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Sunday, June 14, 2015

Spain: Leftist mayors for Madrid, Barcelona in historic turn

June 14, 2015

MADRID (AP) — Madrid and Barcelona pulled off one of Spain's most significant political upheavals in recent memory Saturday, swearing in far-left mayors who stridently oppose the country's governing party and want to replace it in national elections later this year.

The new radical leaders have promised to cut their own salaries, halt homeowner evictions and eliminate perks enjoyed by the rich and famous. The landmark changes came three weeks after Spain's two largest traditional parties were punished in nationwide local elections by voters groaning under the weight of austerity measures and repulsed by a string of corruption scandals.

In Madrid, 71-year-old retired judge Manuela Carmena was sworn in to cheers from jubilant leftists who crowded the streets outside city hall shouting "Yes We Can!" as they ended 24 years of city rule by the conservative Popular Party, which runs the national government.

"We want to lead by listening to people who don't use fancy titles to address us," Carmena said after being voted in as mayor by a majority of Madrid's new city councilors. Carmena has vowed to take on wealthy Madrilenos who enjoy exclusive use of the city-owned Club de Campo country club — opening it up to the masses. "We're creating a new kind of politics that doesn't fit within the conventions," she said before being voted in. "Get ready."

In Barcelona, anti-eviction activist Ada Colau was later sworn in as the city's first female mayor, smiling broadly as she took possession of the mayoral sash and staff. "Thank you for making possible something that had seemed impossible," Colau declared inside city hall before taking a walk outside through a crowd of thousands of supporters who showered her and her newly appointed security guards with confetti.

Colau has questioned whether it's worth spending 4 million euros ($4.5 million) of city money to help host the glitzy Formula 1 race every other year. She thinks the funds would be better spent on free meals for needy children at public schools.

Carmena and Colau ran for office as leaders of leftist coalitions supported by the new pro-worker and anti-establishment Podemos — "We Can" — party formed last year. It is led by the pony-tailed college professor Pablo Iglesias, a big supporter of Greece's governing far-left Syriza Party.

Iglesias smiled from a balcony inside Madrid's city hall as he watched Carmena being sworn in, then pumped his arm into the air with a clenched fist as he celebrated the victory with others on the streets.

The left's takeover of Madrid, Iglesias said, is the goal his party has nationally for general elections that must be called by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy by the end of the year. "Our principal objective is to beat the Popular Party in the general elections," he said.

The political fragmentation propelling Carmena and Colau into office marks a historic moment in Spanish politics, said Manuel Martin Algarra, a communications professor at the University of Navarra who specializes in public opinion.

"Madrid and Barcelona for the first time are not going be governed by political parties, but by coalitions made up of social movements," he said. "This was a punishment vote to the traditional political establishment in Spain."

For Carmena's Ahora Madrid — or "Madrid Now" — coalition with the Socialist Party, that means a mandate to roll back moves by the Popular Party to privatize city services, as well as carry out audits of the city's debts and contracts awarded to private companies seen as political cronies, said Pablo Carmona, an incoming Madrid city councilor.

The coalition also wants to set up a municipal anti-eviction division, create a housing bank of vacant apartments for needy residents and provide cheap quality daycare to working class families. Before becoming a judge, Carmena was a labor lawyer defending worker-rights activists detained during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco that ended in 1975. The law firm she co-founded was targeted by a right-wing extremist who killed five of her colleagues and wounded four in an attack in 1977.

In Barcelona, the 41-year-old Colau is best known for leading the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages, formed in 2009 to fight evictions of crisis-hit homeowners who under Spanish law must still repay much of what they owe to lenders even after losing foreclosed homes.

Colau, who will be Barcelona's first female mayor, has raised eyebrows by siding with residents who say their neighborhoods are unlivable because the city has too much tourism. The main complaints are passengers disembarking from cruise ships and visitors who stay in illegally rented apartments.

"If we don't want to become Venice, some sort of limit on the tourism burden will be needed in Barcelona," Colau told the leading El Pais newspaper. "We can grow more, but I don't know how much." There's no way of knowing how much Carmena and Colau will shake up the status quo because their coalitions are "groupings of people with different opinions and very little political experience who are going to try new things and some of them will not be viable," said Martin Algarra.

But Colau said new things are exactly what voters want. "In Barcelona," she said, "a bet was made for change."

Harold Heckle in Madrid contributed to this report.

Spain: Scuffles during protest against leftist Podemos party

May 30, 2015

MADRID (AP) — Scuffles have broken out during a small demonstration against the radical leftist Podemos (We Can) party in Madrid six days after local elections boosted its power base in several of Spain's regions.

Around 200 protesters gathered in downtown Colon Square carrying Spanish flags and shouting slogans against Podemos after the ballot had given them sufficient votes to negotiate the balance of power in the local government.

One journalist had his camera broken and several others were showered with abuse and pushed around before police intervened to break up the demonstration. Lawyer Teresa Barrios said she was protesting peacefully when "some unpleasant" characters arrived and "began acting aggressively against members of the press."

Barrios said the main purpose of the protest was to stop Madrid's government lurching to the far left.

Freedom flotilla trawler to arrive in Galicia, Spain

May 30, 2015

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) --A ship taking part in Freedom Flotilla III is set to dock in Bueu, Galicia, Spain Saturday in one of several stops before making a final voyage to the besieged Gaza Strip.

Marianne will join other ships heading to Gaza in "a peaceful, nonviolent action to break the illegal and inhumane blockade of the Gaza Strip," the Freedom Flotilla Coalition said.

Gaza has been under a crippling Israeli-administered military blockade since 2007.

The Scandinavian trawler Marianne will stop in Spain for the five-year commemoration of a brutal attack on the first Freedom Flotilla in 2010, when Israeli naval forces killed ten human rights activists on board.

The incident, which took place in international waters, sparked international outcry.

A second flotilla planned for 2011 was unable to reach Gaza after Greek authorities prevented the ships from leaving Athens.

The Freedom Flotilla's Marianne set sail from Sweden earlier this month and is carrying a limited cargo of solar cell panels and medical equipment for the devastated Gaza Strip, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition said after the ship's initial departure.

It will carry a crew of five people as well as "up to eight delegates as passengers in each section of the route," the FFC said, with these delegates to be announced along the way.

European MEP Ana Maria Miranda Paz will be one of the passengers when the boat leaves Galicia for Portugal.

A range of other public figures are expected to participate in the flotilla, including former Tunisian President and human rights activist Muncef al-Marzouk.

The third Freedom Flotilla aims to bring supplies to the Gaza Strip, where conditions have deteriorated sharply following last summer's 50-day Israeli assault, which left more than 2,200 Palestinians dead and around 100,000 internally displaced.

It was their third conflict in less than five years, following an eight-day bombardment in 2012 and a 22-day war in late 2008 and early 2009.

The Israeli blockade, worsened by ongoing closures of the Gaza-Egypt border by Egyptian Authorities, has created near-impossible conditions for reconstruction, a statement released by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in March reporting that, "In Gaza, the effects of the occupation, blockade and recurring military campaigns have devastated not only Palestine refugee homes, lives and income, but also hope for a secure and dignified future."

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?ID=765677.

Educated Ukrainians flee east Ukraine for new lives in Kiev

June 11, 2015

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Alesya Bolot worked for a contemporary arts foundation that converted an abandoned factory into a mecca for young and bright people with daring ideas. Vibrant and cosmopolitan, the 27-year-old would not look out of place in a gallery in New York.

She was at the forefront of the avant-garde arts scene in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk when a pro-Russian insurgency took over and upended her life. When a rebel-controlled local television station portrayed creative people like her as the enemy, she decided it was time to flee.

"Everything we did ran counter to their ideology," she says, "the fact that we worked with foreign artists, the fact that we advocated for a plurality of opinions." Bolot arrived in the capital Kiev a year ago with only a backpack, not planning a long-term stay. But she decided to remain after she was told she was on the wanted list of the self-styled Donetsk People's Republic, for alleged subversive activity. A year on, the Izolyatsia contemporary arts center runs a much smaller gallery in Kiev.

More than 2.2 million people have fled their homes in eastern Ukraine since the war between government forces and Russia-backed separatists began in April last year, according to the United Nations, some to neighboring Russia, but about 1.3 million to Ukrainian regions under government control.

Educated, middle-class people like Bolot, whose arts center was turned into a rebel training camp and prison, represent a big chunk of those who opt for Ukraine-controlled areas, especially the capital — a serious brain drain for Ukraine's east. There are so many of them in Kiev, the displaced say, that it often feels like their city has moved with them.

According to the U.N., a total of 94,000 people from eastern Ukraine are now living in Kiev and its suburbs. More than 8,000 are subscribed to a "Donetsk people in Kiev" group on Facebook, set up by Vladimir Voronov, a 36-year old who created the brand for the glittering new Donetsk airport, which was transformed into an apocalyptic wasteland by months of heavy fighting there.

For people who have left their careers, homes and often extended families behind, community outreach is vital for survival, Voronov says. Along with the war trauma, he explains, people from the east have to struggle with the dire financial realities of a recession, with the government offering a paltry 400 hryvnias ($20) a month in benefits.

"Because of the need to survive many people here have discovered new resources in them," Voronov says. "It's a seasoned community that has nothing to lose, has nowhere to go back to, all bridges burnt."

Voronov's friend and business partner, Andrei Budyak, runs the informal Donetsk community in Kiev. He says the community is helping newcomers to integrate, offering legal advice as well as a chance to simply "meet and chat, to have a good time to reminisce about the good old days." The community trades advice, organizes picnics and offers free classes for children.

The displaced long to return home but are afraid that the war has changed their homeland beyond recognition. Some feel betrayed by those who stayed, regarding them as supporting the separatists. Bolot says she is certain that many people who stayed in Donetsk do not share the separatists' views — but still finds reconciliation difficult.

"I don't know how you can live and work alongside people who have supported what is going on there," she said. The population of Donetsk, the rebel region's largest city, is believed to have shrunk by a third from its pre-war 1 million. A city that hosted the Euro 2012 football matches, with glittering store fronts and a vibrant restaurant scene, Donetsk is now eerily empty during what could be the rush hour, as if it's always a lazy Sunday morning.

The exodus has drained the region of countless professionals. Viktoria Sosnina, a gynecologist from Donetsk who fled to Kiev, says roughly half the doctors at her once-prestigious hospital have left. And so have many patients.

But Sosnina also defends those who choose to remain at home. She says a professor at her hospital in Donetsk stayed "because the hospital is his child. It doesn't mean he betrayed someone, like a child he cannot abandon it."

The Ukrainian government never organized a proper evacuation from rebel-held areas, but it has taken pride in "evacuating" major universities — opening new campuses in Ukraine-controlled areas and inviting students and faculty. Many stayed behind, however. The Donetsk rebels say 17 universities with 38,000 students operate on the territory they control; schools are open too.

The Donetsk National University literally split in two when it was ordered to move to the city of Vinnytsia and some professors and students chose to stay put. The university staff who moved issued a statement last year accusing those who stayed of "taking part in terrorist activities."

Most of those who have fled war-torn areas still have friends and relatives on the other side of the front lines, and are baffled by such claims. Konstantin Reutsky, a human rights activist from the rebel-controlled city of Luhansk who now lives in Kiev, says many of those who fled the heavy fighting last summer are coming back to their hometowns, some driven by the hostility they often face as refugees "who came to take our jobs," some by the failure to build a life from scratch. But most of these people, according to Reutsky, leave again "when they begin to see the lack of prospects" in the rebel-controlled zone, a weapon-choked land in limbo.

Still, many of the displaced believe in an eventual revival in the east. "Reconciliation is possible," says Sosnina. "But only when the fighting stops and people can talk freely without weaponry around them and without the poisonous rhetoric from both sides."

She says she is still in touch with her former colleagues in Donetsk: "When we talk, we try not to talk about politics."

Ukraine fuel depot fire kills 1, several injured near Kiev

June 09, 2015

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials say that a major blaze has engulfed a fuel depot near the capital, leaving one man dead and injuring several others.

The Emergency Situations Ministry says firefighters are focusing on trying to prevent the fire from spreading to a nearby military unit. Senior officials have rushed to the area to coordinate efforts to combat the blaze Tuesday.

The fire, which erupted late Monday at the depot near the village of Hlevaha just southwest of Kiev, has filled the skies with plumes of black smoke and prompted the evacuation of residents in surrounding areas.

The Interior Ministry said Tuesday that one worker at the depot died at a hospital from severe burns, and several others remained hospitalized. The cause of the blaze is under investigation, with sabotage a possibility.

Fed up with failing peace, Ukraine rebels eager to fight

June 06, 2015

DOKUCHAYEVSK, Ukraine (AP) — In this front-line town in eastern Ukraine, the cease-fire called more than three months ago seems to be only an insulting guise. Shelling rocks the area so often that dogs have learned to head for the basement at the first blast.

Everyone wants the shelling to stop, both the town's civilians and the rebels who control it. That weariness points paradoxically toward new violence. The rebels are itching for an end to the pretense and wish their leaders would give the order for a full-out assault.

"We've asked them for permission, but all they say is: 'no, no, no,'" said one rebel sniper, who goes by the call-sign Rzhavy. The hollowness of the phony armistice was rudely exposed this week as a ferocious one-day battle erupted on the western edge of the main rebel stronghold, Donetsk. International appeals for calm and restraint duly followed.

Instead, the menacing sound of heavy-duty artillery is again being heard along the front. Under the internationally-brokered peace agreement, all firepower with a caliber over 100mm should have been pulled far back from the front line. But international monitors say the heavy weapons may be getting brought back — recent trips to holding points for the big guns found many that had once been there to be gone.

At the intersection of a country lane leading out of Dokuchayevsk, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Donetsk, separatist militiaman take turns on guard by an anti-tank rocket propped on concrete blocks.

Across the road stands an Orthodox crucifix pocked with bullet holes and the words "save and protect" written on a crossbeam. The roof of a dilapidated warehouse nearby bears signs of a shell strike. "So they fire at us at the checkpoints. Fine, we're fighters here," said a bespectacled rebel militiaman, who adopted the nom de guerre Odessa in honor of his native city. "But there are civilians living near here. They just hurl stuff at them too."

One shell last week fell onto Yelena Ignatova's roof, but spared her meticulously tended garden plot of tomatoes, peppers and cabbages. Residents like Ignatova pray desperately for peace, but have little faith that diplomacy is the way to achieve it.

"What did we need the peace agreement for?" she said. "Just to give the Ukrainian army the chance to reinforce here?" The diplomatic path's prospects appeared to further dim this month when the latest round of talks between rebels, Russia and Ukraine ended with no visible progress. On Saturday, the talks' moderator, Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini, resigned.

The units holding the line in Dokuchayevsk are a varied crew. Some are from nearby towns and cities. The voyage there has been longer for others, like Valery, an ethnic Evenk from the Siberian region of Yakutia in Russia, around 5,500 kilometers (3,300 miles) to the east.

Valery, who agreed only to give his first name, said he completed a three-year contract with the Russian army in September and decided to travel to Ukraine after growing bored of civilian life. "My granny told me that men should fight, so I came here," he said.

Dokuchayevsk is only one of multiple potential flashpoints. The worst violence to hit east Ukraine in months broke out Wednesday in Marinka, a satellite suburb of apartment buildings outside Donetsk. Following a well-rehearsed pattern, both sides blamed one another for sparking the fighting. An official account by monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe describes movements of rebel forces in Donetsk on the eve of the battle that suggest the initiative may have been with them.

Ukrainian and separatist officials appear to be dissembling about the scale of their losses. Kiev says five of its troops were killed, although soldiers told The Associated Press of a battle so ferocious that they feared none of them would survive. One complained that they had little with which to repel that attack — his unit's anti-tank rocket launcher was damaged and the portable grenade launcher is of little use against armored vehicles.

Rebel leaders are admitting to 16 deaths among combatants, but the rank-and-file privately admit the true number ranges into several dozen. Separatists quietly buried some of their dead Friday and then more of them over the weekend.

Nobody appears to have lost or gained ground in the fighting, so the only certain dividend has been a further intensification in the anger and frustration felt by the fighters. In the wake of the events in Marinka, Ukrainian officials had to admit they used heavy weaponry proscribed under the cease-fire agreement in their battle to hold onto the town.

Such arms may give their users power but they have proven disastrously imprecise. The trail of destruction created by the Marinka unrest led deep into Donetsk, where part of a market was burned to the ground after being struck by a projectile.

OSCE accounts also indicate that rebels haven't refrained from deploying multiple rocket launchers and several other weapons prohibited from being anywhere near the front. In Dokuchayevsk, rebel fighters say the shelling has worsened in the last two weeks and that the Ukrainian army has taken to using Grad rocket launchers and large-caliber artillery, along with the usual mortars and tanks. Relatively fresh impact craters seen on the grounds of an oil depot in the town Friday were several feet deep — a potential confirmation of that claim.

At his post, Odessa says there is only one conclusion to be drawn. "As soon as we get the order, we will go ahead. We all want to get this over with as soon as possible," he said. "What are all these negotiations for?"

Evgeniy Maloletka in Marinka, Ukraine, contributed to this report.

Romania's parliament votes to keep prime minister's immunity

June 09, 2015

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's parliament on Tuesday voted to keep the immunity of the prime minister, who is a suspect in a corruption probe.

Lawmakers voted 231-120 against anti-corruption prosecutors' request to prosecute Victor Ponta. The premier is suspected of corruption charges, including being an accomplice to tax evasion from 2007 to 2008 while serving in Parliament, a conflict of interest and money laundering.

After the vote, President Klaus Iohannis renewed his call for Ponta's resignation and criticized Parliament for voting to keep Ponta's immunity. "It is a proof of maximum irresponsibility and lack of respect for public opinion that most lawmakers are preventing justice from doing its duty ... to save a single person," Iohannis said in a statement.

The U.S. Embassy said in a statement that "allegations of wrongdoing by government officials should be fully investigated without interference, and the law should be applied equally to everyone. " Ponta earlier told foreign media that he considered resigning after being informed that he was a suspect last week, but decided to stay on to ensure political stability. He denies wrongdoing and says he will cooperate with prosecutors.

Iohannis has said that he would prefer the whole government to resign, not just Ponta. Ponta's center-left government faces a vote of no-confidence on Friday. The prime minister said he hoped he would survive.

Ponta told journalists that the political crisis was an "an unexpected gift" for Russia, which has cool relations with Romania.

President urges PM to resign over corruption allegations

June 05, 2015

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's president on Friday urged Prime Minister Victor Ponta to resign over corruption allegations including tax evasion and money laundering. Ponta refused, saying that only Parliament could dismiss him.

President Klaus Iohannis said after meeting Ponta that it was "an impossible situation for Romania for the prime minister to be accused of criminal acts." Iohannis warned that Romania could be embroiled in a political crisis if he did not resign.

The 42-year-old premier had met earlier with the anti-corruption prosecutor's office and then told reporters he was suspected met of making false statements, money laundering, conflict of interest and being an accomplice to tax evasion. He had not previously been identified as a suspect in the anti-corruption drive.

In a posting on his Facebook page, Ponta vowed to fight. "I cannot accept that the anti-corruption prosecutor is above Parliament, the government and the citizens of this country!" he wrote. "That would mean a dictatorship and 25 years after the 1989 (revolution) would be a grave error for all of us!"

Ponta, chairman of the ruling Social Democratic Party, was elected prime minister in April 2012. He ran for president in November 2014 but lost to Iohannis, who headed the rival Liberal Party. Ponta's party counts on the support of smaller parties for a slim majority in Parliament.

The prosecutors have asked Parliament to prosecute Ponta. The allegations relate to his work as a lawyer from 2007 to 2008 when he was also a lawmaker for the Social Democratic Party. Ponta is the most prominent suspect to be identified as Romania's anti-corruption drive has intensified in recent months.

In 2014, the anti-corruption office secured a record 1,051 convictions, including a former prime minister, seven former ministers, a former deputy prime minister, four lawmakers, one member of the European Parliament, 39 mayors, 25 magistrates and two tycoons.

Members of Parliament are immune from prosecution unless there is a vote to lift their immunity. Dan Sova, a member of Parliament and a close associate of Ponta, has beaten two attempts to lift his immunity.

Poland's next leader: government shakeup not good enough

June 11, 2015

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's prime minister has let five top officials resign to save her ruling party's credibility, but the president-elect and others said Thursday that may not be enough to save the party from losses in the fall parliamentary vote.

In power since 2007, Civic Platform suffered a painful defeat when the incumbent, who was linked to the party, lost in the May presidential election to opposition candidate Andrzej Duda. Now the party seems poised for more electoral losses.

Five top government officials resigned unexpectedly Wednesday, including Parliament Speaker Radek Sikorski. All were involved in a 2014 scandal in which ministers' deals and stratagems with businessmen and lobbyists were illegally taped in restaurants and partly leaked to the media. The public was shocked to hear their foul language and views.

Secret files from the investigation into the tapings were illegally posted on Facebook this week, prompting the five men to resign. "Civic Platform feels threatened after the presidential defeat," said political analyst Andrzej Rychard.

Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz is "aiming to show activity and new ideas, (to fight) against the general opinion that the party is on a downhill slide," Rychard said. "But it may be too little, too late." When the scandal erupted last summer, Donald Tusk, the party leader and prime minister, dismissed the interior minister but played the problem down. Tusk is now president of the European Council, but the party faces a backlash over his handling of the scandal.

Duda, who takes office as president on Aug. 6, on Thursday criticized the ruling team. "I don't think that anyone, seeing all this, can deny that things in Poland are not going well and that the credit of trust in the ruling team has been used up," Duda said.

"It is possible that soon, power will be in the hands of people who care for the nation's interests and good change will be possible," Duda said, stopping short of a direct endorsement for the conservative opposition Law and Justice party that he came from.

Replacement ministers in the shake-up are expected to be named Monday.

Ethnic Albanians protest against government in Macedonia

June 13, 2015

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — About 2,000 ethnic Albanians have marched peacefully in the Macedonian capital, protesting against government policies toward the country's largest ethnic minority.

About 40 ethnic Albanian civic organizations and associations called for collective protests Saturday demanding the resignation of the conservative coalition government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's VMRO-DPMNE party and its junior partner, the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integrations.

The organizers also demand a new investigation of several court cases involving ethnic Albanians sentenced in allegedly politically motivated trials. Skender Rexhepi, senior official of one of the organizers, told local TV that Macedonia needs "a new agreement of all citizens" that will "open a...redefinition of the state where Albanians are a constituent element, equal with Macedonians."

Ethnic Albanians comprise a quarter of Macedonia's population of 2 million.

Thousands protest G7 summit in southern Germany

June 06, 2015

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany (AP) — Thousands of demonstrators packed a German Alpine resort town on Saturday to protest a wide range of causes, from climate change to free trade, before the arrival of the leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies for a two-day summit.

Though the demonstration in Garmisch-Partenkirchen was largely peaceful, a small group of protesters clashed with police as they marched through the town, charging at officers who responded with pepper spray. At least two protesters had to be taken away by medics for treatment. Police said one officer was also injured by the pepper spray; there were no arrests.

During the demonstration, black-clad anarchists chanted slogans against police violence, anti-capitalists held signs denouncing a proposed trans-Atlantic trade deal, and peace protesters waved rainbow flags and signs with anti-war slogans.

Protester Monika Lambert said she had come "to exercise my democratic rights to say that everything the G-7 decides is in the interest of the banks and capitalists." Lambert, from the Bavarian city of Erlangen, said Germany's history has shown that it is important to speak out.

"I asked my parents what they did during the Nazi period and they did nothing," she said. "I don't want to tell my children and grandchildren the same thing." About 2,000 protesters marched to the train station from their camp on the outskirts of town for the noontime demonstration and were joined by thousands of others, including many families and children.

Bavarian Michael Wildmoser carried a sign with communist slogans. "Too many young people are being exploited in low-paid jobs," he said. "This situation can't go on." Police had 22,000 officers from around Germany on hand, keeping tight control on the demonstrations. Spokesman Hans-Peter Kammerer said significant numbers of extremists from Germany, Austria, Italy and Britain were among the crowd.

One group of about 30 protesters dressed as clowns, taunting police by getting up close and personal, dusting their boots with feather dusters, pretending to listen in on their conversations and making sexual innuendos.

A group of six clowns sat in the middle of the street, blocking the road and forcing a police van carrying reinforcements to turn back. Protesters' spokesman Simon Ernst, who was part of the group that camped overnight outside town, said they wanted to show their anger at the leaders of Germany, France, the U.S., Italy, Britain, Canada and Japan, calling them "the henchmen of bankers and corporations."

Police planned to keep all demonstrators away from the summit venue, the Schloss Elmau hotel in a tiny village about 8 kilometers (5 miles) from Garmisch-Partenkirchen. A court initially ruled that up to 50 protesters should be allowed inside the security zone Sunday so that the world leaders would be able to hear them.

On Saturday, however, Bavaria's administrative court revoked permission for that demonstration. The court said organizers had refused to have participants transported to the site in police vehicles and insisted on marching, but it ruled that would pose too great a security risk, the news agency dpa reported.

The summit runs Sunday through Monday.

Associated Press Writer David Rising contributed to this report.

France plans to lure more tourists with wine tours

June 11, 2015

PARIS (AP) — France wants to develop wine tours in its countryside as part of a series of measures aimed at boosting tourism and retaining the country's position as the top destination in the world.

France's foreign affairs minister, Laurent Fabius, set Thursday a target of 100 million foreign tourists per year by 2020, up from 84 million now. "Tourism is a national treasure," he told a news conference. "Wine is an important sector to attract foreign customers in our beautiful wine-growing regions that are still under-visited: Bordeaux, Bourgogne, Languedoc, Rhone, Champagne, etc."

Fabius announced the creation of a state-owned investment fund that would, among other things, help finance tourist facilities in vineyard areas. In the same spirit, the government vowed to boost river and sea cruises and to invest in shore areas, ports, and waterways. It will also support events promoting France's gastronomy.

France plans to extend its 48-hours visa process system — already applied for China— to Turkey, Singapore and Indonesia by the end of the year. To make life easier for tourists in Paris, authorities want to launch next year a new "city pass" that would give access to both the metro and museums not only in the capital, but also in its surroundings — including the Palace of Versailles and the airports.

It would replace the current complex system of metro tickets with different prices depending on the distance from the city center.

EU council head Tusk urges tough line on Russia

June 07, 2015

ELMAU, Germany (AP) — World leaders at the Group of Seven summit should present a united front and uphold the sanctions imposed on Russia for its actions against Ukraine, a top European Union official urged Sunday.

European Union President Donald Tusk spoke ahead of the official opening of the G-7 summit, as thousands of German police patrolled a security perimeter around an exclusive Bavarian hotel and a few hundred protesters chanted anti-capitalist slogans.

Tusk said, since the Ukraine peace deal agreed in Minsk, Belarus, in February has not been fully implemented, the only question for the 28-nation EU is whether to make the sanctions against Russia even tougher.

"If anyone wants to start a debate about changing the sanctions regime, the discussion could only be about strengthening them," said Tusk, a former Polish prime minister. The G-7 summit marks the second year in a row that leaders from the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan will assemble without Russian President Vladimir Putin. After Russia annexed the entire Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine last year, the world powers kicked Russia out of what had been called the Group of Eight, a move aimed at isolating Putin and signaling the West's united opposition to his actions.

Tusk spoke at a press conference with European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker. They are participating in the talks as representatives of the EU, while world figures, including U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank President Jim Kim, will take part in some of the G-7 discussions at the Schloss Elmau hotel.

Tusk said Russia's possible return to the group would depend on a turn-around in Moscow's foreign policy. "This is a community of values. And this is why Russia is not among us here today and will not be invited as long as it behaves aggressively toward Ukraine and other countries," he said.

The U.S. and the European Union have imposed financial restrictions on Russian companies and individuals to pressure Russia into stopping its support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. They and NATO say Russian troops and military equipment have been used on Ukrainian territory — something Russia denies.

Tusk said one role for the summit would be "to reconfirm the G-7 unity on the sanctions policy." Protesters, meanwhile, blocked roads as the G-7 leaders arrived in the Bavarian Alps to begin their two-day summit. Journalists were flown by helicopter to the venue to avoid delays on the roads due to the protesters.

Several hundred demonstrators hiked early Sunday from the resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen to get near the security perimeter around the Schloss Elmau hotel, the secluded summit venue 8 kilometers (5 miles) away.

Some 22,000 police from around Germany were brought in to keep the protesters away from the hotel. At the security fence, about 200 protesters shouted slogans like "Freedom and peace, no more G-7!" and waving signs with slogans like "Politics for people, not markets." On the other side, about 100 police officers with dogs were patrolling the fence to keep the demonstrators out.

Two protesters broke away from the main group at the security fence in an attempt to sneak through the woods and breach the barrier, but they were quickly chased down and turned back by about a dozen police.

The annual summit has drawn repeated protests by those who believe the leaders' decisions favor banks and business interests over those of ordinary people. A planned trans-Atlantic free trade agreement is a major concern.

Tusk went out of his way to acknowledge the protests, saying that their presence demonstrated the democratic values that G-7 nations stand for. "People can demonstrate and think what they want, can say what they want, and even look like they want," he said. "I'm sorry for this maybe-trivial truth, but from time to time it's important that someone says it so openly."

Rising reported from Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Frank Jordans contributed to this story.

Canada to send military instructors to Ukraine

June 06, 2015

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the country soon will send military instructors to Ukraine to help train government troops.

While in Kiev en route to the Group of Seven summit, Harper said the instructors would work in western Ukraine. That is far away from where Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatist rebels have been fighting since April 2014. But the move is likely to bring criticism from Russia and the rebels, as did similar training by U.S. forces.

At a joint news conference Saturday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the countries would widen military cooperation, but that Canada won't supply lethal weapons. Poroshenko also said Ukraine hasn't asked Western countries to base missiles in Ukraine to defend against Russia. National security council head Oleksandr Turchynov floated that proposal last month.

Argentine Congress considers making street harassment crime

June 09, 2015

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — When she left her house each day, Aixa Rizzo would brace for a barrage of sexually-laden comments from male electricians working on a project in her neighborhood.

It started with under-the-breath remarks, applause and whistles, but over several weeks developed into vulgarities about her body and chants about sexual fantasies. One day, three of the men followed her, prompting Rizzo to turn around and shower them with pepper spray. The men swore at her and told her she was crazy, but they ultimately walked away.

"They shouted these things at me for an entire month," the 20-year-old university student said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I couldn't walk out of my house in peace." Frustrated by something all too common in this South American country of 41 million, Rizzo in April posted a video on YouTube about her experience. She argued that verbal assaults could lead to physical abuse.

The video, seen by half a million people, touched a nerve, turning Rizzo's campaign into a cause celebre and prompting lawmakers to draft legislation that would make such street harassment a crime. A vote is expected in the next few months.

The moves come amid a national campaign protesting physical attacks against women. Tens of thousands of Argentines took to the streets last week in a march dubbed "ni una menos," meaning not one more woman lost to gender violence.

There are many contradictions in Argentina when it comes to gender equality. Women have equal rights under the law and there are more women than men enrolled in college. The country's most powerful person is a woman — President Cristina Fernandez. But the macho culture of many Latin American countries is pervasive here as well.

Many men, from taxi drivers to construction workers to white collar workers, frequently whistle or say things when women walk by. "Lewd comments are just the tip of the iceberg that manifests itself in domestic violence," said opposition congresswoman Victoria Donda, who has put forward legislation making such verbal taunts a crime.

Under Donda's bill, which includes funds to raise awareness about abuse in schools and workplaces, women could report sexual harassment in public places. A judge would then review the complaint, interview any witnesses, and decide whether a fine should be levied.

The law is aimed at combatting aggressive sexual comments, not compliments about nice hair or clothes. However, Orlando Britez, a 23-year-old construction worker, worries that men could be punished if women interpret their comments as too aggressive.

"It means I would have to hold it in, and not say what I really want to" when women pass by, Britez said from a Buenos Aires worksite. "If we say nice things, what's wrong with that?" asked fellow construction worker Elio Borlio. "Things like, 'Look at how beautiful you are.'"

The bill appears to have wide support, including among ruling party lawmakers, and is expected to be taken up in the next few months. Two similar proposals are being considered by the municipality of Buenos Aires, the country's capital and largest city.

The debate comes amid concern about increased violence against women, including a rise in reported cases of domestic abuse. In 2010, the Supreme Court created the Office of Domestic Violence to receive and evaluate claims of abuse. The first year, the office dealt with 7,437 cases. By 2014, the number had risen to 10,573, an 18 percent increase.

There has also been a steady increase in the number of women killed in violent acts nationwide. Last year, 277 women were killed violently, including in cases of rape and kidnapping, a slight drop from 295 killed in 2013 but a big decline compared to 208 in 2008, according to Meeting House, an organization that works with battered women. The data combines killings by the women's partners, as well as strangers, and group first began compiling statistics in 2008.

Other countries in the region have considered similar bans on lewd comments. Under a law passed in Peru in March, women can report street harassment and a judge then evaluates the claim and decides on a jail sentence.

A catalyst for that legislation was an incident last year that scandalized the country. Peruvian singer and actress Magaly Solier claimed that a man masturbated behind her on a busy bus in Lima. The man was identified and Solier filed a police report. But a judge decided against pursuing charges, saying that because there was no physical contact, it was a complaint that didn't belong in court.

In her video, Rizzo tells a similar story of having no legal recourse. After the pepper spray incident, she tried to file a police report, but was told the men couldn't be charged because they never touched her.

In a Facebook forum called "Action/Respect," women share stories of men jeering, hissing and calling out to them. One woman recently wrote about how men would shout at her even though she was six months pregnant.

Beyond the potential for harm, many women say the harassment is simply infuriating. "If they say, 'Nice smile,' I laugh and just continue walking," said Susana Godoy, a 20-year-old university student in Buenos Aires. "But I hate it when they say, 'Hey, baby,' and other gross stuff."

Associated Press video journalist Paul Byrne contributed to this report.