi says his priority is “giving the greatest number of vaccinations in the shortest time possible.”“If European coordination works, fine,” the Italian leader said at a press conference when asked about buying Sputnik “Otherwise on health, you have to be ready to do it yourself. This is what Merkel said and this is what I am saying here,” he added.Hungary and Slovakia have already purchased Sputnik doses.Frustrations over the vaccine program and the reimposition of lockdown restrictions in many European countries is boiling over in parts of the continent. Thousands of anti-lockdown protesters took to the street in Germany and Switzerland in protests organized by activists by both far-left and far-right groups.Police officers remove demonstrators from a square during a protest against the government’s COVID-19 restrictions in Kassel, Germany, March 20, 2021.There are also signs voters mean to make their feelings clear in upcoming elections about their frustrations with the vaccine rollout as well as re-tightened lockdowns. German Chancellor Angela Merkel Christian Democrats suffered last week historic defeats in state elections, seen as a test of voter opinion before September’s nationwide German federal ballot. French President Emmanuel Macron has also seen his polls numbers drop.Guy Verhofstadt, an EU lawmaker and the former Belgium prime minister, admits the vaccine campaign has been “ a fiasco,” but says, “in these troubled times, European integration is the only sensible way forward for our continent.” He maintains it proves the EU needs a proper “health union.”However, voters might not see it that way. Some analysts question whether the EU will come out of the pandemic stronger than it went into it with some suggesting that Brussels’ handling of the pandemic will undermine the appetite for further political integration.“With its disastrous vaccine procurement policy, the EU committed the ultimate mistake: it has given people a rational reason to oppose European integration,” argues Wolfgang Münchau, director of Eurointelligence, a specialist news service. 
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A protest in the English city of Bristol against new policing legislation turned into violent clashes that left at least 20 officers injured — two of them seriously — widespread damage to a police station and police vehicles torched, police said Monday.Seven people were arrested during the protest, which started Sunday afternoon and ran through to the early hours of Monday morning. Police said the number of arrests would likely increase in coming days as officers study closed circuit television footage.The violence, which also saw several police vehicles damaged, was branded as “unacceptable” by Britain’s interior minister, Priti Patel.”Thuggery and disorder by a minority will never be tolerated,” she said.What started as a peaceful demonstration of around 3,000 people on College Green in the heart of the city in western England turned violent after hundreds of protesters descended on the New Bridewell police station.Many demonstrators donned face masks and carried placards criticizing the legislation, such as “Say no to U.K. police state” and “Freedom to protest is fundamental to democracy.”The protesters were ostensibly venting their anger at the government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which is currently going through parliament. Under the terms of the legislation, which covers England and Wales, police will be handed new powers to tackle demonstrations.Sue Mountstevens, police and crime commissioner for the Avon and Somerset region, said seven people have been arrested but that there would be “many more” detained.”It’s disgraceful and outrageous,” she said. “Police officers went to work yesterday and some have returned home via hospital battered and bruised.”Protesters attempted to smash the windows of the glass-fronted police station and damaged 12 vehicles, including two that were set on fire.Andy Marsh, chief constable of Avon and Somerset Police, said 12 police vehicles were damaged and “significant damage” was caused to the New Bridewell police station.”Officers were pelted with stones and missiles and fireworks and it was a terrifying situation for them to deal with,” he said.”I believe the events of yesterday were hijacked by extremists, people who were determined to commit criminal damage, to generate very negative sentiment about policing and to assault our brave officers,” he added.Two of the police officers injured were treated in hospital after suffering broken ribs and an arm. Both have since been discharged.Bristol mayor Marvin Rees, who said he had “major concerns” about the bill, condemned the violence and said the unrest would be used to justify the legislation.One of the reasons why the British government has pushed through new legislation on the police’s powers over protests relates to last summer’s anti-racism protests, including the toppling of a statue of slave trader, Edward Colston, in Bristol.
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EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday approved sanctions over abuses in China, Myanmar and Russia, as the bloc expands measures targeting global rights breaches.The 27 nations are due to place four Chinese officials and one state-run entity on a blacklist over Beijing’s crackdown on the Uighur minority after ambassadors gave the go-ahead last week.The highly symbolic move — reported by EU diplomats and expected to be formally unveiled in the EU’s official journal later Monday — is the first time Brussels has hit Beijing over human rights abuses since it imposed an arms embargo in 1989 after Tiananmen Square.China’s foreign ministry has warned that Beijing will “react with a firm hand” against any punishment over its actions in the western Xinjiang region.The measures are part of a package of human rights sanctions targeting a dozen people that also includes individuals in Russia, North Korea, Eritrea, South Sudan and Libya, diplomats said.”This is a very important step which shows how committed we are,” Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok said.The mechanism — designed to make it easier for the bloc to target rights abusers — was launched this month with sanctions on four Russian officials over the jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.Diplomats said the fresh sanctions on Russia will target individuals behind abuses in the country’s Chechnya region, which is ruled with an iron-fist by Kremlin loyalist Ramzan Kadyrov.The EU will also slap asset freezes and visa bans on 11 officials of Myanmar’s junta over the military coup last month and crackdown on demonstrators.”What we see there in terms of excesses of violence is absolutely unacceptable,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said. “That is why we will not be able to avoid imposing sanctions.”Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, triggering a mass uprising that security forces have sought to crush with a campaign of violence and fear. Diplomats have said businesses tied to the military will likely be placed under sanctions in the coming weeks.People stage a protest in support of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party, or HDP, in Istanbul, in Istanbul, March 18, 2021. The European Union voiced concerns over the “backsliding of rights” in Turkey.Turkey tiesTurkey will feature prominently at the meeting as member states debate efforts to improve ties after a spike in tensions last year over the eastern Mediterranean.Brussels has welcomed steps by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to reduce tensions by restarting talks with Greece over their disputed maritime border. But there remain major concerns, including over domestic freedoms after moves to ban a key opposition party and Erdogan’s decision to leave a global treaty to prevent violence against women. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has drawn up a report outlining the bloc’s options to be discussed by leaders at a video conference this week.Warming ties have seen efforts to impose sanctions agreed on in December over Turkish drilling off Cyprus put on the back burner for fear of derailing the rapprochement.”There are different signals from Turkey,” Maas said.”We will continue to try to remain in dialogue, but also to use this dialogue to address the issues where we believe that Turkey is sending out the wrong signals.”
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Brussels Monday for meetings this week that the State Department says are aimed at boosting ties with the North American Treaty Organization (NATO) allies and partnering on issues such as climate change, counterterrorism and ongoing efforts in combating the coronavirus pandemic. Blinken is scheduled to take part in a meeting of NATO foreign ministers Tuesday and Wednesday, and to also hold talks with NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. “It’ll be an opportunity for the secretary and the foreign ministers to discuss the NATO 2030 initiative,” Acting Assistant Secretary Philip Reeker for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs told reporters ahead of Blinken’s trip. “Proposals under that [2030 initiative] for alliance adaptation, concerns over China and Russia, as well as climate change, cybersecurity, hybrid threats, combating terrorism, energy security — clearly the global pandemic enters into this, and other common challenges that we face together.”Banners displaying the NATO logo are placed at the entrance of new NATO headquarters during the move to the new building, March 18, 2021.After four years of foreign policy under former President Donald Trump that focused only on prioritizing U.S. interests, Reeker said Blinken will deliver a speech in Brussels outlining a commitment to “rebuilding and revitalizing alliances” while highlighting the importance of NATO.  “We know we’re stronger and better able to overcome challenges when we face them together, and we’re going to modernize our alliances, mend them as needed, and deal with the world as we face it,” Reeker said. Blinken’s itinerary also includes a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Union’s (EU) foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. The State Department said agenda items include economic recovery efforts in response to the coronavirus pandemic and addressing “global challenges that come from Iran, Russia and China.” Specifically, regarding Iran, Reeker said the top U.S. diplomat will consult with EU colleagues about the prospects of the United States and Iran mutually returning to the agreement signed in 2015 that limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Both the United States, which left the deal under Trump in 2018, and Iran, which responded by taking steps away from its commitments, have expressed a willingness to observe the agreement once again, but each has signaled the other side should start first. The final part of Blinken’s trip agenda is bilateral talks with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sophie Wilmès. 
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Germany will likely institute another lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus, which would make it the latest European country enacting fresh restrictions.A draft of recommendations to be presented to German Chancellor Angela Merkel will push for lockdowns to be extended until April 18, Reuters reported Sunday.In Poland, which is seeing the highest number of daily cases since November, new measures have forced nonessential shops and other facilities to close for three weeks.  Poland recorded more than 26,000 new cases Sunday and more than 350 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.  Nonessential stores have also been closed in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv, where only food markets are allowed to stay open. It recorded more than 15,000 new cases Sunday and nearly 270 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Largest Vaccine Producer Delays Shipments to Some CountriesSome European countries resume use of AstraZeneca vaccineAbout one-third of France’s population is under lockdown after measures were imposed Friday in Paris and several regions in northern and southern parts of the country. More than 4,300 people were in intensive care units in France Saturday, the health ministry said, the most this year.About 6.1 million people in France have received their first COVID-19 shot, or just less than 12% of the adult population.But in Marseille, in the south of France, thousands of people took to the streets Sunday to celebrate carnival in defiance of pandemic restrictions.In the United States, officials in the popular Florida tourist destination of Miami Beach extended an emergency curfew of 8 p.m. for up to three weeks after dozens were arrested Saturday. Officials say 1,000 people have been arrested in the beach town since March 1. On Saturday, crowds of Spring Break partiers were met with pepper spray balls and SWAT teams in the beachfront city as they defied the highly unusual 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. On February 26, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said the state is an “oasis of freedom” from coronavirus restrictions. Meanwhile, the world’s largest vaccine producer has told at least three countries that their COVID vaccine shipments will be delayed. The Serum Institute of India has informed Brazil, Morocco and Saudi Arabia that India’s overwhelming need for the vaccine is the cause of the delay.India is experiencing a surge in infections. The South Asian nation has the third-highest number of coronavirus cases, with 11.6 million. Only the United States and Brazil have more, at 28.7 million and 11.9, respectively.India’s Serum Institute has come under criticism for selling or donating more vaccines than putting shots into arms in India.Meanwhile, Brazil is in talks with the United States to import excess doses of coronavirus vaccines, its Foreign Ministry tweeted Saturday.On Sunday, Brazil reversed a decision that required local authorities to save half their COVID-19 vaccine stockpiles for second doses, instead opting to get the first shots in as many Brazilians as possible.The South American country’s vaccine campaign has lagged, as it recorded 79,069 new cases of coronavirus infections in a 24-hour period, its Health Ministry said Saturday, and reported more than 2,400 COVID-19 deaths.The U.S. has millions of doses of vaccine developed by Britain’s University of Oxford and the pharmaceutical giant that have been approved by the World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency but not for use in the U.S. yet.Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who famously told his country to “stop whining” about the country’s death from “a little flu,” has signed three measures to speed the purchase of vaccines, including those from Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson.
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A year ago, Greece prided itself on successfully quashing its coronavirus curve like few countries worldwide. Now, it is struggling with a roaring resurgence of the bug that causes the COVID-19 disease. As infections continue to surge, the government in Athens is preparing to draft doctors from the private sector to aid the state’s strained health system and hospital staff exhausted by an influx of patients.Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis says Greece is fighting a last battle in its war against the pandemic.But the voluntary assistance it has requested from doctors across the nation, in recent days, has not come through. … And that has the conservative leader here saying he will not think twice about drafting medical personnel from the private sector to reinforce the health care system in the public sector.Greece Sidelines Thousands of Asylum-Seekers in National Inoculation DriveCritics say the policy echoes far-right practices and is further proof Greece is mistreating refugeesThe prime minister’s warning comes as Greece grapples with a surge in coronavirus infections, a startling spike that has seen cases grow from around 3,000 in September to nearly 240,000 this past week.Sofia Pouriki, a doctor at the state Sotiria hospital, describes the severity of the situation.This last wave, she says, is just terrible. She says too many patients are being admitted to hospitals and that is overwhelming the health care system with intensive care wards running out of beds to treat people.Hospital doctors and staff, says Pouriki, are exhausted.  Of about 200 doctors requested by the government to assist their colleagues in the public sector, just 50 have come forward. Worse yet, attempts over the weekend to woo them with bonus fees failed.  Doctors associations across the country say the government should first recruit residents at state hospitals and other medical staff waiting to be hired before proceeding with the order, which they describe as absolutely extreme.Athanasios Exadaktylos, president of the country’s doctors’ federation, warns against it.Ultimatums of this sort he says, can only prove counterproductive.  Much of Greece has been in lockdown since November, fueling frustration, riots and deepening financial woes in a country still crawling out from a decade-long recession.  And while draconian measures have not helped the government effectively manage the health crisis, it is now opting for a different approach, allowing shops and businesses to operate anew in a desperate bid to least salvage the failing state of the economy.The government says it will also start distributing free self-test kits in the coming weeks to alleviate pressure on the health care system. Experts say the move may pave the way for a new way of self-care against the pandemic within the European Union. 
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Russia’s ambassador to the United States returned to Moscow on Sunday after being recalled for emergency consultations amid rising tensions with Washington following President Joe Biden’s comments that he believed his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, was a killer. 
 
Biden’s remark in a TV interview earlier in the week in turn prompted a terse quip from Vladimir Putin who wished the U.S. president “good health” and said that people tend to refer to others as they really see themselves. 
 
The Biden interview came on the heels of the release of a report by the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence that concluded Putin had “authorized, and a range of Russian government organizations conducted, influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting former President [Donald] Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process and exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the United States.” 
 
The Kremlin immediately denied the findings of the report, saying they were “absolutely unfounded.” 
 
Ambassador Anatoly Antonov landed at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport early on March 21, Russian news agencies reported, after he was recalled last week over the spat. Before takeoff in New York he told news agencies he would stay in Moscow “as long as needed” and that several meetings were scheduled. 
 
“The Russian side has always stressed that we are interested in the development of Russian-American relations to the same extent as our American colleagues are,” he was quoted as saying by TASS. 
 
Moscow, which rarely recalls ambassadors, last summoned its envoy in the United States in 1998 over a Western bombing campaign in Iraq. 
 
In 2014, after the U.S. said Russia would face repercussions for the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, Putin held back on recalling Moscow’s envoy, describing the measure as a “last resort.” Biden, who has spent more than four decades in politics, said “I do” during an ABC News interview broadcast on March 17 when asked if he believed the Russian president was a killer. 
 
The Kremlin immediately responded that Biden’s statement was “very bad” and “unprecedented.” 
 
Putin has since proposed a phone call with Biden to talk about the COVID-19 pandemic and regional conflicts, among other topics, and said it should be open to the public. 
 
The Kremlin has suggested the offer was intended to avoid permanent damage in Russian-U.S. relations from Biden’s characterization. 
 
Putin’s two decades as Russia’s leader have included Western accusations of state-sponsored assassination attempts against political opponents at home and abroad, though no U.S. president had previously said in public that they believed the Russian leader was directly responsible for murder. 
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U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday criticized Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s surprise withdrawal from a European treaty aimed at protecting women against violence.In a statement, Biden called Turkey’s rejection of the treaty “unwarranted” and “deeply disappointing.”“Countries should be working to strengthen and renew their commitments to ending violence against women, not rejecting international treaties designed to protect women and hold abusers accountable,” the U.S. leader said. “This is a disheartening step backward for the international movement to end violence against women globally.”Turkey’s Erdogan Quits European Treaty on Violence Against WomenNo reason was provided for the withdrawalIn 2011, Turkey was the first European country to adopt the pact known as the Istanbul Convention, but Erdogan withdrew from it early Saturday. In recent years, Erdogan and other members of his ruling party claimed the agreement reached in Turkey’s largest city undermined the country’s conservative policies.“We will not leave room for a handful of deviants who try to turn the debate into a tool of hostility to our values,” Erdogan told his party during a speech in Ankara in August.The accord was aimed at eliminating domestic violence and promoting equality, but femicide has nonetheless surged in Turkey in recent years.Conservatives in Turkey and in Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted ruling AKP contended that the accord undercut family structures and encouraged violence.Some critics also were opposed to the pact’s principle of gender equality and viewed it as promoting homosexuality, given the convention’s call for non-discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.”Preserving our traditional social fabric” will protect the dignity of Turkish women, Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Twitter. “For this sublime purpose, there is no need to seek the remedy outside or to imitate others.”Family, Labor and Social Policies Minister Zehra Zumrut said the Turkish constitution and laws guarantee women’s rights.The Council of Europe said the Turkish action was “devastating.”“The Istanbul Convention covers 34 European countries and is widely regarded as the gold standard in international efforts to protect women and girls from the violence that they face every day in our societies,” the council said in a statement.“This move is a huge setback to these efforts and all the more deplorable because it compromises the protection of women in Turkey, across Europe and beyond,” the council said.In his statement, Biden said, “Gender-based violence is a scourge that touches every nation in every corner of the world. In the past few weeks, we’ve seen too many examples of horrific and brutal assaults on women, including the tragic murders in (the U.S. state of) Georgia.” He was referring to a shooting last week in the Atlanta area in which six of eight people killed were women of Asian descent.“And we’ve seen the broader damage that living under the daily specter of gender-based violence does to women everywhere,” the U.S. leader said. “It hurts all of us, and we all must do more to create societies where women are able to go about their lives free from violence.”
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French language lovers could celebrate International Francophonie Day on Saturday with a new online interactive dictionary. Rolled out by the French government, it reflects not only the language’s evolution but also the reality that most of today’s speakers are not French.Did you receive a “pourriel” or “throw a camel” today? If you are wondering what these expressions mean, you will not find the answers here in France. In Canadian French, a pourriel — a version of courriel, French for email — means spam mail. When you “lance un chameau” or throw a camel in the Democratic Republic of Congo, you have made a spelling mistake.Both these expressions are included in a new online dictionary sponsored by the French government.French Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot says the dictionary is not just for France’s 67 million citizens, but for the 300 million French speakers worldwide. It aims to modernize and enrich the French language, she says, embracing its evolution.President Emmanuel Macron proposed the idea of this Francophones’ Dictionary in 2018. The dictionary already contains about 600,000 terms.It got a new word last week, when Louise Mushikiwabo, who heads the International Organization of la Francophonie, representing French-speaking countries, proposed “techniquer” — which in her native Rwanda means figuring out creative solutions with limited resources.Unlike past dictionaries, which were products of elite French academics, this dictionary is interactive, democratic — and a work in progress. Anybody can propose a word. A group of experts will decide whether it should be added.So, what do non-French francophones think about the new dictionary? A stroll through a multicultural Paris neighborhood provided some insight.Mimi, from Senegal, immediately checked out the dictionary on her smartphone. She couldn’t think of any words to propose right away, but she found the idea interesting.Longtime resident Nicole Sika offered up “go” — which means your female friend in her native Ivory Coast — or “zo” — which means you are smartly dressed.Other French dictionaries have expanded their lexicon. The iconic Le Petit Larousse French dictionary has added words like “taxier” — an Algerian expression meaning, not surprisingly, taxi driver. But this new, interactive dictionary is the first sponsored by France’s government, ending three centuries in which only the elite French Academy determined which words to include.“The French no longer have a monopoly on French,” French magazine L’Express wrote recently, “and that is good news.”
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The founder of BioNTech, which partnered with Pfizer in making one of the first coronavirus vaccines to be approved for use, is optimistic that the virus will be under control in most European countries by the end of the summer despite a faltering vaccine rollout.In Germany, owners of shuttered shops and would-be vacationers are increasingly restive over COVID-19 restrictions. Some 20,000 people protested against lockdowns in the central city of Kassel on Saturday.European Union governments are facing criticism over the slow start to their vaccination campaigns, with supply hiccups leaving the bloc lagging far behind countries such as Israel, Britain and the United States.But BioNTech founder Ugur Sahin said he was optimistic the problems would prove temporary, adding it was possible to ensure 70% of Germans were vaccinated by the end of September, at which point he said the virus would pose few problems.’Background noise'”In many European countries and the U.S., we will probably not need lockdowns by summer’s end,” he told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. “There’ll be outbreaks, but they’ll be background noise. There’ll be mutations, but they won’t frighten us.”Almost 9% of the German population had received at least one vaccine shot by Saturday. Meanwhile, Britain passed the halfway point with 50% of adults having received at least one dose.Protesters hold up an umbrella with lettering reading “Be free” as they gather for a demonstration to demand provision of basic rights and an end to restrictive coronavirus measures in Kassel, Germany, March 20, 2021.Protesters from across Germany converged on Kassel for a march Saturday that was organized by the “Lateral Thinkers,” an online conspiracy movement.Police used water cannon and pepper spray after the protests against lockdowns and other coronavirus rules turned violent.”Bottles were thrown and there were attempts to break through barriers,” police said on Twitter.In Germany, the sluggish vaccine deployment and continuing restrictions are weighing heavily on the fortunes of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, who are slipping in the polls in an election year even as rising COVID-19 case numbers look set to force authorities to put the brakes on attempts to gradually reopen the economy.Above the limitThe number of newly diagnosed cases is more than 100 cases per 100,000 population over a week, the threshold above which authorities say they must impose stricter distancing rules to stop the health care system from being overburdened.”Many are simply disappointed,” Bavaria’s conservative Premier Markus Soeder, a likely candidate to succeed Merkel in the national election, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper.”A false move now risks turning this third wave [of the virus] into a permanent wave,” he said ahead of a meeting on Monday of national and regional leaders at which they are expected to discuss the next stage of coronavirus measures.”We have a tool: the emergency brake. It must be applied strictly everywhere in Germany,” Soeder said, referring to the possibility of halting the easing of restrictions.  
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