Now, the E.U. and United States may focus on targeted political, technical and financial support for Moldova. It remains unclear whether this sup

now, the E.U. and United States may focus on targeted political, technical and financial support for Moldova. It remains unclear whether this sup

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ountry and rejects any "step-by-step" easing of the restrictions, Iranian state broadcaster Press TV reported on Saturday.

The two countries said on Friday they would hold indirect talks in Vienna from next week as part of broader negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and global powers. The U.S. State Department said the focus would be on "the nuclear steps that Iran would need to take in order to return to compliance" with that agreement.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Saturday that Tehran was opposed to any gradual easing of sanctions.

"No step-by-step plan is being considered," Khatibzadeh told Press TV. "The definitive policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is the lifting of all U.S. sanctions."

The aim of the talks in the Austrian capital is to reach an agreement within two months, according to a senior official with the European Union, the coordinator of the deal.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the nuclear pact in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to breach some of the accord's nuclear restrictions.

Trump's successor Joe Biden wants to revive the agreement but Washington and Tehran have been at odds over who should take the first step.

Iran, China, Russia, France, Germany and Britain - all parties to the 2015 deal - held virtual talks on Friday to discuss the possible return of the United States to the accord. ([email protected]; editing by John Stonestreet and Pra
46 were children, according to Myanmar's Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Some 2,751 people have been detained or sentenced, the group said.

Threats of lethal violence and arrests of protesters have failed to suppress daily demonstrations across Myanmar demanding the military step down and reinstate the democratically elected government.

Government forces fired at demonstrators in Monywa city in central Myanmar, according to social media posts. One video showed a group of protesters carrying away a young man with what appeared to be a serious head wound, as gunfire sounded. His condition wasn’t immediately known.

Late Friday, armed plainclothes police took five people into custody after they spoke with a CNN reporter in a Yangon market, local media reported, citing witnesses. The arrests occurred in three separate incidents.

Two women reportedly shouted for help as they were being arrested, Myanmar Now news service reported. One police officer, who was carrying a gun, asked if “anyone dared to help them," a witness told the news service.

“They pointed their pistols at everyone—at passersby and at people in the store,” a witness said of two police officers who forcibly took away two other women in the market.

Meanwhile, the Karen National Union representing the ethnic minority rebel group that has been fighting the government for decades condemned “non-stop bombings and airstrikes” against villages and "unarmed civilians” in their homeland along the border with Thailand.

“The attacks have caused the death of many people including children and students, and the destruction of schools, residential homes, and villages. These terrorist acts are clearly a flagrant violation of local and international laws,” the group said in a statement.

In areas controlled by the Karen, more than a dozen civilians have been killed and over 20,000 displaced since March 27, according to the Free Burma Rangers, a relief agency operating in the region.

About 3,000 Karen fled to Thailand, but many returned under unclear circumstances. Thai authorities said they went back voluntarily, but aid groups say they are not safe and many are hiding in the jungle and in caves on the Myanmar side of the border.

More than a dozen minority groups have sought greater autonomy from the central government for decades, sometimes through armed struggle. Several of the major groups — including the Kachin, the Karen and the Rakhine Arakan Army — have denounced the coup and said they will defend protesters in their territories.

After weeks of overnight cutoffs of internet access, Myanmar’s military on Friday shut all links apart from those using fiberoptic cable, which was working at drastically reduced speeds. Access to mobile networks and all wireless — the less costly options used by most people in the developing country — remained blocked on Saturday.

The coup reversed years of slow progress toward democracy in Myanmar, which for five decades languished under strict military rule that led to international isolation and sanctions. As the generals loosened their grip, culminating in Aung San Suu Kyi’s rise to leadership in 2015 elections, the international community responded by 
The winding passageways that form the Via Dolorosa, along which Christians believe Jesus hauled his cross toward his crucifixion, were packed with over 1,000 worshipers. In the covered market, the air smelled of incense and echoed with Christian hymns. The Good Friday procession, where the faithful retrace the route Jesus is said to have taken, was back.

“It is like a miracle,” said the Rev. Amjad Sabbara, a Roman Catholic priest who helped lead the procession. “We’re not doing this online. We’re seeing the people in front of us.”

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Pandemic restrictions forced the cancellation of last year’s ceremony and required priests to hold services without congregants present. Now, thanks to Israel’s world-leading vaccine rollout, religious life in Jerusalem is edging back to normal. And on Friday, that brought crowds once again to the city’s streets, and relief to even one of Christianity’s most solemn commemorations: the Good Friday procession.
We are so lucky to be here,” said May Bathish, a 40-year-old chorister at Father Sabbara’s church in the Old City. “When you walk the same steps that Jesus did, it is the highest privilege.”

For much of the past year, the pandemic kept the Old City eerily empty. Its shops, synagogues and churches were often shuttered, its alleys bereft of tourists and pilgrims. But with nearly 60 percent of Israeli residents fully vaccinated, the city’s streets were once again thrumming, even if the foreign tourists were still absent.

“When it is empty, it is like a city of ghosts,” said Ms. Bathish. Now, she added, “it is a city of life.”

At the gathering point for the procession on Friday, there was scarcely space to stand. Police officers blocked latecomers from entering from nearby side streets. Members of a Catholic youth group formed a ring around the bearers of a large replica crucifix, the centerpiece of the procession, to spare those carrying it from the jostles of a sea of worshipers.

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Israeli police officers provided security and crowd control.
Israeli police officers provided security and crowd control.Credit...Dan Balilty for The New York Times
Many of those in the procession were Palestinians who became Israeli residents after Israel captured the Old City in 1967, along with the rest of East Jerusalem. Around 6,000 Christians live in the Old City, alongside Muslims and Jews.

“Walk behind the cross!” shouted a church official. “Behind the cross, everyone!”

Above the hubbub, Father Amjad called on his congregation to walk in pairs. “Two by two,” he shouted through a loudspeaker. “Not one by one!”

Then the crowd moved slowly off, singing mournful hymns as they proceeded along what Christians consider a re-enactment of Jesus’ last steps.

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Worshipers at the Good Friday procession along the Via Dolorosa. 
Worshipers at the Good Friday procession along the Via Dolorosa. Credit...Dan Balilty for The New York Times
They walked in fits and starts down the Via Dolorosa, past the site where tradition holds that Jesus was tried by Pontius Pilate, past where he was flogged and mocked, past the shops selling Christian icons and crosses, ice cream and T-shirts.

They turned left and then right, over the places where Christians believe Jesus stumbled — once, twice, three times — under the weight of the crucifix.

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In the alley outside the chapel of St. Simon of Cyrene, the marchers trailed their fingers over an ocher limestone in the chapel wall. According to tradition, Jesus steadied himself against the stone after a stumble. And so many pilgrims, over so many centuries, have since caressed the stone that its surface is now smooth to the touch.

Finally, they reached the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which believers think was the site of Christ’s crucifixion, burial and, ultimately, resurrection.

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Worshipers entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Worshipers entering the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.Credit...Dan Balilty for The New York Times
For some, the Good Friday procession carried even more resonance than usual — its themes of suffering, redemption and renewal seeming particularly symbolic as the end of a deadly pandemic appeared finally in sight.

“We have gained hope again,” said George Halis, 24, who is studying to be a priest and who lives in the Old City. “Last year was like a darkness that came over all of earth.”

For others, there was a theological importance, as well as an emotional one, to being able to gather together again.

“All Christians are part of the body of Christ,” said Msgr. Vincenzo Peroni, a Catholic priest based in Jerusalem who has regularly led pilgrimages within the Holy Land. “Being able to celebrate together makes that more visible.”

“The attacks have caused the death of many people including children and students, and the destruction of schools, residential homes, and villages. These terrorist acts are clearly a flagrant violation of local and international laws,” the group said in a statement.

In areas controlled by the Karen, more than a dozen civilians have been killed and over 20,000 displaced since March 27, according to the Free Burma Rangers, a relief agency operating in the region.

About 3,000 Karen fled to Thailand, but many returned under uncl