Speaking up isn't so easy for Catalans who also feel Spanish

September 29, 2017

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — When striking college students rallied on Thursday in Barcelona to defend a vote on whether Catalonia should secede from Spain, Josep Lago headed in the opposite direction, to his Law class.

The 24-year-old has little sympathy for the political struggle that many of his fellow students have embraced. Catalonia as it is now, a prosperous region of northeastern Spain, suits him well. Like most of those who agree with him, he doesn't plan to vote in Sunday's referendum.

What moves him to protest, though, is what he sees as the refusal of his right to dissent in a society where the separatists' is the loudest voice. Lago has taken legal action against the harassment and threats that his group of non-nationalist students received when they started to speak up.

Catalans say secession vote to happen, they hope peacefully

September 28, 2017

MADRID (AP) — Authorities in Catalonia intend to ensure that a disputed referendum on independence from Spain will take place peacefully on Sunday despite a crackdown on the vote by the national government, the region's interior chief said Thursday.

Minister Joaquin Forn said that Catalan officials are determined to proceed with Sunday's vote for the region of 7.5 million people in northeastern Spain even though the central government in Madrid says referendum is illegal and can't happen.

"The (Catalan) government's commitment is very clear: people will be able to vote," Forn told reporters in Barcelona, the main city in Catalonia. Forn met with regional and national security officials to defuse mounting tensions ahead of the ballot. In recent weeks, Spain's Constitutional Court has ordered the ballot to be suspended and police have confiscated ballot papers and posters for it.

The Spanish Constitution refers in Article 2 to "the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation." The central government is deploying 10,000 police officers in Catalonia for the ballot, Forn told reporters. He insisted, however, that the Catalan police force called the Mossos d'Esquadra must take their orders from local authorities. The force's loyalty has been torn between the central and regional governments.

Earlier Thursday, Catalonia's foreign affairs chief, Raul Romeva, called for the European Union to support the referendum, echoing an appeal by Catalan regional President Carles Puigdemont. Puigdemont has accused the EU of "turning its back" on Catalonia in its conflict with Spain's central government.

Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau also urged the EU to safeguard "fundamental rights and freedoms in Catalonia" by mediating the standoff between Catalan officials and national officials in Madrid before Sunday's planned vote.

"If Europe wants to have credibility as a project, it needs to redirect this situation," Colau told AP in an interview. Thousands of striking Catalan university students, many carrying pro-independence flags, marched in Barcelona to protest the central government crackdown on the ballot.

An international media watchdog, meanwhile, rebuked the Catalan pro-independence movement for placing undue pressure on journalists to present its side of the dispute. Reporters Without Borders said the regional government's push to impose its side of the story in local, Spanish and international media has "crossed red lines."

The watchdog added that Spanish authorities' legal measures against Catalan media to stop the spread of information about the referendum have contributed to an atmosphere of extreme tension.

Catalan official calls for EU support ahead of referendum

September 28, 2017

BRUSSELS (AP) — Catalonia's foreign affairs chief has appealed for support from the European Union before a disputed referendum calling for independence from Spain. Raul Romeva, speaking to journalists Thursday in Brussels, said that EU institutions need to "understand that this is a big issue." Romeva spoke a day after Catalan regional president Carles Puigdemont accused the EU, in an interview with The Associated Press , of "turning its back" on Catalonia in its conflict with Spain's central government.

Romeva accused the Spanish government of a "brutal crackdown" on Catalan officials to try to prevent Sunday's referendum, which Spain considers to be illegal, and that it's "generated an unprecedented level of shock."

He said that he doesn't expect violence, because "it's not in the Catalan DNA to use violence to solve political problems."

Catalonia's separatists defy Spain with ballots for vote

September 24, 2017

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The grassroots groups driving Catalonia's separatist movement defied Spanish authorities on Sunday by distributing one million ballots for an Oct. 1 independence vote that the central government in Madrid has called illegal and vowed to halt.

Jordi Cuixart, president of the separatist group Omnium Cultural, announced the ballots were being distributed during a rally in Barcelona. "Here are the packs of ballots that we ask you to hand out across Catalonia," Cuixart said.

Spanish police have confiscated millions of ballots in recent days as part of a crackdown to stop the Oct. 1 vote, which has been suspended by Spain's Constitutional Court. Around a dozen regional Catalan officials were arrested Wednesday, provoking a wave of protests across the prosperous northeastern region.

Catalonia's separatists have pledged to hold the vote regardless of the central government's wishes and rallied Sunday in public squares in Barcelona and other towns in the region. Many carried pro-independence flags and signs calling for the independence vote and urging the "Yes" side to victory.

The crowds were asked by secessionist politicians and grassroots groups to also print and distribute posters supporting the vote. "I ask you to go out and vote! Vote for the future of Catalonia!" Carme Forcadell, the speaker of Catalonia's regional parliament, told a Barcelona crowd.

Polls show the 7.5 million residents of Catalonia are roughly split on breaking with the rest of Spain.

Protests continue at Spanish court over secession arrests

September 21, 2017

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Thousands of protesters stood firm outside a Spanish court in Barcelona after night fell Thursday, continuing to shout demands for the release of a dozen regional officials arrested in connection with a planned vote on Catalan independence.

Spanish authorities maintain the referendum scheduled for Oct. 1 is illegal and are challenging its constitutionality. But Catalan pro-independence groups also are digging in their heels as they fight for what they say is their right to vote.

The demonstrators who spent the day outside the Catalan Superior Court of Justice, a branch of the Spain's national legal system, answered a call by pro-independence civic groups to stage long-term street protests against the surprise crackdown by police the previous day.

As the sun set, a large crowd sang, waved pro-independence flags and held banners proclaiming "Democracia!" (Democracy!) Unlike the previous night, when there were scuffles with police and patrol cars were vandalized, the mood remained festive.

The Catalonia region's president, Carles Puigdemont, insisted in a video message late Thursday that the referendum would go ahead despite the legal obstacles and police action. "These are not easy days, for sure, but we feel strong," Puigdemont said. "While Spain acts like a regime where the authority of power grows inversely to its moral strength, we feel increasingly supported by the Catalan people's greatest asset: its people."

With tension mounting as Oct. 1 approaches, Spanish authorities contracted three ships usually used as ferries and brought them to northeastern Spain to provide accommodation for the additional security forces being deployed in the region. Authorities have not disclosed how many officers will be on duty.

"Our motto is that we are not afraid," said Malena Palau, a 21 year-old student participating in Thursday's gathering. "We want to vote because we have the right to decide, regardless of what we vote."

The protesters' response had begun Wednesday as news of the police raids on Catalan government offices and the arrests spread through social media. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, whose opposition to the referendum has the support of the main opposition Socialist party, has warned Catalan leaders of "greater harm" if they don't call off the referendum bid.

Stepping up the pressure, Spain's Constitutional Court said Thursday it will begin fining 22 electoral board members appointed to oversee Catalonia's planned independence referendum between 6,000 ($7,200) and 12,000 euros ($14,400) a day as long as they fail to comply with a court order suspending the ballot. The fines will begin Saturday, a court statement said.

At the same time, and apparently offering an olive branch, Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos held out the possibility of increased funding for Catalonia — one of the main demands by disgruntled Catalans, who say their wealthy region hands too much to the central government. De Guindos said in an interview with the Financial Times published Thursday that "once independence plans are dropped, we can talk."

Catalonia represents a fifth of Spain's 1.1-trillion-euro ($1.32 trillion) economy and enjoys wide self-government. The region has about 5.5 million eligible voters. Polls consistently show the region's inhabitants favor holding a referendum but are roughly evenly divided over independence from Spain.

AP reporters Ciaran Giles and Aritz Parra contributed to this report from Madrid.

Clash over Catalan vote heats up in Spain as police swoop in

September 20, 2017

MADRID (AP) — Thousands of people supporting a contested referendum to split Catalonia from Spain took to Barcelona's streets amid an intensifying government crackdown on the independence vote that included the arrests of a dozen regional officials Wednesday and the seizure of 10 million ballot papers.

The arrests — the first involving Catalan officials since the campaign to hold an independence vote began in earnest in 2011 — prompted the regional government and some of its supporters to say casting a ballot was as much about dignity as whether to break away from Spain.

Regional Catalan officials so far have vowed to ignore a Constitutional Court order to suspend the Oct. 1 referendum while judges assess its legality. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy warned them of "greater harm" if they don't drop the referendum bid, which he called a "totalitarian act."

"Disobedience of the law by a part of the political power is the opposite of democracy, it means an imposition, an injustice, the violation of people's rights and an attack to democracy," Rajoy said in a televised appearance on Wednesday night.

"If you care about the tranquility of most Catalans, give up this escalation of radicalism and disobedience," the conservative leader said, addressing Catalan officials directly. "You are on time to avoid a greater harm."

Catalan nationalists argue that self-determination is an inalienable right that can't be curbed by any constitution. The prime minister's determination to prevent the ballot has backing from the main Spanish opposition parties.

Some members of Rajoy's conservative government have even referred to the standoff as democratic Spain's greatest political crisis since 1981, a failed coup attempt in the country's parliament that came only three years after the official end of Gen. Francisco Franco's dictatorship.

Spanish Interior Ministry officials would not identify the arrested regional officials, saying the investigation was ongoing. The Catalan regional government confirmed that among them were Josep Maria Jove, secretary general of economic affairs, and Lluis Salvado, secretary of taxation. Jove is the No. 2 to the region's vice president and economy chief, Oriol Junqueras.

The Catalonia branch of Spain's High Court said Wednesday that some 20 people were being investigated for alleged disobedience, abuse of power and embezzlement related to the referendum. Police acting on a judge's orders searched 42 premises, including six regional government offices, officials' private offices and homes, as well as three companies in Barcelona, the court said in a statement.

The arrests risked stoking public anger in Catalonia, where pro-independence passions can run high. Several thousand independence supporters gathered to angrily protest the raids outside government offices in Barcelona, which is Catalonia's capital. Some demonstrators sat down in the street to block police cars, while a few scuffled with police officers.

Later, protesters rejoiced when National Police officers left the headquarters of the anti-establishment CUP political party. The officers waited hours for a judge to sign off on a warrant to search the premises for referendum-related propaganda, but the permission never came.

Protests also occurred in other Catalan towns and in Spain's capital, Madrid. There were no reports of arrests and one person was reported injured, according to the regional police. At the demonstration outside the Catalan regional ministry of economy, protester Charo Rovira said she felt sad at the turn of events.

"Catalonia is practically in a state of siege," she said. She added that the arrested politicians were merely acting according to the will of the people. Catalonia's president, Carles Puigdemont, blasted the police operations as "unlawful" and accused the national government of adopting a "totalitarian attitude." He accused Madrid of bringing a state of emergency to Catalonia and of effectively cancelling the northeastern region's self-rule.

His televised statement came as Spain's Finance Ministry said it was imposing further controls over the Catalan government's finances to ensure no public money is used for the referendum. Finance Minister Cristobal Montoro's order means that virtually all of Catalonia's public spending will be handled in Madrid and that no credits could be requested for non-essential payments.

Catalonia represents a fifth of Spain's 1.1-trillion-euro ($1.32 trillion) economy and enjoys wide self-government authority, although key areas such as infrastructure and taxes are in the hands of central authorities. The region's 7.5 million inhabitants overwhelmingly favor holding a referendum, but are roughly evenly divided over independence.

As part of the crackdown, police confiscated nearly 10 million ballot papers, the Interior Ministry said. Polling station signs and documents for election officers were also seized during a raid on a warehouse in a small town outside Barcelona.

"Today the government of Rajoy has crossed a very dangerous red line," Jordi Sanchez, president of Catalan National Assembly, a civic group leading the independence drive said. "We will do all we can for democracy and freedom to prevail."

Barcelona Football Club, which is popular around the world, waded into the controversy, too. The soccer team said it "condemns any act that may impede the free exercise of (democratic) rights" and vowed to "continue to support the will of the majority of Catalan people, and will do so in a civil, peaceful, and exemplary way."

Spain's Interior Ministry canceled time off and scheduled leave for Civil Guard and National Police officers who are being deployed to ensure the vote doesn't happen. It gave no details on the number of agents involved.

AP photographer Emilio Morenatti and videographer Hernan Munoz contributed from Barcelona. Barry Hatton contributed from Lisbon, Portugal.

Ukraine rules out foreign sabotage plot in munitions fire

September 28, 2017

MOSCOW (AP) — Ukraine's chief military prosecutor on Thursday ruled out a foreign sabotage plot in a massive fire at an ammunition depot that forced the evacuation of thousands of people. The fire at the warehouse at a military base in Ukraine's central Vinnytsia region began late Tuesday, setting off a series of explosions and prompting the evacuation of 30,000 people. Electricity and gas supplies were cut off in the area, and trains were severely delayed across the country. The fire was still blazing Thursday.

Local media reported that about 188,000 tons of munitions were kept at the depot in the town of Kalynivka, 190 kilometers (120 miles) southwest of the capital, Kiev, including rockets for the Grad multiple grenade launchers.

Anatoliy Matios, the country's chief military prosecutor, on Thursday denied earlier statements from authorities suggesting that a group of foreign saboteurs may have set the depot on fire. Matios said investigators were looking into possible negligence, abuse of power or sabotage by those who were authorized to handle the munitions.

Matios also said investigators discovered that the fire alarm at the depot wasn't working and that its security force was understaffed. "Neither the investigators, nor the Security Service, nor any law enforcement agencies found any groups of saboteurs in the Vinnytsia region that people are talking about on Facebook," Matios said, an apparent reference to comments made by several senior Ukrainian officials on social media Wednesday blaming Russian saboteurs for the fire.

Authorities launched checks at military bases across the country in the aftermath of the fire and discovered serious violations. Prosecutors found two "completely drunk" colonel and lieutenant colonel in charge of security at a military depot holding Soviet-era ballistic missiles.

"I think such cases are not unique," Matios said on Thursday, quoted by the Interfax news agency. In Kalynivka, firefighters on Thursday morning were still unable to put out the blaze because there were still periodic explosions at the site, said Mykola Chechotkin, chief of the Ukrainian State Service for Emergency Situations.

"Explosions are still happening as you can hear," he told reporters in Kalynivka. "It's too dangerous for firefighters to access the area even though four fire tanks are working there."

8 dead, dozens injured as fierce storm hits western Romania

September 17, 2017

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — A violent storm in Romania that produced winds of up to 100 kilometers (60 miles) an hour left at least eight people dead and dozens more injured Sunday, authorities said. Among the earliest reported deaths was a man who died in the city of Timisoara after he was hit by a billboard, while a woman was killed by a falling tree, Elena Megherea, a General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations spokeswoman in Timis County, said.

Two more people, one of whom was hit by a tree, died in the western town of Buzias. After the storm moved north, a 50-year-old man died in the northwest city of Bistrita after he was hit by a branch during a walk in the park, emergency situation officials said.

The country's Inspectorate for Emergency Situations more than doubled the number of people injured to 67 on Sunday night. It said the storm tore roofs off schools, hospitals and houses, uprooted trees and damaged cars.

Elena Tarla, an Emergency Situations spokeswoman for Caras-Severin County, says the storm ripped out trees and downed power lines. She says many homes were without electricity. Mihai Grecu, head of the emergency department at Timis County Hospital, told national news agency Agerpres that 30 people were receiving treatment for injuries from flying objects.

Officials warned residents to stay at home or take shelter, to remove appliances from sockets, and to stay away from power transmission towers. Sunday's storm followed days of high temperatures.

Greece: Joint air force drills with Cyprus, Egypt, Israel

October 01, 2017

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Greece's defense minister says plans are being drawn up for joint air force drills with Cyprus, Israel, Egypt and other European countries as part of efforts to bolster stability in the eastern Mediterranean.

Panos Kammenos' remarks Sunday came after a military parade in the Cypriot capital to commemorate the 57th anniversary of the ethnically divided island's independence. The parade included the overflight of a pair of Greek Air Force F-16 jets, the first showing of the Greek warplanes at the event in 16 years.

The island's Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said there will be no let-up in efforts to reunify Cyprus, despite July's collapse of peace talks with breakaway Turkish Cypriots. Russian-made BUK surface-to-air missiles were also put on the display at the parade.

Prominent German nationalist figure Petry to leave party

September 26, 2017

BERLIN (AP) — One of the most prominent figures in the nationalist Alternative for Germany said Tuesday she plans to leave the party, even as other lawmakers from the anti-migrant party held their first meeting after a strong showing at the polls.

The announcement from Frauke Petry, the party's co-chairwoman since 2015, came after Alternative for Germany, or AfD, won 12.6 percent of the vote in Sunday's election to secure seats in the national parliament for the first time.

Petry told reporters Tuesday in the eastern city of Dresden she would leave the party "in the coming days." She said it was "the logical consequence of what has happened in recent months in our party."

She played a key role in moving AfD's focus from opposing eurozone bailouts to migration when she took over in 2015, but has been increasingly sidelined in recent months. Petry has said she aimed to make the AfD ready for government in 2021, and urged her party earlier this year to exclude members who expressed extremist views.

"We think this country urgently needs political change, but we no longer consider our party in a position to take it in hand" after months of in-fighting, she said Tuesday. "Of course I want to continue pushing for political change in 2021 as an individual lawmaker, and perhaps later in a different configuration that it's far too early to speak about," she added.

Petry had already announced Monday that she wouldn't join the party's parliamentary group, but left her future open. Other leaders then urged her to leave the party altogether. Her husband, Marcus Pretzell, the party leader in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia and a regional lawmaker there, told The Associated Press that he is also leaving AfD.

AfD won 94 of the 709 seats in the new German parliament, including Petry's. It wasn't immediately clear whether any other federal lawmakers would follow her departure. Fellow AfD members appeared relatively unconcerned by the news as they gathered in Berlin.

Sunday's election left Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc weakened but still easily the biggest group in parliament. Merkel now faces a complicated task in forming a coalition — most likely with the pro-business Free Democrats and the traditionally left-leaning Greens.

Her partners in the outgoing government, the center-left Social Democrats, say they will go into opposition after they lost substantial support. Before she can haggle with other parties, Merkel will have to smooth over tensions with the Christian Social Union, the Bavaria-only sister to her own conservative Christian Democratic Union.

The CSU leader, Bavarian governor Horst Seehofer, feuded with Merkel over the 2015-16 migrant influx and demanded a fixed annual limit on the number of asylum-seekers Germany accepts. The pair buried their differences in recent months, but Seehofer has insisted since election night that the conservatives need to close an "open flank" to their right.

"We must make clear to the public we have understood (that) just carrying on wouldn't be good," Seehofer said, adding that people "expect policies that react to this election result." Merkel said Monday she "can't see what we should do differently." But Seehofer said after meeting her Tuesday he has "great confidence" that they will close ranks.

Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.

Germany's Merkel faces tricky task to build government

September 25, 2017

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel was embarking Monday on a complicated quest to form a new government for Europe's biggest economy and find answers to the rise of a nationalist, anti-migrant party.

Sunday's election left Merkel's conservative Union bloc weakened after a campaign that focused squarely on Germany's leader of the past 12 years. However, the result leaves no other party able to lead a new government, and Merkel herself lacks any obvious internal challenger.

The center-left Social Democrats — Merkel's partners since 2013 in a "grand coalition" of Germany's two traditionally dominant parties — vowed to go into opposition after a heavy defeat. Caucus leader Thomas Oppermann doubled down on that pledge Monday, saying that "we will not conduct coalition talks, because voters have decided that the Social Democrats' place is in opposition."

"All of us, all the parties have the responsibility of giving this country a stable government," Peter Tauber, the general secretary of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, told ZDF television. "And a coalition can only be successful if it is able to make compromises."

Germany has no tradition of minority governments, and Merkel has already made clear she doesn't want to try that option — which would in any case be a tall order, as her bloc has only 246 of the new parliament's 709 seats.

That means the only politically plausible option is a three-way coalition with the pro-business Free Democrats and the traditionally left-leaning Greens. The combination, called a "Jamaica" coalition because the parties' colors match those of the Caribbean nation's flag, hasn't been tried in a national government.

Merkel faces lengthy talks to secure an alliance with parties that have a tradition of mutual suspicion as well as differences on issues including migration, European financial policy and the auto industry's future.

At the same time, she faces pressure from conservative allies for an effective response to the third-place finish of the nationalist Alternative for Germany, or AfD, which entered parliament for the first time after a campaign that centered on harsh criticism of Merkel and her 2015 decision to allow in large numbers of migrants.

AfD took voters from Merkel's bloc and to a lesser extent from the Social Democrats, while also mobilizing large numbers of people who didn't previously vote. "Of course I want to win back everyone who voted for AfD and previously voted for us," Tauber said. "To do that, we have to confront AfD clearly and show that we have the better answers."

AfD won 94 seats in the new parliament — but long-standing splits inside the party emerged on Monday, as one of its most prominent figures announced that, "after long reflection," she wouldn't join the AfD caucus, and walked out of a news conference with fellow leaders.

Party co-chairwoman Frauke Petry has been sidelined by other leaders over recent months after urging her party to exclude members who express extremist views, with the aim of attracting moderate voters.

Petry said she wants to make the party ready for government in 2021, while others have made clear their priority is no-holds-barred opposition. "We should be open about there being differences of substance in AfD," Petry said. "An anarchic party ... can be successful in opposition, but it cannot make voters a credible offer for government."

She left without taking questions. Other leaders continued calmly with their news conference. "I'd like to apologize in the name of my party," co-chairman Joerg Meuthen said. "This wasn't discussed with us."

Merkel bids for fourth term as Germans head to the polls

September 24, 2017

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel cast her vote Sunday in Berlin, confident of a fourth term in office with her conservative bloc enjoying a wide lead in the final polls, while the nationalist, anti-migrant Alternative for Germany party seemed poised to win seats in parliament for the first time.

Merkel campaigned on her record as chancellor for 12 years, emphasizing the country's record-low unemployment, strong economic growth, balanced budget and growing international importance. That's helped keep her conservative bloc well atop the polls ahead of the center-left Social Democrats of challenger Martin Schulz.

In Berlin, which also hosted its annual marathon Sunday, many streets were blocked and some voters had to cross the marathon route as runners zigzagged their way through the German capital. A festive mood emerged, with bands playing on street corners and bystanders cheering and applauding.

Merkel arrived in the early afternoon to vote with her husband Joachim Sauer, whose umbrella shielded them from the cold drizzle. Merkel nodded and smiled at reporters but made no comments. Schulz voted with his wife Inge in his hometown of Wuerselen in western Germany.

Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union and its sister party, the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union, have governed the country for the last four years with the Social Democrats in a so-called "grand coalition." Most forecasts suggest that coalition will win another majority on Sunday, but different coalition government combinations could be possible.

The latest polls had Merkel's conservative bloc at 34 to 37 percent support, the center-left Social Democrats with 21 to 22 percent and the anti-migrant Alternative for Germany, or AfD, with 10 to 13 percent support, enough to get into parliament.

If that happens, it would make AfD the farthest right-wing party in parliament for nearly six decades. In a tweet, the Social Democrats urged people to get out and vote against the AfD, saying "it's a right-wing extremist party that doesn't belong in parliament."

AfD's Frauke Petry, a party chairwoman, fired back with her own tweet: "Live with it comrades, the trend to the left is over today." In addition to AfD, the Greens, the pro-business Free Democratic Party and the Left Party were all poised to enter parliament with poll numbers between 8 and 11 percent support.

Many of Germany's 61.5 million voters had remained undecided until the very last moment. That included Bernhard Sommerfeld, a 62-year-old bookseller. "I was really undecided," said Sommerfeld, who declined to say who he voted for in Berlin. "It was very difficult."

Midway through the day, Germany's federal election authority said national voter turnout was slightly down compared to the last election in 2013. As of 2 p.m. Sunday, 41.1 percent of eligible voters had cast their ballots, the Federal Returning Officer said. That compared to 41.4 percent cast by that time in 2013, in an election where final turnout ended up at 71.5 percent.

Absentee ballots are now considered in the 2 p.m. report, however, and they're expected to be a record number of them this year. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier appealed to his fellow citizens to vote, saying "these elections are also about the future of democracy and the future of Europe."

Countries across Europe have seen a rise of anti-migrant and populist parties in recent elections and several German pollsters have forecast that AfD may come in as the country's third-strongest party.

The AfD's campaign has been dominated by hostile slogans against the more than 1 million, mostly Muslim migrants who arrived in Germany in the last two years. They're aiming to grab votes from other parties, including Merkel's conservatives.

David Rising and Kerstin Sopke contributed reporting from Berlin.

Paris is for walkers and cyclists as city bans cars for day

October 01, 2017

PARIS (AP) — Parisians and tourists were encouraged to stroll through the City of Light on Sunday as officials banned cars from its streets for a day. Paris has experimented with car-free days in the past, but Sunday marked the first time the entire city was handed over to ramblers, cyclists and roller-bladers.

Only emergency vehicles, buses and taxis were allowed on the streets from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. Paris time. "It's nice for the air quality, for enjoying the city, walking around without any noise, without any risk to be run over by a car," Maxime Denis said as he strolled near Place de la Republique in the city center. "But it should be a real no car day. There are still a few so we are careful."

Another resident, Francois Boillat, noted that "as a Parisian, I only use public transport all the time, even though I have a car buried in a sixth basement car park and I barely use it. It is a bit stupid. I should sell it."

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo was elected on a promise to curb air pollution and reduce car traffic in the French capital, where vehicle emissions are often high. The car-free day created a potential headache for the organizers of Paris fashion week, who rely on trucks to install and remove lavish, sky's-the-limit shows. Worried fashion houses like Valentino sent out numerous email reminders to guests who planned to arrive by car, reminding them to organize alternative transport.

The Paris couture federation, which supports the initiative, spent months working with police and local authorities to ensure events ran smoothly.

EU moves ahead faster on new future than on Brexit talks

September 29, 2017

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Twenty-seven European Union nations, excluding Britain, will be coming up with clear options on a more tightly knit future for themselves even before they will allow divorce negotiations with the U.K. to move toward brokering a new relationship.

EU Council President Donald Tusk said Friday he would be presenting "a political agenda in two weeks' time," after EU vision statements in recent weeks from French President Emmanuel Macron, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and others on how to the reform the bloc.

That will be just days before the next EU summit, which is expected to reject for now British demands to start negotiating on the country's future links with the bloc alongside the current talks on how to make the cleanest Brexit possible.

Officials said Tusk will be given the job of reconciling Macron's vision of how the EU should embrace a joint budget, a shared military and harmonized taxes to stay globally relevant with those ideas of EU nations that might not want to grow too closer too quickly.

Tusk said he would seek "real solutions to real problems" and stressed the need to make progress "step-by-step, issue-by-issue." Macron said the EU had to seize the moment of having an improved economy and increased confidence in the bloc to push through reforms before European elections in 2019.

"2018 is a year of opportunity for Europeans," he said. "In 5 or 10 years, it will be too late." Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte warned, however, not to set the bar too high, since changes in the bloc of half a billion people have always been tough to achieve.

"Under-promise and over-deliver," Rutte said. "Don't promise an elephant and see a mouse show up." The collegial atmosphere was bolstered by a non-confrontational dinner Thursday night for EU leaders, where few of the usual east-west or north-south fissures spoiled the mood, officials said.

The goodwill has not extended to the issue of Brexit over the past months. EU leaders at their Oct. 19-20 summit have to say whether "sufficient progress" has been achieved on divorce issues with Britain — citizens' rights, the Irish border and a financial settlement — to grant the U.K. its wish to start talking about a new trade deal with the EU.

Juncker said it will take "a miracle" for there to be sufficient progress by then, despite a round of negotiations in Brussels this week that ended with some progress. Other EU leaders sounded a similar tone. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said despite "a better vibe and a better mood coming out of the negotiations" he questioned whether the time was right to move on to trade issues with Britain.

"It's still very evident that there's more work to be done," he said. For the past week, though, British Prime Minister Theresa May has sounded more conciliatory. In Estonia, she guaranteed her country's commitment to security even though the nation is leaving the bloc.

May visited troops in Estonia close to the Russian border on Friday and said "the United Kingdom is unconditionally committed to maintaining Europe's security." "We will continue to offer aid and assistance to EU member states that are the victims of armed aggression, terrorism and natural or man-made disasters," she vowed.

She also proposed a "new security partnership" to weather the divorce when her country leaves the bloc in March 2019.

Austria's 'Burqa Ban' law comes into force

October 01, 2017

VIENNA (AP) — A law that forbids any kind of full-face covering, including Islamic veils such as the niqab or burqa, has come into force in Austria. Starting Sunday, wearing a ski mask off the slopes, a surgical mask outside hospitals and party masks in public is prohibited.

The law, popularly known as the "Burqa Ban," is mostly seen as a directed at the dress worn by some ultra-conservative Muslim women. Violations carry a possible fine of 150 euros (nearly $180.) Police are authorized to use force if people resist showing their faces.

Only a small number of Muslim women in Austria wear full-face veils, but they have become a target for right-wing groups and political parties. France and Belgium have similar laws. The nationalist Alternative for Germany party is calling for one there, too.

'Burqa ban' law signals rightward political turn in Austria

September 30, 2017

VIENNA (AP) — A law prohibiting any kind of full-face covering, known popularly as the "Burqa Ban," takes effect Sunday in Austria, where the strong support for it portends potential political upheaval in the upcoming national election.

Parties campaigning on an anti-migrant message are poised to win on Oct. 15 and to form a coalition government. Such a rightward swing in a country that's had centrist governments almost consistently since World War II could have repercussions across Europe, emboldening politicians who take a hard line on Islam and immigration.

Last week, the right-wing, anti-migrant Alternative for Germany party won seats in Germany's national parliament for the first time after featuring posters with the slogan "Burqas? We prefer bikinis" in its campaign.

The Austrian law — called "Prohibition for the Covering of the Face" — forbids off-slope ski masks, surgical masks outside hospitals and party masks in public. Violations carry a possible fine of 150 euros (nearly $180) and police are authorized to use force with people who resist showing their faces.

But its popular name reflects the most prevalent association — the garments some Muslim women wear to conceal their whole faces and bodies. The garments are rare in Austria even after the recent surge of migrants into Europe. Support for the law is strong nonetheless, reflecting anti-Muslim attitudes in the predominantly Catholic country.

"It's not right that those living here don't show their faces," said Emma Schwaiger, who expressed support for the ban in a straw poll on the streets of Vienna. Five in seven of those who said they backed the law also said they will vote for the two parties that critics link to anti-Muslim sentiment — the traditionally xenophobic Freedom Party and the People's Party. The People's Party avoids the Freedom Party's inflammatory talk, but has swung radically from the center under new leader Sebastian Kurz to echo that party's positions on migration.

The Social Democratic Party, currently the majority partner in the government coalition with the People's Party, has been left struggling. Under Chancellor Christian Kern, the Social Democrats are focusing on social topics and claiming credit for Austria's recent economic upturn. But Kern's message is not coming across well.

A Unique Research poll of 1,500 respondents published Thursday showed the Social Democrats with 27 percent support, ahead of the Freedom Party at 25 percent but trailing the People's Party with 34 percent. The poll had a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.

Previously associated with stagnation and lack of direction, the People's Party was trailing in third place until Kurz, Austria's telegenic 31-year old foreign minister, took leadership in May after securing party pledges of full authority.

He already was known Europe-wide for shutting down the West Balkans route into the prosperous EU heartland for migrants. With early elections set after the breakup of the coalition with the Social Democrats, he rapidly remade the party in his own image.

Although the People's Party was part of the government coalition that opened its borders to more than 100,000 migrants in 2015, the party now says that "the political establishment failed in dealing with the refugee crisis."

Calling for zero illegal immigration, he says migrants intercepted on the high seas should be shipped to refugee centers in North Africa instead of Europe. Migrants waiting for a decision on their asylum applications should be forced to work menial jobs in exchange for pocket money. And instead of the normal six-year waiting period for Austrian citizenship, those receiving asylum should wait for 10 years, he says.

Kurz has something else in his favor for an electorate disaffected with the status quo. "He was able — even though he was in government for more than six years — to present himself as the 'change guy,'" said Thomas Hofer, a political analyst.

He now campaigns as the head of "Sebastian Kurz List." Posters with his image mention the People's Party as an afterthought. Turquoise has replaced the party's official color of black. Kurz also attracts Austrians who support the Freedom Party and its leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, on migration, but dislike the radical way they frame the debate. Kurz, says Hofer, "uses a different kind of language, and it's not extreme language — it's plain talk."

Kurz has pledged that the face-cover ban will be rigorously enforced. But Hofer dismisses the law as a "symbolic issue." Muslim women leaders see as insincere the claim the law is intended to help oppressed women.

Carla Amina Bhagajati of the Islamic Religious Community in Austria said the "handful" of fully veiled women she knows of in Vienna "now are criminalized and ... restricted to their homes." "This open society is, in a hypocritical way, endangering its own values," she said.

50 detained as anti-Semitic group marches in Swedish city

September 30, 2017

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Police said at least 50 people were detained Saturday during a right-wing demonstration in Sweden's second-largest city that left one police officer and several others injured.

The rally by the Nordic Resistance Movement in Goteborg, 400 kilometers (248 miles) southwest of Stockholm, featured an estimated 600 people marching in formation in all-black outfits. Some wore helmets and held shields, while others hoisted the movement's green-and-white flags.

Police had posted flyers before the event warning people not to act in a way reminiscent of German Nazis demonstrations in the 1930s and 1940s. NMR, which promotes an openly anti-Semitic doctrine, originally sought to pass near a downtown synagogue during the march, which coincided with Yom Kippur, Judaism's holiest day of the year. But Swedish courts intervened and shortened the route to less than one kilometer (0.6 mile.) The rally's ending time also was shortened to avoid clashing with a nearby soccer game.

Counter-demonstrators threw fireworks and attempted several times to break police lines, allegedly to confront NMR members, who also tried to get past riot police. Several were detained on suspicion of rioting, police said.

"Stones, bottles and sticks were also thrown at us," police spokesman Hans Lippens said. Police offered to shuttle NMR members away in buses after they were circled by riot police on a Goteborg square, preventing them from completing their march. Police said the move was meant to keep both sides apart.

The NMR later demanded that its leader who had been detained, Simon Lindberg, be released before they would leave the square. Counter-demonstrators threw rocks at police outside the Liseberg amusement park, which reportedly shut down its main entrance.

Some 20 people, mostly Danes and Germans, were stopped as they arrived in Sweden to take part in the demonstration. "As a democracy, we should do much more to oppose Nazism and extremism," Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told reporters Friday at an EU summit in Tallinn.

Goteborg was scarred by violent demonstrations in 2001 on the sidelines of a European Union summit.

Burundi refugees pressured return home, says rights group

September 29, 2017

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Thousands of Burundi refugees are under pressure to go home where they risk being killed, tortured or raped, an international human rights group said Friday. There is pervasive climate of fear in Burundi two years after Nkurunziza changed Burundi's constitution and won a third term in office, which many opposed, said the rights group. More than 400,000 Burundians have fled the country fearing violence since April 2015 when Nkururunziza's candidacy sparked weeks of protests and a failed coup.

Amnesty International said in a report that it interviewed 129 Burundi refugees in camps in Tanzania and Uganda, some of whom escaped persecution by President Pierre Nkurunziza's government as recently as May this year.

Sixteen people told Amnesty that they were tortured or ill-treated while in detention, among them a young man who said he was detained for a week in May in Kirundo Province, northern Burundi, the report said. He said he was held in a tiny unlit room with three others, repeatedly beaten with batons, and made to eat his meals in the toilet next door, the report said.

"They tortured us to make us confess that we worked with the rebels. One day they tortured us in an atrocious way. They took a bottle filled with sand and hung it from our testicles," he told Amnesty International.

More Burundians continue to flee the country due to repression and insecurity despite government assurances of safety, said Amnesty's Burundi researcher Rachel Nicholson. "Let's be clear, Burundi has not yet returned to normality and the government's attempts to deny the horrific abuses still taking place within the country should not be given credence," Nicholson said.

Despite this, there is mounting pressure on Burundian refugees to return to their home country, the report said. In January this year, Tanzania stopped automatically granting refugee status to Burundian asylum-seekers and Uganda followed suit in June. In July, Nkurunziza in an official visit to Tanzania called on the more than 240,000 refugees there to return home and his remarks were echoed by the Tanzanian president.

"Belonging to an opposition party, associating with opposition members, refusing to join to the ruling party or simply trying to leave the country is enough to create suspicion and the threat of arrest or worse," Nicholson said about Burundi's current political climate. "In these circumstances, it is imperative that Tanzania and Uganda continue to provide a safe haven for Burundian refugees in line with international law."

Moscow police keep opposition chief Navalny away from rally

September 29, 2017

MOSCOW (AP) — Police in Moscow detained Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny for most of the day Friday in an apparent bid to prevent him from joining a rally that he organized in another city, where several people were also detained.

Navalny had planned to travel to the Volga River city of Nizhny Novgorod where he was to lead a rally, the latest in a series of demonstrations he has organized across Russia, when he was detained early Friday. He was kept at a Moscow police station until late evening.

After he announced his presidential bid last year, Navalny, a top Kremlin foe and arguably Russia's most popular opposition politician, inspired a grassroots campaign in Russian regions to support his nomination. The crackdown comes after he held rallies in six Russian cities, from Murmansk in the northwest to Khabarovsk on the border with China.

Navalny posted a video on his Instagram account early Friday of what he said were officers outside his home asking him to come to a police station. He said he was held there without charges or any explanation why he had been detained.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement Friday that Navalny was detained because of his calls for unsanctioned rallies. The rally in Nizhny Novgorod, however, had received City Hall approval. When several hundred people gathered for the rally Friday evening, police ordered them to disperse and detained several demonstrators.

After his release, Navalny tweeted that the authorities' efforts to derail opposition rallies will fail. "A plan to block regional rallies won't work," Navalny said, adding that other demonstrations are set to be held in Orenburg in the Urals and Arkhangelsk in northwest.

Navalny has been summoned to attend a court hearing Monday on charges of violating the rules of organizing a rally. His campaign chief, Leonid Volkov, was kept in police custody in Nizhny Novgorod for most of the day Friday until being released and ordered to attend Monday's court hearing on the same charges.

"The Kremlin views my meetings with voters as a huge threat and even an insult," Navalny tweeted. "They were saying for so long that opposition has no support in the regions, and it now pains them to even look at our rallies."

The Kremlin has dismissed Navalny, who has faced repeated jailings and criminal cases, as an urbanite out of touch with people living in Russia's 11 time zones where President Vladimir Putin draws his support from.

That began to change earlier this year when Navalny opened campaign offices in 80 cities and towns, most of which had not seen a political life for decades, attracting thousands of supporters. In Germany, Ulrike Demmer, a spokeswoman for Chancellor Angela Merkel, told reporters Friday that the German government "views the arrests of activists including Navalny ... with incomprehension and great concern."

Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

Russia's Navalny detained ahead of rally

September 29, 2017

MOSCOW (AP) — Police on Friday detained Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny ahead of a rally in a major city. Navalny on posted a video on his Instagram account of what he said were officers outside his home asking him to come to a police station. He tweeted from the station later, saying he had not been told why he had been detained.

Navalny had planned to travel to the city of Nizhny Novgorod where he was to lead a rally later on Friday. After he announced his presidential bid last year, Navalny, a top Kremlin foe and arguably Russia's most popular opposition politician, inspired a grassroots campaign in Russian regions to support his nomination.

The Tass news agency on Friday quoted police as saying that Navalny was detained because of his calls for unsanctioned rallies. The rally in Nizhny Novgorod, however, had received City Hall approval. Navalny's associates, in the meantime, reported that police seized their equipment, which was already installed at a city square ahead of the rally.

"The Kremlin views my meetings with voters as a huge threat and even an insult," Navalny tweeted. "They were saying for so long that opposition has no support in the regions, and it now pains them to even look at our rallies."

He recorded and posted online a video from the police station, calling on his supporters in Nizhny Novgorod to come to the rally even if he does not make it there. The Kremlin has dismissed Navalny, who has faced repeated jailings and criminal cases, as an urbanite out of touch with people living in Russia's 11 time zones where President Vladimir Putin draws his support from. That began to change earlier this year when Navalny opened campaign offices in 80 cities and towns, most of which had not seen a political life for decades, attracting thousands of supporters.

Stampede on crowded Indian pedestrian bridge leaves 22 dead

September 29, 2017

MUMBAI, India (AP) — A stampede broke out on a crowded pedestrian bridge connecting two railway stations in Mumbai during the Friday morning rush, killing at least 22 people and injuring 32 others, Indian officials said.

Police were investigating what caused the stampede on the bridge, which led some commuters to leap over the railing. Others were crushed or fell underfoot and were trampled. "There were too many people on the bridge, and the people were in hurry and wanted to move out," said Brijesh Upadhyay, one of the many caught in the crowd. "There was nobody helping, it was very suffocating, and we just wanted to get out of there — and fell on each other."

One rescuer told Indian broadcaster NDTV that the stampede trapped dozens in the narrow passage, forcing rescuers to break the railing to pull people out. Mumbai police official Gansham Patel said some falling concrete had hit part of the bridge railing, leading people to surge forward out of panic at the thought that the bridge was collapsing.

Commuters also often complain about hawkers selling their wares on the narrow overpass, which connects two commuter railway stations, Elphinstone and Parel. Heavy rains meant the bridge was even more crowded than usual, as some sought shelter from the downpour under the canopy covering the bridge, said lawmaker Shaina Nana Chudasama of the governing Bhartiya Janata Party.

Hospitals were treating 32 injured people, including 19 women and 13 men. As Mumbai police appealed to citizens to donate blood to help the injured, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences to the families of those killed.

"Prayers with those who are injured," Modi tweeted. Separately in the southern city of Banglaore, two people were killed in another stampede by hundreds of people jostling to obtain coupons for free food offered by a local philanthropist, police said. The philanthropist has been detained for questioning.

Deadly stampedes are fairly common in densely populated India, where many cities are unequipped to deal with large crowds gathering in small areas, with few safety or crowd control measures. In October 2013, a stampede in Madhya Pradesh state in central India killed more than 110 people, mostly women and children.