Saudi Arabia: 2 million in Mecca for start of hajj

October 02, 2014

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia sought to assure the public that the kingdom was safe and free of health scares as an estimated 2 million Muslims streamed into a sprawling tent city near Mecca on Thursday for the start of the annual Islamic hajj pilgrimage.

Earlier this year, Saudi authorities banned people from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea — the countries hardest hit in the Ebola epidemic — from getting visas as a precaution against the virus. The decision has affected a total of 7,400 pilgrims from the three countries.

Ebola is believed to have sickened more than 7,100 people in West Africa and killed more than 3,300, according to the World Health Organization. The hajj sees massive crowds every year from around the world gather around the cube-shaped Kaaba in Mecca as part of a five-day spiritual journey meant to cleanse the faithful of sin and bring them closer to God. All male pilgrims dress in simple, white robes as a sign of equality before God.

The kingdom has not discovered a single case of Ebola so far and is taking all measures to ensure the safety and health of the pilgrims, said Manal Mansour, the head of Saudi Health Ministry's department for prevention of infectious diseases.

"The most important precaution that (the kingdom) has taken was to restrict visas from the affected areas," she told The Associated Press. Upon arrival to the kingdom, pilgrims were asked to fill out "medical screening cards with data" and asked about their travels in the past 21 days, Mansour said.

There were other health concerns related to the hajj earlier this year. The kingdom had to improve its anti-infection measures after it was hit by an upswing in the number of people who had contracted a respiratory virus known as the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in the spring. There have been more than 750 cases of MERS in the kingdom since 2012, of which 319 people died, including several health workers.

Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman for the Saudi Interior Ministry, told the AP that the kingdom is also facing continuous threats from terrorists, but is prepared to ensure a safe hajj. Saudi Arabia and four other Arab countries are taking part in U.S.-led airstrikes against the Islamic State group and al-Qaida fighters in Iraq and Syria. Militants have vowed revenge.

Al-Qaida militants launched a series of deadly attacks in Saudi Arabia aimed at toppling the monarchy around a decade ago, though none were directed at Mecca. No major attacks have happened in recent years during the hajj.

"We have confronted al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia and we have defeated them," Al-Turki said. "But of course at the same time being we are still considering the threat, which is a continuous threat, and therefore we have actually enforced our security readiness at all the borders of Saudi Arabia."

Pilgrim Zaid Ajaz Amanea from the United Kingdom said he felt safe. "I don't have to fear anything from anybody because I'm coming to God's house," he said. The routes for hajj pilgrims and inside the Grand Mosque housing the Kaaba have thousands of security cameras, many of them hidden. The kingdom says there are some 70,000 security personnel guarding the hajj this year. Saudi's interior minister toured hajj sites to check on their readiness over the weekend.

The state-owned Saudi Gazette newspaper reported that the commander of hajj security forces has warned pilgrims against politicizing the pilgrimage. He said anyone who tries to propagate political views during the hajj, which brings Sunnis, Shiites and Muslims of all schools of thought to Mecca, will be severely punished.

The pilgrimage is a central pillar of Islam and all able-bodied Muslims are required to perform it once in their lives. Saudi authorities said there are 1.4 million international visitors for the hajj this year. Some 600,000 pilgrims from the kingdom itself are also expected to take part.

On Thursday, pilgrims headed to Mina, about five kilometers (three miles) from Mecca, where they will spend the night in prayer and supplication. Some pilgrims wore surgical blue masks to be extra careful.

"I'm afraid of the normal flu, I'm not scared of Ebola or anything like that," said Nayef Aboulein, a Saudi pilgrim.

Associated Press writer Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

Dubai pushes ahead on world's biggest airport plan

September 08, 2014

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai's ruler has endorsed a $32 billion expansion plan for the city's second airport that aims to make it the world's biggest, the emirate's airport operator said Monday in the latest sign that the Middle East's brash commercial hub is determined to move on from its 2009 financial crisis.

The approval sets in motion a vast building project that will boost capacity exponentially at the airport known as Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central. Backers envision it will eventually handle more than 200 million passengers per year.

The first phase of the expansion alone aims to build enough runway and terminal space to handle 120 million passengers a year and 100 mammoth Airbus A380 double-decker jets at any given time. The world's busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, handled 94.4 million people last year.

Paul Griffiths, chief executive of state-backed airport operator Dubai Airports, said he aims to have the first phase of the expansion complete in six to eight years. That part of the project includes adding two new runways and two large concourses housing dozens of aircraft gates each.

"It's a very aggressive time scale ... but I think that we have a track record here of doing remarkable things in a remarkably challenging time frame," Griffiths said in his office at the city's main airport, Dubai International.

As later phases are completed, the new airport will eventually boast five parallel runways spaced far enough apart so they can all be used at the same time, and have enough gates for hundreds of wide-body planes.

Dubai World Central opened for cargo flights in 2010 with a single runway in the desert south of central Dubai. It received its first passengers in October at a single terminal that is mainly used by smaller airlines and low-cost carriers.

The currently larger Dubai International ranked as the world's seventh busiest airport last year, handling 66.4 million passengers. It too is being expanded, with a new concourse expected to open next year.

Griffiths says Dubai needs to expand to keep pace with the rapid growth of airline traffic into the emirate. Much of the increase comes from hometown airline Emirates, the region's largest carrier and the world's biggest user of both the A380 and Boeing 777 long-haul jets.

Emirates is expected to move its hub to the new airport shortly after the first expansion phase is complete, freeing up space in the older airport for the well over 100 other airlines that already operate from it.

Griffiths is confident Dubai will be able to generate the funding needed to complete the project given the importance of aviation to Dubai's economy. Officials say the industry contributes $22 billion annually to the local economy and supports some 250,000 jobs.

"The aviation sector has demonstrated that there is a very compelling economic case to suggest creation of further capacity is a very sensible thing to do," Griffiths said. "I'm sure that the government will come up with the appropriate funding to make the project a reality."

Dubai is still recovering from the effects of its financial crisis, which sent property prices plunging and forced it to accept a multibillion-dollar bailout from neighboring Abu Dhabi. The local economy has bounced back strongly since, though Dubai and its state-linked companies still carry tens of billions of dollars in debt. The International Monetary Fund has warned of the possibility of another property bubble forming, and analysts question how Dubai can make good on the debt it still owes.

"There are still plenty of reasons to think that the emirate's debt problems are far from over," Jason Tuvey, an analyst at London-based Capital Economics, wrote in a research note last week. That has not stopped officials from announcing plans for headline-grabbing projects reminiscent of the pre-crisis boom.

On Sunday, a property development company controlled by Dubai ruler Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum laid out plans for a $2.7 billion theme park and resort complex near the new airport and the site of the World Expo that Dubai is due to host in 2020.

The expansion of the new airport is unlikely to be ready by the time the Expo kicks off, Griffiths said.

Bahrain: Protesters dismiss government plans

September 19, 2014

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Thousands of opposition supporters rallied in the tiny island nation of Bahrain on Friday to protest a proposal by the country's leadership for legislative, security and judicial reforms.

The rally by members of the Shiite opposition came a day after the crown prince, Sheik Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, issued a statement summarizing proposed changes that included redefining electoral districts, promises of judicial reform and new codes of conduct for security forces.

The statement follows on-and-off again talks between opposition members and the government aimed at bringing about a political solution to more than three years of unrest. Bahrain is a strategically important Western ally, which hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. An opposition movement dominated by the country's Shiite majority is demanding greater rights from the ruling Sunni monarchy.

The government moved to crush an Arab Spring-inspired uprising in 2011 with the help of security forces from Saudi Arabia and other neighboring Gulf Arab states. Dozens of protesters have been killed, as have some members of the security forces.

Protesters and opposition leaders on Friday dismissed the government's plan as offering too little toward their goal of greater power-sharing in the kingdom. "We consider this letter to be a unilateral approach," said Abdul-Jalil Khalil, a leading member of the main Shiite opposition bloc, al-Wefaq.

N. Korea No. 2 visits South for rare talks

October 04, 2014

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea's presumptive No. 2 led members of Pyongyang's inner circle in a rare trip Saturday to South Korea for the close of the Asian Games, with the rivals holding their highest level face-to-face talks in five years.

After months of tensions, including a steady stream of insults between the divided neighbors and an unusual number of North Korean missile and rocket test firings, expectations for any breakthrough weren't high, but even the visit itself was significant, allowing valuable contact between confidants of North Korea's authoritarian leader and Seoul's senior official for North Korean affairs.

The North Korean delegation to the games in Incheon was led by Hwang Pyong So, the top political officer for the Korean People's Army and considered by outside analysts to be the country's second most important official after supreme leader Kim Jong Un. Hwang is also a vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission led by Kim and a vice marshal of the army.

The visit comes as rumors swirl in the South about the health of Kim, who has made no public appearances since Sept. 3 and skipped a high-profile recent event he usually attends. A recent official documentary showed footage from August of him limping and overweight and mentioned his "discomfort."

The two sides met briefly in the morning, and Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong Cheol told reporters that the North Korean officials would hold their main talks over lunch with South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae and national security director Kim Kwan-jin before flying back home later Saturday after the games' closing ceremonies.

The success at the games for both Koreas, which were in the top 10 for gold medals, is a source of pride for all Koreans, said one of the North Korean officials, Kim Yang Gon, a secretary in the ruling Workers' Party and senior official responsible for South Korean affairs, according to the YTN TV network.

"As I watched some people (in the stands) shouting unification slogans and waving unification flags on TV, I'm proud that the sports sector is taking the initiative in terms of the national unification," said Choe Ryong Hae, another Workers' Party secretary who is also chairman of the State Physical Culture and Sports Guidance Commission.

It wasn't clear what the officials talked about. Lim said there were no plans for the North Koreans to meet with South Korean President Park Geun-hye. High-level North Korean visits to South Korea have been highly unusual since inter-Korean relations became strained after Park's conservative predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, took office in early 2008 with a tough line on the North. Attacks blamed on North Korea in 2010 killed 50 South Koreans.

The last such senior visit south was in 2009, when senior Workers' Party official Kim Ki Nam and spy chief Kim Yang Gon, the same official who visited Saturday, came to pay their respects to the late liberal South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. The North Koreans met President Lee, conveyed a message from then leader Kim Jong Il and discussed inter-Korean cooperation.

One South Korean analyst saw Saturday's talks as a crucial moment for inter-Korean ties over the next few years. If no progress follows Saturday's talks, the rivals' strained relations will likely continue until Park, who took office in early 2013, finishes her single five-year term, said analyst Cheong Seong-chang at the private Sejong Institute.

Cheong speculated that the North Korean officials were probably carrying a message from Kim Jong Un. The visit could also be part of an effort to show that Kim has no problem making high-profile political decisions and has no serious health issues, he said.

Besides the North Korean test firings of about rockets and missiles this year, both sides have leveled harsh criticism at each other, with North Korean state media calling the South Korean president a prostitute.

The Asian Games participation by the North was welcomed as a step forward. North Korea boycotted the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Summer Olympics, both in Seoul, but attended the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, the 2003 University Games in Daegu and the 2005 Asian Athletics Championships in Incheon. Those last three came during an era of liberal governments in Seoul that were more accommodating to Pyongyang.

North Korea had said ahead of these games that it wanted to send both athletes and cheerleaders but later balked at sending cheerleaders because of what it called South Korean hostility.

Hong Kong protests subside after tumultuous week

October 06, 2014

HONG KONG (AP) — Student-led protests for democratic reforms in Hong Kong subsided Monday but a few hundred demonstrators remained camped out in the streets, vowing to keep up the pressure until the government responds to their demands.

Schools reopened and civil servants returned to work Monday morning after protesters cleared the area outside the city's government headquarters, a focal point of the demonstrations that started the previous weekend. Crowds also thinned markedly at the two other protest sites, and traffic flowed again through many road that had been blocked.

The subdued scenes left many wondering whether the movement, which has been free-forming and largely spontaneous, had run its course, and what the students would do next. Early talks between the government and the students have started, but many disagreements remain. Students say they will walk away from the talks as soon as the government uses force to clear away the remaining protesters.

"This is definitely not the end — we've never set a timeframe for how long this should go on. It's normal for people to go home, to come and go," said Alex Chow, one of the student leaders. "It's up to the government now. This is the first step, but the pressure has to continue."

The number of protesters had swelled into the tens of thousands last week to express opposition to China's decision to screen all nominees in the first direct elections for Hong Kong's leader, promised by Beijing for 2017. The activists want open nominations and the resignation of the current chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, who has refused to step down.

The previous weekend, police fired tear gas and pepper spray on unarmed protesters, prompting some to defend themselves with umbrellas and homemade masks. That galvanized public support for the demonstrations, and on both weekends, tens of thousands of protesters have turned out in the streets.

But on Monday the numbers were down to just a couple hundred in the main protest site of Admiralty and in the Mong Kok area, where some scuffles broke out over the weekend between protests and residents. About 25 protesters, mostly students, refused to budge from their site outside the government headquarters, and some say they plan to stay for as long as they can.

Police said they had arrested 30 people since the start of the protests. Protesters, meanwhile, complained the police were failing to protect them from attacks by mobs intent on driving them away. Differences and confusion within the movement became clear on Sunday, when several leaders announced a retreat from key sites — even as others declared there was no withdrawal, or urged protesters to regroup in one main area. The movement, broadly known as Occupy Central — a campaign founded by law professor Benny Tai last year — has no central leadership, and coordination has come from several different student groups.

One faction, Scholarism, is led by 17-year-old Joshua Wong and draws many younger students, while the Federation of Students represents mostly university students. But many who took part say they follow no particular group or leader.

"We support the students, but we are not following their lead. We came out here on our own," said protester Angel Chan, 27. "People here are here for themselves, and their future, and the future of Hong Kong."

Lawmakers and politicians have played almost no role in the movement. "The credit goes to the students who brought so many people to occupy the government offices," said Martin Lee, a veteran pro-democracy lawmaker in the city.

On Monday, many remaining protesters were undeterred by the dwindling number of participants. "I think the government is waiting for us to get up. They always say the protests must end and are trying to use violence to stop it," said Jackie Ho, 18. "But I think they just want to scare us."

Ho said she wanted to stay until the demonstrations were over — though she is also worried that she is losing time on her studies. Louis Chan, also 18, said he needs to return to university to clock his attendance, and he was not sure achieving universal suffrage — the students' original goal — is now likely.

"I did think it was possible, but now I don't think so because they (the Hong Kong government) don't give any response and China is also very much against this," he said.

Associated Press Writer Joanna Chiu contributed to this report.

Tiananmen legacy looms over Hong Kong protests

October 06, 2014

HONG KONG (AP) — The legacy of the 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen Square looms larger in Hong Kong than in mainland China, where the Communist Party has virtually erased all public mention of it. In this former British colony, hundreds of thousands attend candlelight vigils each anniversary to commemorate the grim end to the Beijing movement that was vanquished before many of the pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong's streets were even born.

Hong Kong's student-led protesters insist they are not challenging communist rule, just details of Beijing's plans for political reforms in the city. But many of their elders fear the protesters risk going too far if they stay in the streets in defiance of demands to leave in the biggest challenge to China since it took control of Hong Kong in 1997.

One urging the Hong Kong protesters to bide their time is reform-minded Bao Tong, former aide to then-Communist Party general secretary Zhao Ziyang, who spent the last 16 years of his life under house arrest after sympathizing with the students who occupied Beijing's Tiananmen Square to seek democracy on the mainland.

"The seeds have already been sown, and they need time to lie fallow," Bao wrote in a commentary Sunday for Radio Free Asia. "Take a break, for the sake of future room to grow. For tomorrow," wrote Bao, who has been under house arrest himself after spending seven years in prison.

The memories of the June 4, 1989, military assault that ended the sit-ins in Tiananmen, killing hundreds, are vivid among Hong Kong people old enough to have lived through the exhilaration of the protests and the gloom that followed the crackdown. Many of Hong Kong's 7.2 million people moved to the city to escape poverty, political pogroms and repression of dissent in the mainland, and they value the city's democratic, Western-style civil liberties.

Benny Li, 46, was a university student in Shanghai at the time of the Tiananmen protests and has been living in Hong Kong for several years. "I participated in the 1989 protests because I wanted the same things that Hong Kong people want now. All my friends in my generation, and those younger than us probably, morally support Hong Kong protesters. We agree with and understand what they are doing," Li said.

The protesters who have camped in some of the city's busiest commercial districts for over a week, and the tens of thousands of their supporters who have poured into Hong Kong's streets, are exercising civil liberties nonexistent in the Chinese mainland, where the government bans public dissent, censors the media and harshly punishes those deemed to be challenging the Communist Party's monopoly on power.

Hong Kong's protesters are peacefully condemning China's decision to require that a committee of mostly pro-Beijing figures screen the candidates for the city's top leader in the first-ever direct election in 2017. The protesters also have demanded Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying resign. He has refused.

The protests in Hong Kong, like those in Tiananmen, are a legacy of student and intellectual dissent stretching to the anti-colonial May Fourth movement of 1919. Jeffrey Huang, 22, was sitting with other protesters in Hong Kong's Admiralty area, where traffic was blockaded for an encampment festooned with canopies, banners and posters. He said he learned about Tiananmen during secondary school when teachers talked about it at an assembly marking the June 4 anniversary.

"For us, we believe that democracy will help us improve our lives in general and we think that not having democracy is the cause of many problems in Hong Kong, for example the high property prices," said Huang, who recently graduated from law studies.

"The government pays much attention to the property developers because they maybe have the power to elect the chief executive," he said, "and people think if there is more democracy the chief executive and the government will be more accountable to the citizens ... instead of to the privileged class only."

So far, China's central government has lashed out at the protests, branding them illegal and saying Leung has its full support in restoring order. But it has left the handling of the crisis to Hong Kong, which has its own legal system and police — a force of 28,500 officers and 4,000 auxiliary police who at times have appeared hard stretched to keep order with tens of thousands of people in the streets.

Given that the heavily guarded main garrison of the People's Liberation Army is just next door to the central government headquarters and Leung's office, the possibility of an intervention by the mainland authorities, however uncertain, weighs on many minds.

Those fears were reinforced when police deployed tear gas and pepper spray on Sept. 28 in an attempt to disperse the protesters — a strategy that backfired and drew still more people into the streets in sympathy for the non-violent, young activists, leading the authorities to adopt a less confrontational approach.

Repeated warnings and appeals to everyone to go home and stop blocking the roads, issued by Leung and other top officials in recent days have emphasized the government's desire to see the protests end peacefully, while also acknowledging the rights of protesters, and those opposed to the disruptions caused by their lengthy blockades, to peacefully express their views.

The most potent legacy of Tiananmen in Hong Kong, some say, is the passion driving so many of its residents to spend days and nights in the street, risking entanglements with the police and protest opponents, for the sake of attaining the "universal suffrage" they were promised when Beijing claimed control 17 years ago.

"I'm worried about police clearing the site but I'm not scared. Because I won't yield to police violence. After they clear the site, I will come back," said Larry Lai, a 20-year-old college student. The point, they say, is to ensure their voices are heard.

Jackie Ng, 43, was a first-year university student in the Chinese mainland at the time of the Tiananmen protests. She brought her husband and young son to the protests in Admiralty. "I was so moved to see this happening in Hong Kong. It reminds me a lot of what happened in 1989," she said.

Associated Press writers Joanna Chiu and Wendy Tang contributed to this report.

Hong Kong police arrest 19 in protest clash

October 04, 2014

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong arrested 19 people, some believed to have organized crime ties, during a night of running brawls stretching into Saturday as mobs tried to drive pro-democracy protesters from the streets where they've held a weeklong, largely peaceful demonstration.

At least 12 people and six officers were injured during the clashes, Senior Superintendent Patrick Kwok Pak-chung said. Protest leaders called off planned talks with the government on political reforms after the battles kicked off Friday afternoon in gritty, blue-collar Mong Kok, across Victoria Harbor from the activists' main protest camp.

Police struggled for hours to control the battles as attackers pushed, shoved and jeered the protesters. Those arrested face charges of unlawful assembly, fighting in public and assault, Kwok said, adding that eight men are believed to have backgrounds involving triads, or organized crime gangs.

The protesters urged residents to join their cause and demanded that police protect their encampments. The Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the groups leading the demonstrations that drew tens of thousands of people earlier this week, said they saw no choice but to cancel the dialogue.

"The government is demanding the streets be cleared. We call upon all Hong Kong people to immediately come to protect our positions and fight to the end," the group said in a statement. They demanded the government hold someone responsible for the scuffles, the worst disturbances since police used tear gas and pepper spray on protesters last weekend to try to disperse them.

"Of course I'm scared, but we have to stay and support everyone," said Michael Yipu, 28, who works in a bank. The allegations that organized crime members were involved in the clashes fueled jitters Saturday at the movement's main camp, on a highway outside government headquarters. There were frequent calls for supporters to rush to barricades after sporadic rumors that people were coming to attack them.

"Many people are gathering here and they are very determined to unite against the triad members," said Amy Ho, 21, who was studying translation at university. The standoff is the biggest challenge to Beijing's authority since it took over the former British colony in 1997. Earlier Friday, the students had agreed to talks with the government proposed by Hong Kong's leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. But his attempt to defuse tensions fell flat as many protesters were unhappy with his refusal to yield to their demands for his resignation.

The cancellation of the talks — prompted by clashes with men who tried to tear down the makeshift barricades and tents set up by the demonstrators — left the next steps in the crisis uncertain. It was unclear if those scuffles were spontaneous or had been organized, although some of the attackers wore blue ribbons signaling support for the mainland Chinese government, while the protesters have yellow ribbons.

On social media, an image circulated purportedly calling on people in the "silent majority" to gather and agitate the protesters in Mong Kok for 300 Hong Kong dollars ($38), promising bonuses for extra destruction. The information could not be verified and calls to a mobile phone number listed on the notice did not go through. Protesters also accused police of working together with triads to use force to attack them, but police denied it.

At least some of those opposed to protesters were residents fed up with the inconvenience of blocked streets and closed shops. "It's not about whether I support their cause or not. It's about whether what they are doing is legal or not," said Donald Chan, 45. "It is illegal. It has brought chaos to the city."

The chaos prompted calls from police and other top officials for everyone to avoid violence and go home. "We should not use violence or disrupt social order in any situation," Leung said. "All people gathering in those areas should disperse as soon as possible and restore social order, so that daily lives will be restored to normal."

The protesters have been in the streets since Sept. 26, pledging to preserve Hong Kong's Western-style legal system and civil liberties. They want the Chinese government to reverse a decision requiring all candidates in the first election for Hong Kong's leader in 2017 to be approved by a mostly pro-Beijing committee. The demonstrators want open nominations.

Leung had appeared at a news conference late Thursday night where he refused to resign and said he had asked Hong Kong's top civil servant, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam, to engage in talks with protest leaders. Before those talks were called off Friday by the students, Lam said she had begun organizing the discussions.

China's government has mostly kept quiet during the crisis, other than to call the protests illegal and support the Hong Kong government's efforts to disperse them. On Friday, the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily accused a small group of demonstrators of trying to "hijack the system" and said the protest effort was doomed to fail.

The front-page editorial said there is "no room for concessions" on the candidate screening issue, noting that Hong Kong "is directly under the jurisdiction of the central government; it is not a country or an independent political entity."

Associated Press writers Elaine Kurtenbach and Kelvin Chan contributed to this report.

New NATO chief brings Poles message of reassurance

October 06, 2014

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — NATO's new secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, is in Poland on his first foreign trip since starting the job last week, a visit meant to reassure a nervous ally on the alliance's eastern flank.

Speaking in Warsaw alongside the Polish president, Stoltenberg on Monday stressed that NATO would protect and defend each of its allies. He also praised Poland for its contributions to the alliance, including its plans to increase its defense spending to 2 percent of GDP and its offer to host a NATO conference in 2016.

Since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began this year Polish leaders have repeatedly called for NATO to do more to protect it. Stoltenberg is also meeting with other leaders and will visit an air base where NATO troops are engaged in training and exercises.

Mosques open doors to non-Muslims in Germany

04 October 2014 Saturday

Muslims in Germany have opened the doors of their mosques to non-Muslims on Friday with the hope of eliminating prejudices against Muslims and encouraging cultural exchange.

“Unfortunately we are witnessing a growing fear of Islam and growing hostilities against Muslims in German society,” Ender Cetin, the chairman of the Sehitlik Mosque Association in Berlin, told journalists during the “Open mosque day” event.

“Our German guests here are often asking us questions on violence and terrorism and whether they have any root in Islam. We are telling them the real values of Islam, informing them about our activities against extremism. We are trying to reduce prejudices against Muslims,” Cetin said.

Recent reports of violent murders and atrocities committed by ISIL have sparked suspicion and a negative backlash towards Muslims across Germany.

Germany has approximately four million Muslims; around three million of them of Turkish origin. According to a recent representative public poll by Infratest-dimap, 42 percent of Germans now view Islam as “aggressive” and 38 percent as a “threat.”

Germany's Muslim Coordination Council, a platform bringing together the four largest Muslim organizations in the country, expressed hope on Friday that with the “Open mosque day” they will be able to present to German society the various aspects of Muslim community life and answer questions on Islam.

Organizers said more than a hundred thousand visitors attended events at more than 700 mosques across Germany.

Stefan Streicher, a young German who visited a mosque for the first time told Anadolu Agency that he was impressed by the visit to Berlin’s Sehitlik Mosque.

“That is a beautiful building. Taking off shoes before entering the mosque was not something common to me. Overall, I had a positive impression,” he said.

Sabine Schwanz stressed that as a Christian, it was interesting to learn more about Islam.

“These kind of events help reduce prejudices,” she stressed.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/145638/mosques-open-doors-to-non-muslims-in-germany.

Alex Younger appointed head of UK's MI6 spy agency

October 03, 2014

LONDON (AP) — MI6 has a new spymaster.

The British government said Friday that career intelligence officer Alex Younger is the agency's new chief. Younger, who previously oversaw MI6 counterterrorism operations, replaces John Sawers next month.

MI6, or the Secret Intelligence Service, is Britain's foreign intelligence agency. Its most famous boss is the fictional M in the James Bond stories — although the real-life MI6 chief is known as C. Until the 1990s, the spymaster's identity was kept secret. Sawers was the agency's most high-profile boss, delivering speeches and appearing at televised parliamentary hearings.

Younger says he is "determined to build on this and bring my ideas for a modern service to life." The agency is facing pressure for even more openness after revelations by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Bulgaria's center-right GERB party wins election

October 06, 2014

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Former Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov is returning to power after his center-right GERB party won most seats in parliamentary elections but fell short of a majority to govern alone.

With 99 percent of the votes counted from Sunday's election, the GERB party led with 32.7 percent and the Socialists came second with 15.4 percent, the Central Election Commission announced Monday. GERB officials said Monday their party was ready to form a minority government and was seeking the support of other parties but not the Socialists.

Borisov said he was prepared to govern the country and left the door open for talks with possible coalition partners. He said the alternative was holding a new election that would cause political uncertainty and financial turmoil for the European Union's poorest nation.

Borisov, 55, headed a minority government between 2009, when his party took nearly 40 percent of the vote, until 2013, when he resigned amid sometimes violent protests against poverty, high utility bills and corruption.

The nation of 7.3 million is struggling with corruption and a widespread disillusionment with the governing elite. A weak economic recovery is now threatened by a Russian ban on European food imports and a major crisis in the country's fourth-largest bank.

Bulgaria belongs to NATO and the 28-nation European Union but many residents feel a strong kinship to Russia. It has been building part of the South Stream pipeline that aims to transport gas from Russia through the Black Sea to Bulgaria and other European countries, bypassing Ukraine's pipelines. But for anti-monopoly reasons, the EU has pressured Bulgaria to withdraw from the South Stream pipeline project and the work has stalled.

Borisov has said previously he would continue building South Stream only if the EU approved. Many Bulgarians, however, are eager for the jobs they hope it can bring.

Bulgarian to vote, fate of gas pipeline in balance

October 03, 2014

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarians are voting Sunday in a parliamentary election that will determine whether the country continues to build a Russian gas pipeline that would give the Kremlin even more leverage over Europe's energy market — a project the European Union opposes. Here's a look at Bulgaria, the vote and the controversial pipeline:

DIVIDED LOYALTIES The Balkan country of over 7 million is very much divided in its loyalties. Bulgaria belongs to NATO and the 28-nation European Union, but many Bulgarians feel a strong kinship to Russia, and the country's extensive dependence on Russian oil and gas leaves it vulnerable to political meddling by the Kremlin.

Opinion surveys predict the biggest vote winner will be center-right GERB party led by a former prime minister, Boyko Borisov, who says he would only continue building Bulgaria's part of the South Stream pipeline if the EU approved. That's a sharp contrast with the Socialists, who want the project at any price.

Although Borisov's party is expected to win the most votes, polls show it will fall short of a majority, and the 55-year-old could face an uphill battle in building a coalition government.

WHAT ABOUT THAT PIPELINE?

The European Commission has pressured Bulgaria to withdraw from the South Stream project and the work has stalled. South Steam aimed to transport gas from Russia through the Black Sea to Bulgaria and then to several other European countries, including Serbia, Hungary and Austria. Moscow's hope was to bypass Ukraine, which is now a major transport route for Russian gas.

The EU opposes South Stream because Russia's Gazprom plans to both operate the pipeline and sell the gas transported through it — a violation of the bloc's anti-monopoly regulations. Bulgarians have displayed overwhelming public support for the South Stream project, which is expected to bring jobs to the EU's poorest member.

SOCIAL UNREST SMOLDERS First elected in a landslide victory in 2009, Borisov held power until 2013, when he resigned under the pressure of nationwide protests that turned violent at times. The protests were sparked by austerity measures, high electricity prices and allegations of corruption by officials.

But Tihomir Bezlov, an analyst with the Center for the Study of Democracy in Sofia, says some people received money from GERB's political enemies to take part in the protests. "Borisov believes that he lost power in 2013 because of the Russians and must be cautious," Bezlov said.

Borisov has promised better fiscal discipline, an improvement of the country's infrastructure and a better use of EU funds.

PLENTY OF CHALLENGES AHEAD Bulgaria is struggling with corruption and a widespread disillusionment with the governing elite that is expected to result in a low turnout Sunday. A weak economic recovery is now also threatened by a Russian ban on European food imports and a major crisis in the country's fourth largest bank.

The Corporate Commercial Bank, or Corpbank, has been closed since it was hit by a run in June amid allegations of shady dealings by its managers, leaving about 200,000 depositors still unable to access their money. That has led to frequent street protests that factored into the July resignation of Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski's Socialist-led government.

A caretaker government in charge since then has not had the authority to tackle any of the major reforms Bulgaria needs in its judiciary, educational system or health care. Political analyst Antonii Galabov expects more parties than the current four to enter parliament, which he said "reflects the deep fragmentation of Bulgarian society."

"The same faces are popping up on the TV screen, promising the same good things like last time. But life is getting harder, and now they even try to get hold of people's savings," said Donka Stamenova, a 53-year-old nurse who says she won't vote.

Associated Press Writer Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Poland, contributed to this report.

Belgian beauty queen converts to Islam

27 September 2014 Saturday

Former candidate for Miss Belgium in 2012, Lindsey Van Gele, has reportedly converted to Islam and now calls herself “Aisha.”

Morocco World News reported she chose to become a Muslim after marrying Belgian footballer Mamoutou N’Diaye, who is originally from Mali, four years ago.

“I became a Muslim when Mamoutou asked for my hand. A civil marriage was not enough for me. Moreover, I wanted to support my conversion,” Van Gele reportedly told Het Laatste Nieuws.

Although she said that she had actually converted two years ago, the management communication Ghent University student has only recently gone public about her conversion.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/haber/145279/belgian-beauty-queen-converts-to-islam.

Sweden to recognize Palestinian state

October 03, 2014

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden's new prime minister said Friday that his government will recognize a Palestinian state, a move that drew praise from Palestinian officials.

In a declaration listing his government's priorities, Social Democratic leader Stefan Lofven told lawmakers that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be resolved through a two-state solution requiring "mutual recognition" and a will from both sides to co-exist peacefully.

"Therefore Sweden will recognize the state of Palestine," Lofven said. He didn't say when or how that would happen. Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki welcomed Lofven's announcement and called on other European Union countries to follow suit.

"In the name of the Palestinian people and the Palestinian leadership, we thank and salute the Swedish position," Malki said in a statement. He said the only other Western European countries that have recognized a Palestinian state are Malta and Cyprus. Some Eastern European countries did so during the Cold War.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psakia said the U.S. looks forward to working with the new government of Sweden — a close partner — but called international recognition of a Palestinian state "premature."

"We believe that the process is one that has to be worked out through the parties to agree on the terms of how they'll live in the future of two states living side-by-side," she said. Lofven has built a left-leaning minority government of Social Democrats and Greens after winning Parliamentary elections last month.

He tapped former European Commissioner Margot Wallstrom to be foreign minister, while Magdalena Andersson becomes finance minister and Peter Hultqvist will head the Defense Ministry. All are Social Democrats.

Asa Romson, leader of the Greens, the junior coalition partner, became vice-prime minister and minister for climate and environment. The coalition is expected to struggle to push its agenda through Parliament.

Associated Press writers Karin Laub in Jerusalem and Mathew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

2 Peru governor candidates win despite drug probes

October 06, 2014

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Two gubernatorial candidates under investigation in Peru for drug trafficking-related crimes have won election and two face runoffs after a nationwide vote for mayors, governors and municipal councils, according to unofficial results on Monday.

Hundreds of candidates suspected of ties to drug trafficking were on the ballot Sunday in what authorities called the Andean nation's most violent campaign since 2000. According to unofficial results compiled by the Ipsos-Apoyo polling firm, the winners included Manuel Gambini, a former coca grower in the Amazon state of Ucayali. As a mayor, Gambini promoted planting of cocoa beans and other alternatives to the crop that yields cocaine, winning praise from the U.S. Agency for International Development and a trip to Miami to showcase his efforts.

But an Aug. 29 judicial order launching an investigation of Gambini says he amassed a fortune and extensive land holdings with a small mayor's salary. Gambini calls the allegations lies propagated by his political foes.

Also victorious was Gilmer Horna in the northern state of Amazonas. The owner of a chain of chicken restaurants, he is under investigation for possible money laundering. One of every three Peruvian voters lives in a region where candidates were investigation, on trial or previously convicted of drug-related crimes. Peru's state attorney for drug enforcement, Sona Medina, said her office had identified 700 such candidates.

It was too early to say how many won office Sunday. Medina did not release her list, and official electoral results remained incomplete Monday. Electoral authorities reported more than 100 incidents of election-day violence, including the destruction of ballot boxes, temporary seizures of polling stations, threats to elections officials and destruction of vehicles.

"We haven't had situations of this magnitude in Peru for some time," said Gerardo Tavara, secretary general of the citizen watchdog group Transparencia. Not since the Shining Path insurgency, which was all but eliminated in the 1990s, has the country seen this level of political murder and death threats, he said. "Hit men are being hired to assassinate candidates."

Two mayoral candidates were slain in gangland-style killings during the campaign, both in cocaine-trafficking corridors, and on Friday, two police officers were shot and killed in an ambush blamed on drug-funded rebels in the Apurimac and Ene river valley, the world's top cocaine-producing region.

Peruvian law allows convicted criminals to run for office as long as they have been rehabilitated by court order. More than 1,300 candidates convicted of crimes — including rape and graft — were on Sunday's ballot, and two governors jailed under preventative detention pending possible corruption trials were re-elected, according to unofficial results.

One of the re-elected governors jailed in corruption probes is Gregorio Santos, a foe of expanding Latin America's biggest gold mining project in his home state of Cajamarca. Most locals oppose the project, which is majority-owned by U.S.-based Newmont Mining Corp.

In Peru's capital, former two-time Mayor Luis Castaneda easily defeated the incumbent, Susana Villaran, who finished third, according to the unofficial count.

Investigative researcher Carlos Neyra contributed to this report.

Cuba rejects plans for first mosque

02 October 2014 Thursday

Cuba's communist government has turned down a plan to open a mosque in the capital Cuba.

Pedro Lazo Torres, the leader of Havana’s Muslim community, revealed that his joint efforts with Turkey's Religious Affairs Foundation (TDV) to open a mosque in Havana was rejected.

Torres expressed his dismay at the decision, noting that Russia was granted permission to build an Orthodox church in the country but 4,000 Muslims in Cuba still have no official place of worship.

Cuban Muslims have until now had to make do with performing congregational prayers in Torres's living room.

In April, TDV assistant manager Mustafa Tutkun sought permission to begin work on a mosque, which was to be designed after the famous Ortakoy mosque in Istanbul.

The plan was part of a wider project by the TDV in building mosques for Muslims who live in the Caribbean.

A similar project in Haiti is due to be complete by the end of this year.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/145533/cuba-rejects-plans-for-first-mosque.

Neves passes Silva in polls on eve of Brazil election

05 October 2014 Sunday

Brazilian presidential hopeful Aecio Neves is heading into Sunday's election with a slight edge over environmentalist Marina Silva in the race to advance to an expected runoff against the incumbent, three new polls showed on Saturday.

But on the eve of the vote, it remained unclear who President Dilma Rousseff's adversary would be in a likely second-round vote later in the month, since the gap between Neves and Silva was within the polls' margin of error, setting the stage for Brazil's tightest election in decades.

Just a few months ago, many political analysts were predicting that Rousseff would cruise to re-election despite a weak economy and simmering discontent with the high cost of living and bad public services that triggered massive street protests a year ago.

The campaign was upended in August, when Silva was thrust into the race after her Brazilian Socialist Party's original candidate died in a plane crash. A popular anti-establishment figure, Silva quickly surged in the polls and at one point looked poised to end the leftist Workers' Party's 12-year grip on power in Latin America's largest country.

But an aggressive media blitz by the Rousseff campaign eroded Silva's popularity with questions about her ability to govern Brazil's unruly democracy without the backing of traditional parties. The Rousseff campaign also portrayed Silva as a serial flip-flopper backed by a greedy financial elite determined to undo popular social welfare programs.

Neves, a pro-business senator and former state governor from the centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party, has risen steadily in the polls as Silva's support deflated. He performed well in the last television debate on Thursday, calmly hammering Rousseff over a multimillion-dollar corruption scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras.

Silva, who has looked frail in the home stretch of the campaign, shrugged off Saturday's polls.

"The Brazilian people have decided this election will go to a second round. We are sure we will be there," she told reporters in Sao Paulo.

If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of valid votes on Sunday, the race will be decided in a runoff on Oct. 26 between the top two vote-getters.

ROUSSEFF FAVORED IN RUNOFF

Whoever clinches second place on Sunday faces an uphill battle to unseat Rousseff in a runoff. Saturday's polls, by the Datafolha, Ibope and MDA polling firms, showed Rousseff with a 6 to 10 percentage-point advantage over Neves in a second round. The polls also showed Rousseff beating Silva in a runoff.

First-round support for Rousseff held steady at 40 percent in all three polls, while Neves gained between 3 and 5 percentage points and Silva dropped between 2 and 4 percentage points, bumping her into third place for the first time.

If spoiled and blank ballots are excluded, Ibope showed Rousseff getting 46 percent of valid votes in Sunday's first round, 4 percentage points short of outright victory, and Neves with 27 percent and Silva with 24 percent.

MDA, which surveyed 2,002 voters on Thursday and Friday, projects that the election is most likely to be decided in a runoff between Rousseff and Neves because his rejection figures have declined markedly while Silva's negatives have risen.

Brazil's electoral authority said it might take longer than usual to call Sunday's vote, given the tight race for runner-up.

"This is an exciting election and the first since 1989 where we see the polling firms unable to make a solid prediction," Jose Antonio Dias Toffoli, president of Brazil's electoral court, told Reuters.

The MDA poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.

Ibope polled 3,010 voters between Thursday and Saturday and Datafolha surveyed 18,116 respondents on Friday and Saturday. Both polls have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-news/145675/neves-passes-silva-in-polls-on-eve-of-brazil-election.

Zimbabwe to develop renewable energy policy

03 October 2014 Friday

Zimbabwe is seeking to develop a renewable energy policy to provide the sector with guidelines and a roadmap for creating a more conducive environment for attracting investment.

"The policy is set to address all the gaps, such as incentives for increased uptake and investment in renewable energy and legislation, just to mention a few," Gloria Magombo, CEO of the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA), told Anadolu Agency.

Magombo said her organization was working to develop the policy in coordination with the Ministry of Energy and Power Development.

"The terms of reference have been finalized and ZERA is set to fund the project," she said.

"ZERA intends to initiate a consultative process to develop a renewable energy policy; we're going to involve a number of stakeholders," added Magombo.

"We have put up funds for the process and expect in a few weeks to go to tender for the new policy development," she noted. "We also intend to learn from our South African counterparts to develop the policy."

ZERA, mandated with regulating the country's energy sector, is also registering all the country's renewable energy service providers in order to compile a database and facilitate the formation of a renewable energy association.

An Energy Ministry spokesperson confirmed that the ministry was in the process of developing a renewable energy policy with other stakeholders.

The spokesman declined to elaborate further.

Fragmented

Magombo dismissed the country's current energy policy – set in 2012 – as "fragmented."

According to Magombo, gaps in Zimbabwe's current energy policy include a lack of a separate renewable energy policy; a need for energy management regulations; and a lack of clean energy funding mechanisms and procurement framework for Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

Magombo maintains that the introduction of a separate renewable energy policy would help propel the issue to a new level.

"The renewable energy policy is expected to address most of the challenges and issues in the clean energy sector," she said.

According to ZERA, the country has significant quantities of clean energy resources that can be tapped for sustainable economic growth.

"ZERA is promoting the use of ethanol, as it is a sustainable, clean and renewable fuel for cooking," said Magombo.

ZERA has also developed a Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff (REFIT) scheme, which has yet to be implemented.

REFIT mandates power utilities operating on the national grid with purchasing electricity from renewable energy sources at a pre-determined price with a view to stimulating investment in the sector.

"The feed-in tariffs were developed for renewable energy technologies applicable to Zimbabwe, such as solar PV, small hydro, biomass, bagasse and biogas," said Magombo.

"REFIT is meant to promote renewable energy projects up to a maximum capacity of ten megawatts," she added.

Zimbabwe's current economic blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Socio-Economic Sustainable Transformation (ZIMASSET), which was developed in 2013, sets renewable and energy efficiency targets.

It aims to increase the use of renewable energy resources by 300 megawatts by 2018 and to substitute 20 percent of the country's petrol imports with bio-fuels by 2015.

ZIMASSET also seeks to substitute 5 percent of the country's diesel imports with bio-diesel by 2020.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/145607/zimbabwe-to-develop-renewable-energy-policy.

Moscow bans Islamic sacrifice ritual for Eid

02 October 2014 Thursday

Muslims in the Russian capital Moscow have been denied the right to celebrate the upcoming Eid al-Adhu (Feast of the Sacrifice) Islamic holiday after local authorities banned them from carrying out the traditional slaughter ritual.

The second of the two Eid holidays in the Islamic calender, Muslims typically celebrate the occasion by slaughtering a lamb, a cow or a camel and distributing its meat to relatives, neighbors and the poor.

However, a spokesman for the city's inter-regional cooperation, national policy and religious organizations department, told Interfax on Wednesday that the sale and slaughter of sacrificial animals will be banned in Moscow during the holiday.

Muslims will be allowed to fulfill the religious rite in villages outside of the main city, he added.

A recent influx of migrant workers in Moscow from mainly Muslim parts of Russia, such as the northern Caucasus and central Asia, have brought to light new issues in the city, amid increasing tensions between migrants and the city's Slavic community.

Currently, there are only four official mosques in Moscow, which is insufficient to cope with the increase of Muslims arriving in the city.

Muslims in Moscow in recent years have had to resort to praying their Eid prayers in public squares with prior permission from the local authorities.

In total, around 23 million Muslims live in Russia, making it the country's second largest religion with 15% of the overall population of 145 million.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/145548/moscow-bans-islamic-sacrifice-ritual-for-eid.

Violent protests as Kurds seek help against IS

October 08, 2014

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Kurdish protesters clashed with police in Turkey leaving at least 14 people dead and scores injured Tuesday as demonstrators in Brussels forced their way into the European Parliament, part of Europe-wide demonstrations against the Islamic State group's advance on a town on the Syrian-Turkish border.

Turkey's private Dogan news agency reported 8 dead in the eastern city of Diyarbakir and that the other victims died in cities in the east as police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse protesters who burned cars and damaged businesses.

The activists are demanding more help for the besieged Kurdish forces struggling to hold onto the Syrian town of Kobani. Some European countries are arming the Kurds, and the American-led coalition is carrying out airstrikes against the Islamic extremists, but protesters say it isn't enough.

A demonstrator in Cyprus urged the coalition to "hit the jihadists harder" so that Kurdish forces can hold the town. Tensions are especially high in Turkey, where Kurds have fought a 3-decade-long battle for autonomy and where Syria's violence has taken an especially heavy toll.

Protests were reported in cities across Turkey on Tuesday, after Islamic State fighters backed by tanks and artillery engaged in heavy street battles with the town's Kurdish defenders. Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse demonstrators in Istanbul and in the desert town of Kucuk Kenderciler, near Kobani on the Turkish side of the border. One person in Istanbul was hospitalized after being hit in the head by a gas canister, Dogan reported.

Some protesters shouted "Murderer ISIS!" and accused Turkey's government of collaborating with the Islamic militants. Authorities declared a curfew in six towns in the southeastern province of Mardin, the Anadolu Agency reported.

Hundreds of thousands of Kurds live elsewhere in Europe, and mobilized quickly via social networks to stage protests after the advance on Kobani. Some European Kurds have gone to the Mideast recently to join Kurdish forces.

In Brussels on Tuesday, about 50 protesters smashed a glass door and pushed past police to get into the European Parliament. Once inside, some protesters were received by Parliament President Martin Schulz, who promised to discuss the Kurds' plight with NATO and EU leaders.

In Germany, home to Western Europe's largest Kurdish population, about 600 people demonstrated in Berlin on Tuesday, according to police. Hundreds demonstrated in other German cities. Austria, too, saw protests.

Kurds peacefully occupied the Dutch Parliament for several hours Monday night, and met Tuesday with legislators to press for more Dutch action against the insurgents, according to local media. The Netherlands has sent six F-16 fighter jets to conduct airstrikes against Islamic State in Iraq, but says it does not see a mandate for striking in Syria.

France, too, is firing airstrikes on Islamic State positions in Iraq but not in Syria, wary of implications on international efforts against President Bashar Assad. "We don't understand why France is acting in Kurdistan in Iraq and not Kurdistan in Syria," said Fidan Unlubayir of the Federation of Kurdish Associations of France.

Kurds protested overnight at the French Parliament and plan another protest Tuesday. Kurds also staged impromptu protests against the Islamic State fighters in Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm. On Monday, protesters at the U.S. Embassy in Cyprus urged the international coalition to provide heavy weaponry to Kurdish fighters and forge a military cooperation pact with the Kurdish group YPG.

Angela Charlton reported from Paris. Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Raf Casert in Brussels, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Jari Tanner in Tallinn and Mike Corder in The Hague contributed to this report.

Anti-austerity protests: Spain, Germany, Portugal

June 1, 2013

By HAROLD HECKLE
Associated Press

MADRID — Anti-austerity protesters on Saturday took to the streets of dozens of European cities, including Madrid, Frankfurt and Lisbon, to express their anger at government cuts they say are making the financial crisis worse by stifling growth and increasing unemployment.

Thousands marched peacefully toward Madrid's central Neptuno fountain near Parliament, chanting "Government, resign."

Around 15,000 people gathered outside the International Monetary Fund's headquarters in Lisbon shouting "IMF, out of here."

Many protesters were carrying banners saying, "No more cuts" and "Screw the Troika," a reference to the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the three-member group that bailed out the governments of Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus.

The bailout loans were given on the understanding that governments enact stringent austerity measures to rein in their heavily indebted finances.

Spain came perilously close to needing a sovereign bailout last year and was forced to negotiate a 40 billion euro ($52 billion) loan for its stricken banking system when its borrowing costs soared.

The country has been in recession for most of the past four years and has a record 27.2 percent unemployment rate. The percentage is twice that high for Spaniards under 25 years old.

Spain has since seen almost daily protests by people angry over money-saving cuts and reforms in the education and health sectors while failing banks received billions.

Spain's central and regional governments claim the cuts are needed to help the country reduce its swollen deficit to within agreed upon European Union limits.

"It's obvious that the intention of those governing us is not to take a single step back," said Madrid fireman Eduardo Oliva, 43. "So, it's in our hands, in all European citizens' hands, to demand change. Otherwise life's going to become impossible for us."

Portugal pledged to cut its debt in return for a 78 billion euro ($101 billion) bailout two years ago, but tax hikes and pay cuts have contributed to a sharp economic downturn. The country is forecast to post a third straight year of recession in 2013 while unemployment has climbed to 17.7 percent and is forecast to keep on rising.

Also Saturday, German police and thousands of anti-capitalist protesters engaged in a standoff near the headquarters of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.

Police in Germany's financial capital said about 7,000 protesters refused to move after officers encircled a group of about 200-300 people because they refused to remove face masks they were wearing.

Organizers of the "Blockupy" protest said up to 20,000 people had demonstrated against the ECB's role in pushing European countries to cut government spending as part of efforts to reduce public debt.

Frankfurt police spokesman Erich Mueller said officers had used pepper spray and batons to stop some protesters from breaking through police lines.

Other protests Saturday took place in European cities including Barcelona, Brussels, Bilbao and Valencia.

"Like so many people, I'm really upset at the behavior of our governments because they have totally caved in just to prop up the banks," said Jesus Alonso, 63, in Madrid.

Source: The Seattle Times.
Link: http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2021101561_apeuspainfinancialcrisis.html.