British police say at least 22 people were killed and 59 wounded in an explosion Monday night outside a concert venue in Manchester, England.

“We have been treating this as a terrorist incident and we believe at this stage the attack last night was conducted by one man,” Ian Hopkins, chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, said Tuesday.

Hopkins said investigators believe the attacker was carrying an improvised explosive device, which he detonated, and that he died at the site. 

Police are working with national counterterrorism and intelligence officials to figure out more details about the attacker with a priority on determining whether he was acting alone or as part of a network, Hopkins said.

The blast happened in the lobby of the 21,000 seat Manchester Arena at the end of a concert by American pop star Ariana Grande.

“Broken.  From the bottom of my heart, I am so, so sorry,” Grande wrote on Twitter after the blast.  “I don’t have words.”

“This was a barbaric attack, deliberately targeting some of the most vulnerable in our society, young people, children, out at a pop concert,” said British Home Secretary Amber Rudd.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said her thoughts are with the victims of what she called an “appalling terrorist attack.”  May and Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, agreed to suspend campaigning ahead of the country’s June 8 elections.

After the attack, Manchester police deployed hundreds of officers overnight and at one point conducted a precautionary controlled explosion near the arena of an object they later said turned out to not be anything suspicious.

Video from the concert showed thousands of concertgoers, many of them young girls, scrambling and screaming, trying to escape the building.

Some witnesses said the ground near the blast was covered with nuts and bolts.

Abandoned shoes, phones and jackets were scattered throughout the arena.

“It was a huge explosion. You could feel it in your chest. It was chaotic. Everybody was running and screaming just trying to get out,” a concertgoer told Reuters.

Worried parents who had brought their children to the show crowded the streets outside the building. A nearby hotel opened its doors to the kids looking for their mothers and fathers.

Cab drivers turned off their meters and offered to drive people from the ill-fated concert to wherever they want to go.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it was monitoring the situation in Manchester, and that it did not have any information showing a “specific credible threat” to music venues in the U.S.
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U.S. President Donald Trump stops at the Vatican Wednesday for a meeting with Pope Francis. It is the last of Trump’s visits to the seats of the world’s three Abrahamic religions. The first two – Saudi Arabia and Israel – were filled with symbolism, ceremony and history. But as VOA White House correspondent Peter Heinlein reports, this one will be shorter, less formal, and possibly more awkward.
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Bombing at Manchester Concert
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When U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife Melania arrive Wednesday at the Vatican for a planned 20-minute audience with Pope Francis and Roman Catholic Church leaders they will be received with far less pomp than in Saudi Arabia.

Their arrival at the Vatican will be via what’s in effect a side-entrance to the Holy See, Porta del Perugino, a consequence of the pope’s request the faithful not be disturbed in St. Peter’s Square on the eve of Ascension Day. The pope is scheduled to hold his regular general audience in the square shortly after meeting Trump.

The understated arrival, though, is reflective of an eagerness by both the White House and the Vatican to lower expectations. American and Vatican officials have been nervous in the run-up to the meeting.

Tense exchanges

The two men have never met, but they have traded pointed exchanges. Last year, in February, Trump accused Francis of allowing himself to be used as a political pawn by the Mexican government on the issue of migration. The pontiff responded by questioning then-candidate Trump’s Christian faith, saying his plan to build a wall on the border with Mexico had no basis in the Gospel. “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges is not Christian,” the pontiff told reporters while flying to Mexico.

That drew a harsh retort from Trump, who replied to Francis’ comments with a three paragraph statement in which he warned the Vatican could be attacked by Islamic State terrorists and then church leaders would be grateful if he were in the White House. “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful,” Trump said.

Since then the pair have not argued directly, but the pope, the spiritual leader of America’s 50 million Catholics, has clearly been at odds with Trump on a range of issues, including climate change, asylum-seekers and nuclear arms.

Bridging the divide

Earlier this month, though, Francis was more conciliatory, saying the upcoming Trump visit offered an opportunity to listen to each other. “I never make a judgment about a person without listening to them,” the pontiff said. He followed up by saying, “I will say what I think; he will say what he thinks.”

In recent weeks there have been intense discussions about the agenda for the meeting, and, a Vatican official told VOA, they aimed to avoid “mishap” and to stage a partial reconciliation between the pope and the president. For the White House, a good visit at the Vatican will help further the goal of presenting Trump as a figure eager to unite three religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam, in the fight against Islamic militants.

Papal aides told Corriere della Sera newspaper Sunday, “the meeting will be fine.” Although the paper commented that it wasn’t sure if this were a prediction, a wish or a prayer. An official told the newspaper that Melania Trump’s attendance was being seen by some papal aides as useful, as it would likely help to prevent the encounter from becoming too hard-edged.

But for all their differences, the pope, who is highly political, is guided by a deep wish to forge unity and to build consensus and he sees disagreement as a useful dynamic, argue some Vatican-watchers. In Argentina, as a cardinal he strove to nurture relationships with diametrically opposed politicians and to build trust with them and between them, acting as a pastor.

American Catholics

Francis will also likely be mindful that six in 10 white American Catholics backed Trump in the November elections. There is already considerable tension between the Vatican and American Catholics, especially over the church’s handling of child abuse by parish priests.

While some U.S. and Italian reporters are anticipating the meeting between the pair as a possible prize-fight between ideological pugilists, some who know the pontiff say he will search for common ground and may focus on the downsides of globalization to the need to combat human trafficking.

Austen Ivereigh, who has written a book on the pontiff, argued Sunday in Crux, a U.S.-based independent Catholic media outlet, “Pope Francis wants to be in a relationship with world leaders, whomever they are, and whatever their views, so that when the opportunity to work together arises, the bond is there.”
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Thousands of Moscow residents protested this month against plans to move more than a million people if their apartments, built during the 1950’s era of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, are torn down. 

Russian authorities say some 8,000 short-story buildings are in disrepair, and promise to find or build the residents better apartments.  While some living in crumbling buildings celebrate, many Muscovites are skeptical and suspect corruption.

Families like Elmira Shagiakhmetova’s have lived in their home for generations.  They are shocked that it may be demolished.  

“I’ll be here until the bulldozers start,” says Elmira.  “I am not going to leave as by the (Russian) Constitution I have the right to stay in my property. This building is not falling apart.”

Family home

For Elmira and her mother, Galina, their modest but recently-refurbished two bedroom apartment is a home full of memories.  “We moved here in ’79 and it’s the place where my children were born, lived and their conscious experience started,” says Galina.  “It’s my history and my memory.”

Galina moved out some years ago and her husband passed away.  But the apartment is still their family home.

“When my father was still alive we celebrated his 50th birthday,” says Elmira describing the scene as she sits in the same living room.  “So many people came to congratulate him that we couldn’t find seats for them all in one room.  So the tables continued into the corridor.  And I remember this because then I understood how important it was to have a home that would hold all your friends together.”

Public uproar

After a public uproar, Moscow guaranteed the residents better apartments in the same areas or ‘appropriate’ financial compensation.  City authorities removed about half the buildings from a demolition list, including Elmira’s, and say they now will be razed only if more than two-thirds of residents agree.  Those living in Elmira’s building are to take a vote at the end of May.

But, like many Muscovites resisting the plan, Galina and Elmira suspect corruption as their building was not even inspected before its supposed need for demolition was announced.  “You know, a special commission should work and declare the building dangerous to live in,” says Galina.  “We have not seen such a commission ever here. So by many indications we may judge that it is not the people who are most important, but the location.”

Elmira agrees.  “The draft (law) that’s debated now is not about improvement of the living conditions, it’s about overriding the rights of property owners,” she says.  “It allows the authorities to get the land on which the houses stand free and to strip off the owners of their right to own and defend their property.”

No comment

The Moscow mayor’s office did not respond to VOA’s request for a TV interview with a spokesperson on the issue or written replies to submitted questions. 

Russian media reports quoted Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin saying he was prepared to take unpopular moves if he felt it was best for the city and people. 

Russia’s parliament is still drafting the final legislation for the Moscow renovation plan.  Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the law should not violate property rights or he would not sign it.

For families like Elmira’s, the controversy has moved them – for the first time – to protest against the state.  If authorities fail to satisfy Russians in the capital, they risk growing opposition at the polls in next year’s key presidential and mayoral elections. 

Ricardo Marquina Montanana contributed to this report.
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Resistance is building in Moscow over buildings — Soviet-era apartment buildings, scheduled to be demolished because authorities say they are in disrepair. They promise the million-plus people displaced will be relocated to new, modern apartments. But many Muscovites are skeptical, spawning protests and feeding suspicions of corruption. More from VOA’s Moscow correspondent Daniel; Schearf.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has formally extended the state of emergency declared after a failed 2016 military coup, saying the decree will remain in place until the country finds “welfare and peace.”

Erdogan spoke Sunday in Ankara to tens of thousands of his followers and members of his ruling (AK) Justice and Development Party, which convened to re-elect their party co-founder to the post.

The state of emergency permits Erdogan and his Cabinet to issue decrees without parliamentary approval or judicial review.  

Erdogan’s announcement and his return as party chief came four weeks after Turkish voters narrowly approved a national referendum greatly expanding presidential powers.

The April 18 vote created a powerful executive presidency that largely sidelines Turkish lawmakers and the office of prime minister.  Under the constitutional amendments, Erdogan will also set the national budget and appoint judges to the high court and the constitutional court.

Critics, including prominent human rights organizations, have argued the reforms are tantamount to creating an elected dictatorship.  Erdogan and his supporters claim they will create a less cumbersome system of government better able to confront terrorism and a sluggish economy.

Tens of thousands jailed in crackdown

Under emergency rule, more than 47,000 people have been arrested and 100,000 others dismissed from public service for alleged connections to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Erdogan has accused the cleric of fomenting the July 15, 2016, uprising that left more than 260 people dead.  Gulen has denied involvement.

Erdogan’s address comes just days after his visit to the White House, where he sought to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to scrap a U.S.-led military alliance with Syrian Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State extremists in northern Syria.

Erdogan’s efforts appeared unsuccessful.  The Turkish leader also drew sharp U.S. public criticism when, hours after the White House visit, he was shown outside the Turkish embassy in Washington standing by as his bodyguards assaulted protesters opposed to his rule.
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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the U.S. has expressed its “dismay” to Turkish officials about last week’s clash in which Turkish security personnel apparently attacked demonstrators in Washington.

Tillerson told Fox News Sunday that Turkey’s ambassador to the U.S. has been told that last Tuesday’s violence was “simply unacceptable.”

“There is an ongoing investigation,” he said, adding that he will wait on the outcome of that probe before deciding on a more formal response.

The clash broke out between Turkish security personnel and protesters outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Washington.

Protesters say they were attacked by Turkish security forces as they demonstrated peacefully. Turkey blamed the clash on the demonstrators, claiming they aggressively provoked people who had gathered to see Erdogan.

VOA’s Turkish service recorded images at the scene that indicated the Turkish security detail suddenly turned on the demonstrators, knocking them to the ground and kicking them until American police pushed the Turks away. The video showed Erdogan standing beside his limousine, watching the brawl.

U.S. officials briefly detained two members of Erdogan’s security detail, but they were soon released, under customary diplomatic protocols granting immunity to aides accompanying a visiting dignitary.

Some U.S. lawmakers have demanded the United States take stronger action, including Republican Senator John McCain, who called for the Turkish ambassador to be expelled.

 
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Germany’s Social Democrats raised pressure on conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday, saying if she could not resolve a row with Turkey over access to the Incirlik air base, German troops should move.

Merkel’s defense minister, tacitly admitting the possibility said she had been looking for other locations and hinted that Jordan could be one.

Turkey, which has refused permission for German lawmakers to visit their troops at Incirlik, has said Berlin is free to move its soldiers from the base. That would, however, be a significant snub to a NATO ally.

Already strained bilateral ties have deteriorated further over Incirlik where roughly 250 German soldiers are stationed as part of the coalition against Islamic State militants.

“If Mrs Merkel doesn’t succeed at the NATO summit on Thursday to get Turkey to change course, we need alternative bases,” Thomas Oppermann, head of the SPD parliamentary group told Bild am Sonntag.

The SPD, or Social Democrats, trail Merkel’s conservatives in polls four months before the national election. It is desperate to score points with voters on issues other than social justice, its main focus in the last couple of months which has so far failed to resonate.

Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen is looking at alternatives, including Jordan and Cyprus, and said on Saturday she had been impressed with a possible base in Jordan but stressed the government had not yet made a decision.

Merkel is vulnerable on relations with Turkey as critics accuse her of cosying up to President Tayyip Erdogan, who last month won sweeping new powers in a referendum, as she needs his help to control the flow of migrants to western Europe.

The SPD, junior partner in Merkel’s right-left coalition, also tried at the weekend to raise its profile on European issues.

Leader Martin Schulz, a former president of the European Parliament, has tried to ally himself with new pro-EU French President Emmanuel Macron and on Saturday said he would model his campaign on the Frenchman’s.

On Sunday he told a rally in Bavaria it was time for a “new German-French initiative for a socially fair Europe of growth.”

A week after a disastrous election defeat in Germany’s most populous state, an Emnid poll showed the gap widening between Merkel’s conservatives, up 1 percentage point at 38 percent, and the SPD, down 1 point at 26 percent.
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The Macedonian Interior Ministry has suspended 16 police officers for their failure to prevent a violent storming of the parliament building by nationalist protesters.

The angry invasion of the parliament on April 27, which included masked men, resulted in dozens of journalists and lawmakers being injured, including Social Democratic Union leader Zoran Zaev.

Zaev is now attempting to form a government and become Macedonia’s prime minister after he received the mandate from President Gjorge Ivanov, who had previously refused to do so.

The attack on parliament came after the appointment of an ethnic Albanian, Talat Xhaferi, as speaker.

The May 20 announcement named 11 police officers, four members of the special police unit, and a senior ministry official as being suspended because they “passively observed a crowd who entered and moved freely within the parliament…and did not help other police officers,” the ministry said in a statement.

It added that disciplinary proceedings had also begun against the suspended police.

About 25 percent of Macedonia’s 2 million citizens are ethnic Albanians.

The attack on parliament was seen as a blow for the country’s aspirations to join both NATO and the EU.

Nationalists were upset by demands made by the ethnic Albanian parties that were negotiating to form a government with the Social Democrats, including making Albanian a second state language.

Some material for this report came from AFP and AP.
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Evidence of far-right extremism within the German armed forces is growing following the arrest Friday of four students at a military university in Munich. Police are trying to establish whether they have links to another soldier accused of plotting to frame refugees in a terror attack. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the allegations remain sensitive in a country where the 20th century Nazi history casts a long shadow.
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During President Donald Trump’s first overseas trip, he will meet in Brussels with the other leaders of NATO member states. Some of them are nervous about the president’s commitment to the defense alliance in which the United States has played a central role since NATO’s formation at the start of the Cold War. VOA White House Bureau Chief Correspondent Steve Herman reports.
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The U.S. State Department said a clash in Washington this week in which Turkish security personnel apparently attacked demonstrators was “deeply disturbing.”

A State Department statement Friday promised a “thorough investigation’’ to hold those responsible accountable. Tom Shannon, the acting deputy secretary of state, met Wednesday with Turkish Ambassador Serdar Kilic to discuss the altercation.

“The State Department has raised its concerns about these events at the highest levels,” the statement said.

Watch: Turkish President Erdogan Watched Violent Clash Near Embassy

The clash broke out Tuesday between Turkish security personnel and protesters outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Washington.

Protesters say they were attacked by Turkish security forces as they demonstrated peacefully. Turkey blamed the clash on the demonstrators, claiming they aggressively provoked people who had gathered to see Erdogan.

VOA reporters recorded images at the scene that indicated the Turkish security detail suddenly turned on the demonstrators, knocking them to the ground and kicking them until American police pushed the Turks away. The video showed Erdogan standing beside his limousine, watching the brawl.

U.S. officials briefly detained two members of Erdogan’s security detail, but they were soon released, under customary diplomatic protocols granting immunity to aides accompanying a visiting dignitary.

Some U.S. lawmakers have demanded the United States take stronger action.
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Sweden’s top prosecutor says she is dropping an investigation into a rape claim against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after almost seven years.

“Chief Prosecutor Marianne Ny has today decided to discontinue the preliminary investigation regarding suspected rape concerning Julian Assange,” the prosecutors office said in a statement.

Assange, 45, took refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in London in 2012 to escape extradition to Sweden to answer questions about sex-crime allegations from two women, which he denies. He has been there ever since, fearing that if he is arrested he might ultimately be extradited to the United States.

Friday’s announcement means Assange is no longer under any investigation in Sweden.

British police said Assange would still be arrested if he leaves the embassy. 

“Westminster Magistrates’ Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Julian Assange following him failing to surrender to the court on the 29 June 2012,” London police said in a statement. “The Metropolitan Police Service is obliged to execute that warrant should he leave the Embassy.”

Reuters contributed to this report.
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Donald Trump begins his maiden international trip as U.S. president Friday, leaving the White House awash in a slew of controversies that has some politicians invoking comparisons to the Watergate scandal that brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon.

“We look forward to getting this whole situation behind us,” Donald Trump told reporters Thursday.

The controversies include the firing of former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey amid allegations Trump wanted Comey to stop investigating former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

The president is also facing questions about his ties with Russia during the presidential election and allegations he revealed classified material to Russia’s foreign minister during a meeting in the Oval Office.

The stops include

Stops on the upcoming trip include Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Vatican; places sacred to three of the world’s major religions.

In Saudi Arabia, Trump, who has been outspoken about his mistrust of Muslims and has tried to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., is set to deliver a speech on Islam before a group of Muslim leaders. H.R. McMaster, Trump’s national security adviser, said the president is hopeful for the emergence of a peaceful vision of Islam.

Controversy precedes the U.S. president on his stop in Israel as well, following Trump’s alleged disclosure of Israeli intelligence to Russian officials.

Meeting with Pope Francis

The U.S. president will also go to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis who has said he will not make any judgments about Trump before meeting him.

Trump will then go to Belgium, where he will meet with NATO members in Brussels before ending his trip in the Sicilian town of Taormina for a G-7 summit.

Sudan President Omar al-Bashir will not attend the Islamic summit with Trump in Saudi Arabia, according to Sudan’s state news agency SUNA.  The agency said “personal reasons” were preventing him from attending, but did not list the reasons.  

Bashir has for years faced charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court for crimes committed against civilians in Darfur. He has yet to be arrested.
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Emerging from her crushing defeat in France’s presidential contest, far-right leader Marine Le Pen said Thursday she will run for a parliamentary seat in June elections and that her National Front party has “an essential role” in a new political landscape.

Le Pen will run for a seat in a district in her northern stronghold of Henin-Beaumont, a hardscrabble former mining region where she lost a similar bid in 2012. A new failure could jinx her bid to unite the National Front and to make it France’s leading opposition party.

“I cannot imagine not being at the head of my troops in a battle I consider fundamental,” Le Pen said in an interview on the TF1 television station, her first public appearance since her May 7 loss to centrist Emmanuel Macron.

Le Pen announced her candidacy while facing forces of division that could frustrate her new goals. Her popular niece is leaving politics, her disruptive father is back in the ring and her party is in disarray.

At the same time, Macron has upset the political equation, drawing from the left and right to win the presidency and to create his government. The new president now is looking across the political spectrum to obtain a parliamentary majority to support his agenda. 

“We are in reality the only opposition movement,” Le Pen said.

“We will have an essential role to play (and) a role in the recomposing of political life,” she said, reiterating her contention that the left-right divide has been replaced by “globalists, Europeanists and nationalists” like herself.

Le Pen is counting on the 10.6 million votes she received as a presidential candidate to propel her anti-immigration party into parliament in the June 11 and June 18 elections.

The party also hopes to pick up votes from “electoral orphans” unsatisfied with Macron and feeling betrayed by the mainstream right, National Front Secretary-General Nicolas Bay said this week.

The National Front plans to field candidates for each of France’s 577 electoral districts, hoping to block Macron’s movement from obtaining a majority of seats and to secure a strong bloc of its own to counter his new government.

Le Pen dismissed the notion that there were links between her loss and a series of events widely seen as potentially weakening the National Front.

The party recently lost a rising star who served as a unifier on its conservative southern flank. One of the National Front’s two current lawmakers – Le Pen’s niece, Marion Marechal-Le Pen –  announced last week that she was leaving politics, at least temporarily.

Enter Jean-Marie Le Pen, who likened his granddaughter’s exit from politics to a “desertion.”

The elder Le Pen, who was expelled from the party he co-founded because of his penchant for making anti-Semitic comments, is backing up to 200 parliamentary candidates through an ultra-conservative alliance, the Union of Patriots.

Some of the five parties represented in the alliance are headed by former National Front militants who, like Jean-Marie Le Pen, were expelled by his daughter in her bid to scrub up the party’s image for the presidential contest.

His own Jeanne Committees will present some 35 of the 200 candidates. The decision smacks of revenge, but the elder Le Pen’s aide denied that was the case.

“This is not meant to cause trouble for the National Front. It is to defend the values that the National Front no longer defends,” the aide, Lorrain de Saint Affrique, said.

The risk that other far-right parties would challenge the National Front “has existed since the National Front decided to exclude Jean-Marie Le Pen,” De Saint Affrique said. “They should have thought of that then.”

The competition from all but obscure parties is not a substantial threat to Le Pen, but mirrors frustrations roiling the National Front, some of which became public following Le Pen’s defeat.

More menacing, her top lieutenant, Florian Philippot suggested after Le Pen’s loss to Macron that he would leave the party if it decided to do away with the goal of leaving the euro currency – a divisive proposal but at the top of Le Pen’s presidential platform.

“I’m not there to keep a post at any price and defend the reverse of my deep convictions,” he said last week on RMC radio.

Le Pen conceded Thursday that the subject of the euro “considerably worried the French” and would be discussed after the parliamentary elections. “We will have to take this into account, reflect,” she said.

She welcomed Philippot’s launching this week of an association, called The Patriots, which could be seen as the budding of a potential rival, like the movement Macron started 13 months ago, En Marche (On the Move).

“The more ideas the better,” she said.
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After his Oscar-nominated film “Leviathan” was deemed “anti-Russian” by Russia’s Minister of Culture, director Andrey Zvyagintsev returned to the Cannes Film Festival with an equally bleak critique of Russian society.

Zvyagintsev was to premiere his fourth film, “Loveless,” on Thursday in Cannes, where “Leviathan” won best screenplay three years ago. That film, which also won a Golden Globe, was made with Russian state funding and prompted Russia’s culture minister, Vladimir Medinsky, to refuse any further state financing for what he called Zvyagintsev’s mix of “hopelessness and existential meaninglessness.”

“Loveless” was instead made as an international co-production. The film is ostensibly about a bitterly divorcing couple (Mariana Spivak and Alexey Rozin), whose young son (Matvey Novikov) goes missing. But “Loveless” is also filled with state news reports and other sometimes subtle, sometimes blatant references that – as in “Leviathan” – suggest Russia’s politics has bankrupted its society.

“The Ministry of Culture went to great pains to emphasize how much they disliked ‘Leviathan’ and their desire to avoid the repetition of this kind of mistake in the future,” said producer Alexander Rodnyansky. “After the uproar that ‘Leviathan’ caused in Russia, I made a conscious decision to do this without any state involvement. I decided we didn’t need to embarrass them again and to do the film on our own.”

Grim and controlled, “Loveless” is initially focused on the relationships of its central characters. But Zvyagintsev steadily builds political subtext into the tale that, by the end, moves to the film’s center. State propaganda on Ukraine is heard on the radio and on TV. In one pivotal scene, the mother wears a jogging suit emblazed with “Russia” and the national colors.

Though it didn’t immediately earn the same widespread praise as “Leviathan,” London’s Daily Telegraph praised “Loveless” as “an opaque but pitiless critique on the director’s native Russia.”

Variety wrote: “Zvyagintsev can’t come right out and declare, in bright sharp colors, the full corruption of his society, but he can make a movie like ‘Leviathan,’ which took the spiritual temperature of a middle-class Russia lost in booze and betrayal, and he can make one like ‘Loveless,’ which takes an ominous, reverberating look not at the politics of Russia but at the crisis of empathy at the culture’s core.”

In one unusual exchange Wednesday, a reporter accused Zvyagintsev of proffering his own propaganda.

“Certainly not,” said Zvyagintsev. “If you saw ‘Leviathan’ then you know where I stand vis-a-vis the powers that be. It’s not supposed to be propaganda at all in this episode. You do see these scenes on TV. It’s Russian life, Russian society, Russian anguish at the end of the day. But it’s also universal, not just Russian.”

“Loveless” will be released in Russia by a unit of Sony Pictures and the Walt Disney Co. on June 1. “Leviathan” made $1.5 million at the Russian box office in 2015. Millions, however, watched a copy that leaked online.

On Wednesday, Sony Pictures Classics acquired the film for U.S. distribution.

 
…

U.S. officials say they are closely following Ukraine’s order blocking access to a number of Russian websites in the latest round of sanctions over Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

The U.S. State Department has not taken an official position on the matter. However a U.S. official on background told VOA that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s recent decision to cut access to several popular Russian websites, such as search engine Yandex, for three years, undermines Kyiv’s constitutionally enshrined right to free expression.

Despite Russian-controlled media campaigns that seek to undermine Western media—and the Ukrainian government—with fake stories and false information, “freedom of expression is a key element of every healthy democracy, and it is enshrined in the Ukrainian Constitution.”

“We call on the Ukrainian government to find a way to protect its national interests that does not undermine its constitutional principles,” the official said.

Asked if there was any communication between U.S. and Ukrainian officials prior to Poroshenko’s announcement of the ban, the official said although they could not comment on private diplomatic conversations regarding specific issues, “we have routinely engaged in conversations with the government of Ukraine about the importance of upholding free expression.”

The listed websites were still functioning in Ukraine on Tuesday, and it is unclear how and when the government plans to block them.

The Ukrainian government cited security concerns, saying the ban was imposed partly to protect against companies “whose activities threaten the information and cyber security of Ukraine,” according to a statement released by the Security and Defense Council.

The latest round of sanctions adds Yandex and social media sites Odnoklassniki and Vkontakte to the list of over 400 Russian firms blacklisted by Kyiv since Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and consequent pro-Russian separatist uprising in 2014. According to the Reuters news agency, the Kremlin has threatened retaliation.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Ukrainian Service.

 
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday mocked U.S. news reports suggesting President Donald Trump inappropriately shared sensitive intelligence with him about terror threats involving laptops on airplanes.

Without directly confirming the details of their conversation, Lavrov said he didn’t understand what the “secret” was since the U.S. introduced a ban on laptops on airlines from some Middle Eastern countries two months ago.

He joked that some U.S. media were acting like communist newspapers in the former Soviet Union and not offering real news.

“There used to be a joke in the Soviet Union that there was a newspaper, Pravda, so-called Truth, that there was no ‘izvestia’ or news in there,” Lavrov said. “Truly, I get this impression that many U.S. media are working in this vein.”

Lavrov was in Cyprus on Thursday for talks with his Cypriot counterpart.

Asked to comment on the controversy surrounding the reported intelligence-sharing, he said media have reported that “the secret” Trump told him was that “`terrorists’ are capable of stuffing laptops, all kinds of electronic devices, with untraceable explosive materials.”

“As far as I can recall, the Trump administration maybe one month or two months before the Trump administration had an official ban on laptops on airlines from seven Middle Eastern counties and it was connected directly with the terrorist threat,” Lavrov added. “So, if you’re talking about that, I see no secret here.”

The Washington Post reported this week that Trump shared highly classified information with Lavrov and Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak about an Islamic State terror threat involving laptop computers on aircraft. Other outlets, including The Associated Press, later confirmed the report.

Trump responded by tweeting that as president, he had authority to disclose whatever he’d like. He did not deny discussing classified information.
…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is attempting to put a positive spin on his Washington encounter with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, calling it a “new awakening” in bilateral relations.

But behind joint commitments “to work together in the war against terrorism,” reaction has been cool in Turkey, with a recognition that the much-heralded “pivotal” encounter failed to deliver any breakthrough in ongoing points of bilateral tension.

“Trump, Erdogan seek to strengthen ties: White House,” read a less than enthusiastic headline of the pro-Erdogan Turkish Yeni Safak newspaper. 

“It was an important meeting, but to qualify it as pivotal, some long-lasting big-time decisions have to be made. This was no such meeting,” said Sinan Ulgen, a visiting scholar of the Carnegie Institute in Brussels, adding, “On many issues which continue to divide Turkey and the U.S., there does not seem to be a particular convergence.”

Erdogan had pledged to seek to reverse Trump’s decision to arm the Syrian Kurdish militia, the YPG, in its fight against the Islamic State. Ankara accuses the militia of being a terrorist organization affiliated with the PKK, which is fighting the Turkish State.

“Erdogan was hoping to use his much-vaunted persuasive skills in high-level meetings when he met Trump,” noted Atilla Yesilada, a political consultant of Global Source Partners.

But the Turkish president had little opportunity to persuade Trump, with his meeting lasting only a reported 22 minutes. The two leaders’ meeting was followed by a luncheon involving officials from both sides. 

“The fact the initial meeting was so short is another indication that this was essentially a preparatory meeting where many issues on the bilateral relationship were not discussed in depth,” noted analyst Ulgen.

Gulen remains an issue

Erdogan’s calls for the extradition of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, too, appears to have made little headway. Ankara blames Gulen for masterminding last July’s failed coup attempt. “Possible steps” were discussed on the issue, wrote Ibrahim Kalin, Erdogan’s top adviser, in a statement. Ankara is also reportedly pressing for Gulen’s detention ahead of extradition hearings.

The failure to make any breakthrough on key issues of dispute was widely predicted, but resolving such disputes may not have been the main purpose of Erdogan’s visit.

“The single most important outcome from the Turkish perspective of this visit was clear — that is, to garner international legitimacy for the referendum results and the Erdogan presidency,” said former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who served in Washington and Iraq. “Of course the U.S. being sole global power, to have the photograph at the Oval Office was the sole target of Erdogan’s visit. From that perspective, it was a success.”

YPG at status quo

Last month, Erdogan narrowly won a controversial referendum victory extending his powers.  Allegations of vote rigging continue to dog the result, with Trump remaining the only western ally to congratulate Erdogan’s success.

During talks with Erdogan, Trump reportedly did not raise human rights concerns and an ongoing crackdown on dissent, despite more than 60 members of Congress expressing their concern over the deteriorating situation.

The U.S. president also extended support to Ankara’s war against the PKK. “They will have no safe quarter,” Trump said.

“All talk, no walk. That support was already there,” noted former Turkish diplomat Selcen. “Does that entail a green light from Washington for Turkey to carry out similar airstrikes as Ankara did against the YPG? I don’t think so.”

Erdogan has warned that his forces are ready to launch cross-border operations against the Kurdish rebels based in Iraq. Just hours before Erdogan sat down with Trump, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim made a less than thinly veiled warning of military incursions if Washington fails to address Turkish concerns.

Turkish military forces remain massed on both the Syrian and Iraqi borders close to position of the YPG.  Last month, Turkish forces struck YPG targets in Syria and Iraq, in the face of U.S. opposition, with one strike narrowly missing U.S. special forces. “I would expect more of the same. The same tensions will continue,” predicted former diplomat Selcen, “yet at the same time, some sort cooperation will continue concerning Syria and Iraq, as well.”

But such differences with Washington will be tempered by Ankara’s increasingly vulnerable position.

“From Erdogan’s perspective and Ankara’s perspective, the relationship with the U.S. is at a critical importance, at a time when Turkey’s relationships with its other partners in the West have entered a period of acrimony and difficulty. Therefore, the relationship with Washington and the need for a sound relationship with the new U.S. president is now more important than ever,” said analyst Ulgen.
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A man who was sentenced to life in prison for murder and espionage in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been freed and has returned to Norway, Norwegian newspaper Verden Gang reported Wednesday.

Joshua French, who has dual British and Norwegian citizenship, was serving a life sentence after he and a fellow Norwegian, Tjostolv Moland, were convicted of murdering their driver in Congo in 2009 and spying for Norway — charges they both denied. They originally were sentenced to death, but their sentences were commuted.

French and Moland were in Congo researching ideas for an extreme tourism company when they were charged with and found guilty of the murder of Abedi Kasongo. The two men said their car had been ambushed by gunmen and that their driver had been shot.

The men also were charged with espionage because they were carrying military ID cards at the time. The Norwegian government denied that the men were spies.

Moland found dead

In August 2013, Moland was found dead in his prison cell. A Congolese military court found French guilty of strangling Moland, but a Norwegian forensics team assisting French informed the court that Moland had hung himself.

Earlier this year, Congolese Justice Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba told Norway’s largest media organization, NRK, that French would be released this year.

French’s mother, Kari Hilde French, wrote on her blog that her son’s health recently has been “very bad,” and that his most recent stint in the hospital had lasted 4½ months.

“Our greatest wish is to get Joshua French home alive before it is too late,” she wrote.
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The Philippine government has told the European Union it will no longer accept development aid from the bloc, putting at risk programs to assist poor and

conflict-hit regions in the country’s south, Europe’s ambassador said on Wednesday.

Ambassador Franz Jessen said the decision to cut aid from the EU, a strong critic of President Rodrigo Duterte’s drugs war, would mean the loss of about 250 million Euros ($278.73 million) worth of grants mostly allocated to Muslim communities.

Manila’s move comes days after Duterte won billions of dollars in pledges from China after attending the Belt and Road summit in Beijing.

“The Philippine government has informed us they no longer accept new EU grants,” Jessen said without elaborating.

The EU will issue a statement on Thursday, officially announcing the end of its funding agreement with the Philippines.

There was no immediate response from the Philippines’ foreign ministry.

Duterte says European nations don’t understand the extent of the narcotics problem in the Philippines.

Almost 9,000 people, many small-time users and dealers, have been killed in the Philippines since Duterte took office on June 30. Police say about a third of the victims were shot by officers in self-defense during legitimate operations.

The EU has been providing support to Manila’s efforts to end nearly 50 years of Muslim rebellion in a conflict that has killed more than 120,000 people, displaced 1 million and stunted growth in one of the country’s resource-rich regions.

It granted the Philippines 130 million euros in development assistance between 2007-2013. In 2015, it pledged 325 million euros over four years to finance projects in Muslim Mindanao after Manila signed a peace deal with rebels in March 2014.

($1 = 0.8969 euros)
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U.S. President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have described their first meeting in Washington as the beginning of a new era in relations. Erdogan’s visit to Washington comes just two weeks after the United States announced it will arm Syrian Kurds to facilitate their advance on the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa. Turkey is fiercely opposed to the plan, saying Syrian Kurds are linked to a Kurdish terrorist organization in Turkey. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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Donald Trump’s national security adviser says it was “wholly appropriate” for the president to share sensitive national security information with Russia’s ambassador and foreign minister during a meeting last week. That defense comes amid a firestorm of bipartisan criticism in Washington, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports.
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Supporters and protesters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan demonstrated in Lafayette Park outside the White House as U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Erdogan, in Washington on Tuesday.
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Amnesty International has launched a campaign to highlight what it says is a dramatically worsening situation for human rights activists across the globe. The group hopes its ‘Brave’ campaign will persuade governments to live up to their United Nations treaty commitments on protecting human rights defenders.

Amnesty says attacks on human rights activists across the world have reached a crisis point. Figures from the campaign group Front Line Defenders show 281 people were killed in 2016 for defending human rights, compared to 156 the year before. Guadalupe Marengo, head of Amnesty’s Human Rights Defenders Program, said authorities must take action now.

“In the current context of us versus them, of demonization, of a full frontal attack actually I would say on human rights, it is crucial that we take stock and that we call on the authorities to stop these attacks immediately,” said Marengo.

In Russia, Amnesty says the persecution of human rights activists is accelerating with the ban on non-governmental organizations.

Protests earlier this month marked the anniversary of demonstrations against President Vladimir Putin. Several human rights campaigners have been jailed. Opposition political activist Gennady Gudkov spoke at the protest in Moscow. He said the state’s actions were serving to provoke the opposition and its backers into a tougher resistance, while also showing that the law in Russia is worth nothing.

Amnesty’s Marengo said a copycat effect appears to be taking hold across some countries in the treatment of activists.

“Only in the last week or so, Hungary is trying to have a bill similar to the one that Russia has, where it’s going to be very difficult to form associations and fight for human rights if you’re getting funding from external sources,” said Marengo.

Turkey is accused of an unwarranted clampdown on human rights following last year’s failed coup. Tens of thousands of people have been arrested or fired from their jobs. Ankara claims they are part of a large anti-government plot.

As well as arrests, abductions and killings, Amnesty says human rights defenders across the globe are attacked using online tools. Surveillance tools are used to track activity. Smear campaigns are launched on social media to cultivate hostility.

“They are accused of being terrorists; they are accused of being criminals, they are accused of defending ‘immorality,’” said Marengo.

Amnesty hopes its ‘Brave’ campaign will highlight the worsening situation for many human rights activists worldwide – who it claims are often the last line of defense in a free society.
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French President Emmanuel Macron spent his first full day in office traveling to Germany, telling Chancellor Angela Merkel he wants to work closely with her to create “deep reforms” to the European Union.

Macron said in Berlin Monday there must be a “less bureaucratic” Europe and that he is ready to change EU treaties if needed.

He also said France will push for economic reforms in the country to bring down unemployment and implement a reform agenda “not because Europe requests it, but because France needs it.”

Macron said he does not favor European countries taking joint responsibility for old debts and that he has never pushed for jointly issued eurobonds. Germany, which has Europe’s largest economy, has always opposed taking direct responsibility for weaker EU countries’ debts.

Merkel told Macron “Europe will only do well if there is a strong France, and I am committed to that.”

The German chancellor said she and Macron agreed to develop a medium-term road map on how to deepen European Union integration. She said Germany would also be willing to change EU treaties if the changes make sense. But the two countries should first work on what they want to reform, she added.

She said the French and German governments would hold a meeting on key issues in July.

The visit to Germany marked Macron’s first foreign trip after his inauguration on Sunday, continuing a tradition of French presidents making their first international trip to Germany.

In his inaugural address, Macron vowed to restore France’s place in Europe and the world.

Macron, a centrist, was elected last week, defeating anti-EU, anti-immigrant candidate Marine Le Pen. The campaign exposed deep splits in France over the country’s role in Europe.
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The Trump administration has tapped the wife of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to be the next U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, days before President Donald Trump embarks on his first foreign trip.

Trump will nominate Callista Gingrich for the post, two people with direct knowledge of the discussions said Monday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly before an official announcement.

Trump’s foreign trip this month includes a stop at the Vatican.

Callista Gingrich is president of Gingrich Productions and has produced a number of documentaries, including one about Pope John Paul II.

She also served on the House Committee on Agriculture, where she worked as chief clerk until 2007. She was a key figure in her husband’s 2012 bid for the Republican nomination.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s vision for foreign relations and diplomacy has been starkly different to that promoted by the vastly popular Pope Francis. Francis has spoken of the need for bridges between nations, while Trump has advocated for walls and travel restrictions as a means of national security.

Francis has previously remarked that anyone who wants to build walls to keep migrants out is “not Christian.”

Francis also has called for an end to the use of fossil fuels, while Trump has pledged to cancel payments to U.N. climate change programs and pull out of the Paris climate accord.

But both share a populist appeal and speak with a down-to-earth simplicity that has endeared them to their bases of supporters. And both share a common concern about the plight of Christians in the Middle East at the hands of Islamic militants.

Speaking to reporters while traveling home Saturday from a trip to Portugal, Francis said he would listen respectfully to what Trump has to say when the two meet later this month. Trump will call on Francis mid-way through his first foreign trip, after visiting Saudi Arabia and Israel and before attending a NATO summit in Brussels and a G7 summit in Italy.

“I never make a judgment about a person without hearing him out,” the pope said.

 
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The European Union is pressing Venezuela’s government and opposition groups to resume negotiations toward peacefully resolving the political crisis that has convulsed the country for nearly two months.    

In a statement issued Monday, the EU repeated concerns it had expressed last July seeking “an urgent, constructive and effective dialogue.”

The EU’s current statement calls for “all Venezuelan political actors and institutions to work in a constructive manner” and to “avoid violent acts.” Since early April, at least 38 people have died and many more have been injured in clashes between opponents and backers of President Nicolas Maduro’s government. The EU statement called for investigating “all incidents of violence.”

Dissatisfied Venezuelans have taken to the streets to demand that the socialist Maduro schedule long-delayed elections, release political prisoners and permit the delivery of humanitarian aid. Their demonstrations, and those of Maduro’s backers, have escalated since the government-friendly Venezuelan Supreme Court’s late-March attempt to strip the National Assembly of its legislative powers and since Maduro’s May 1 call for a new constitution.

The EU has a direct stake in the conflict, its statement noted, “with more than 600,000 European citizens” living in Venezuela. The EU said it “reiterates its readiness to cooperate with the Venezuelan authorities” to ensure their safety.

Protests continue

On Monday, responding to a call for a nationwide sit-in, activists again barricaded streets and highways with lawn chairs, tree limbs and garbage.

“I’m here for the full 12 hours” of the sit-in, which started at 7 a.m., human resources worker Anelin Rojas, 30, told Reuters news service while perched cross-legged with a novel in the middle of Caracas’ main highway. “And I’ll be back every day there’s a protest, for as long as is necessary. Unfortunately, we are up against a dictatorship.”

Appeals to troops

Maduro repeatedly has accused the United States of leading an attempt to overthrow his government. He has ordered troops to block opposition marches, using equipment including tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons.  

On Sunday, Maduro opponents sought to win over the troops to their way of thinking.

Dozens of women in black converged on the National Guard’s headquarters in Caracas, in a Mother’s Day appeal to the country’s armed forces to “listen to your mothers” and set aside weapons.

“Today, Venezuelan mothers have come to talk to the soldiers, to the National Guard, at all the barracks in Venezuela,” said former National Assembly lawmaker Maria Corina Machado, according to Reuters. These women are telling soldiers “not to obey orders from the dictatorship, from the dictator who has robbed food and brought blood to his country. Listen to your mothers!”

Separately, the head of the opposition-led National Assembly also urged security forces toward conversation, not combat.

Maduro “is pushing you as an institution to ignore the constitutional order of Venezuela and you have to stop that situation,” Julio Borges, the lawmaker, said at a news conference Sunday.

VOA Spanish Service correspondent Alvaro Algarra contributed to this report from Caracas.
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The worldwide “ransomware” cyberattacks appeared to ease Monday, although thousands more computers, mostly in Asia, were hit as people signed in at work for the first time since the infections spread to 150 countries three days ago.

Health officials in Britain, where surgeries and doctors’ appointments in its national health care system had been severely impacted Friday, were still having problems Monday. But health minister Jeremy Hunt said it was “encouraging” that a second wave of attacks had not materialized.

He said “the level of criminal activity is at the lower end of the range that we had anticipated.”

In the United States, Tom Bossert, a homeland security adviser to President Donald Trump, told the ABC television network the global cybersecurity attack is something that “for right now, we’ve got under control.”

But he described the malware that paralyzed 200,000 computers running factories, banks, government agencies, hospitals and transportation systems across the globe as an “extremely serious threat.”

Cybersecurity experts say the unknown hackers behind the “WannaCry” ransomware attacks, who demanded $300 payments to decrypt files locked by the malware, used a vulnerability that came from U.S. government documents leaked online. The attacks exploited known vulnerabilities in older Microsoft computer operating systems.

During the weekend, Microsoft president Brad Smith said the clandestine U.S. National Security Agency had developed the code used in the attack.

Bossert said “criminals,” not the U.S. government, are responsible for the attacks. Experts believe Microsoft’s security patch released in March should protect networks if companies and individual users install it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country had nothing to do with the attack and cited the Microsoft statement blaming the NSA for causing the worldwide cyberattack.

“A genie let out of a bottle of this kind, especially created by secret services, can then cause damage to its authors and creators,” Putin said while attending an international summit in Beijing. He said that while there was “no significant damage” to Russian institutions from the cyberattack, the incident was “worrisome.”

“There is nothing good in this and calls for concern,” he said.

Even though there appeared to be a diminished number of attacks Monday, computer outages still affected segments of life across the globe, especially in Asia, where Friday’s attacks occurred after business hours.

China

China said 29,000 institutions had been affected, along with hundreds of thousands of devices. Japan’s computer emergency response team said 2,000 computers at 600 locations were affected there.

Universities and other educational institutions appeared to be the hardest hit in China. China’s Xinhua News Agency said railway stations, mail delivery, gas stations, hospitals, office buildings, shopping malls and government services also were affected.

Elsewhere, Britain said seven of the 47 trusts that run its national health care system were still affected, with some surgeries and outpatient appointments canceled as a result. In France, auto manufacturer Renault said one of its plants that employs 3,500 workers stayed shut Monday as technicians dealt with the aftermath of the Friday attacks.

Security patches

Computer security experts have assured individual computer users who have kept their operating systems updated that they are relatively safe, but urged companies and governments to make sure they apply security patches or upgrade to newer systems.

They advised those whose networks have been effectively shut down by the ransomware attack not to make the payment demanded, the equivalent of $300, paid in the digital currency bitcoin.

However, the authors of the “WannaCry” ransomware attack told their victims the amount they must pay will double if they do not comply within three days of the original infection, by Monday in most cases. The hackers warned that they will delete all files on infected systems if no payment is received within seven days.

 
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