Qatar signs Turkey naval military base agreement

March 14, 2018

Qatar has signed an agreement with Turkey to establish a naval base, Khaleej Online reported today.

The agreement came during the Doha International Maritime Defense Exhibition and Conference (DIMDEX) 2018, which ends today, which was attended by international investors from the US, Europe and China for potential ventures.

Turkey has won a tender to establish the base in northern Qatar, general Hamad Bin Abdullah Al-Futtais Al Marri, commander of Qatar’s joint special forces said. The naval base will include a training center that will primarily take on maritime patrols and monitoring. No other details of the base were revealed.

Turkey will also export six armed, unmanned aerial vehicles or drones to Qatar’s armed forces, and give training services to Qatar’s forces by next year. Qatar wishes to purchase the drones for its own surveillance and tactical reconnaissance needs. Turkey will be assisting a long-term strategy to harness defense knowledge with an agreement to establish an academy for Qatar in association with Turkey’s Piri Reis University.

Qatar has taken a strategic decision to increase its defense and regional security amid an ongoing air, land and sea blockade led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The blockade was levied over extremism and terrorism allegations, which Qatar categorically denied as baseless.

Turkey stepped in, providing Qatar with food and medicine essentials.

In early 2018, the Turkish National Security Council finalized a plan to deploy 60,000 armed soldiers to Qatar in accordance to a 2022 defense plan. Some one hundred soldiers are currently based in Qatar’s Al-Udeid military base since the Saudi-led blockade.

Some 30 Turkish companies are participating in Qatar’s DIMDEX exhibition, showcasing modern military technology.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180314-qatar-signs-turkey-naval-military-base-agreement/.

Spain feels the heat as migrants shift route into Europe

June 29, 2018

TARIFA, Spain (AP) — Askanda Fopa Ponye was jubilant as he stepped off an orange rescue ship onto Spanish soil, one of the latest arrivals amid a wave of migrants that has turned the shortest route from North Africa to Europe into the most popular one.

The 24-year-old Cameroonian survived a 9-month trip across the African continent and a 10-hour overnight ordeal on the Mediterranean Sea, paddling north from Morocco in a fragile inflatable boat that he bought along with seven other people.

Rescued at sea, he and 74 others finally disembarked in the southern city of Algeciras. Fopa Ponye carried nothing but his wet clothes, his determination to find a job in Barcelona and a message for European Union leaders who want stricter policies to curb the numbers of those seeking a better life in Europe.

"Migrants are not coming here to do bad things. I don't come here looking for trouble," Fopa Ponye said, speaking as the British outpost of Gibraltar and its famous Rock towered across a bay filled with luxury yachts.

The U.N. refugee agency says 17,781 people have made it to Spain so far this year, both by land and by sea, outpacing the arrivals by boat to Italy (16,452) or Greece (13,120). The arrivals this year to Spain's southern coast are already the highest for the past decade. Although far from the flows seen in Greece in 2015, and Italy over the following two years, they show how routes are shifting westward as policies are adjusted.

Of the 973 who lost their lives in the Mediterranean so far this year, nearly a third (293) died trying to reach Spain, the International Organization for Migration said. That figure does not include an estimated 100 migrants who were missing at sea and feared dead Friday off the Libyan coast when their smuggling boat sank.

Despite a sharp decline from 2015 peak levels of economic migrants and asylum-seekers arriving in Europe, the renewed popularity of the Western Mediterranean route is straining Spain's security forces and social safety networks.

With police stations and juvenile facilities overflowing in Cadiz, Spain's southernmost province, authorities are setting up makeshift housing in sports facilities, rented hostels or even ferry terminals.

On Tuesday, the day Fopa Ponye was rescued, the sports complex in Tarifa held more than 600 people, some who came all the way from Bangladesh or Sri Lanka. Women, some of them pregnant and others with newborns, slept on the floor of a basketball court, sharing it with dozens of unaccompanied teenagers.

By Wednesday, authorities stopped receiving more people in Tarifa, and a new facility had to be opened in the nearby coastal town of Barbate. There were moments of tension Thursday when dozens of Moroccans stormed an exit and managed to escape police.

Spain has bilateral agreements with Morocco, Algeria and other African countries to return their citizens, making it nearly impossible for any arrivals from there to get asylum. But most sub-Saharan Africans and others arriving in the country are given an expulsion order that authorities are rarely able to execute.

Most are released and continue north into France and beyond. Among those who stay — awaiting asylum and unable to work — a small number receive public assistance for up to two years. But many end up homeless or at the mercy of criminals. Local governments, especially in cities like Madrid or Barcelona, offer limited accommodations and assistance, relying frequently on charities.

Aid groups say the approach needs to be rethought. The early summer surge in arrivals is exposing Spain's response as ill-equipped, underfunded and too reliant on improvisation. The increase also comes as a divisive debate over migration has re-emerged in Europe. At an EU summit on Thursday and Friday in Brussels, the 28 leaders of the bloc agreed on several measures to better manage migration into Europe.

In 2006, offering funds and training to the coast guard and security forces in Senegal reduced a wave of nearly 32,000 arrivals in the Canary Islands. But Spain's approach also has been marred by an asylum system that has more than 43,000 unsolved petitions — last year only 4,670 people were granted protection — and controversial, on-the-spot returns of migrants caught entering the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla over a fence in North Africa.

The Rev. Josep Buades, a Jesuit priest who visits migrants weekly at some of the detention centers known as CIEs, said "Spain's past experience should be seen as a showcase of the challenges that lie ahead for the European Union, rather than a path to success."

The Associated Press was denied access this week to visit CIEs in Tarifa and Algeciras, the latter a former prison that Spain's Ombudsman Office said should be closed due to poor conditions. Run by Spain's police with little public supervision, these centers also seem to be models for similar facilities being proposed either on European soil or abroad.

Jose Villahoz, head of the local aid group Algeciras Acoge, said the EU shouldn't be looking for ways to deprive migrants of their freedom. "If the rights of the nationals of the transit countries are not even respected, it's going to be even worse for those coming from sub-Saharan countries," said Villahoz, adding it was "deplorable to make those countries in northern African responsible" for the migration flows into Europe.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said he will look into how to improve the CIEs, but there are no plans to close them. After winning praise earlier this month for taking in 629 migrants on the Aquarius rescue ship that Italy and Malta rejected, Spain's new center-left government is under pressure to deliver an equivalent response to the migrant arrivals on the southern coast.

But the European debate feels far away in the EU's "south of the south," as Villahoz calls Spain's neglected Andalusian coast. Instead, all eyes are on negotiations with Morocco, which many in Spain blame for opening or closing the valve of departures from its shores, ahead of talks with the EU on fishing, agricultural and other topics.

On Thursday, Sanchez sent Spain's interior and foreign ministers to Morocco for meetings with their counterparts. Sanchez himself is planning a visit there this summer. Khalid Zerouali, Morocco's director of migration and border surveillance, said his country is under new pressure amid the clampdown on the sea migration route between Libya and Italy.

He also told the AP that Morocco isn't interested in trying to determine which migrants are eligible for asylum in Europe. The plan to make such decisions in some African countries is being discussed by the EU as one way to tamp down arrival numbers.

"That's not the solution," Zerouali said, because people often use Morocco as a departure point for Spain, adding that about 25,000 migrants have been stopped this year. Buades, the Catholic priest, says Europe should explore policies that favor legal migration while rethinking its overall asylum system and its treatment of arrivals. But that is difficult in the current climate, he added.

"The Europe that we live in has dived into a populist and xenophobic discourse that makes it nearly impossible to improve the current system," Buades said.

Amira El Masaiti in Rabat, Morocco, contributed to this report.

King and queen of Spain wrap up visit to San Antonio

June 19, 2018

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia visited a museum exhibit featuring Spanish masterpieces on Monday as they wrapped up their visit to San Antonio. The royal couple came to San Antonio to celebrate the Texas city's 300th anniversary and its roots as a Spanish colonial village. On Monday they inaugurated an exhibit at the San Antonio Museum of Art that features masterpieces from museums in Madrid, including works by El Greco, Diego Velazquez and Francisco Goya.

Also on Monday, the royal couple attended a summit featuring young Hispanic leaders. The king and queen arrived in San Antonio on Saturday, after visiting New Orleans for its tricentennial. The king and queen will meet Tuesday with President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the White House.

What became San Antonio originally was founded as Mission San Antonio de Valero on May 1, 1718, by Spanish Franciscan missionaries backed by the Spanish monarchy and government during the colonization of New Spain.

The royal couple's activities on Sunday included attending a welcoming ceremony before touring the San Jose Mission site.

King and queen of Spain visit 300-year-old San Antonio

June 18, 2018

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia are in San Antonio to celebrate the city's tricentennial and its roots as a Spanish colonial village. The royal couple attended a welcoming ceremony Sunday hosted by Mayor Ron Nirenberg and other city officials at the Spanish Governor's Palace before touring the San Jose Mission site and then visiting an historical exhibit. An evening dinner with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also was planned.

What became San Antonio originally was founded as Mission San Antonio de Valero on May 1, 1718, by Spanish Franciscan missionaries backed by the Spanish monarchy and government during the colonization of New Spain.

The king and queen are to meet Tuesday with President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump at the White House.

Court gives Spanish princess' husband 5 days to go to prison

June 13, 2018

MADRID (AP) — Judicial authorities on Wednesday told the brother-in-law of Spain's King Felipe VI that he must report to a prison within five days in order to serve five years and 10 months for fraud and tax evasion, among other crimes.

Inaki Urdangarin, a former Olympic handball medal winner who has been married for two decades to the king's sister, Princess Cristina, is the closest person to the ruling family of the Bourbons to be convicted and imprisoned.

The case was seen as instrumental in prompting the abdication in 2014 of Juan Carlos I, who passed on the throne to Felipe. Public broadcaster TVE showed Urdangarin and his lawyer arriving Wednesday by car at the Palma de Mallorca court after landing on a commercial flight from Geneva, where the 50-year-old lives with his wife Cristina.

He left minutes later, without making any remarks to the crowd of reporters and cameras awaiting him. The provincial court ruled last year that Urdangarin embezzled about 6 million euros ($7 million) between 2004 and 2006 by exploiting his "privileged status" in the royal family to obtain public contracts related to sports events.

Spain's Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the lower court's decision, but acquitted him of forgery and reduced his prison sentence by five months. Cristina, who became the first member of the Spanish royal family to face criminal charges, was acquitted for aiding her husband's crimes and only fined as a beneficiary in the scheme. She had already paid a 265,000-euro fine ($311,500), but Tuesday's Supreme Court ruling on the appeal halved the amount.

It wasn't immediately clear where the former duke will serve the prison sentence, although in theory he has the right to choose any of the facilities in Spanish territory. Urdangarin could still appeal to the Constitutional Court, but experts say that would be futile because the country's top court has not taken in any appeals for imprisonments beyond the five year mark in the past.

Cristina and her husband were stripped of their titles of the Duke and Duchess of Palma after the initial court verdict. The couple has been living in Geneva with their four children since the first allegations of wrongdoing emerged in 2012.

Spain: Thousands form human chain for Basque secession vote

June 10, 2018

MADRID (AP) — Tens of thousands of Spaniards from the northern Basque Country have formed a line that stretched over 200 kilometers (124 miles) to demand a ballot on secession for the wealthy region. Protesters held hands or extended scarves between themselves to form the human chain, which connected the cities of San Sebastian, Bilbao and regional seat Vitoria.

The scarves bore the slogan "It's in our hands" written in Basque. Organizers say 175,000 people participated, including Basque and Catalan pro-secession politicians and activists. Basque police did not give an official count.

The demonstration took place just over a month since Basque militant group ETA announced its dissolution. Spain has refused to allow an official referendum on secession by the Catalonia region, whose leaders tried and failed to declare independence last year.

Spain rescues 334 migrants from Mediterranean, finds 4 dead

June 10, 2018

MADRID (AP) — Spain's maritime rescue service has saved 334 migrants and recovered four bodies from boats it intercepted trying to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea. The rescue service says its patrol craft reached nine different boats carrying migrants that had left from African shores throughout Saturday and early Sunday.

One boat found Sunday was carrying four dead bodies along with 49 migrants. The rescue service said the cause of death has yet to be determined. Driven by violent conflicts and extreme poverty, tens of thousands of migrants attempt to reach southern Europe each year by crossing the Mediterranean in smugglers' boats. Most of the boats are unfit for open water, and thousands drown annually.

The U.N. says at least 785 migrants have died crossing the Mediterranean so far this year. Through the first five months of 2018, a total of 27,482 migrants reached European shores, with 7,614 of them arriving in Spain.

Further to the east, Libya's coast guard intercepted 152 migrants, including women and children, in the Mediterranean Sea, from two boats stopped Saturday off the coast of the western Zuwara district and the capital, Tripoli.

The migrants were taken to a naval base in Tripoli. Libya was plunged into chaos following a 2011 uprising and is now split between rival governments in the east and west. The lawless in Libya has made it a popular place to head off to Europe for migrants fleeing poverty and conflict.

Former guerrilla, young conservative vie to lead Colombia

June 17, 2018

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombians will choose between a leftist former guerrilla and a young conservative lawmaker Sunday in a presidential election to decide who will lead the nation as it implements a still-fragile peace accord.

One-time militant and former Bogota mayor Gustavo Petro and frontrunner Ivan Duque harbor contrasting views on the historic accord ending Latin America's longest-running conflict and could significantly shape how Colombia proceeds with putting key aspects of it into motion.

Petro is vowing to uphold the 310-page accord while Duque wants to make changes like requiring ex-combatants to serve time before entering politics if they are guilty of crimes against humanity. Under the final agreement, rebels who fully confess and offer reparations to victims are unlikely to be sent behind bars.

"Undoubtedly, for the peace process, this is an important test," said Patricia Munoz, a professor of political science at the Pontifical Xavierian University in Bogota. The first presidential vote since the signing of the 2016 accord has polarized voters, pitting even close family members against one another. Duque won a first-round vote held in June, topping Petro by 14 percentage points but falling short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff. Recent polls indicate Duque still holds a decisive advantage but suggest the distance between the candidates is narrowing.

Duque is the protege of powerful former President Alvaro Uribe, one of the most admired and abhorred leaders in Colombia's recent history. On the cusp of turning 42, Duque would become the youngest president in Colombia in more than a century. Critics are wary that the father-of-three's limited experience in politics could leave him dependent on Uribe, who is the leader of his party's bloc in the Senate.

Though millions of Colombians praise Uribe, some giving him an even cult-like status, others contend his advances as president came at the price of grave human rights abuses. While he succeeded in boosting Colombia's economy and weakening illegal armed groups, he presided over the government at a time when military officers killed thousands of civilians who were then dressed up as rebels to inflate body counts in exchange for vacations and bonus pay.

In a sign of how tense relations between both camps of voters remain, even acts of nature have turned into fodder for political jousting. A week before the vote, a swarm of killer bees attacked supporters who showed up to see Uribe speak at a Duque rally in a small town in northern Colombia. Supporters of Duque accused Petro backers of launching the bees in an act of "biological terrorism."

"Now African bees as Petristas," Petro groaned later on Twitter, using the play on his last name used to describe his supporters. "Is it because they are worker bees?" Officials later said Uribe's helicopter had likely stirred the bees into a frenzy.

Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerrilla group that signed a peace accord with the government in 1990, is promising to overhaul Colombia's economic model. He wants to free Colombia from dependency on fossil fuel exports and raise agricultural production by increasing taxes on unused lands and giving them to peasants if the owners sell them to the state. His early fondness for the late Venezuelan socialist leader Hugo Chavez and a now-ditched campaign pledge to create a constitutional assembly have sparked fears among some that he'll make Colombia "another Venezuela."

Analysts say Petro's candidacy is an important development in a country where more than five decades of conflict against rebels created a stigma around any candidate who appeared to sympathize with leftist causes. If he were to win, he'd likely face an uphill battle in implementing any of his campaign proposals. His allies represent a minority in congress and would struggle to pass any laws.

Duque's own proposed changes to the peace accord may also encounter considerable resistance. Though he could implement reforms by decree, he would more likely choose to go through congress. Even though his allies represent a majority, some could push back against any changes that would put the accord on shaky ground. Observers suspect Duque himself might modify his positions if elected.

In the final weeks before the vote Duque has repeatedly said that he does not want to "shred the accord to pieces" and has tweaked several of his positions. "The entire panorama today indicates the peace process is not reversible," Munoz said. "We have a society that does not want the FARC to return to armed conflict."

Ex-rebel looks to defy odds in Colombia presidential race

June 17, 2018

ZIPAQUIRA, Colombia (AP) — Gustavo Petro began his long ascent to the cusp of Colombia's presidency in this self-built barrio named after South American independence hero Simon Bolivar. In 1983, equipped with little more than a shovel and a surplus of revolutionary ideals, the then-clandestine militant led some 400 squatter families in a months-long battle with local authorities to secure a plot of land to build their ramshackle homes here in Zipaquira, a city north of Bogota. Their rallying cry was: "A roof and a dignified life."

Thirty five years later, the founders of the "Bolivar 83" barrio still living in the slum celebrate Petro's rise as their own. The leftist candidate will face off against conservative Ivan Duque on Sunday in Colombia's presidential runoff election.

"He taught us to call each other comrades, not neighbors," remembers Ana Miriam Chitiva, pointing to photos hung on her home's wall of the barrio's early days, when the bespectacled, introverted Petro would help her lug concrete pipes and carve out dirt roads from the rocky, forested hillside.

The same crusading spirit has accompanied Petro throughout his four-decade political ascent. He's gone from fearless lawmaker who tormented Colombia's political class, to the renegade mayor of Bogota who took on powerful private interests and now a surprise, surging finalist in the country's first presidential election since the signing of a historic peace accord.

The two-man race between Petro and Duque has tightened in the final stretch, with one poll indicating Petro had climbed to within 6 points of his conservative rival. In the first round of voting three weeks ago, Duque topped Petro by more than 14 points.

Whoever is elected will lead Colombia at a crucial juncture. The country is in the early stages of implementing an accord with leftist rebels to end Latin America's longest running conflict. But cocaine production has soared in areas vacated by the rebels, threatening to undo security gains and testing traditionally close relations with the U.S.

Petro has vowed to fulfill the 310-page accord's lofty aspirations to tackle poverty and unequal land distribution. Duque meanwhile wants to roll back some of the accord's benefits for top commanders until they confess their war crimes and compensate victims.

For Petro to even be within striking distance of Duque is a major feat — never before in Colombia's history has a leftist been so close to the apex of power. To get this far he's had to soften his sometimes radical rhetoric, even going so far as to hold up mock stone tablets inscribed with 12 "commandments" committing him to stay clear of expropriating private property and earlier calls to rewrite the constitution.

He's also had to overcome comparisons with the late socialist revolutionaries Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez that the Colombian right-wing has labelled "Castro-Chavismo," a smear bandied about so much during the campaign that Petro's 7-year-old daughter has come up with a left-stepping dance to parody the accusations.

Business elites have thrown their support squarely behind Duque, the hand-picked candidate of powerful former President Alvaro Uribe, fearful that Petro's efforts to present himself as a moderate are a ruse.

Even some fellow leftists worry about a messianic streak. Senator Antonio Navarro Wolff, a former peace negotiator for Petro's 19th of April Movement, or M-19, said his former comrade always stood out for his sharp intellect and shrewd political instincts — as well as a self-defeating tendency to shun others' opinions. But with his fledgling political movement occupying just four of 107 seats in the senate and an even smaller number in the lower house, he'll need to build bridges if elected president.

"The truth is he's always been a little selfish," said Wolff, who is among a group of high-profile leftists that belatedly endorsed Petro in the runoff after backing another, less polarizing candidate in the first round. He said the support was not a blank check, however. "If you want to get things done as president you can't act alone."

Petro, 58, was born on the same day — April 19 — that would give rise to the guerrilla movement that he joined as a muckraking teenage journalist in Zipaquira. His nom de guerre was Aureliano, for a protagonist from "One Hundred Years of Solitude," the beloved work by novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez. But in "Bolivar 83," most of whose residents didn't know of his double life at first, he was called "Flaco" — Spanish for skinny — or "Little Gustavo."

After the housing fight was won, Petro was hunted down. While on the run, he'd jump between the homes of Chitiva and a sisterhood of single moms in "Bolivar 83" who now proudly call themselves "Petro's girlfriends." Once they even disguised him in high heels, lipstick and tight-fitting dress so he could slip past an army barricade.

Eventually his luck ran out and in a 1985 raid by the army he was discovered hiding in a hole dug next to one of the homes he helped build. He was taken to an army base in Bogota and beaten, and eventually spent two years in jail on weapons charges.

"Those who seek to brand Gustavo a guerrilla and a killer don't realize he didn't carry a weapon in his hands," said Gonzalo Suarez, a fellow M-19 militant. "His biggest and most powerful weapon was, and still is, his deft mind, which is always focused on helping the poorest and worst off people in Colombia," said Suarez.

Petro rose to national prominence in 2006 leading a crusade to expose the alliance between conservative allies of then-President Uribe and right-wing paramilitary groups. In hours-long televised speeches from the senate floor that mesmerized much of Colombia, he revealed evidence accusing Uribe of providing political cover for the formation of the militias as a governor in the 1990s and the personal involvement of his brother in murder and forced disappearances. Being so outspoken in a country where landholding elites have traditionally governed with impunity engendered numerous death threats.

But his allegations spurred the arrest and watershed conviction of dozens of politicians and members of congress for criminal ties to the paramilitaries. A decade later Santiago Uribe is now on trial for leading a death squad known as the 12 Apostles.

During his rise, U.S. officials viewed Petro as a radical "populist" in the mold of Chavez, according to a 2006 secret U.S. Embassy cable written by then deputy chief of mission Milton Drucker and published by pro-transparency group Wikileaks. But two years later, Ambassador William Brownfield in another cable described him as "pragmatic."

But some fellow leftists blame him for unilaterally cutting deals with President Juan Manuel Santos following his election in 2010. The same go-it-alone streak was on display as mayor of Bogota, where he earned numerous enemies by banning bull fights, cutting bus fares and transferring control of private garbage collection to a city agency. For the latter he was ousted in 2014 by the Inspector General and banned from holding public office for 15 years. But the punishment was overturned and he was reinstated a month later by a judge acting in accordance with findings by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

"There's no doubt he's got a strong character," said Maria Mercedes Maldonado, the candidate's top policy adviser. "But that's what you need if you want to risk making meaningful transformations."

Chile to Become First Country in the Americas to Ban Plastic Bags

May. 31, 2018

Chile is set to become the first country in the Americas to ban plastic bags to help protect the environment and especially the ocean.

Congress unanimously approved the measure on Wednesday. The bill was initially designed to outlaw plastic bags in Patagonia, but was later extended nationwide.

President Sebastian Piñera celebrated the news.

"We have taken a fundamental step to take better care of Chile and the planet. Today we are more prepared to leave a better planet to our children, grandchildren and the generations to come," he tweeted Wednesday.

Erik Solheim, the head of the United Nations Environment Program, also offered congratulations to the South American country. He called the move a "bold step" ahead of World Environment Day this June 5, which has the theme "Beat Plastic Pollution."

The law will apply to all major retailers within a year, while smaller businesses have two years to comply, The Santiago Times reported. Before entering into force, all retailers are allowed to provide a maximum of only two plastic bags to consumers for their purchases.

Climate Action reported that municipalities will be in charge of implementing the new law, which can carry a fine of up to $230,000 for offenders.

The bag ban is not as extreme as it may sound. The Environment Ministry's website, chaobolsasplasticas.cl, shows that Congress members have worked on this initiative for about a decade. The vast majority (about 95 percent) of surveyed Chileans across all age groups approved of the plastic bag ban. There are also 78 communes in the country that already have measures regulating the usage of plastic bags.

In October, former president Michelle Bachelet signed a bill that prohibits the sale of single-use plastic bags in coastal villages and towns.

"We will ... become the first country in the Americas to implement a law of this type and we call on other countries to assume this responsibility," Bachelet said of the initiative at the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

According to the Association of Plastic Manufacturers (Asiplas), Chile uses more than 3.4 billon plastic bags annually, or roughly 200 bags per person per year. About 97 percent of those plastic bags end up in landfills or in oceans, where they take centuries to degrade.

Worldwide, an estimated eight million tons of plastic trash gets dumped into our oceans each year, literally choking marine life, harming ocean ecosystems and threatening the larger food chain.

This is a landmark piece of legislation for both South and North America. The Santiago Times noted that a number of states and municipalities in the U.S. and Canada have similar bans but none on the national level yet. But Costa Rica announced in August that it wants to be the first country in the world to ban all single-use plastics by 2021.

Elsewhere around the globe, Rwanda and Kenya have enforced complete bans on plastic bags. In 2002, Bangladesh became the world's first country to ban the items.

Source: EcoWatch.
Link: https://www.ecowatch.com/chile-plastic-ban-2573881713.html.

Latin America Begins to Discover Electric Mobility

By Daniel Gutman

BUENOS AIRES, May 31 2018 (IPS) - With 80 percent of the population living in urban areas and a vehicle fleet that is growing at the fastest rate in the world, Latin America has the conditions to begin the transition to electric mobility – but public policies are not, at least for now, up to the task.

That is the assessment of UN Environment, according to a conference that two of its officials gave on May 29 in Argentina’s lower house of Congress, in Buenos Aires.

The shift towards electric mobility, however, will come inexorably in a few years, and in Latin America it will begin with public passenger transport, said the United Nations agency’s regional climate change coordinator, Gustavo Máñez, who used two photographs of New York’s Fifth Avenue to illustrate his prediction.

The first photo, from 1900, showed horse-drawn carriages. The second was taken only 13 years later and only cars were visible.

“As at other times in history, this time the transition will happen very quickly. I am seeing all over the world that car manufacturers are looking to join this wave of electric mobility because they know that, if not, they are going to be left out of the market,” said Máñez.

Projections indicate that Latin America could, over the next 25 years, see its car fleet triple, to more than 200 million vehicles by 2050, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

This growth, if the transition to sustainable mobility does not pick up speed, will seriously jeopardize compliance with the intended nationally determined contributions adopted under the global Paris Agreement on climate change, according to Máñez.

The reason is that the transport sector is responsible for nearly 20 percent of the region’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

In this regard, the official praised the new president of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, who called for the elimination of fossil fuel use and for the decarbonisation of the economy. Máñez also highlighted that “Chile, Colombia and Mexico are working to tax transport for its carbon emissions.

“This is an example of public policies aimed at generating demand for electric vehicles,” said Máñez, while another positive case is that of Uruguay, one of the countries in the region that has made the most progress in electric mobility, stimulating it with tax benefits.

“But the region still needs to do a great deal of work developing incentives for electric mobility and removing subsidies for fossil fuels,” he added.

In this respect, he asked Latin America to look to the example of Scandinavian countries, where electric vehicles already play an important role, thanks to the fact that their drivers enjoy parking privileges or use the lanes for public transport, in addition to other sustained measures.

There are very disparate realities in the region.

Thus, while electric vehicles have been sold in Brazil for years, the country hosting the conference is lagging far behind and only began selling one model this year.

In fact, the meeting was led by Argentine lawmaker Juan Carlos Villalonga, of the governing alliance Cambiemos and author of a bill that promotes the installation of electric vehicle charging stations, which is currently not on the legislative agenda.

“The first objective is to generate a debate in society about sustainable mobility,” said Villalonga, who acknowledged that Argentina is lagging behind other countries in the region in the transition to clean energy.

Argentina only started a couple of years ago developing non-conventional renewable energies, which in the country’s electricity generation mix are still negligible.

As for electric mobility, the government of the city of Buenos Aires hopes to put eight experimental buses into operation by the end of the year, as a pilot plan, in a fleet of 13,000 buses.

Combating climate change is not the only reason why electric mobility should be encouraged.

“Health is another powerful reason, because internal combustion engines generate a lot of air pollution. In Argentina alone, almost 15,000 people die prematurely each year due to poor air quality,” said José Dallo, head of the UN Environment’s Office for the Southern Cone, based in Montevideo.

“There is also the issue of energy security, as electricity prices are more stable than the price of oil,” he added.

In 2016, UN Environment presented an 84-page report entitled “Electric Mobility. Opportunities for Latin America,” which noted the change would mean a reduction of 1.4 gigatons in carbon dioxide emissions, responsible for 80 percent of GHG emissions, and savings of 85 billion dollars in fuels until 2050.

The report acknowledges that among the region’s obstacles are fossil fuel subsidies “and a lower electricity supply than in developed countries, where the boom in electric mobility has been concentrated so far.”

It also notes that Latin America is the region with the highest use of buses per person in the world, and that public transport “has a strategic potential to spearhead electric mobility.”

Along these lines, the experience of Chile through the Consortium Electric Mobility, a mixed initiative with the participation of the Ministry of Transport and scientific institutions from Chile and Finland, was also shared during the conference in Buenos Aires.

Engineer Gianni López, former director of the government’s National Environment Commission and a member of the Mario Molina Research and Development Center, said that “in Chile the decision has already been taken to move public transport towards electric mobility.”

He explained that there will be 120 electric buses operating next year in Santiago and that the goal is 1,500 by 2025 – more than 25 percent of a total fleet of nearly 7,000 public transportation units.

“There are many aspects that make it easier to start with public buses than private cars,” Lopez said.

“On the one hand, buses run many hours a day so the return on investment is much faster; on the other hand, since they have fixed routes, it is easier to install recharging systems; and autonomy is not a problem because you know exactly how far they are going to travel each day,” he said.

One example of this is Uruguay, where electric taxis have been operating since 2014, and since 2016 a private mass transit company has a regular service with electric buses. In addition, a 400-km “green route,” with refueling stations every 60 km, was inaugurated last December.

As for the cost of electric vehicles, Máñez assured that China, which leads the production and sale of electric vehicles, is now close to reaching cost parity with conventional vehicles.

In this sense, the official also spoke of the need for Latin America to develop a technology that is currently underdeveloped.

He highlighted the case of Argentina, which is not only a producer of conventional vehicles, but in the north of the country has world-renowned reserves of lithium, a mineral used in batteries for electric vehicles.

The question is that lithium is exported as a primary product because this South American country has not developed the technology to manufacture and assemble the batteries locally.

Source: Inter-Press Service (IPS).
Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/2018/05/latin-america-begins-discover-electric-mobility/.

Romanian president to seek new term, backs corruption fight

June 23, 2018

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's president said Saturday he would seek a new term in office, pledging to fight corruption after the leader of the ruling Social Democratic Party was convicted for abuse of power in office.

President Klaus Iohannis said he decided to make the announcement after Social Democratic leader Liviu Dragnea was given a 3½-year jail sentence this week. The president, whose mandate expires in 2019, said public confidence in the Romanian government is very low.

Later Saturday, thousands of Romanians once again held anti-corruption protests outside the government offices in the capital of Bucharest, while thousands more assembled in cities around Romania including Sibiu and Cluj. They waved Romanian flags called for the government to resign and for an early election to be held.

After the sentencing, the Social Democrats reiterated their support for Dragnea, saying he should be considered innocent pending a final verdict. They promised to implement new laws that critics say will weaken the nation's fight against corruption.

Iohannis, a centrist, said during a visit to his native city of Sibiu that the Social Democrats were lobbying "for a criminal." Later, supporters rallied outside his home in Sibiu, yelling: "Iohannis, don't give up!"

Romania's president considers referendum on justice system

June 12, 2018

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's president says he is considering a referendum on the justice system amid a contentious overhaul of the country's laws and ongoing anti-corruption protests. President Klaus Iohannis spoke Tuesday about a May 30 constitutional court ruling ordering him to dismiss chief anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi after the justice minister said she hadn't done her job properly.

Iohannis said the ruling raised questions about the roles of the president, the prosecutors and the justice minister. He accused the ruling Social Democratic Party of trying to diminish the role of the president with its overhaul of the justice system, which has sparked regular protests because of fears it would threaten judicial independence.

Poland scraps prison threat for blaming nation for Holocaust

June 27, 2018

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland suddenly backtracked Wednesday on a disputed Holocaust speech law, scrapping the threat of prison for attributing Nazi crimes to the Polish nation — but leaving the possibility of fines in place.

The original law, which was passed five months ago, was presented as an attempt to defend the country's "good name" — but mostly had the opposite effect. There was widespread suspicion that the true intent was to suppress free inquiry into a complex past, and the law was compared by some to history laws in Turkey and Russia.

The amendments were unexpectedly presented to lawmakers by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in the morning, passed with lightning speed in both houses of the legislature by the afternoon, and then signed by the president before nightfall.

"This small corrective strengthens our position, as we defend Poland's good name, because during those few months we were able to awaken the awareness of many our partners, also in Israel," Morawiecki said in defending the whole legislative effort.

The original version of the law had called for prison terms of up to three years for falsely and intentionally accusing the Polish nation of Holocaust crimes that were committed by Nazi Germany. The ruling Law and Justice party said it needed a tool to fight back against foreign media and politicians who have sometimes used expressions like "Polish death camps" to refer to German-run camps in occupied Poland. Even former U.S. President Barack Obama once used such terminology, causing deep offense.

Polish authorities insisted that nobody would be punished for any statement backed up by facts and that there would be no criminal punishment for discussing cases of Poles who denounced or killed Jews during the war.

But the law nonetheless sparked a major diplomatic crisis with Israel, where Holocaust survivors and politicians feared that it was an attempt to whitewash the episodes of Polish anti-Semitism. The United States warned the law threatened academic freedom and could harm Poland's "strategic" relationships.

Ukraine strongly opposed the law as well because it criminalized denying atrocities committed by Ukrainian nationalists against Poles. Those strained ties with its allies deepened Poland's international isolation at a sensitive time of a bitter dispute with the European Union over rule of law.

Polish Holocaust scholars argued that the original law would have been useless against people outside of Poland and feared it was mostly meant to suppress a growing body of scholarly research about Polish violence against Jews.

The focus on the dark side of Polish wartime history is deeply unsettling to many Poles, who fear it has come to overshadow the heroic aspects of Poland's resistance to Nazi Germany and the massive suffering inflicted on the country. During the war, nearly 6 million Polish citizens were killed — 3 million Jews but almost as many Christian Poles.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the amendments and issued a conciliatory joint statement with Morawiecki late Wednesday that expressed a common desire for dialogue and acknowledged many of Poland's positions.

But Poland's government will now have to face the anger of nationalist voters, who saw the original law as an attempt to defend national honor. Many feel that the nation's dignity has been debased by the focus on Polish wartime anti-Semitism, which they see as pushing from view acts of Polish resistance against the Nazis and the help given to Jews by thousands of Poles.

One nationalist lawmaker, Robert Winnicki, described the changes as caving in to Jewish interests. He even tried to block the podium in the lower house in protest, but the vote went ahead anyway. Meanwhile, liberal opponents bitterly criticized the ruling party for introducing the law in the first place, calling it a disaster that had deeply harmed the country's international position.

Morawiecki, the prime minster, argued that the legislation had still been a success because it had created greater global awareness of Poland's wartime tragedy and heroism. He described the joint declaration with Netanyahu as one positive result.

"We have defended the honor of our forefathers," Morawiecki said. "This is a very good day for Poland, for Poland's history." During difficult questioning in the Senate, he pushed back against the idea that Poland was doing the bidding of foreign interests and insisted that "nobody is writing our laws for us. This is a sovereign decision."

The legislation keeps in place the possibility of lawsuits and fines for the same offenses. Morawiecki suggested Poland would use the law against any offending foreign media, saying they could face fines of even 100 million dollars or euros. It wasn't clear how that would work in practice.

The dispute with Israel had sparked a wave of anti-Semitic comments in Poland — even by officials and state-run media commentators — as well as anti-Polish hate speech in Israel and elsewhere. The joint Polish-Israeli declaration condemned both anti-Semitism and "anti-Polonism," or prejudice against Poles, and Morawiecki welcomed the formal acknowledgement of its existence.

The law was never put into practice because the president had sent it to the Constitutional Tribunal for review, expressing some doubts about it.

Once-drab Warsaw changed by wealth into booming modern city

June 07, 2018

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Warsaw, a city of Old World charm that was turned to rubble and ash by Nazi Germany, has been reborn twice since then. The Polish capital first became an example of socialist city planning, rising in the postwar era as a drab and grey embodiment of oppressive Communist rule. But almost three decades of post-communist economic growth have produced a booming city of modern glass architecture, cutting-edge museums and revitalized historic buildings.

"It's a completely different city from what it was even 20 years ago," said Joanna Kedzierska, a Warsaw resident who was 6 when communism fell in 1989 and who remembers Warsaw for many years after that as chaotic, dirty and crime-ridden in some neighborhoods.

"Warsaw has become very vibrant and international," said the 34-year-old, a public relations specialist for a software startup. "You barely even have areas that are dangerous now." Foreign money began to pour in after the fall of communism, producing skyscrapers, international hotels and shopping malls.

Investment accelerated further when Poland joined the European Union in 2004, with 17.5 billion zlotys ($4.7 billion; 4.1 billion euros) invested in hundreds of projects since 2007, soon after Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz took office, according to city spokesman Bartosz Milczarczyk.

In recent years the city of more than 1.7 million people has received a second metro line, 400 kilometers (250 miles) of new bike paths and modern wastewater treatment and water purification systems. The municipality now pumps clean drinking water into people's homes for the first time in the city's history.

Before and after photos of the city skyline reveal the dramatic scale of change, with a multitude of skyscrapers that have mushroomed up around the city's iconic Palace of Culture, a massive Stalinist skyscraper erected in the 1950s to remind Poles that Moscow was their boss.

While the palace and other communist structures are still there, they don't dominate the cityscape as they once did. A luxury high-rise designed by Polish-American architect Daniel Libeskind is a new city icon, soaring almost as high as the Palace of Culture with a sail-like curved form. A Ferrari showroom housed in the Communist Party headquarters seems to mock the toppled ideology.

Dilapidated trams have been slowly phased out, with modern air-conditioned models running instead. Major museums have also opened: the Warsaw Uprising Museum (in 2004), the Copernicus Science Center (2010), and the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews (2014). Historical treasures like the baroque Wilanow Palace have also undergone major conservation and restoration work, co-funded by the EU.

The boomtown's development is buoyed by the strong Polish economy, with national GDP growing more than sevenfold since 1990 — a 28-year period that hasn't had a single recession. The economy even picked up speed in the first quarter, growing 5.2 percent, as investors appear to brush off international concerns of a weakening democracy in Poland and Russia's resurgence to the East.

The booming economy is changing the human face of the city, too, attracting Poles from small towns as well as Ukrainians, Russians, Germans and even skilled workers from India. The unemployment rate is just 1.9 percent — far below the 6.3 percent nationwide, itself a historic low.

Warsaw's new wealth has fed a vibrant food scene with omnipresent vegan and sushi joints and even craft beers and high-quality ice-cream. For the first time in Polish history there are now two restaurants with a Michelin star each, earned in 2013 and 2016.

But gentrification has also produced soaring real estate prices, with the cost of apartments 26 percent higher today than even a year ago in Warsaw's central district, according to Karolina Zubel, an economist with the Center for Social and Economic Research in Warsaw.

"Many people are forced to live in suburbs now because they can't afford to live in the city center anymore," Zubel said. Rents are also rising, meaning that housing "devours a huge part of a salary." Even commercial rents are rising fast as large business centers relocate to Warsaw from cities like London and Paris, she said.

The new skyscrapers are also a source of complaint for some. Jan Spiewak, a city councilor and prominent activist, says they are destroying the natural wind flows, making the city hotter in summers, exacerbating congestion and pollution and destroying the city's character.

He has been struggling to rally opposition against plans for a skyscraper that would require the destruction of a 19th-century parish house and churchyard, a rare green spot in the downtown area. He argues that the few buildings to survive the apocalyptic destruction of World War II should be preserved.

"This is a city that is under attack by developers and by political parties," Spiewak said, blaming politicians for what he considers overly lax zoning laws. "They want to destroy Warsaw's soul." Many residents are willing to accept such sacrifices to move into the future. Milczarczyk, the city spokesman, says the skyscrapers are needed to attract international capital.

"If investors don't choose Warsaw they will go to Prague or Budapest or even to Slovakia," Milczarczyk said. "So it's better for us to show that we are the leader of Central Europe and that this is the place to put money, create companies and hire workers."

Magdalena Barcik, who moved to Warsaw 20 years ago from the small town of Myszkow, measures the progress also in the greater citizen participation allowed in city decisions and in seemingly small changes — like people finally being allowed to sit on the lawns of the elegant Lazienki Park, once the grounds of a king.

"It sounds funny, but it shows that the city is for the people," Barcik said. "In my opinion the biggest change is in something you could call the 'human face of the city.'"

Northern light: Macedonia makes name change deal with Greece

June 12, 2018

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece and Macedonia reached an historic agreement Tuesday to end a bitter 27-year name dispute that had kept the smaller and younger country out of international institutions such as NATO, the two countries' prime ministers announced.

Greece's Alexis Tsipras and Macedonia's Zoran Zaev said the former Yugoslav republic's new name for both domestic and international purposes would be Republic of North Macedonia. Macedonia will also amend its constitution to reflect the change as part of the deal.

The nationality of the country's citizens will be listed on official documents in English as "Macedonian/citizen of the Republic of North Macedonia," Greek officials said. NATO and European Union officials welcomed the breakthrough, which NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said would help consolidate regional peace and stability.

Greece had long demanded that its northern neighbor change or modify its name to avoid any claim to the territory and ancient heritage of the region in northern Greece named Macedonia — birthplace of ancient warrior king Alexander the Great.

The current prime ministers' attempts to end the dispute have faced dissent in both countries, leading to large protests by opponents of a compromise, threatening to split Greece's governing coalition and provoking a rift between Macedonia's prime minister and president.

And main opposition parties in both countries rejected the agreement. Zaev said the deal would be signed this weekend, and a voter referendum would be held in the fall. In a televised address, Tsipras said the 140 countries which had recognized the Balkan state simply as Macedonia would now recognize it as Republic of North Macedonia.

"This achieves a clear distinction between Greek Macedonia and our northern neighbors and puts an end to the irredentism which their current constitutional name implies," he said. He added that Macedonia "cannot and will not be able in the future to claim any connection with the ancient Greek civilization of Macedonia."

Speaking at a news conference in the Macedonian capital, Skopje, Zaev described the deal as a "historic agreement of the century." "We have been solving a two-and-a-half decade dispute ... that has been drowning the country," he said, adding that the deal "will strengthen the Macedonian identity."

On the timeline of the deal, Tsipras said that it would be first signed by the two countries' foreign ministers and then ratified by Macedonia's parliament. Greece will then back invitations for Macedonia to join NATO and start negotiations on joining the EU. However, Tsipras said, this will be contingent on Macedonia completing the constitutional changes.

"In other words, if the constitutional amendment is not successfully completed, then the invitation to join NATO will be automatically rescinded and the accession talks with the European Union will not start," he said.

The deal was welcomed by EU officials. European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted his "sincere congratulations" to Tsipras and Zaev. "I am keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks to you, the impossible is becoming possible," he said.

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini and commissioner Johannes Hahn issued a joint statement congratulating the two prime ministers "in reaching this historic agreement between their countries, which contributes to the transformation of the entire region of South-East Europe."

They said they looked forward to accession negotiations beginning with Skopje in June. The United Nations envoy who mediated the dispute for two decades congratulated Tsipras and Zaev for resolving their differences.

Matthew Nimetz said in a statement he had "no doubt this agreement will lead to a period of enhanced relations between the two neighboring countries and especially between their people." U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres praised the agreement as "a demonstration of leadership to the wider region and beyond" and hopes it will inspire others involved in drawn-out conflicts "to work towards negotiated settlements without further delay," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

However, both prime ministers faced dissent at home. Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, whose right-wing Independent Greeks party is Tsipras' governing coalition partner, said he would oppose an agreement in a parliamentary vote, meaning the left-wing prime minister will need to seek support from political opponents.

In Skopje, meanwhile, Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov said earlier in the day that he remained opposed to writing the new name into the constitution, a move intended to show the change is permanent and binding for domestic and international use.

The main opposition party in Macedonia, the conservative VMRO-DPMNE, accused Zaev of "capitulating" to Greece. "In essence, the (deal) is acceptance of all Greek positions," VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski said.

In Athens, conservative main opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis urged Tsipras not to go ahead with the agreement. "This is a bad agreement that is in conflict with the majority of the Greek people," he said.

Organizers of past rallies in Greece's main cities against a compromise with Macedonia also expressed outrage at the deal, with one accusing Tsipras of "high treason." "He was Skopje's best negotiator," Michael Patsikas told The Associated Press.

This version has been corrected to show that the English translation of the country's official name, which was announced in Greek and Macedonian, will be Republic of North Macedonia, not Republic of Northern Macedonia.

Mironski contributed from Skopje, Macedonia. Nicholas Paphitis and Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, Greece, and Costas Kantouris in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, contributed.

Ireland to discuss bill banning Israel settlement produce

June 28, 2018

Ireland’s parliament will discuss a bill promoting a ban on Israeli settlement goods next month, after a postponement in January, reported Haaretz.

In a tweet posted yesterday, Irish Senator Frances Black announced “on July 11th, my bill to ban illegal #SettlementGoods is in the Seanad”.

Black added: “We’re close to a historic move for justice in #Palestine, but I need your help! Plz take 2m to ask your TDs & Senators to support the bill.”

The senator also posted a video urging Irish citizens to tell their lawmakers to back the initiative to boycott produce made in Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Haaretz notes that “the discussion at the Irish senate regarding the bill was postponed in January after Ireland’s Ambassador to Israel, Alison Kelly, was summoned for a talk at the Foreign Ministry to clarify the legislative initiative at the demand of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”

Read: Ireland’s book of condolence for Palestinians killed in Gaza blocked by pro-Israel groups

Kelly told Netanyahu that the Irish government actually opposed the bill, and subsequently informed Rodica Radian-Gordon, the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s deputy director-general for Western Europe, “that the bill was not a Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment movement-linked initiative”.

At the time, slamming the bill, Netanyahu said its sole purpose was to “support the BDS movement and hurt the State of Israel”. The Prime Minister’s Office stated that the bill “backed those who wish to boycott Israel and completely opposes the guiding principles of free trade and justice”.

As recalled by Haaretz, “a group of Israeli activists, among whom were former Knesset members, lawyers, former ambassadors, artists and academics, penned a letter asking Irish lawmakers to support the bill” in January.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180628-ireland-to-discuss-bill-banning-israel-settlement-produce/.

New protest in northern Greece against Macedonia name deal

June 27, 2018

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — About 2,500 people, waving Greek flags and chanting "Macedonia is Greek," marched through the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki Wednesday to protest a preliminary deal over neighboring Macedonia's name.

The protest was organized by the same hard-line groups that staged large rallies earlier this year in Thessaloniki and Athens against a potential compromise in the negotiations that ended with an agreement this month.

A group of protesters threw paint at a Holocaust memorial, and another damaged a cafeteria. Similar protests have turned violent in the past. Under the deal — which will take months to be finalized — Macedonia will be renamed "North Macedonia."

It would end a 27-year dispute that started after Greece objected to its northern neighbor's name, saying it implied claims on the adjacent Greek province of Macedonia and to Greece's ancient heritage.

Hardliners on both sides of the border oppose the agreement, saying it offers too big concessions to the other country.

EU moves on migrant plans, while 100 reported missing at sea

June 29, 2018

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders Friday drew up new plans to screen migrants in North Africa for eligibility to enter Europe, saying they set aside major differences over stemming the flow of people seeking sanctuary or better lives. But the show of unity did little to hide the fact that the hardest work still lies ahead.

Even as they met in Brussels for a second day, Libya's coast guard said about 100 people were missing and feared dead after their boat capsized in the Mediterranean. The leaders agreed on a "new approach" to manage those rescued at sea, just as bickering over who should take responsibility for them undermines unity and threatens cross-border business and travel in Europe.

Italy, Greece and Spain bear responsibility for accepting most of the migrants and have felt abandoned by their EU partners. Italy, with a new anti-European government, has refused to take charge of people rescued at sea in recent weeks, sparking a diplomatic row with France and Malta. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition partner is demanding she take a tougher line on migrants, undermining her leadership.

The new plan is to receive people from rescue ships in EU nations that agree to share responsibility for handing migration with the EU's main point-of-entry countries like Spain, Italy and Greece. But they also will receive them in centers in North Africa and possibly the Balkans.

"A complete approach was adopted," French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters after a night of haggling and delays to address demands from Italy that its views be incorporated in the final summit statement.

"We are protecting better. We are cooperating more. And we are reaffirming our principles. All hastily made solutions, be they solely national ones or a betrayal of our values that consists in pushing people off to third countries, were clearly set aside," Macron said.

Even new Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, whose populist government has rocked the EU's political landscape, said: "On the whole, we can say we are satisfied." "Italy is no longer alone, as we requested," he said.

That said, the Czech Republic and Austria have no intention of basing migrant centers on their territory. "Why should there be centers? Center should be outside of Europe. Ellis Island, yes? And the Australian model, very simple. We have to execute this," Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said.

The "disembarkation platforms" are a logical extension of the EU's migrant deal with Turkey. The government in Ankara was paid more than 3 billion euros in refugee aid to stop people leaving for the Greek islands. The bottom line is that numbers have dropped by about 96 percent, compared with 2015 when well over 1 million people entered Europe, most of them fleeing conflict in Syria and Iraq.

Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Niger and Tunisia are touted as possible locations, even though details of the plans are sketchy. Morocco already has refused and none of those listed has volunteered to take part. The EU's executive Commission now must draft something more concrete in coordination with the U.N.'s refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration, which would prefer to operate in European migration centers only.

Libya is a major transit point to Europe for those fleeing poverty and violence in Africa and the Middle East. Traffickers have exploited Libya's chaos following the 2011 uprising that toppled and later killed dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

How much the plans will cost remains a mystery, but it won't be cheap. The UNHCR cautiously welcomed the plan but warned that it must be fleshed out and that African involvement via the African Union regional bloc is "indispensable."

IOM spokesman Leonard Doyle said his agency was "very pleased at the solidarity and consensus" that emerged in Brussels, in particular with front-line states such as Italy. Doyle said he believed most of the "disembarkation centers" would be in Europe, although he said it was up to the EU to determine which countries would host them.

UNHCR spokesman Charlie Yaxley said the refugee agency is "still awaiting the legal analysis" of the new plan but would certainly welcome greater EU collaboration on handling asylum claims. He noted that for the fifth year in a row, the "grim milestone" of 1,000 migrant deaths in the Mediterranean has been passed already, just halfway through 2018.

But even as migrant arrival numbers drop, the situation has been heating up. Anti-migrant parties have been fomenting public fear of foreigners, winning votes in Italy, Austria, Slovenia and elsewhere.

The UNHCR said about 40,000 migrants have arrived in Europe by sea this year, almost six times fewer than over the same period in 2016. Many who entered in 2015 and 2016 were fleeing conflict and thus eligible for asylum. Most arriving now seek better lives and probably would not qualify, which means that more people face the prospect of being sent back.

"It is far too early to talk about a success," EU Council President Donald Tusk told reporters after a compromise was found. "This is in fact the easiest part of the task, compared to what awaits us on the ground, when we start implementing it."

Experts and humanitarian aid groups fear the show of unity is a political smoke screen to address the concerns about resurgent anti-migrant parties that will only leave vulnerable people once again at risk.

"European heads of state and government continue to try to offload their responsibilities onto poorer countries outside the EU," said Oxfam migration policy adviser Raphael Shilhav. He said it looks as if the EU is planning more "de facto detention centers," warning that "this approach to migration is a recipe for failure, and directly threatens the rights of women, men and children on the move."

Imogen Sudbery at the International Rescue Committee said the "disembarkation platforms" raise more questions. "Would this approach be compatible with international law? Would those apprehended be transferred to the nearest safe port? Crucially, under which country's law would claims be assessed? Who would be responsible for those whose claims are upheld? We need clarity on this," she said.

There also was skepticism at sea. The captain of the Astral, a ship operated by the Spanish Proactiva humanitarian group, worries the EU-funded and trained Libyan coast guard might now be recognized as part of the Mediterranean rescue apparatus.

"For months now, they have been presented as an official body, formal, very well trained and legal. And these are the same people who have shot at us, who have kidnapped us," said Capt. Riccardo Gatti. "All of this is theater."

In the latest reported capsizing in which about 100 people were missing, Libyan coast guard spokesman Ayoub Gassim said 16 were rescued from the water east of the capital, Tripoli, and the bodies of three children were recovered. He quoted a Yemeni survivor as saying the boat carried about 125 people.

The Astral's crew said Italian officials had told it to let the Libyan coast guard respond to a distress call from the boat, only to hear reports shortly afterward that the 100 migrants were missing and feared dead in the same area.

Gassim added that the Libyan coast guard had intercepted three other smuggling boats carrying about 345 people east of Tripoli. Spanish maritime rescue services, meanwhile, brought ashore 90 people pulled from boats as they tried to cross the Strait of Gibraltar from Morocco.

Zaki reported from Cairo. Jamey Keaten in Geneva, Jill Lawless and Raf Casert in Brussels, and Renata Brito aboard the Astral contributed.

Koreas agree to improve North's railways, but work must wait

June 27, 2018

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The rival Koreas have agreed to jointly study ways to improve North Korea's outdated railways and link them with the South, as they continued to take conciliatory steps amid global efforts to resolve the standoff over the North's nuclear weapons.

North Korea's state media on Wednesday acknowledged inter-Korean discussions on "issues arising in reconnecting, updating and using the railways on the east and west coasts," but did not describe that South Korea would be sending officials and experts to examine the country's aging rail system.

The agreement Tuesday to start joint inspections of North Korea's railways on July 24 was apparently as far as the rivals could go at the moment. The vows to upgrade the North's railways and roads will remain purely aspirational until international sanctions against North Korea are lifted and the South is freed to take material steps.

The talks at the border village of Panmunjom were the latest to discuss ways to carry out peace commitments made by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. During their April 27 summit, when they issued a vague commitment to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, Kim and Moon expressed a desire to modernize North Korea's railways and roads and reconnect them with the South. The Koreas are to hold another meeting on Thursday to discuss roads.

South Korean officials say better transport would greatly improve North Korea's economy by facilitating trade and tourism. It may also provide the South with cheaper ways to move goods in and out of China and Russia. However, some experts say updating North Korean trains, which creak slowly along rails that were first laid in the early 20th century, would require a massive effort that could take decades and tens of billions of dollars. It might be impossible to embark on such projects unless North Korea denuclearizes, which isn't a sure thing.

Here's a look at the railways the Koreas hope to connect:

THE WEST SIDE

In their summit, Kim and Moon called for "practical steps" toward the "connection and modernization" of railways and roads between South Korea's capital, Seoul, and North Korea's Sinuiju, a port town on its border with China, and also along the peninsula's "eastern transportation corridor."

During the meeting on April 27, Kim went against the grain of North Korean propaganda by describing the country's transport conditions as poor and praising South Korea's bullet train system, clearly communicating an eagerness to improve his country's rail networks, according to comments provided by South Korea's presidential office.

In Tuesday's meeting, the Koreas agreed to start inspections of the North Korean portion of a railway that once connected Seoul and Sinuiju before moving on to railways in the eastern region.

Japan completed a 499-kilometer (310-mile) railway line connecting Seoul and Sinuiju in 1906, mainly to move soldiers and military supplies, before it annexed the peninsula in 1910. The Gyeongui line was separated in 1945 at the end of World War II, when the peninsula was liberated from Japanese colonial rule but also divided between a U.S.-controlled southern side and a Soviet-controlled north. The peninsula remains in a technical state of war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

The Gyeongui line was temporarily reconnected during a previous era of rapprochement between the rivals in the 2000s. The Koreas in December 2007 began freight services between South Korea's Munsan Station in Paju and North Korea's Pongdong Station, which is near the border town of Kaesong. The South used the trains to move construction materials northbound, while clothing and shoes manufactured from a factory park jointly operated by the Koreas in Kaesong were sent southbound.

The line was cut again in November 2008 due to political tensions over North Korea's nuclear program and the hard-line policies of a new conservative government in Seoul.

THE EAST SIDE

Japan during its colonial rule completed a 193-kilometer (120-mile) rail line between North Korea's Anbyon county and South Korea's Yangyang along the peninsula's eastern coast in 1937. The Koreas temporarily reconnected the cross-border part of the line between 2007 and 2008 to move South Korean tourists in and out of the North's scenic Diamond Mountain resort. However, the project never advanced beyond a trial run before South Korea pulled out in June 2008 amid worsening ties.

South Korea has ambitions to significantly extend the eastern "Donghae" line so that it connects its southernmost port of Busan with North Korea's northernmost industrial cities of Chongjin and Rajin. Seoul hopes the line will eventually link South Korea with Russia and the trans-Siberian railway. South Korea also hopes to eventually reopen a railway between Seoul and North Korea's eastern coastal town of Wonsan which ran through the middle of the peninsula.

Pro-Palestine candidate step closer to Congress after New York vote victory

June 29, 2018

The US Democratic Party was sent into shock this week when a 28-year-old former organizer for Bernie Sanders’ presidential bid ousted a party veteran from his perch in Congress on a campaign of social justice, equality and support of the Palestinian people.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the daughter of working-class immigrants, won the Democratic primary in New York’s 14th Congressional District on Tuesday, beating ten-term incumbent Joe Crowley, who was one of the favorites to become the party leader. The result sent shockwaves with politicians and pundits asking what the victory of a progressive social justice campaigner means for incumbents everywhere.

Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign, which connected with grassroots communities and was being run on a platform for social justice and equality, has received plaudits. Some democrats have described her approach as the recipe to get the Democrats back into power.

Ocasio-Cortez’s view on Israel and Palestine also received extensive media attention. The Democratic candidate expressed her support for the Palestinians during the Land Day protests in Gaza in which 135 Palestinians were killed by Israeli occupation forces and a further 13,000 were injured.

“This is a massacre,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.

“I hope my peers have the moral courage to call it such.”

“No state or entity is absolved of mass shootings of protesters. There is no justification. Palestinian people deserve basic human dignity, as anyone else.”

Glenn Greenwald, a pundit with the Intercept, said the tweet got a lot of attention because it’s rare to see someone in mainstream politics talking in “such clear moral terms denouncing the Israeli government’s military aggression in that way”.

Greenwald observed that it was politically suicidal for candidates to take an anti-Israeli position. Successful candidates, he said, needed to demonstrate “unyieldingly loyal to Israel”. Asked by Greenwald if she felt she needed to take such a tough stance against Israel despite the political cost, Ocasio-Cortez said she was compelled to take the position she took regarding Palestine on moral grounds.

“My background is as an educator, an organizer and an activist,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And I think I was primarily compelled on moral grounds, because I can only imagine if 60 people were shot and killed in Ferguson, or if 60 people were shot in killed in the West Virginia teacher strikes” referring to civil rights and labor rights protests held in the US in recent years.

Ocasio-Cortez noted that her family is Puerto Rican, a US territory “that is granted no rights or civic representation”. “If 60 people were shot in protest of the United States’ negligence in FEMA [The Federal Emergency Management Agency] and kind of keeping us on that island, I couldn’t even imagine if there was silence on that,” she added, referencing the slow federal response to devastation wrought to the island after Hurricane Maria hit last year.

The Democratic candidate also noted the diversity of her congressional district, and said that many Jewish and Muslim constituents had thanked her for the stance she took on Twitter.

“People say in New York City this is political suicide, and so on, but I had a lot of my own constituents thanking me for taking that position,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. “I think that in the same lens that I looked at it, people, I think, are separating the actions and the status of the Palestinians from the greater geopolitics of the area. I think people are starting to just look at the humanitarian state of the Palestinian people through a humanitarian lens.”

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez’s former boss, has also taken similarly hard lines against the Israeli government.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180629-pro-palestine-candidate-step-closer-to-congress-after-new-york-vote-victory/.

Italian minister emboldened by Libya visit, migration curbs

June 25, 2018

ROME (AP) — Italy's populist interior minister returned from a quick trip to Libya on Monday expressing confidence in his decision to close Italian ports to migrants while pressuring the rest of Europe to help the North African country secure its borders.

Matteo Salvini chose the Libyan capital of Tripoli for his first official visit abroad to hammer home his commitment to suppressing the mass migration that has fueled anti-migrant sentiment across Europe and brought his xenophobic League party to power.

Salvini called for United Nations-backed and European Union-funded centers to screen asylum applicants in nations that border Libya — primarily Chad, Niger and Sudan — but not in Libya itself or Italy.

He also vowed to help Libyan authorities assert control of their territorial waters to prevent Europe-bound migrants from departing and to keep migrant aid groups based in Europe out of the way. "This is the point of absolute convergence with Libya: Block the business of clandestine migration," Salvini told reporters in Rome after he returned home.

Libya was plunged into chaos following the 2011 uprising that ousted and led to the slaying of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The country now is split between rival governments — one, backed by the United Nations, based in Tripoli, the other in the country's east — and each is supported by an array of militias.

It also has become a common jumping off point for migrants who try to cross the Mediterranean Sea to escape poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East. Other spots in North Africa also have become alternative points of departure for boats attempting to navigate the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain.

Spain's Maritime Rescue Service reported that it rescued more than 600 people Monday, for a total of 1,400 in three days. Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska plans to travel to Morocco on Thursday to discuss the influx.

Libya's coast guard rescued some 1,000 migrants on Sunday, including dozens of women and children. Ahmed Maiteeg, the deputy prime minister of the U.N.-backed Libyan government, said during a news conference with Salvini that all of them received humanitarian and medical aid and were taken to a naval base in Tripoli and a refugee camp in the town of Khoms.

Salvini praised the Libyans for their "excellent work" and vowed to halt European aid groups with rescue ships in the Mediterranean. The Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms complained that Italy refused its offer Sunday to help bring to safety the people who ended up with the Libyan coast guard.

Amnesty International condemned the Italian government for handing over responsibility for the mission to Libya, alleging the migrants would be tortured anew in Libyan detention centers. Salvini denied migrants were being tortured, branding reports of widespread human rights violations in Libyan centers as "lies and rhetoric." He said he toured a new U.N.-run facility due to open next month and that it had the same amenities as an Italian migrant holding center.

Italy is committed, he said, to "blocking the full-on invasion of those associations that would like to substitute the government and authorities, and in fact help illegal migrant traffickers." Salvini has accused private aid groups of operating as sea taxi services for Libya-based smugglers and closed Italy's ports to their ships, including one from the German aid group Mission Lifeline that has been stuck off Malta since Thursday with 234 migrants aboard.

The Italian minister challenged France — a loud critic of his anti-migrant policies — to open its port in Marseille to the Mission Lifeline ship, saying: "There's a boat full of migrants in Maltese waters that's waiting to be welcomed."

Late Monday, another ship with migrant passengers — the Danish-flagged container ship Alexander Maersk — was given permission to dock and disembark in Sicily after four days at sea. The International Chamber of Shipping, an industry trade association, has voiced concern about Italy's crackdown on non-governmental organizations, The chamber says the move will put a greater burden on commercial merchant ships to carry out rescues and ultimately affect trade.

Libya's Maiteeg announced Monday that a migration and security conference will be held in Tripoli in September. Salvini readily endorsed the program. He promised to return before then to hand over new equipment for Libya's coast guard and said a technical committee would soon be meeting on Libya's southern border to assess the creation of asylum-screening "hotspots" to prevent migrants from entering Libya in the first place.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini urged EU member states to contribute to an Africa trust fund to finance the screening centers, mirroring a 2015 deal that was designed to encourage Turkey to stop refugees setting out for the Greek islands.

Salvini said he thought a reasonable funding target for the African hotspots would be 6 billion euros ($7 billion, around double the cost of the Turkey deal. Before Italy's new coalition government was installed on June 1, Italy already worked to bolster the Libyan coast guard's ability to patrol its coasts and to bring back migrants who launched from its shores.

Human rights organizations have criticized the practice, alleging that migrants are abused in Libya and the North African country hardly constitutes a "safe" port of call, as called for by international law.

Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.

Italy, Austria signal new hard-line axis on migration

June 20, 2018

MILAN (AP) — A meeting of Italy's anti-migrant interior minister with like-minded Austrian populist leaders on Wednesday in Rome heralded a new hard-line axis forming in Europe on migration issues with pledges to more firmly protect Europe's southern border.

Italy's interior minister, Matteo Salvini, leveraged on his recent refusal to allow landfall in Sicily to a ship carrying some 630 migrants rescued at sea off the Libyan coast. The new Socialist government in Spain agreed to take them in, acknowledging Europe had abandoned Italy, after the tiny island nation of Malta also balked.

"It is a historic moment because Europe has never had the possibility to change like in these days. We think it can change for the better on the topics of immigration, security and the fight against terrorism. Finally there is a decision to protect the exterior border," Salvini said.

Salvini and his Austrian counterparts — vice chancellor Heinz Christian Strache and interior minister Herbert Kickl — signaled their common approach to reinforcing the exterior border while deferring specifics to Austria's EU presidency, and other forums, including an upcoming EU summit. Salvini said he was briefing Premier Conte and vice premier Luigi Di Maio on his proposals later in the day.

But Salvini made clear that he would continue to press neighbors to do more. While welcoming Spain's acceptance of the migrants, he noted that Spain has only taken 235 of an agreed-upon EU quota of 3,265. "They can take the next four boats that arrive," he said. He also slammed France, which has only taken 640 of the 9,800 migrants it has pledged to receive.

Salvini said he had trust in the Austrian EU presidency to make a difference in discussions about changing the Dublin accords, noting "the mood has changed," but also hinting that Italy would be willing to play hardball, and hold back payments to the EU, if significant changes were not made.

Salvini said he wanted to see EU funds better spent, and said he would travel to Libya, the main departure point for migrants heading to Italy, in the coming days to work on stemming the migrant tide as well as economic development issues.

While more than 640,000 migrants have arrived in Italy since 2014, the number of arrivals in Italy this year is down over 80 percent, to over 14,500. Austria's interior minister, Kickl, said the message had to go out "that those who rely on traffickers have given up all chances of asylum in Europe."

Kickl said they were examining the possibility of setting up centers in the Balkans for asylum-seekers whose applications have been rejected, saying "if they stay in the country, there is no difference between a negative and a positive response."

Italy accepts 900 migrants but 600 more continue onto Spain

June 13, 2018

CATANIA, Sicily (AP) — An Italian coast guard vessel has docked in Sicily with more than 900 migrants aboard, evidence that Italy's new anti-migrant government is still taking in some asylum-seekers but is forcing the rest of Europe to accept others.

Crew aboard the Diciotti began disembarking passengers in Catania's port early Wednesday. At the same time, the Aquarius vessel of the aid group SOS Mediterranee continued its dayslong westward voyage to Spain, where it was rerouted after Italy and Malta refused it entry.

The fates of the two ships are evidence of the policy shift by Italy's new populist government: refuse entry to rescue ships of European-flagged aid groups, but allow Italian maritime vessels in its ports.

The shift has heightened tensions in Europe, with France accusing Italy of "cynical" and irresponsible behavior.

Italy sends 2 ships to help bring migrants to Spain

June 12, 2018

CATANIA, Sicily (AP) — Italy dispatched two ships Tuesday to help take 629 migrants stuck off its shores on the days-long voyage to Spain in what is forecast to be bad weather, after the new populist government refused them safe port in a dramatic bid to force Europe to share the burden of unrelenting arrivals.

The rescue ship Aquarius has been stuck since Saturday in international waters off the coast of Italy and Malta, both of which have denied it entry. The ship has 629 migrants including 123 unaccompanied minors, 11 children and six pregnant women.

The aid group Doctors Without Borders, which operates the Aquarius with SOS Mediterranee, urged both Italy and Malta to reconsider their refusal to allow the stranded migrants landfall and then safe passage by other means to Spain, which has responded to the plight with an offer of safe harbor. The aid group said the migrants were "exhausted and stressed" and warned of severe health risks to a number of the passengers during the 1,500-kilometer journey, expected to take three to four days.

Italy's new anti-migrant, right-wing interior minister, Matteo Salvini, is making good on a campaign pledge to close Italian ports to non-governmental organizations that pick up migrants at sea, which he has likened to taxi services for migrant smugglers.

Salvini, whose League is part of the populist coalition that took office this month, promised voters that other European countries would be made to share the burden of caring for asylum-seekers arriving in Italy on unseaworthy boats mostly from lawless Libya, while taking particular aim at the aid vessels.

"These are all foreign ships flying foreign flags that bring this human cargo to Italy," Salvini told private television La7 on Monday. "We have hosted 650,000 migrants in recent years alone, all of whom pass by Malta, an EU country, and the government says, 'Ciao, Ciao, go to Italy.' ... I am happy to have given a small, first response."

While Salvini turned away the Aquarius, an Italian Coast Guard vessel with more than 900 migrants rescued in seven operations is expected to reach Italy's shores on Wednesday. Meanwhile, hundreds of migrants aboard the Aquarius were being transferred Tuesday afternoon to ships operated by the Italian navy and coast guard, which are then to accompany the aid ship to the Spanish port of Valencia. Many remained on the deck of the overcrowded rescue ship and their safety was at risk for the longer voyage given the forecast of bad weather, said SOS Mediterranee spokeswoman Mathilde Auvillain

Fresh provisions -- including 950 bottles of water, 800 boxes of noodles and snacks, blankets, hats and socks -- were delivered to the Aquarius on Tuesday, the charity said. Officials in Valencia said they expected the ship to arrive in three to four days, depending on when they depart and weather conditions.

The emergency was prompting vastly different reactions in European capitals. While Spain's foreign minister said he hoped its gesture of solidarity would help push other EU members to re-examine migrant policy at a summit later this month, French President Emmanuel Macron criticized Italy's cynicism and irresponsibility for leaving the migrants at sea, while also deflecting criticism for not allowing the ship to dock in France.

Macron's spokesman, Benjamin Grivaux said France doesn't want to "start a precedent" that would allow some European countries to breach international laws and rely on other EU member states. But he quoted Macron as telling Tuesday's weekly Cabinet meeting: "If any ship was closer to France's shores, it could obviously dock on the French coast."

Spanish Foreign Minister Joseph Borrel said late Monday that "Spain has made a gesture that aims to trigger a European dynamic to stop looking away, allowing one (EU member) to cope with the problem while the rest of us pass the buck."

The new Spanish foreign minister said the decision to offer a docking port in the eastern city of Valencia had been a "personal and direct" move by the country's new prime minister, the Socialist Pedro Sanchez.

Hungary's radically anti-immigrant prime minister praised Salvini's move. Viktor Orban said his initial reaction to the news was a sigh of "Finally!" He called it "a great moment which may finally bring changes in Europe's migration policies."

Many Spanish regions and cities have offered to provide long-term support to the migrants, said Valencia's regional vice president, Monica Oltra. The Red Cross was preparing shelter and medical assistance to meet immediate needs on their arrival.

Doctors without Borders expressed particular concern for patients who had been resuscitated and risked developing "significant pulmonary disease after swallowing sea water." Another 21 patients suffered severe chemical burns from exposure to sea water mixed with fuel, while others risk pneumonia and yet others need immediate surgery for orthopedic issues.

SOS Mediterannee also said that removing the Aquarius risked lives. "People are still fleeing Libya while the Aquarius is away from the search and rescue area in the Central Mediterranean, where rescue capacities are already totally insufficient," the charity's vice president, Sophie Beau, said.

Aritz Parra reported from Madrid, Colleen Barry reported from Milan. Sylvie Corbet contributed from Paris and Pablo Gorondi from Budapest, Hungary.

Italy populists win Senate confidence vote, put EU on notice

June 05, 2018

ROME (AP) — Italy's new populist government won the first of two votes of confidence needed to start governing after its leader denounced Europe's "failed" immigration policy and warned Tuesday that his Cabinet would renegotiate Italy's fiscal obligations so it can help struggling Italians.

The 5-Star-League alliance secured 171 votes in favor from Parliament's upper chamber, well beyond the minimum needed to pass. Another 116 senators voted against the coalition government and 25 abstained.

Lawmakers in the lower Chamber of Deputies, where the two parties also have a majority, are set to cast confidence votes Wednesday that would launch western Europe's first populist government. In his inaugural policy address ahead of the Senate vote, Premier Giuseppe Conte readily acknowledged that the 5-Star-League partnership marks a radical shift from the Italian status quo.

"If 'populism' is the attitude of leaders to listen to the people ... and if 'anti-system' means introducing a new system that removes the old privileges of power, then this government deserves both these descriptions," said the premier, who was sworn into his first political office Friday.

Conte, who until last week was still teaching law classes at the University of Florence, was interrupted with applause nearly three dozen times during his 75-minute speech. But during the debate that followed, opposition senators from left to right ridiculed the government's proposed agenda as contradictory, superficial and fiscally unrealistic.

The heavy-spending plan calls for a two-tiered flat tax, a basic income for poor Italians, reforms to the pension system and a "dignified" minimum wage for workers. "You're deceiving the good faith of Italians if you're trying to make us believe that it's enough just to list these things, without saying how you'll do it or how you'll convince Europe," said Sen. Annamaria Bernini of the center-right Forza Italia, which campaigned in an alliance with the League before the March parliamentary election but voted against the new government.

"Mr. President, you need heavy doses of reality, not just good intentions," she said. Conte sought to assuage fears in Europe about his fiscal program, but he offered no details on financing Tuesday and limited his comments to responding to concerns that Italy at some point might leave the eurozone.

"Do we have to repeat it? Leaving the euro was never up for discussion. It is not up for discussion," he said. "The issue is another: Is it legitimate or not for a government of a country to re-negotiate economic policy?"

Fears of a possible exit strategy were stoked when an early draft of the government's policy agenda leaked, showing plans to delineate rules to leave the euro and for the European Central Bank to cancel 250 million euros in debt. Those points were dropped in the final policy document.

Conte also said Italy was a "convinced" member of NATO and reaffirmed its "traditionally privileged" alliance with the United States. However, he also called for the lifting of European Union sanctions on Russia, citing Moscow's strategic role internationally and the risk that sanctions will crush Russian civil society.

Conte responded to concerns about the xenophobic League's rhetoric, insisting that Italy "isn't racist" and accepts its responsibilities to welcome and integrate legitimate refugees. But he said the rest of the EU must take on a greater burden of accepting refugees as well as negotiating with migrants' home countries and helping send back those who don't qualify for asylum.

"It's obvious to everyone that the way migrant flows have been managed has been a failure," he said. "We will put an end to the business of immigration that grew disproportionately under the cloak of a pretend solidarity."

Conte gave his speech standing between his two political masters: 5-Star Leader Luigi Di Maio and League leader Matteo Salvini, who both gave up their own ambitions to be premier to find a compromise candidate to head a previously unthinkable alliance.

The 5-Star-League's financial platform has worried economists and EU policymakers who warn it will increase Italy's debt burden, already Europe's heaviest after Greece. Conte said Italy was committed to reducing its public debt, but said it wouldn't do so through austerity measures. He said the government plans to grow the economy through environmentally sustainable development, reduction in bureaucracy and a more business-friendly administrative climate for the small and medium-sized companies which are the backbone of the economy.

Leading the opposition in the Senate on Tuesday, Democratic Party Sen. Franco Mirabelli said it was fine to call for decent salaries and a speeding-up of public works contracts. He said the Democrats could support some of the new government's policy proposals.

"But the point is: How do you do it? With what resources?" Mirabelli said.