A tense start to US-China talks in Alaska

After a tense day of high-level meetings between the US and China taking place in Alaska, top officials are expected to resume face-to-face talks. [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [View in your browser]( [Top of The World]( --------------------------------------------------------------- In the news today A tense start to US-China talks in Alaska [US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, far right, speaks as Chinese Communist Party sit across from him at the opening session of US-China talks in Anchorage, Alaska, March 18, 2021.] Credit: Frederic J. Brown/Pool via AP After a tense day of high-level meetings between the US and China taking place in Alaska, the first face-to-face sit-down between the two sides since President Biden took office in January, top officials are expected to resume talks on Friday. In what has been [described as a public blowup](, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other US officials [raised concerns]( about the treatment of Uyghur Muslims in China’s western Xinjiang region, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and cyber attacks on the US, while [unapologetic Chinese officials]( described the blunt interactions as [an attack on China](. After a deteriorating relationship between China and the US over the last year of the Trump administration, the testy public start to talks may have been more a show for each country’s domestic audiences while progress was [reportedly made in closed-door sessions](. The Biden administration has taken a path to pushing back against China’s more assertive authoritarianism while Chinese Communist Party foreign affairs chief, Yang Jiechi, took aim at the US, accusing Washington of hypocrisy for criticizing China on human rights abuses. What The World is following The rollercoaster tale surrounding the AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine took another turn after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said Thursday that the jab is safe to use. Germany, Italy, France and Spain had halted the use of the shot after concerns over [blood clots]( emerged. While the EMA acknowledged cases of blood clots, it said that the threat is a small one, [echoing what the World Health Organization has suggested](. Germany on Friday became the first country to resume vaccinations with AstraZeneca. Across the Atlantic, the US — where the AstraZeneca vaccine has not been approved for use — [announced plans to send]( 4 million AstraZeneca doses, sitting unused in the country, to neighboring Mexico and Canada. The donations, while lauded by government officials, [has raised concerns]( about a quid pro quo. With more than [35,000 new coronavirus infections]( in the past 24 hours, France has ordered a new month-long lockdown for Paris, and several regions in the north [starting midnight on Friday](, and impacting as many as 21 million people.The country’s vaccine rollout has stumbled and officials are trying to counter a [full-scale third wave](. Health authorities suggest that the measures to prevent the spread of the virus won’t be as strict — schools will remain open and people will be allowed to exercise outdoors. --------------------------------------------------------------- From The World [The EU proposes certificates to ease travel during the pandemic. Not everyone is on board.]( [An administrative worker explains to people how to fill up the national vaccination certificate in a vaccination center in Strasbourg, France, March 18, 2021.]( Credit: Nicholas Bamulanzeki/AP/File photo European authorities have introduced a certificate scheme aimed at easing travel across the bloc’s 27 member states. Under the proposal, certificate holders — people vaccinated against COVID-19, those who have tested negative for the virus and those who have recovered from it — [would be eligible to bypass certain public health restrictions, such as quarantine requirements]( when traveling within the EU. While countries that rely heavily on tourism, such as Greece, have advocated for so-called vaccine passports, other countries, including Germany and France, have been more reluctant, citing discrimination fears and other concerns. [7 years after Russia's annexation of Crimea, Indigenous Tatars still face prosecution]( [Crimean Tatars speak after the prayer in a Mosque marking the Eid al-Adha, celebrated by Muslims worldwide, in Bakhchisarai, Crimea, on Sat. Oct. 4, 2014.]( Max Vetrov/AP On the seventh anniversary of Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine, the Group of Seven major industrialized countries issued a strong condemnation of what it called Russia's ongoing “occupation” of Crimea, accused Russia of human rights abuses, and called for international monitors to be given access there. One of the groups most affected by the illegal annexation of the peninsula was the Indigenous Crimean Tatars. Some are still facing persecution from Russian government authorities. Ayla Bakkalli, the representative for Crimean Tatars at the United Nations, [spoke to The World’s Marco Werman]( about what it has been like for Tatars to live under Russian occupation. --------------------------------------------------------------- Bright Spot Dozens of fragments of a Dead Sea Scroll with biblical text written in Greek [have been found by archaeologists]( in a cave in the Judean Desert. The scroll fragments contain verses from the books of the prophets Zechariah and Nahum. The team of researchers also found a 6,000-year-old skeleton of a child, some rare coins and a basket believed to be the oldest in the world. [A screen grab of a tweet from AP]( Credit: Courtesy of Twitter --------------------------------------------------------------- In case you missed it from The World --------------------------------------------------------------- Don't forget to subscribe to The World's Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: [RadioPublic](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Stitcher](, [Soundcloud](, [RSS]( [The World logo]( [The World on Facebook]( [The World's Twitter account]( [Donate]( | [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [Edit your subscription]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [View in your browser]( Top of the World is written weekday mornings by the team at [The World](. [The World]( is produced by [PRX]( and [GBH](.