Irish turn attention to parliament as abortion ban voted out

May 27, 2018

DUBLIN (AP) — Attention is turning Sunday to Ireland's parliament now that the country's citizens have voted in landslide numbers to remove the abortion ban from its constitution. It will be up to parliament to make new laws to govern abortions now that the public has rejected the constitution's Eighth Amendment in a referendum Friday.

The nearly two-to-one vote ended a harsh anti-abortion regime enacted in 1983. It required doctors to regard the rights of a fetus, from the moment of conception, as equal to the rights of the mother.

In practice, it meant Irish women had to travel abroad for terminations. The nationwide rejection of the amendment represented a growing tolerance on social issues in the traditionally Roman Catholic country.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar hailed the vote as bringing a new era to Ireland. He said it will be remembered as "the day Ireland stepped out from under the last of our shadows and into the light. The day we came of age as a country. The day we took our place among the nations of the world."

His government will propose that abortions be permissible in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. It isn't yet clear what strategy abortion opponents will use in parliament in light of the unexpectedly large vote in favor of repeal.

Some expect a bruising fight in parliament, where there is strong opposition to reform in some quarters, but a more conciliatory debate is also possible. The decisive outcome of the landmark referendum was cast as a historic victory for women's rights. Exit polls indicated that the repeal was endorsed in urban and rural areas alike, with strong support from both men and women.

Backing for repeal was highest among young voters, including many who returned from jobs or universities in continental Europe to vote, but was also high among every age group except those 65 or older.

Since 1983, the Eighth Amendment had forced women seeking to terminate pregnancies to go abroad for abortions, bear children conceived through rape or incest, or take risky illegal measures at home.

Prime minister, abortion rights groups claim win in Ireland

May 26, 2018

DUBLIN (AP) — Abortion rights activists proclaimed victory for social justice Saturday as exit polls and early results indicated Ireland had voted overwhelmingly to repeal a 1983 constitutional ban on abortions.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, speaking Saturday before official results were announced, said it appeared that voters chose to liberalize Ireland's strict laws on abortion — only allowed when a woman's life is at risk — by a more than two-to-one margin.

"The people have spoken," said Varadkar, a medical doctor who campaigned for repeal in Friday's historic referendum. "The people have said that we want a modern constitution for a modern country, that we trust women and we respect them to make the right decision and the right choices about their health care."

Calling the result a culmination of a "quiet revolution" that had been gaining strength in the last 20 years, Varadkar said the large margin of victory will give his government a greater mandate when enacting new abortion legislation through parliament.

Campaigners who have fought for more than three decades to remove the eighth amendment abortion ban from Ireland's constitution hailed the referendum vote as a major breakthrough in a largely Catholic nation that has already seen a wave of social liberalization in recent years.

"This is a monumental day for women in Ireland," said Orla O'Connor, co-director of the Together for Yes group. "This is about women taking their rightful place in Irish society, finally." The vote is a "rejection of an Ireland that treated women as second-class citizens," she said, adding: "This is about women's equality and this day brings massive change, monumental change for women in Ireland, and there is no going back."

Official counting for Friday's referendum on whether or not to liberalize Ireland's abortion laws was still under way, and final results are not expected until later Saturday. But exit polls from the Irish Times and broadcaster RTE suggest the Irish people have voted by nearly 70 percent to repeal the eighth amendment, which requires authorities to treat a fetus and its mother as equals under the law.

Early results declared Saturday afternoon pointed to a landslide win for abortion rights campaigners across the country. The first constituency to declare — traditionally conservative Galway East — returned a 60 percent vote to repeal the abortion ban. Results from urban centers were even more decisive. Dublin Central posted 76.5 percent for repeal, while two constituencies in the southern capital of Cork City polled 64 percent and almost 69 percent.

Opponents of the repeal movement have conceded they have no chance of victory. John McGuirk, spokesman for the Save the 8th group, told Irish television Saturday that many Irish citizens will not recognize the country they are waking up in. The group said on its website that Irish voters have created a "tragedy of historic proportions," but McGuirk said the vote must be respected.

"You can still passionately believe that the decision of the people is wrong, as I happen to do, and accept it," he said. If the projected numbers hold up, the referendum would likely end the need for thousands of Irish women to travel abroad — mostly to neighboring Britain — for abortions they can't get at home.

Ireland's parliament will be charged with coming up with new abortion laws in the coming months. The government proposes to allow abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, with later terminations allowed in some cases.

Katherine Zappone, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, said she is confident new abortion legislation can be approved by parliament and put in place before the end of the year. "I feel very emotional," she said. "I'm especially grateful to the women of Ireland who came forward to provide their personal testimony about the hard times that they endured, the stress and the trauma that they experienced because of the eighth amendment."

The magnitude of the predicted victory exceeded the expectations of abortion rights activists. Surprisingly, they also suggest that supporters of more liberal abortion laws may have triumphed throughout the country, not just in the cosmopolitan capital, Dublin, where a strong youth vote had been anticipated.

The RTE exit poll of 3,779 voters predicts support for the "yes" vote in urban areas to be about 72 percent, with rural support at about 63 percent. It indicates about 72 percent of women voted "yes" along with about 66 percent of men. The strongest backing came from youthful voters — the exit poll says the only age group in which a majority voted "no" were voters who are 65 or older. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.6 percent.

Leo Enright contributed.

Ireland: Exit polls predict win for repealing abortion ban

May 26, 2018

DUBLIN (AP) — Official counting began Saturday in Ireland's historic abortion rights referendum, with two exit polls predicting an overwhelming victory for those seeking to end the country's strict ban.

The Irish Times and RTE television exit polls suggest the Irish people have voted overwhelmingly to repeal a 1983 constitutional amendment that requires authorities to treat a fetus and its mother as equals under the law. That effectively bans abortions, and currently, terminations are only allowed when a woman's life is at risk.

The exit polls are predictions only, with official results expected to be announced Saturday afternoon. Paper ballots must be counted and tallied. If the projected numbers hold up, the referendum would be a landmark in Irish women's fight for abortion rights and a key turning point for a largely Catholic nation that has seen a wave of liberalization in recent years. It would also likely end the need for thousands of Irish women to travel abroad — mostly to neighboring Britain — for abortions.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who campaigned for repeal, did not claim victory based on the exit polls but seemed very confident late Friday night. "Thank you to everyone who voted today. Democracy in action. It's looking like we will make history tomorrow," he said in a tweet after the exit polls were released.

Both exit polls project that the "yes" vote to repeal the ban to be nearly 70 percent. Surprisingly, they also suggest that supporters of more liberal abortion laws may have triumphed throughout the country, not just in the cosmopolitan capital, Dublin, where a strong youth vote had been anticipated.

The RTE exit poll of 3,779 voters predicts support for the "yes" vote in urban areas to be about 72 percent, with rural support at about 63 percent. It indicates about 72 percent of women voted "yes" along with about 66 percent of men. The strongest backing came from youthful voters — the exit poll says the only age group in which a majority voted "no" were voters who are 65 or older. The poll has a margin of error of 1.6 percent.

The magnitude of the predicted victory exceeds the expectations of abortion rights activists, but prominent opponent of repeal Cora Sherlock said the exit polls, if accurate, "paint a very sad state of affairs."

She said the "pro-life movement will rise to any challenge it faces" and resist what she called the trend toward abortion on demand. If the "yes" forces seeking a constitutional change prevail, Ireland's parliament will be charged with coming up with new abortion laws.

The government proposes to allow abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy with later terminations allowed in some cases. If confirmed by the official tally, the large margin of victory predicted by the exit polls would greatly strengthen the government's hand when dealing with abortion opponents in parliament.

Hungary: President recommends Viktor Orban as prime minister

May 08, 2018

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary's president has recommended that lawmakers re-elect Prime Minister Viktor Orban to what would be his third consecutive term and fourth overall. Orban's Fidesz party and a small ally won 133 of 199 seats in the national assembly in the April 8 election, securing a two-thirds majority which will allow them to amend the constitution unchallenged. The date of the lawmakers' vote on Orban has yet to be determined.

President Janos Ader, speaking Tuesday during the first parliamentary session after the national election, also urged lawmakers to amend election laws, in part to weed out small parties which he suggested ran only to gain access to state funds.

Meanwhile, a few hundred people protested outside parliament, most against Orban but some also demanding changes among the ineffective opposition parties.

Godly giants in kilts: Meet Greece's best-known soldiers

May 23, 2018

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — It might be the short, pleated kilts, tasseled black garters and pompom-tipped shoes, but there's something more endearing than intimidating about Greece's best-known military unit, the Presidential Guard.

Which helps explain why they are one of Athens' most popular tourist attractions, vying for camera clicks with the millennia-old ruins of Greece's Golden Age. All its members are conscripts picked for height and posture — and must demonstrate their godliness by belonging to the Orthodox Church of Greece.

Their function is to stand sentry at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and outside the residence of Greece's titular head of state, keeping unflinchingly still for hours when not performing a clockwork-soldier routine of ponderous leg and arm swings and crashing presentations of arms.

But during Greece's years of financial meltdown, the guards have several times been forced to abandon their posts as anti-austerity protests turned violent next to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is just in front of parliament, with the sentry posts occasionally burnt down.

Created 150 years ago as a fighting force that distinguished itself in a series of wars, the unit is now purely ceremonial in function, codifying in its dress and routine a popular conception of Greekness that evolved since the modern Greek state was formed nearly two centuries ago.

Its Greek name — Evzones, or well-girt youths — is a 3,000-year-old word reactivated in the 19th century as the fledgling country strove to cement its blood ties with the glories of antiquity. The complex uniform was inspired by the highland dress worn while Greece was still in thrall to the Ottoman Turkish empire, although the authentic, long version of the kilt was probably pioneered by southern Albanian settlers allied with the Turks.

The kilts are now drastically shorter than those sported by the rugged revolutionaries fighting the Turks in the Greek War of Independence. In another novelty, they are made with exactly 400 pleats, to symbolize the roughly four centuries of Turkish dominion that the revolution brought to an end, while the ornately-embroidered waistcoat bears secret Orthodox Christian symbols.

The clothes take months to make, with most of the effort going into the needlework — a dying art in a country where that type of costume went out of fashion well over a century ago, being replaced by the "Frankish" clothing of the West.

Greece says Syrian property law will impede refugees' return

May 04, 2018

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greece's foreign minister has voiced concerns about at a new Syrian real estate law that would force refugees to return home if they want to keep their property in Syria. Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias says the law does not secure the properties of millions of Syrians who are now displaced outside the country. He says it will make their eventual return to Syria much more difficult.

The decree, made public last month, gives property owners in some parts of Syria one month to provide ownership deeds or face confiscation of their property. Thousands of Syrian refugees have sought asylum in Greece.

Kotzias spoke during a southern Balkans ministerial meeting Friday in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki.

Struggling in parliament, German far right takes to streets

May 26, 2018

BERLIN (AP) — A German far-right party that swept into Parliament last year on a wave of anti-migrant sentiment is staging a march Sunday through the heart of Berlin to protest the influx of refugees.

Alternative for Germany, known by its German acronym AfD, accuses Chancellor Angela Merkel of ruining the country by allowing the mass immigration of refugees. The rally is highly unusual for a German political party. While other parties have in recent years supported protests on a variety of issues — from animal rights to opposing free trade — AfD is the sole organizer of the march headlined "Germany's Future."

Experts say the party's decision to take to the streets could be an attempt to portray itself as a popular movement, rather than just another political party.

German Cabinet approves new rules on migrant reunions

May 09, 2018

BERLIN (AP) — Asylum-seekers who are granted only limited protection in Germany will be able to apply for relatives to join them, more than two years after such reunions were suspended, under new rules approved Wednesday by the Cabinet.

Under the rules set to take effect Aug. 1, up to 1,000 close relatives per month will be granted visas to join migrants granted "subsidiary protection," which falls short of full asylum. Many people fleeing Syria's civil war have been given that status.

The government said that migrants won't get the automatic right to be joined by close relatives — spouses, children under 18, or the parents of migrants under 18 — but authorities will make case-by-case decisions on humanitarian grounds.

People who married after fleeing their homeland won't be able to seek spouses' admission. That also goes for migrants who have committed serious crimes or who are deemed by German authorities to pose a risk of extremist violence.

There will be an exception for people who can convincingly prove to authorities that they have given up their extremist and violent beliefs, which has drawn criticism from within Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said he personally would have to decide on any such cases.

"All in all, this bill ensures a sensible balance between people's interest in bringing families together ... and the integration capacity of the reception system," Seehofer told reporters. Germany saw more than a million asylum-seekers from the Middle East and elsewhere arrive in 2015 and 2016. Arrival numbers have dropped sharply since then and the latest figures, released Wednesday, show that just under 11,000 asylum-seekers arrived in Germany in April.

In early 2016, with large numbers of migrants still trekking across the Balkans, Merkel's government decided that people granted the lesser protection status, which means that they aren't deemed to face "immediate personal persecution," wouldn't be allowed to bring relatives to join them for two years.

Family reunions were a hard-fought issue in negotiations earlier this year to form a new governing coalition. Merkel's bloc — particularly Seehofer's Bavaria-only Christian Social Union party, which faces a state election in October — backed a restrictive approach. Its center-left coalition partners, the Social Democrats, called for a more generous line.

The new rules will require parliamentary approval.

Germany says Liu Xiaobo's widow is welcome 'at any time'

May 04, 2018

BEIJING (AP) — Germany said Thursday it would welcome the widow of Chinese Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo after a recording was released of her crying in desperation and indicating she has given up hope of being able to leave China.

"If I can't leave, I'll die in my home," Liu Xia said during a recent phone call with her close friend Liao Yiwu, a writer who documented their conversation in an essay published Wednesday. "Xiaobo is gone, and there's nothing in the world for me now," Liu said tearfully. "It's easier to die than live. Using death to defy could not be any simpler for me."

Liu has never been charged with a crime, but has been kept guarded and largely isolated since her husband, Liu Xiaobo, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his human rights activism in 2010. He was still serving a prison sentence for inciting subversion of state power when he died of liver cancer last summer.

Germany's Foreign Ministry told The Associated Press on Thursday that the German government has been discussing Liu's case with China and "will continue to do so." "According to the information available to us, Liu Xia has not been accused of any crime," the ministry said in emailed comments. "She should be allowed to travel, also for humanitarian considerations. Should she choose to come to Germany, Liu Xia would be welcome here at any time."

Writing from Germany where he is living in exile, Liao said that Chinese state security agents repeatedly promised Liu Xia that she would be able to leave the country and seek treatment for the clinical depression that has long ailed her.

Germany was prepared to take her in, according to Liao: "In early April the German Foreign Minister had already made specific arrangements, including as to how they'd not alert the news media, how they'd covertly collect Liu Xia at the airport, and how they'd arrange her treatment and recovery and more."

But hopes for a quiet departure have not borne fruit. Hu Jia, a dissident and longtime friend of the Lius, described Liao's essay as a "counterattack" against Chinese authorities prompted by an "awakening" after hearing for months that Liu would soon be released.

Corroborating Liao's account, Hu said Liu had initially been told by security agents to wait until after the 19th Party Congress last fall, when President Xi Jinping secured a second term at the helm of the ruling Communist Party. Then, Hu said, they told her to wait until after the meeting of the ceremonial legislature in March.

During this time, Liu's supporters kept a low profile because government agents told them that remaining silent about the case would lead to a solution, Hu told the AP. "Why did Mr. Liao call Liu Xia on April 30? Because at that point it was already clear that hope was shattered," Hu said. "We were duped."

When asked at a regular press briefing whether Liu will be able to leave the country, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she was "not aware of the situation." "But Liu Xia is a Chinese citizen. The competent Chinese authority will handle the relevant matter in accordance with laws," Hua said, repeating a statement often used by China to address Liu's case.

Germany vows to take tougher stance on migrant deportations

May 03, 2018

BERLIN (AP) — Hundreds of German police officers raided a refugee shelter in the southern town of Ellwangen on Thursday, days after an angry mob of migrants prevented authorities from deporting a 23-year-old man from Togo.

The massive police operation came as Germany's top security official presented a new "master plan on migration." Interior Minister Horst Seehofer vowed he would do everything he could to clamp down on illegal immigration, speed up asylum procedures and deport rejected asylum-seekers as quickly as possible.

"What happened (in Ellwangen) was a slap in the face of the law-abiding population," Seehofer — who is well-known for his law-and-order stance — told reporters in Berlin. "The right to hospitality cannot be trampled on like that," he added, promising that security authorities would "use all their force and determination" to prosecute those asylum-seekers who blocked police from executing the deportation Monday in Ellwangen.

Bernhard Weber, deputy police chief in the town of Aalen near Ellwangen, said the big police operation was necessary because of the "unprecedented" situation officers had faced when they arrived to pick up the Togolese man.

"They were massively prevented from doing so, violently, by about 150 to 200 African refugees," Weber told reporters. Weber said a decision was taken to return early Thursday to enforce the deportation of the man to Italy, which he passed through on his way to Germany. Under European Union rules, people have to apply for asylum in the first EU nation they enter.

Four people including one police officer were taken to the hospital for injuries suffered during the raid Thursday, while eight others were treated by paramedics at the scene. Seehofer, the governor of Bavaria before he joined Chancellor Angela Merkel's new government six weeks ago, said he wants to quickly implement new procedures to limiting the overall number of asylum-seekers in Germany. He also vowed to do everything possible to deport criminal and extremist migrants faster.

As part of new plan, the German government wants to place asylum-seekers in several centralized centers with up to 1,500 other migrants for up to two years. They will not be distributed across the country before their application has been processed.

Judges will be working inside these centers and if they reject asylum-seekers, those failed candidates will be deported straight from there. In addition, Seehofer wants to increase the number of holding facilities for deportees to prevent them from evading deportation.

Asylum-seekers are currently housed in smaller shelters all over Germany while they await their asylum decision. Some migrants go into hiding after being told of their upcoming deportation, delaying the process.

Seehofer said he also wants the German government to declare several nations — including Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria as well as Georgia — as "secure home countries," lessening the chances that applicants from there will be granted asylum.

Those who do receive asylum will need to integrate better into German society, Seehofer said. Seehofer belongs to the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union, which has always taken a harder line on migration than Merkel's Christian Democratic Union.

Although the two parties are part of the same governing coalition, with Bavarian state election coming up this fall, Seehofer has made a point of positioning himself to the right of Merkel on migration. In the past he has also often criticized Merkel's more welcoming attitude toward migrants.

France: Macron rewards migrant hero who saved dangling child

May 29, 2018

PARIS (AP) — President Emmanuel Macron on Monday lauded as a hero a migrant from Mali who scaled an apartment building to save a child dangling from a balcony, and rewarded the young man's bravery with an offer of French citizenship and a job as a firefighter.

"Bravo," Macron said to 22-year-old Mamoudou Gassama during a meeting in a gilded room of the presidential Elysee Palace where Gassama also received a gold medal from the French state for "courage and devotion."

Gassama climbed five stories up the apartment building, moving from balcony to balcony, and whisked a 4-year-old boy to safety on Saturday night as a crowd below screamed. His actions went viral on social media, where he was dubbed "Spiderman"

Gassama said he has authorization to stay legally in Italy, which is where he landed in Europe in 2014 after a more than a year in Libya and a trip across the Mediterranean Sea. He came to France in September to join his older brother, who has lived in France for decades.

Dressed in tattered blue jeans and white shirt, the young man recounted for the president what took place after he and some friends saw a young child hanging from a fifth-floor balcony. "I ran. I crossed the street to save him," Gassama told Macron. He said he didn't think twice. "When I started to climb, it gave me courage to keep climbing."

God "helped me," too, he said. "Thank God I saved him." Gassama said he trembled with fear only after he had reached the boy, gotten him safely back over the balcony railing and taken him inside the apartment.

The father of the child was detained overnight for alleged parental neglect, and is to appear in court in September. He left the child alone while he shopped, then lingered to play Pokemon Go, Prosecutor Francois Molins told BFM-TV. The whereabouts of the child's mother were unclear.

"You saved a child. Without you, no one knows what would have become of him," the president said. "You need courage and the capability to do that." Macron offered to begin the naturalization process to make Gassama a French citizen and said, "Because this is an exceptional act ... we are obviously, today, going to regularize all your papers."

Macron is behind a bill toughening French immigration law, and he stressed there is no contradiction between rewarding Gassama for his act of bravery and working to prevent migrants from entering France illegally by stopping the stream of arrivals at its source.

"An exceptional act does not make policy," he told reporters later, vowing to maintain a policy that is "exigent, respectful of our principles" on asylum and "rigorous" regarding the migratory flux. The special treatment for Gassama comes as authorities prepare to evacuate some 2,400 migrants from makeshift encampments in the French capital. The forced closure of the encampments is the subject of a heated debate between the Paris mayor, who wants to ensure the uprooted will be sheltered, and Interior Minister Gerard Collomb, who was present Monday at the Elysee.

Gassama told Macron he was arrested and beaten during his long rough stay in Libya, "but I wasn't discouraged." The French president said Gassama's actions made him deserving of special treatment. Working as a firefighter corresponds with his skills, said Macron, who opened the door for him to do just that.

"You have become an example because millions have seen you" on social media, the president said. Another Malien, Lassana Bathily, was given French citizenship in January 2015, shortly after he saved lives by hiding people in a freezer and alerting police during a terror attack on a Jewish grocery where he worked.

French government orders evacuation of Paris migrant camp

May 23, 2018

PARIS (AP) — A burgeoning migrant camp in Paris, on a canal used by joggers and cyclists, is at the center of a tug-of-war over how best to respond to the unrelenting arrivals of migrants in the French capital — with humanity or with muscle.

Two migrants drowned this month in canals and others have been injured in fights, increasing the pressure to act. France's interior minister on Wednesday ordered the evacuation of some 2,300 migrants at the camp and others around Paris. But he and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo remain at odds over where to take them, and how to find a lasting solution.

The debate raises a question shared across European nations seeking to manage the migrant flux, which has ebbed since the mass Syrian refugee crisis a few years ago but remains a steady challenge. Collomb expressed "regret" at Hidalgo's refusal to clear out the migrants, and said he had no choice but to order an evacuation, expected in the coming days.

The mayor and aid groups want the migrants put in shelters, not just evacuated in a police operation and dispersed or summarily deported. Paris police have already cleared out some 28,000 migrants from Paris camps in the past three years, but the arrivals haven't slowed.

Collomb is behind the government's tough immigration bill that has rained criticism on President Emmanuel Macron, who is working to stop migration at its source and use a police approach at home. Refusing to shelter the Paris migrants exemplifies the approach.

Side-to-side and back-to-back, hundreds of small tents are packed under bridges on the side of a canal in far northeastern Paris, beside a shopping center, banks and other businesses. The tents, filled mainly with African migrants, hold stories of horrific stays in Libya, desperate boat trips across the Mediterranean, frozen journeys on foot through the Alps — and visions of the good life that fuels the dreams of all migrants.

Joggers, cyclists and those working in the area pass in the narrow space available, as river shuttles and barges ply the canal's waters. The surrealistic scene is repeated along the Canal Saint-Martin, a scenic stretch popular with tourists in the heart of Paris where an estimated 450 migrants, many Afghan, are camped.

"It's not the best vision from the office window," said Kevin Sadoun, who works at a major bank with offices around the largest encampment, known as the "Millenaire" after the shopping center overlooking the tents. "We see people pee, defecate ... But they have no choice," he said.

There are few portable toilets and urinals, and just one set of spigots where migrants wash clothes. Naby Sylla, a 20-year-old Guinean, is among migrants who crossed into France via the Alps, after traveling by raft from Sabratha, Libya, to Italy. He left Italy, he said, after being twice attacked, once with a bottle and needing hospital treatment.

"In Africa, we thought that Europe was a place of welcome. Unfortunately, we don't find that," he told The Associated Press.

Angela Charlton contributed to this report.

Thousands party at Paris protest to show anger at Macron

May 06, 2018

PARIS (AP) — Tens of thousands of protesters in Paris danced, picnicked and railed against President Emmanuel Macron at a "party" marking his first year in office. Police fired tear gas on troublemakers on the margins of the largely festive protest Saturday, and eight people were arrested. Authorities deployed 2,000 police to the event after violence and ransacking scarred a May Day protest in the French capital earlier this week, shocking many.

"Stop Macron!" read placards at Saturday's rally in front of Paris' famed Opera Garnier. Demonstrators then marched through tourist-filled neighborhoods toward the Bastille plaza in eastern Paris. Organizers of Saturday's march, the far-left party Defiant France, planned the event around the one-year anniversary of Macron's May 7, 2017 election. He was inaugurated a week later, and quickly launched broad changes to France's labor rules to increase the nation's global competitiveness.

Protesters are angry at reforms led by Macron, a centrist former investment banker, such as cutting some worker protections and increasing police powers. "This regime is a regime that's an authoritarian regime. We are in a soft dictatorship and we have concerns about guarantees of individual freedoms and the guarantee of fundamental rights," said protester Roselyne Gonle-Luillier, a judge.

Macron won the presidency on a wave of disillusionment at France's traditional parties, beating far-right Marine Le Pen in a runoff. He has raised France's international profile — but at home many voters are disgruntled and fear that he is dismantling the French way of life.

"What we want specifically is to resist, show him (Macron) our anger, show him that there are some French people who did not vote for him, do not agree with what he is trying to do," said Sylvie Brissonneau, who will soon retire. One of Macron's reforms is raising taxes for retirees.

The party atmosphere Saturday was a relief after the May Day violence, which saw protesters torch cars and vandalize a McDonald's restaurant and other stores. A judicial official said Saturday that seven people have been charged in the May Day unrest. Authorities blamed more than 1,000 masked attackers from an anarchist group called the Black Blocs who disrupted a peaceful workers march.

At Saturday's march, organizers said they were in regular contact with the police to avoid serious damage.

Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.

British royal family thanks those who celebrated wedding

May 20, 2018

LONDON (AP) — The royal family has thanked people who attended or watched the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. "Thank you to everyone who came to Windsor and those who followed from around the UK, the Commonwealth, and the world," the royals said.

The family tweeted its thanks late Saturday night while Harry and his bride were attending a private soiree hosted by Harry's father, Prince Charles. Kensington Palace did not release details, but photographs showed Markle, now known formally as the Duchess of Sussex, wearing an emerald-cut aquamarine ring that had belonged to Harry's mother, Princess Diana, to the reception.

The newlyweds spent their first night as a married couple at Windsor Castle. They are not immediately going on honeymoon.

In London, some Brits shrug off royal wedding: 'Irrelevant'

May 19, 2018

LONDON (AP) — Watching the cheering, flag-waving Brits lining the sun-soaked royal procession route on television, it's easy to get the impression of a wedding-crazy country still deeply in love with its royal family.

But at the Duke of Sussex pub — an early 20th century boozer that shares Prince Harry's new royal title — the mood was mainly one of benign indifference. Miniature American flags had been deployed in honor of Harry's Yankee bride Meghan Markle, but many of the patrons had their minds on the weather instead.

"It's irrelevant," said Louise Broom, a 37-year-old teacher who'd been sunning herself at a nearby park during the ceremony. She laughed off the idea, widely discussed in the British press, that the royal family's addition of Markle — whose mother is of African heritage — marked any real move toward greater tolerance.

"It's not going to fix interracial relations," Broom said. Danny Meehan, a 35-year-old consultant, said he missed the wedding as he'd been out house-hunting — and was more interested in Saturday's big soccer tournament in any case.

"It's all about the FA Cup today," he said. He said that earlier in the day he'd crossed a drunken rugby fan on a London subway platform who was bellowing, "Did everyone enjoy the royal wedding?!?" at fellow passengers. The fan didn't get a response, so he shouted the question a second time, and then a third.

"Stone cold silence," Meehan said, adding that the rugby fan eventually gave up, saying, "I love this country." Polls generally show high levels of popularity for the royal family — a recent Ipsos MORI survey found that only 15 percent of Brits thought abolishing the monarchy would make the U.K. better off — and most everyone at the Duke of Sussex pub wished the new couple well, with many complimenting Markle on her poise and grace.

"I think she looks stunning and I hope that they do well," said Lee Simpson, 35, who was sharing a table with Meehan. But for many of the patrons enjoying their lagers in the sunshine, the highlight of the wedding was that Harry and Markle hadn't brought America's scandal-plagued president to the U.K.

"It's great that they didn't invite Donald Trump," Meehan said. "It shows that they're not hostages to protocol." "They did invite Oprah," Simpson said. Meehan, turning to an American reporter, said with a smile: "She's your next president!"

Prince Harry, Meghan Markle wed in Windsor as millions watch

May 19, 2018

WINDSOR, England (AP) — Prince Harry and Meghan Markle gazed into each other's eyes and pledged their eternal love Saturday as they married at St. George's Chapel in front of hundreds of celebrity guests and millions of viewers around the world.

The American actress arrived to a fanfare and walked down the aisle accompanied part of the way by Prince Charles and by 10 young page boys and bridesmaids. The children included 4-year-old Prince George and 3-year-old Princess Charlotte, children of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge.

Markle's sleek white dress, designed by British designer Clare Waight Keller, had a boat neck and was made of silk. Her veil came to her waist in front and billowed out for many feet behind her long train.

Harry and best man Prince William wore dark formal military dress, with white gloves and the frock coat uniforms of the Blues and Royals, and Harry kept his full red beard intact. As Charles and Meghan drew close to the altar, Harry said: "Thank you, Pa."

To Meghan, Harry said: "You look amazing." Markle seemed poised and confident as she delivered her vows without so much as a quiver in her voice. She smiled broadly as the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby declared them husband and wife. Harry seemed a bit nervous — but happy.

A host of celebrities and athletes — including Oprah Winfrey, Idris Elba, Elton John, George and Amal Clooney, Serena Williams, James Corden and David and Victoria Beckham — watched the ceremony in the gothic chapel at Windsor Castle.

Prior to the festivities, Queen Elizabeth II honored her red-headed, 33-year-old grandson with a new title: the Duke of Sussex. That means that Markle is now the Duchess of Sussex. The wedding was a global event, thanks to Harry's status as a senior British royal and Markle's celebrity after starring on the U.S. television series "Suits" for seven years. The wedding pomp and ceremony — complete with Anglican prayers and tradition, classical music, a gospel choir and a horse-drawn carriage ride through Windsor — was beamed live to tens of millions of TV viewers across the world.

Relatives at the ceremony included Charles Spencer, the brother of Harry's late mother Princess Diana, and Harry's cousin Zara Tindall and her husband. Also in attendance was the family of Prince William's wife Kate: Parents Carole and Michael Middleton, sister Pippa Middleton and brother James Middleton.

Harry's ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy was also among the congregation, as was Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, the ex-wife of Harry's uncle Prince Andrew. Outside the castle, thousands of fans crammed the streets of Windsor. Irene Bowdry, a lawyer from California, was aboard the jammed early train to Windsor. She booked her trip to England as soon as the wedding date was announced.

"An American in the royal family, isn't that so exciting?" she said. The weather was balmy and clear, bathing the ancient stones of Windsor Castle in a beautiful spring light. Royal fans have been camping outside the castle for days, and British police have stepped up security, with sniffer dogs, barricades and patrols all over town.

"Windsor is absolutely bursting with excitement," said royal historian Hugo Vickers. "There are cardboard cutouts of Meghan and Harry in every shop window, virtually. There's bunting all over the place. I've never seen so many people in the streets of Windsor."

It is a time of transition for the British monarchy, one that seems filled with hope as William and Harry — the two sons of Charles and the late Princess Diana — step ever more confidently into the limelight. Many in the crowd, like Ana Karukin, a Brazilian nurse living in Florida, said they came to witness a moment of history.

"We've got to be here for him and for her, my Meghan, my special girl, to support them, because it's a beautiful time," she said. "I wish that Diana was here, but she's in heaven watching over them." The brothers found the time amid the wedding hoopla to stroll outside the castle Friday evening to thank fans for coming. A smiling Harry gave a thumb's up and answered "Great, thank you!" when asked how he was feeling on the eve of his wedding.

And it seems to be a time of joy for 92-year-old queen and her 96-year-old husband, Prince Philip, who plans to attend the ceremony despite his recent hip replacement surgery. She is seeing her grandson marry a woman who clearly has brought him the happiness he's often said was missing from his life after his mother's premature death.

The family tableau played out on the broadest possible stage. Dozens of broadcasters set up on the castle grounds for a visual feast. The chapel itself is a masterpiece of the late Gothic style, and Windsor Castle has been home to British sovereigns for nearly 1,000 years.

After the ceremony, the newlyweds will ride a horse-drawn carriage through the streets of Windsor, flanked by a British military procession with many officers on horseback. Then it will be off to the first of two gala receptions. The first will be hosted in the afternoon by the queen — with finger foods, wine and champagne. The second, smaller reception is being thrown by Charles. A three-hour break in between will allow for a rest and a change of outfits for the lucky 200 invited to the evening soiree.

The chapel service will reflect Markle's American roots. The Most Rev. Michael Bruce Curry, the African-American leader of the Episcopal Church, delivered the sermon, and the musical selections included versions of Ben. E. King's "Stand By Me" and Etta James' "Amen/This Little Light of Mine."

Harry invited buddies from his 10 years of military service — which included tours of duty in Afghanistan — and from many of the charities he supports, which have focused on helping wounded veterans or encouraging a more open discussion of mental health issues.

The couple also honored the memory of Harry's mother Diana, whose older sister Jane Fellowes gave a reading during the wedding service.

Kirka and Lawless reported from London.

The big day is here: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle to wed

May 19, 2018

WINDSOR, England (AP) — It all started with a blind date that went really, really well. It was in July 2016, not even two years ago. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were set up by a mutual friend, a woman who thought they might click. Those dates usually fail 99 out of 100 times — but this time something magical happened.

Less than two years later, they will marry: two people who found each other after years of searching. But Harry's status as a senior British royal and Markle's entertainment industry presence as a star on the TV series "Suits" has turned Saturday's wedding into a global event.

From St. George's Chapel on the grounds of Windsor Castle, the royal wedding ceremony — complete with Anglican prayers and tradition, classical music and a gospel choir — will be beamed to tens of millions of TV viewers throughout the world.

"Windsor is absolutely bursting with excitement," said royal historian Hugo Vickers. "There are cardboard cutouts of Meghan and Harry in every shop window, virtually. There's bunting all over the place. I've never seen so many people in the streets of Windsor."

He says there's substance and meaning to the event that goes beyond its glitzy surface. "It's very glamorous," he said. "But it is also the meeting, isn't it, between a once-wayward prince and an actress who has also addressed the United Nations — she's the first royal bride to have addressed the United Nations. She's a human rights activist and a feminist and a global ambassador for charities.

"She's led her own life ... she's not coming onto the scene without credentials. She's a highly proficient, very articulate young lady," he said. The weather is expected to be balmy and clear, bathing the ancient stones of Windsor Castle in a beautiful spring light. Stars are flying in from Hollywood. Royal fans have been camping outside the castle for days. British police have stepped up security, with sniffer dogs, barricades and patrols all over town.

Everyone is waiting to see what Markle wears, which designer she has chosen for her wedding gown. Prince Charles, the groom's father, will walk her down the aisle after Markle's own father became too ill to come. No one knows if Prince William will give a loving toast as Harry's best man, or use the occasion to poke fun at his boisterous younger brother.

The wedding marks a new chapter in the storied British monarchy: The introduction of an American woman with a biracial background to its upper ranks. And there is every indication Markle has charmed the British public, making new fans each time she and Harry make a "walkabout" in a different part of the country.

When they exchange vows at St. George's Chapel, it will mark a new phase for Harry — who has buried his bad boy past and embraced a royal role while supporting a number of charities — and a transformation for Markle, who is walking away from a successful acting career to embark on a life of royal duties and social activism.

Both hope to start a family, following in the footsteps of William, who with his wife Kate has three young children: Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, who just arrived last month. It is a time of transition for the British monarchy, one that seems filled with hope as William and Harry — the two sons of the late Princess Diana and Prince Charles — step ever more confidently into the limelight. The brothers even found the time amid the wedding hoopla to stroll outside the castle Friday evening to thank fans for coming.

A smiling Harry gave a thumb's up and answered "Great, thank you!" when asked how he was feeling on the eve of his wedding. And it seems to be a time of reflection and joy for 92-year-old Queen Elizabeth II and her 96-year-old husband, Prince Philip, who plans to attend the ceremony despite his recent hip replacement surgery. She is seeing her grandson marry a woman who clearly has brought him the happiness he's often said was missing from his life.

The family tableau will play out on the broadest possible stage. Dozens of broadcasters have set up on the castle grounds for a visual feast. The chapel itself is a masterpiece of the late Gothic style, and Windsor Castle has been home to British sovereigns for nearly 1,000 years.

After the ceremony, the newlyweds will ride a horse-drawn carriage through the streets of Windsor, flanked by a splendid British military procession with many officers on horseback. Then it will be off to the first of two gala receptions. The first will be hosted in the afternoon by the queen — with finger foods, wine and champagne. The second, smaller reception is being thrown by Charles.

A three-hour break in between will allow for a rest and a change of outfits for the lucky 200 invited to the evening soiree. The chapel service will reflect Markle's American roots. The Most Rev. Michael Bruce Curry, an African-American leader of the Episcopal Church, will deliver a sermon, and the musical selections will include versions of "Stand By Me" and Etta James' "Amen/This Little Light of Mine."

Markle will be accompanied by her mother, Doria Ragland, when she is driven to the chapel on Saturday, and many of her closest friends and some co-stars from "Suits" will be in the audience. She opted not to have a maid of honor but there will be 10 young bridesmaids and page boys, including 4-year-old Prince George and 3-year-old Princess Charlotte, the elder children of William and his wife Kate.

Harry will be joined by some of his buddies from his 10 years of military service — an experience that included tours of duty in Afghanistan — and from many of the charities he supports, which have focused on helping wounded veterans or encouraging a more open discussion of mental health issues.

The couple has made an effort to honor the memory of Harry's mother, the late Princess Diana, whose older sister Jane Fellowes will give a reading during the wedding service. After seeing the couple up close, Curry said Friday that he saw "two real people who are obviously in love."

"When I see them, something in my heart leaps," he said. "That's why 2 billion people are watching them."

Jill Lawless and Danica Kirka in London contributed.

World War I battle of Belleau Wood was turning point for US

May 26, 2018

BELLEAU, France (AP) — It was the spring of 1918, and the German army was making a final push toward Paris. The only thing in their way was a contingent of Allied troops, including untested U.S. forces near the Marne River in northern France.

Among them: U.S. Army 1st Lt. Gordon Kaemmerling, a precocious and athletic Harvard graduate who had jumped at the opportunity to help the United States leave its shell of isolationism and join the war.

On June 6, 1918, the U.S. forces attacked, storming across the open fields near Belleau Wood. Germans sprayed them with shells and machine-gun fire from a densely forested hill. Without proper artillery cover, the Americans were mowed down easily at first.

In the chaos, the 26-year-old Kaemmerling rushed to help his comrades, and was nearly torn in two by shrapnel and bullets. The bravery of Kaemmerling and others helped the Americans chase the German forces out of Belleau Wood by the end of the month. The battle became a defining moment in World War I, not just containing the German push along the Western Front but proving the Americans' military mettle for all to see.

Victory bonded the Allies, and that friendship became the cornerstone of global diplomacy for most of the last 100 years. That partnership is being celebrated during the centennial of the battle of Belleau Wood as the U.S. marks the Memorial Day holiday, even amid some trans-Atlantic strains.

NO RETREAT

Germany acknowledged the arrival of the U.S. forces on the Western Front would be a burden, but peace with the Bolsheviks in Soviet Russia meant that German troops could reinforce another onslaught on France.

It was a unique window of opportunity for the Germans, and when it came, they got within a week's march from Paris. Victory after four years of fighting seemed possible.

The American force "was still considered a very untried organization, and among the French and British, they were not sure how well they would perform," said retired U.S. Army Col. David S. Jones, a historian.

The initial plan was to give many of the U.S. forces more time to train before being thrown into battle, but Germany had other ideas.

In desperation, the French asked U.S. Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing for the immediate deployment of his some of his troops to stop the gap near the Marne, northeast of Paris. U.S. soldiers and Marines were soon sent off to Belleau.

The combination of inexperience and gung-ho enthusiasm became the stuff of legend. The battle is one of the first things taught to any U.S. Marine, said Owen Gardner Finnegan, a Marine who served in Afghanistan and was visiting the Belleau Wood cemetery.

Because of their ferocity, the Americans "stopped the most advanced army in the world at the time in savage fighting," Finnegan said.

Marine Corps lore has it that one officer, told there was a general retreat, said, "Retreat? Hell, we just got here!"

The Americans made their vigor, youth and resilience count against the more experienced but battle-weary Germans, who were approaching their fifth year of fighting.

When the Americans were confronted with "intense enemy fire, instead of ducking, instead of retreating, they charged," said French historian Jean-Michel Steg.

At first, it was a matter of survival. Steadily, however, they established themselves in hostile terrain where any tree could hide an enemy. They stood their ground in man-to-man fighting.

Instead of marching on Paris, the Germans soon found themselves on the back foot.

Much more was at stake than a patch of ground along a 350-mile (560-kilometer) front line.

"It became something different. It became a test of will," Steg said.

Bolstered by the Americans, the Allies were pushing the Germans back.

"The turning point was that the Germans came to the realization that the American Army was for real and was not only going to get bigger with the arrival of new soldiers each month but was also going to get better," Steg said.

By the end of 1918, more than 2 million Americans were on the front.

Belleau Wood "definitely was a critical point in the road for America becoming a world power," Jones said.

Other successes by U.S., French and British Commonwealth forces led to the armistice of Nov. 11, 1918.

The U.S. would return again to Europe to fight and defeat the Germans in World War II. It spread its global reach to embody what some have called the "American Century."

A SYMBOLIC TREE

A century after the battle, shell holes are covered in fir and ivy, and there are enough oak saplings in Belleau Wood that some escape the appetite of roving deer.

One young tree was dug up for a special purpose: On a state visit in April, French President Emmanuel Macron brought it to the White House for a replanting ceremony with President Donald Trump.

Macron said the tree could take root "as a symbol of the sacrifice and the common battles that France and the United States have led together."

After the ceremony, the tree was dug up and put into quarantine, like other plants or animals brought into U.S. territory, and will be returned to the spot.

Although Macron and Trump celebrated that bond, there have been strains between the U.S. and Europe on climate change, the Iran nuclear deal and trade with the EU.

European Union Council President Donald Tusk, referring to the Trump administration earlier this month, said: "Someone could even think, 'with friends like that, who needs enemies?'"

It was not a sentiment that Owen Gardner Finnegan, the Marine who was visiting Belleau Wood, wanted to dwell on as he stood among the white marble grave markers of the fallen Americans on a gray spring day.

"We should remember all of this — the verdant green fields of France that were stained with the blood of several million men," Finnegan said.

In a letter home, Gordon Kaemmerling described France as "a dream country that I'd love to play in in peace times."

He never got the chance. He was buried in the Ainse-Marne American Cemetery in Belleau, one of 2,289 Americans laid to rest there.

"He was a leader of men, and in order to lead, he needed to be out front," said Shane Williams, the cemetery's superintendent.

Photojournalist Virginia Mayo and videojournalist Mark Carlson contributed.

S. Korea relieved about Trump-Kim summit revival efforts

May 26, 2018

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea on Saturday expressed cautious relief about the revived talks for a summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un following a whirlwind 24 hours that saw Trump canceling the highly-anticipated meeting before saying it's potentially back on.

The statement by Seoul's presidential office came hours after Trump welcomed North Korea's conciliatory response to his Thursday letter withdrawing from the summit with Kim and said that the meeting might be getting back on track. Trump later on Saturday tweeted that the summit, if it does happen, will likely take place on June 12 in Singapore as originally planned.

"We see it as fortunate that the embers of dialogue between North Korea and the United States weren't fully extinguished and are coming alive again," Seoul's presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said in a statement. "We are carefully watching the developments."

South Korea, which brokered the talks between Washington and Pyongyang, was caught off guard by Trump's abrupt cancellation of the summit citing hostility in recent North Korean comments. South Korean President Moon Jae-said Trump's decision left him "perplexed" and was "very regrettable." He urged Washington and Pyongyang to resolve their differences through "more direct and closer dialogue between their leaders."

Moon and Kim held a historic summit in April where they announced vague aspirations for a nuclear-free peninsula and permanent peace, which Seoul has tried to sell as a meaningful breakthrough to set up the summit with Trump.

Trump's back-and-forth over his summit plans with Kim has exposed the fragility of Seoul as an intermediary. It fanned fears in South Korea that the country may lose its voice between a rival intent on driving a wedge between Washington and Seoul and an American president who thinks less of the traditional alliance with Seoul than his predecessors.

Early this month, North Korea canceled a high-level meeting with Seoul over South Korea's participation in regular military exercises with the United States and insisted that it will not return to talks unless its grievances are resolved.

Trump's decision to pull out of the summit with Kim came just days after he hosted Moon in a White House meeting where he openly cast doubts on the Singapore meeting but offered no support for continued inter-Korean progress, essentially ignoring the North's recent attempts to coerce the South.

In his letter to Kim, Trump objected specifically to a statement from senior North Korean diplomat Choe Son Hui. She referred to Vice President Mike Pence as a "political dummy" for his earlier comments on North Korea and said it was up to the Americans whether they would "meet us at a meeting room or encounter us at nuclear-to-nuclear showdown."

North Korea issued an unusually restrained and diplomatic response to Trump, saying it's still willing to sit for talks with the United States "at any time, (in) any format." "The first meeting would not solve all, but solving even one at a time in a phased way would make the relations get better rather than making them get worse," North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said in a statement carried by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency, which mainly targets external audience.

Notably, the statement did not appear in Saturday's edition of Rodong Sinmun, the official mouthpiece of the North's ruling party that's widely read by North Koreans. The newspaper instead focused on Kim Jong Un's visit to the coastal town of Wonsan to inspect the construction of a beachfront tourist complex. Kim ordered the complex to be finished by April 15 next year to mark the birthday of his late grandfather and North Korea founder Kim Il Sung. Kim Jong Un's comments published by the newspaper did not include any mention of his potential meeting with Trump.

Analysts say Kim's diplomatic outreach in recent months after a flurry of nuclear and missile tests in 2017 indicates he is eager for sanctions relief to build his economy and the international legitimacy the summit with Trump would provide. But there's also skepticism whether Kim will ever agree to fully relinquish his nuclear arsenal, which he likely sees as his only guarantee of survival.

Comments in North Korea's state media indicate Kim sees any meeting with Trump as an arms control negotiation between nuclear states, rather than a process to surrender his nukes. The North has said it will refuse to participate in talks where it would be unilaterally pressured to give up its nukes.

Israel defense chief plans 2,500 new West Bank settler homes

May 24, 2018

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's defense minister said Thursday he will seek approval next week to fast-track construction of 2,500 new West Bank settlement homes in 2018, an announcement likely to further ratchet up tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.

Avigdor Lieberman's office said in a statement that he aimed to fulfill a commitment to expand construction in the West Bank settlements, including some remote outposts and the Jewish settler enclave in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Besides the 2,500, Lieberman said he will advance another 1,400 units that are in preliminary planning stages. "In the coming months, we will bring for approval thousands more housing units," Lieberman said, according to the statement.

The announcement came two days after Palestinians urged the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, to open an investigation into Israeli policies in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, including settlement construction, accusing Israel of systematic crimes, including apartheid in the occupied territories. The request includes the recent round of bloodshed in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli fire killed over 100 Palestinians during mass protests along the Gaza border.

Violence between the sides continued Thursday. The Israeli military said an Israeli soldier was "severely injured" when a "heavy object" was thrown at his head during an operation in the West Bank. Israel has called the Palestinian move at the ICC "legally invalid." Israel is not a member of the court and argues the court does not have jurisdiction.

Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and has since built dozens of settlements there. Over 600,000 Israelis now live in east Jerusalem and West Bank settlements, areas Palestinians seek for their future state.

Much of the international community views the settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace. Israel says the fate of settlements must be resolved through negotiations. The referral to the ICC would seem to further diminish prospects of success for an expected U.S. peace plan. U.S. officials have said President Donald Trump is to unveil the plan in the coming months.

The last round of U.S.-brokered Israeli-Palestinian peace talks broke down four years ago without any visible process, and mistrust between the two sides is running high. Israeli watchdog group Peace Now reported earlier this year that settlement construction has surged under the Trump administration, which has taken a softer stance than his predecessors. Trump has asked Israel to show restraint, but has avoided strong condemnations of Israeli settlement construction. His Mideast peace team is dominated by people with ties to the settlement movement.

Peace Now responded to Lieberman's announcement, calling it a "scandal" and saying on Twitter that the "messianic right-wing government has distorted priorities, and this morning is proud to approve thousands of new housing units over the Green Line, and gives an incentive to continued creeping annexation."

Senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi condemned Lieberman's announcement as "Israeli colonialism, expansionism and lawlessness" and called on the ICC to launch an investigation. "We appeal to the entire international community to undertake serious and concrete measures to bring about a full cessation of all settlement activities and to hold Israel accountable with punitive measures and sanctions before it is too late," Ashrawi said in a statement.

Abramovich is latest Russian oligarch to move to Israel

May 29, 2018

JERUSALEM (AP) — The sudden immigration to Israel of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich makes him the latest in a string of Jewish Russian oligarchs who have made a home in the country in recent years.

Abramovich received his Israeli citizenship Monday upon arriving in Israel on his private jet, immediately becoming the country's richest person, with an estimated net worth of more than $11 billion. Israel grants automatic citizenship to anyone of Jewish descent.

The Chelsea football club owner made the move after his British visa was not renewed, apparently as part of British authorities' efforts to crack down on associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Britain has pledged to review the long-term visas of rich Russians in the aftermath of the March poisonings of Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury. Britain blames Russia for the pair's exposure to a nerve agent, an allegation Moscow denies.

The poisonings sparked a Cold War-style diplomatic crisis between Russia and the West, including the expulsion of hundreds of diplomats from both sides. Britain's then-Home Secretary Amber Rudd said in March that the British government was reviewing Tier 1 investor visas granted to about 700 wealthy Russians.

The British government said it would not comment on individual cases, including Abramovich's. Prime Minister Theresa May's office said visa applications from Russia are dealt with "rigorously and properly."

It's not clear yet how much time Abramovich will spend in Israel. He owns an upscale home in the trendy Neve Tzedek neighborhood of Tel Aviv that he bought several years ago from Yaron Versano, the husband of Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot. His representative would not respond to questions about his plans, calling it "a private matter."

Abramovich is perhaps the most high-profile Russian oligarch to relocate to Israel, but hardly the first. Alex Kogan, a journalist who has covered the Russian oligarch phenomenon in Israel for the local Russian-language press, said that some 30 to 40 tycoons have taken Israeli citizenship or residency, with most staying only part-time or temporarily because of scrutiny over their affairs.

He said the oligarchs — businessmen who accumulated massive wealth in the privatization process that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union — were motivated by various interests. Some fled Russia because of financial irregularities or dramatic fallouts with Putin that could put them at risk of incarceration.

Others were closer to the government and sought the advantages of an Israeli passport, such as visa-free entry to the European Union. Some were drawn by tax breaks for new immigrants to Israel. They are also more protected in Israel against the threat of extradition, for real or trumped-up charges. Israel was created in the wake of the Nazi Holocaust as a haven for Jews escaping persecution.

"Everyone has different reasons," said Kogan. "There are plenty more out there that could come in a short time." Some billionaires, like Mikhail Fridman and German Khan, have taken up Israeli citizenship while still maintaining their primary residences in London and Moscow. They maintain a strong presence in Israel owing to their charitable work, such as setting up the private foundation that funds the annual Genesis Prize, known as "the Jewish Nobel Prize."

Here's a look at some of the others who have made the move and immigrated to Israel, at least temporarily:

LEONID NEVZLIN:

Nevzlin is the most high-profile of the oil executive associates of Mikhail Khodorkovsky who fled Russian arrest warrants in 2003. Khodorkovsky, the onetime head of the Yukos oil giant, was jailed for several years after clashing with Putin. Nevzlin and his associates, Mikhail Brudno and Vladimir Dubov, lobbied for Khodorkovsky's release from Israel.

In the years since, Nevzlin has established himself as an influential businessman and philanthropist. He was president of the Russian Jewish Congress, became chairman of the board of trustees at Beit Hatfutsot — the Museum of the Jewish People — and is a member of several bodies of the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Fund, Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University.

He has also invested in local real estate.

His daughter Irina is married to Yuli Edelstein, the speaker of the Israeli parliament and himself a former political prisoner in the Soviet Union.

ARKADY GAYDAMAK:

For a while, Gaydamak was one of Israel's most beloved local celebrities. He owned the popular Beitar Jerusalem football club, bought a hospital and a radio station, and gave millions to local charities. During the 2006 Lebanon war with Hezbollah, he erected a beach compound for those fleeing rockets in northern Israel, shelling out some $200,000 for tents, food and entertainment for 5,000 people. Politicians lined up for the lavish parties he threw and he was a fixture in the local tabloids.

However, his stay was clouded by controversy over an international arrest warrant involving the alleged smuggling of weapons to Angola.

After a failed attempt to run for Jerusalem mayor, Gaydamak left the country in 2008 amid financial scandals in Israel and Europe.

SHALVA CHIGRINSKY:

A former business partner of Abramovich, Chigrinsky initially headed to Israel to hide from Russian prosecutors investigating his business interests, including the construction of huge Moscow malls and plans to erect the largest building in Europe. He fled Russia in 2009 after a power struggle with rival businessmen and the mayor of Moscow.

VALERY KOGAN:

Kogan, who is believed to be a Putin ally, owns Moscow's Domodedovo Airport — the largest in Eastern Europe. Israeli media reported that he invested at least $100 million to build the most luxurious mansion in Israel in 2013, designed in a style resembling the White House, before selling the plot. He then reportedly set an Israeli real estate record when he bought a 1,000-square-meter (nearly 11,000 square foot) apartment in Tel Aviv for a reported $31 million. Just last year, he was reported to have paid millions for Mariah Carey and Elton John to sing at his granddaughter's wedding.