Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio. I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

China's Communist Party has long been suspicious of religion.

That's most obvious in its recent treatment of the mostly Muslim Uyghur population.

We look into the lesser-known repression of the country's tens of millions of Christians.

And it's a dirty job, but be glad someone is doing it.

We join researchers who are tracking the prevalence of the coronavirus by scooping up and studying sewage.

First up, though,

breaking with nearly a century of precedent, America's President Joe Biden formally referred last weekend

to the 1915 killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as a genocide.

In a statement, Biden said, we affirm the history. We do this not to cast blame, but to ensure

that what happened is never repeated. During the First World

War, Ottoman authorities suspected Armenians in the empire of conspiring with Russia. So they

ordered a mass deportation. More than a million Armenians are believed to have died in forced

marches, famines, and massacres. This week, Armenians celebrated Mr. Biden's recognition of that history.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashnanyan wrote in a letter to Biden

that Armenians worldwide welcomed the message with great enthusiasm.

But Turkey, which rose from the Ottoman Empire, has always disputed that designation.

Protesters gathered at the American Embassy in Istanbul...

...sookurel...

...and President Rachev Tayyp Erdogan called on America to reverse what he called a wrong step immediately.

...American-Belisic Devletes, President, Biden......he said already relations with America were at a new low.

...