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.

Border lake backdrops sealing of Greece, Macedonia name deal

June 17, 2018

PSARADES, Greece (AP) — The foreign ministers of Greece and Macedonia endorsed an agreement to resolve a long fight over the Macedonia name Sunday during a signing ceremony filled with history and symbolism.

The Greek village of Psarades, located on the shores of Great Prespa Lake, was picked for the occasion since the borders of Greece and Macedonia meet in the water. The two countries' prime ministers, Greece's Alexis Tsipras and Macedonia's Zoran Zaev, were there to see the deal they reached Tuesday get signed by their foreign ministers, Nikos Kotzias and Nikola Dimitrov, respectively.

Macedonians Zaev and Dimitrov arrived from across the lake on a small speedboat. Their Greek counterparts welcomed them with hugs on a jetty that was enlarged for the event. Under the agreement, Greece's northern neighbor will be renamed North Macedonia to address longstanding appropriation concerns in Greece, which has a Macedonia province that was the birthplace of Alexander the Great.

Greece in return will suspend the objections that prevented Macedonia from joining NATO and the European Union. The two countries' leaders said the signing would be the start of closer relations between them and an example for all nations in the Balkans region.

Recalling his first meeting with Zaev this year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tsipras told him, "Very few believed we would succeed" in ending "26 years of sterile dispute between our countries."

"This is our own appointment with history," Tsipras said, adding that Balkan peoples long have suffered from "the poison of chauvinism and the divisions of nationalist hatred." Zaev, for his part, hailed an "end to decades of uncertainty." Greece and Macedonia would henceforth be "partners and allies" in modeling successful diplomacy for the whole region, he said.

"May we stay as united forever as we are on this day," Zaev said. Following the signing, the officials took a boat to the Macedonian lake resort of Oteshevo for a celebratory lunch. Police cordoned off all approaches to Psarades to prevent protesters from reaching the site. The agreement has aroused the fury of nationalists on both sides who claim, simultaneously, that it gave too much to the other side.

More than 4,000 Greek nationalists, who oppose another country having the Macedonia name, instead gathered near Pissoderi, a village 40 kilometers (25 miles) away. Banners in the crowd read "There is only one Macedonia and it is Greek" and "Macedonian identity can't be given away."

Several hundred marched to a nearby police blockade and began throwing rocks. Police responded with tear gas and stun grenades. The clashes went on into the afternoon. Greek police said 12 people were injured, including six police officers.

Church bells in Psarades and nearby villages rang sorrowfully throughout the ceremony. Most of the village's 60 inhabitants watched from afar, clearly in a sour mood. "The church bells rang mournfully because something died today in Greece," said local Orthodox Christian priest Irinaios Hajiefremidis. "They are taking from us our soul, our name."

Hajiefremidis noted the ethnic and religious conflicts that generations of Greeks, Serbs and Bulgarians fought over the land that makes up present-day Macedonia. "Today, we commemorated Father George Papadopoulos, who was butchered on June 16, 1907 because he did not say Mass in Bulgarian," he said.

Feelings run as strongly in Macedonia, but there are wide differences of opinion. "I didn't follow the signing. Follow what? The capitulation? The vanishing of my identity?" retired doctor Vera Jovanov said. "I didn't get their approval to be what I am. Nothing will be good in the future. Nothing good for Macedonia."

Taxi driver Devan Stojanoski said "whatever we are called," Macedonia's people need "a chance for a better life and better standards." "I do not care about the name any more. I am so disappointed about everything that I have stopped thinking and caring," he said.

A demonstration against the deal attracted an estimated 3,000 people in the southern city of Bitola, Macedonian media reported. The rally was peaceful, but opposition leader Hristijan Mickoski of the VMRO-DPMNE party, the keynote speaker, used fighting words. He reiterated that his party would not support putting the new name in the Macedonian constitution, one of the terms of the deal.

"I, Hristijan Mickoski, speaking from the heart and with a clear mind..., never, at any price, even if that would cost (my) life, will I support this act of capitulation by Zoran Zaev," Mickoski told the protesters.

A nighttime demonstration outside Macedonia's parliament in the capital of Skopje turned violent when a group of people described by police and media as soccer hooligans started pelting officers with rocks and flares and tried to break through the police cordon. Police used tear gas and stun grenades to beat back the crowd and detained one person. Seven police officers and three protesters were reported injured as the atmosphere remained tense late Sunday.

The signing ceremony was recognized internationally as a significant event. Among those attending were U.N. Under-Secretary for Political Affairs Rosemary di Carlo, EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini and EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn.

The United Nations' mediator for the name dispute, Matthew Nimetz, also was on hand. Nimetz spent the last 24 years trying to mediate between Greece and Macedonia, first as an envoy of U.S. President Bill Clinton and then representing successive UN secretaries-general.

Nimetz congratulated Tsipras and Zaev, adding that they demonstrated "political courage and strategic vision" not often found. He received warm applause, not only for his often-frustrated effort to make the name dispute a thing of the past, but because Sunday was his 79th birthday Sunday.

Since Macedonia seceded from the former Yugoslavia in 1991, Greece had objected to its use of the name "Macedonia" because it claimed that implied territorial designs on its own northern province of Macedonia.

Greek objections delayed U.N. recognition of Macedonia until April 1993 and then only as The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). In 1995, the two countries signed an interim agreement after Macedonia agreed to modify its flag.

"I like to think positively and really hope this will be better. Finally, the agony ends and (membership in) EU and NATO will become real," Suzana Eftiska, an art curator in Macedonia, said.

Associated Press writer Costas Kantouris reported this story in Psarades, Greece, and AP writer Jasmina Mironski reported from Skopje, Macedonia. AP writer Demetris Nellas in Athens contributed to this report.

Greek opposition leader urges lawmakers to vote against govt

June 16, 2018

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's main opposition leader urged lawmakers Saturday to support his no-confidence vote against the government over a deal to end a decades-old dispute with neighboring Macedonia over the latter's name.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' left-led coalition government is expected to survive the vote, set for later Saturday. His government controls 154 of parliament's 300 seats. The nationalist party that is a junior coalition partner says it will reject the motion despite vehemently opposing the name deal that Tsipras reached with his Macedonian counterpart.

"Today you are all mortgaging the future of the country," said conservative New Democracy party leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who brought the no-confidence motion. Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, who heads the junior coalition partner, the Independent Greeks party, stressed that Saturday's vote was not on the Macedonia name deal itself, which his party opposes.

"Today we are not voting on the deal," he said. Tsipras and Macedonia's Zoran Zaev settled on a deal Tuesday that would rename Greece's northern neighbor North Macedonia, while Athens would drop its objections to the country joining NATO and the European Union.

The agreement aimed to end a bitter dispute that has roiled the two countries' relations since shortly after the small country declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Greece argued that the name "Macedonia" implied territorial claims on its province of the same name, which is the birthplace of the ancient warrior king Alexander the Great, and usurped its ancient Greek heritage and history.

But hardliners in both countries are furious at the deal, which they consider concedes too much to the other side. Thousands of people waving Greek flags protest in front of parliament during Saturday's debate, chanting anti-government slogans. Minor scuffles broke out.

Still, the crowd was a far cry from the more than 100,000 people who turned out in the Greek capital months ago to protest compromises over Macedonia's new name. The deal is tentatively set to be signed by the two countries' foreign ministers Sunday in the Prespa Lakes region on the border. Protests are being planned nearby on both sides of the border.

"With the signing of the agreement between Macedonia and Greece, everyone will benefit," Zaev told reporters in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov stressed the importance of the name deal, which would pave the way for the country to join NATO and the European Union.

"We have forces that are fighting for the future, we have forces that are fighting for the past," Dimitrov said in Skopje. "We cannot change the past, we could the future." The ratification process will take several months.

In Macedonia, the agreement must clear the hurdles of parliamentary ratification, a referendum in September and a constitutional amendment. Opponents include the conservative opposition party and the country's president Gjorge Ivanov, who has said he will not sign off on the agreement. Zaev has said he will put the deal to a referendum in the fall.

In Greece, the deal only faces ratification in parliament once Macedonia has completed its part of the process. However, the right-wing Independent Greeks party opposes the deal and has said it will not support the agreement when it comes up for ratification in parliament. That would leave Tsipras dependent on opposition parties to pass the measure.

Jasmina Mironski in Skopje contributed.

Greece, Macedonia close in on name-dispute deal amid dissent

June 12, 2018

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Officials in Greece and Macedonia said Tuesday they are close to reaching a draft agreement to resolve a decades-old name dispute — but the proposed compromise is facing dissent in both countries.

The prime ministers of Greece and Macedonia, Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev, were due to have a second consecutive day of talks on the phone later Tuesday. Greece wants the former Yugoslav republic to change or modify its name to avoid any claim to the territory and ancient heritage of Greece's region of Macedonia — birthplace of ancient warrior king Alexander the Great.

A resolution of the dispute would see Greece lift its objections to Macedonia's accession to NATO. But Greek opponents of the deal — that would likely rename the Balkan republic as "North" or "New" Macedonia — say it would not go far enough.

Defense Minister Panos Kammenos, whose right-wing Independent Greeks party is Tsipras' 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 he remained opposed to a constitutional change that would likely be included in the draft deal, to provide an assurance that the name change was permanent and binding for domestic and international use.

Hundreds march in Berlin to demand an end to using coal

June 24, 2018

BERLIN (AP) — Hundreds of protesters are marching through the German capital to demand an end to burning coal to produce electricity. The demonstrators — many of them families pushing strollers, people on bikes and samba bands — walked through the Berlin's government district on Sunday ahead of next week's first meeting of Germany's commission on exiting coal use.

Germany has invested a lot in renewable energy but still heavily relies on coal, which creates harmful carbon emissions when burnt. About 22 percent of Germany's electricity comes from burning soft lignite coal — and a further 12 percent from hard coal — while some 33 percent is now generated using renewable energy.

Last week, Germany's environment minister said the country will likely miss its goal of cutting emissions by 40 percent by 2020.

Merkel, allies avert collision for now in German migrant row

June 18, 2018

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel's allies in Bavaria averted an immediate collision Monday with the German leader, giving her two weeks to make deals on migrants with other European countries instead of turning them back unilaterally at Germany's border.

In her fourth term at the helm of Europe's largest economy, Merkel made it clear that she has no intention of being pushed around after an internal power struggle over immigration escalated into a threat to her government.

She said she would report back July 1 on the results of her negotiations, and that as far as she's concerned it's not yet clear what will happen if there's no European deal on the divisive topic. Her interior minister, Horst Seehofer, has been calling for Germany to turn back migrants at the border who have previously applied for asylum or registered as asylum-seekers in other European countries.

Merkel opposes such unilateral action, arguing that it would increase pressure on Mediterranean countries such as Italy and Greece and weaken the entire 28-nation European Union. Seehofer heads the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union, the sister party to Merkel's Christian Democratic Union. The CSU is determined to show that it's tough on migration, arguing that this is the best way to cut support for the anti-migration, far-right Alternative for Germany party ahead of a challenging state election in Bavaria in October.

A CSU leadership meeting Monday in Munich unanimously backed Seehofer's plan to give Merkel until the end of the month to find a solution with other EU countries. That banished — if only for now — the specter of Seehofer pushing through his proposal in defiance of the chancellor, which would risk bringing down her government.

Asked in Berlin whether her government can work well until the end of its term in 2021 and whether she is still in full control, Merkel replied: "Yes to both." Merkel emphasized the need for Germany's conservative parties to stick together, but she and Seehofer may only have delayed a head-on collision.

"We think that turning people back without consultation at our borders, as a country at the heart of Europe, could lead to negative domino effects that could also hurt Germany and ultimately lead to the questioning of European unity," Merkel said after her party's leadership met.

Merkel said she would hold bilateral agreement talks during a June 28-29 EU summit. Her party will consider the results on July 1 "and decide how to proceed in light of what has been achieved," she said.

It wasn't immediately clear what she might offer other countries in the talks. Merkel said she will have to discuss "what is important for others; I can't say today what that is." Hours later, Merkel met in Berlin with Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte, the head of a new, populist government whose interior minister has pledged to deport tens of thousands of migrants.

The German leader noted that both Italy and Germany have been disproportionately affected by recent mass migration to Europe, where Italy is often the point of entry for new arrivals and Germany the hoped-for destination.

Merkel said European nations needed to work harder to help Libya and other points of departure to provide for refugees so they don't attempt the perilous trip across the Mediterranean Sea. She also called for doing more to stop human smugglers.

"We want to support Italy's desire for solidarity, and also hope that Germany receives understanding when it comes to the question of European solidarity on the question of migration," she said. Saying he appreciated Merkel's acknowledgment of Italy's situation, Conte reiterated his view that EU accords that link asylum-seekers to the first country they reach should be replaced.

The Italian government is proposing so-called "hotspots" in migrants' countries of origin or transit to prescreen asylum candidates before they set out for Europe. Such an approach, Conte said, would reflect more of a shared view of the challenge and less of what he said was the prevailing attitude now that "he who sets foot in Italy sets foot in Europe."

In Munich, Seehofer said his party would be happy to see European or bilateral solutions this month that "achieve the same that we can achieve by turning people back at the border." "We wish the chancellor success in this," he said. "But we stand by our position that, if this does not succeed, turning people back immediately at the border must be possible."

Seehofer said he told fellow leaders that "we're not out of the woods yet." He said he would go ahead with preparations to block some asylum-seekers at the border in case Merkel's negotiations on getting other countries to take back migrants don't bear fruit.

The spat over immigration has laid bare the deep tensions in a fractious German government that took office only in March, after nearly six months of postelection haggling. The two conservative parties govern Germany in a coalition with the center-left Social Democrats.

Seehofer and Merkel have long had an awkward relationship. In his previous job as Bavarian governor, Seehofer was one of the leading critics of Merkel's decision in 2015 to leave Germany's borders open as migrants streamed across the Balkans.

Most first arrived in Bavaria, which borders Austria. More than 1 million migrants came to Germany in 2015 and 2016, though the number of new arrivals has since dropped sharply. In Brussels, the EU asylum office said Monday the number of people applying for international protection in Europe plunged last year but remains higher than before 2015, when more than 1 million migrants entered, many fleeing the war in Syria.

The office said 728,470 application requests were made for international protection in 2017, compared to almost 1.3 million applications the previous year. Around 30 percent came from conflict-torn countries such as Syria and Iraq.

David Rising in Berlin and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this story.

Merkel ally: Bavarian governor acting like 'bonsai Trump'

June 15, 2018

BERLIN (AP) — A spat within the German government over migration turned to name-calling Friday, with one ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel accusing another of acting like a "bonsai Trump" by threatening to turn some refugees back at the border.

The dispute has raised questions over Merkel's future, as nationalist forces already in power elsewhere in Europe turn up the heat on the long-serving German chancellor for her welcoming stance toward migrants.

Among Merkel's sharpest critics is Bavaria's governor Markus Soeder, whose Christian Social Union is taking an increasingly hard line ahead of state elections this fall even though it forms part of the governing coalition at the national level.

Soeder and his party colleague Horst Seehofer — Germany's interior minister — want to send police to the border to turn back migrants who have registered as refugees in other European countries. Merkel has warned that such a move could shift the burden onto countries such as Italy and Greece that have struggled to cope with the influx of migrants coming across the Mediterranean.

"Mr. Soeder is behaving like a bonsai Trump," said Andrea Nahles, the leader of Germany's center-left Social Democrats, referring to the U.S. president's anti-immigration stance. Nahles said her party, which is also a member of the governing coalition in Berlin, backs Merkel's call for a Europe-wide consensus on how to tackle the issue of irregular migration.

"We won't allow the panic of the (Bavarian) state government to take all of Germany and Europe hostage," said Nahles. Soeder says his party, which is fearful of losing voters to the far-right Alternative for Germany in the Bavarian election on Oct. 14, wants to "put the needs of our population center-stage."

His words echo those of populist politicians in other European countries such as Austria, Britain and Italy, where fear of migrants has tilted politics to the right in recent years. Commentators in Germany have noted that the spat is one of the biggest crises for Merkel, who was recently elected for a fourth term with only a narrow majority.

Wolfgang Bosbach, a member of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, told broadcaster n-tv on Friday that some in her party side with Soeder on the issue. The German government has already imposed numerous measures to reduce the influx of refugees since 2015, when the number of migrants coming to Germany peaked follow Merkel's decision not to close the border to people coming through Hungary and Austria.

The country of some 80 million now sees about 11,000 new asylum-seekers per month. Germany's finance minister, a Social Democrat, seemed to suggest that further intrigue within the coalition could end in a bloodbath.

"The task of governing our country isn't an episode of Game of Thrones, but a serious matter," Ola Scholz said on Twitter. "All those involved should never forget this."

How Germany is turning wasteland into vast lakeside resorts

June 14, 2018

GROSSRAESCHEN, Germany (AP) — As the sun beats down on a small vineyard by the rippling waters of Grossraeschen Lake, there's little sign of the vast wound that lies beneath. Meuro, the brown-black mine that once dominated the landscape, providing jobs to thousands of workers who toiled in clouds of lignite coal dust, has vanished. Only a floating excavator plucking sunken trees out of the water hints at the effort that's gone into reshaping this corner of eastern Germany over the past decades.

It's part of a massive environmental cleanup in Lusatia, a region that provided much of the coal that heated German homes and powered the country's industrial rise. Unlike its darker variety, lignite seams — also known as brown coal — often lie close to the surface, meaning it is easiest to just remove layer upon layer from above rather than dig underground shafts.

"This is a region that was shaped by strip mining for hundreds of years," said Kathrin Winkler, a native of Lusatia. "No grain of dirt was left on top of the other." As a young woman growing up in communist East Germany, Winkler worked in the Meuro mine for a year. Now it's her job to promote Lusatia's lakes as the next big tourist destination, a tranquil retreat for weary city dwellers from nearby Berlin and Dresden.

The idea would have seemed outlandish to anyone looking at the alien, lifeless landscape not so long ago. But over the past two decades the man-made craters have been slowly re-sculpted to create 26 lakes connected by 13 canals and hundreds of miles of cycle track. Instead of coal-fired power plants, the horizons are now dotted with wind turbines and fields full of solar panels. While about 22 percent of Germany's electricity still comes from burning lignite — and a further 12 percent from hard coal — some 33 percent is now generated using renewable energy.

At its peak three decades ago, Lusatia's coal industry provided more than 90,000 jobs. Now, the region only has a few thousand workers at four mines operated by a private company, including the Welzow-South pit that supplies the 'Black Pump' power station about 20 kilometers (15 miles) east of Grossraeschen.

Helmut Franz, who used to work in the Welzow-South pit, said miners support the work that's being done to restore the sites. "People have been trying to figure out for generations how to heal the wounds," said Franz, who now chairs the Senftenberg mining heritage association. "We think it's a positive thing that the countryside is being reshaped after the end of mining."

Much of the task of turning brownfield sites into the kind of "blooming landscapes" promised shortly before reunification to East Germans by West Germany's late chancellor, Helmut Kohl, has now fallen to a state-owned company, LMBV. So far it has spent 10.6 billion euros ($12.5 billion) removing the legacy of industry and creating 25,000 hectares (61,775 acres) of lakes.

"You could say that it's the biggest landscape reconstruction in Europe that we're operating," said Uwe Steinhuber, the public face of LMBV. "There's no script for this job." While countries such as the United States also require companies to restore mines and Spain's biggest lake is currently being created in a former lignite pit, LMBV's effort to develop an entire new lake district clean enough for tourism is one of the most ambitious projects yet — attracting attention from as far afield as the U.S., China and South Africa.

One of the challenges is ensuring that the lakes, which start out having the acidity of vinegar due to minerals churned up by mining, are made safe for animals and people. This is done by flushing the lakes with river water or by pouring in limestone to raise the pH-level.

Another problem is the risk of subsidence. Because the earth hauled out of the pits over decades was simply dumped elsewhere, it is very loose. A dramatic and unexpected landslide in 2010 prompted LMBV to re-examine the entire region.

"Many areas that had been considered safe until then were re-classed as unsafe," said engineer Soeren Albinus. Creating a string of new lakes has an added benefit — allowing authorities to plan for the potential impacts of climate change on water levels in this part of Germany. Cities such as Berlin depend on water that flows through Lusatia and the lakes are being designed to act as buffer — storing water in times of plenty and releasing it when there's a drought.

The region has become a giant laboratory for geologists, economist and biologists. Wary of the artificial landscape created for tourism, environmental groups have purchased some stretches of land and let nature take its course. Animals and plants that have been driven from much of Europe's intensively farmed landscapes, including wolves, the Eurasian hoopoe bird and a plant called great horsetail, are reclaiming areas that were considered dead just a few years ago.

Back in Grossraeschen, tourism chief Winkler shows off the new marina awaiting its first sailboats. If all goes to plan, the water will rise by another foot (30 centimeters) in the coming months so the lake can be officially opened for business.

Authorities hope to increase the number of overnight stays from the current 600,000 annually to some 1.5 million in the coming years, boosting employment in Lusatia. Young people in particular are benefiting already: the region has the lowest youth unemployment rate in all of Germany.

"It's not just the landscape that's changing, there's also been a big, big change in people's heads," said Winkler. "We are moving away from being a former industrial region to one that's part of the service economy."

Some locals, she acknowledged, have yet to embrace the hospitality and openness seen, for example, in Bavaria, where tourism has long been an important part of the economy. And there's little chance it will replace all the jobs lost in the mining industry. "It will be one important foundation, but not the only one," she said.

Still, for a region which had areas resembling the moon and a stretch of barren sand widely referred to as "the Sahara," Lusatia has come a long way. "The nice thing is that the pride people had for this region is returning," said Winkler.

Volkmar Kienoel and Markus Schreiber contributed to this report.

Versailles Palace and Orsay museum closed due to a strike

June 19, 2018

PARIS (AP) — The Palace of Versailles, one of France's top tourist attractions, and the Orsay museum in Paris were closed to visitors on Tuesday due to a strike of employees. The gardens of the Palace, in the western suburbs of the French capital, remained open.

The Orsay museum, home to a large collection of impressionist masterpieces, warned visitors that the opening might also be "disrupted" on Wednesday. Workers are protesting changes in the organization of the Culture Ministry that would directly affect 1,500 people.

Unions fear the changes would lead to job insecurity and inequality among employees working for different monuments operated by the ministry.

Leaders of Italy, France to pursue migration changes at EU

June 15, 2018

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte agreed Friday to work together to pursue changes to the European Union's migration rules, finding common ground after the issue created a rift between their countries.

The two leaders said during a joint news conference that EU regulations requiring asylum-seekers to apply in the first country they enter and remain there while their cases are processed were not working.

Macron said the policy and others have left Italy, usually the first European country reached on the busy migration route across the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa, without the support that is supposed to be a benefit of a united Europe.

"The proper response is European, but the existing European response has not adapted," said the French leader, who is seen as strongly pro-EU. Conte, who heads the populist, anti-EU government that took over running Italy on June 1, echoed the politician he called "my friend Emmanuel."

"The concept itself of the 'state of first entry' must be rethought. He who puts his feet in Italy puts his feet in Europe," said Conte, who was a law professor before he became premier. They also both called for steps to beef up Europe's borders to prevent illegal immigration.

Macron cited an initiative of his government last year to establish "protection missions" that pre-screen asylum-seekers in Chad and Niger to prevent citizens of the two west African countries from risking the dangerous sea journey.

Conte said Italy is working on a proposal for a "radical paradigm change" in Europe's approach to managing mass migration that includes creating "hotspots" in the most common countries of origin and departure to identify asylum candidates.

These "centers of European protection" would "anticipate and speedup identification and requests for asylum," he said. The meeting between Macron and Conte at the Elysee Palace in Paris almost did not take place after the president offered a harsh assessment of Italy's refusal to accept a private rescue ship carrying 629 migrants. Macron accused the new Italian government of "cynicism" and "irresponsible" behavior.

The migrants who were rescued last Saturday remained at sea Friday. Italy denied the Aquarius a place to dock, insisting it was Malta's responsibility. After Malta also refused and pointed the ship toward Italy, Spain's new Socialist prime minister offered the passengers safe harbor Monday. The Aquarius is currently en route to Valencia, where it is expected to arrive on Sunday.

Standing alongside Macron, Conte said it was "time to turn the page" on the diplomatic tensions over the ship and to tackle the larger migration quagmire. As Conte and Macron mended fences in Paris, Italy's foreign minister met with his Maltese counterpart in Rome to discuss the clash. They expressed "the shared desire to work together in tight coordination, especially in European capitals, about migration in terms of revising" the EU asylum regulations, according to an Italian foreign ministry statement.

Pope Francis referred to this week's standoff for the second time in as many days Friday, saying the Gospel teaches that it's wrong to leave migrants "at the mercy of the waves."

Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this story.

France's Macron seeks to forge European front against Trump

June 08, 2018

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron is seeking to take the lead of the European brigade against U.S. President Donald Trump at the summit of the Group of Seven wealthy countries in Canada. Macron called a meeting Friday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Theresa May, new Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte and top EU officials just before the G-7 opening.

He told reporters the United States' attitude must lead other nations to "reforge the European front." European leaders criticize the U.S. decision to impose protectionist tariffs on steel and aluminum and to exit the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate agreement.

Tweeting in English, Macron stressed: "No leader is eternal. We inherit commitments which are beyond us. We take them on. That is the life of nations." Macron launched the offensive on Thursday at a joint news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Adopting an unusually sharp tone about one of France's closest allies, Macron rejected the idea of an American "hegemony". "The other countries of the G-6 are a larger market than the American market," Macron said. "Maybe it doesn't bother the American president to be isolated, but it doesn't bother us to be six if need be."

European Council President Donald Tusk, who will attend the meeting of EU leaders, said in the New York Times this week "Europe must now do everything in its power to protect the trans-Atlantic bond, in spite of today's mood. But at the same time we must be prepared for scenarios in which we will have to act on our own."

Macron's initiative comes six weeks after Macron and Trump exhibited their friendship at a state visit in Washington — with exaggerated handshakes and a pair of kisses. The two leaders talked on the phone last week after Trump announced U.S. tariffs on European goods. Macron declined to disclose details of the discussion after an unnamed source told CNN television it went badly.

He instead repeated the famous line attributed to 19th-century German statesman Otto von Bismarck about laws and sausages: "It's best not to see them being made." And he promised a "frank and direct discussion" with Trump in Canada.

AP Writer Elaine Ganley in Paris contributed to this report.

Prince William tours Roman ruins in Jordan, meets refugees

June 25, 2018

JERASH, Jordan (AP) — Britain's Prince William on Monday toured Roman ruins in Jordan, chatted with Syrian refugee children and was greeted by ululating women at a community center for traditional arts and crafts.

At the ruins of Jerash, William stopped in front of an enlarged photo that showed his wife, the former Kate Middleton, as a child, along with her father and younger sister posing against the backdrop of the site. For almost three years in the 1980s, the Middletons lived in Jordan, where Michael Middleton worked for British Airways.

"Need to come back with the family for this shot," William said as he stood in the same spot where the photo was taken. He pointed at his father-in-law in the photo, saying "Michael's looking very smart in his flip-flops."

The visit to Jerash came on the second day of a five-day tour that also takes William to Israel and the Palestinian territories. It's a high-profile foreign trip for William, second in line to the throne, and comes at a time of widening rifts between Israelis and Palestinians.

Later Monday, he'll be the first British royal to visit the Holy Land in an official capacity. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict looms large, despite the ceremonial nature of the trip. William, an avid soccer fan, arrived in Jordan on Sunday afternoon, as the England-Panama World Cup match was underway. Jordanian Crown Prince Hussein recorded it for him, and the two watched it later Sunday on a huge TV screen at Hussein's residence. England thrashed Panama 6-1, advancing to the second round.

Before settling down to soccer, William spoke at a garden reception at the British Embassy, praising Britain's historic ties with Jordan and the kingdom's commitment to hosting Syrian and Palestinian refugees.

Over decades, Jordan has taken in waves of refugees, most recently those fleeing civil war in Syria. Jordan hosts about 660,000 registered Syrian refugees, but says the actual number of displaced Syrians in the kingdom is twice as high.

Jordanian government officials on Monday were quoted as saying that Jordan could not absorb more refugees. The comments came as Syrian government forces advanced in southern Syria, near Jordan's border, leading to more displacement.

During the Jerash tour, William met with dozens of children attending a U.N.-sponsored education program, known as Makani, that serves Syrian refugees as well as Jordanian children from overburdened host communities.

The children greeted the William and the Jordanian crown prince in the amphitheater of Jerash, where they showed off some of their art work, including paintings. One girl painted with her foot. The ruins of Jerash are one of Jordan's main tourist attractions. William has said the Middletons have fond memories of their time in Jordan, and that Kate was sorry she couldn't join him on the trip to the kingdom. Kate gave birth in April to the couple's third child, Louis.

Later Monday, William stopped by a community center, Dar Niemeh, set in a garden in northern Jordan where he was greeted by ululating women in traditional embroidered dresses. The center fosters local arts and crafts, including baking and cooking in a mud oven.

He sipped tea while sitting cross-legged on the ground in a Bedouin-style tent.

UK government wins Brexit skirmish by making concessions

June 12, 2018

LONDON (AP) — The British government was rocked by a resignation and faced anger in Parliament over its Brexit plans Tuesday, but staved off defeat by offering concessions to lawmakers who want to soften the terms of the U.K.'s exit from the European Union.

By a vote of 324 to 298, the House of Commons rejected a move to give lawmakers power to send the government back to the negotiating table if they don't like the terms of the Brexit deal struck with the EU.

The result left Prime Minister Theresa May to fight another day as she tries to take Britain out of the bloc while retaining support from pro-EU and pro-Brexit wings of her Conservative Party. But it came at a cost — a government promise to strengthen Parliament's voice, potentially at the expense of its own power to set the terms of any final divorce deal with the EU.

The vote came on the first of two days of high-stakes debate and votes in the House of Commons on the government's flagship Brexit bill. The European Union Withdrawal Bill, a complex piece of legislation intended to disentangle Britain from four decades of EU rules and regulations, has had a rocky ride through Parliament. The upper chamber, the House of Lords, inserted amendments in 15 areas to soften the departure.

The government says the changes would weaken Britain's negotiating position and is seeking to reverse them in the Commons. Brexit Secretary David Davis urged lawmakers to "respect the result of the referendum" that approved the withdrawal. He said giving Parliament power to direct the government's hand in talks would be "an unconstitutional shift which risks undermining our negotiations with the European Union."

"It's not practical, it's not desirable and it's not appropriate," Davis said. The government won the first set of votes Tuesday, but looked set to face defeat on the issue of whether Parliament should have a "meaningful vote" on the Brexit deal. Several pro-EU Conservative lawmakers said they would join the opposition in voting against the government.

The pro-EU faction got a boost when junior justice minister Phillip Lee resigned Tuesday, saying he could no longer support the government's "irresponsible" plans for Brexit. In a concession, the government promised that lawmakers would have a say on what to do next if there is no agreement with the EU, or if Parliament rejects the deal offered.

The change reduces the likelihood that Britain could leave the EU without a deal if it does not like the divorce terms. Pro-Brexit members of the government want to be able to play the "no deal" card, but the House of Commons, where pro-EU voices are stronger, would almost certainly reject the idea.

Details of the government's commitment will have to be formalized next week in a new amendment to the bill. The Brexit Department said in a statement that it would look for compromise, but would not agree to lawmakers "binding the government's hands" in negotiations.

But pro-EU Conservative lawmaker Dominic Grieve said that with the government's move "I am quite satisfied that we are going to get a meaningful vote on both 'deal' and 'no deal'" scenarios. Another flashpoint could come when lawmakers vote Wednesday on an amendment seeking to keep Britain in a customs union with the EU.

Two years after Britain voted to leave the EU, and eight months before it's due to leave on March 29, 2019, the bloc is frustrated with what it sees as a lack of firm proposals from the U.K about future relations.

A paper laying out the U.K. government position, due to be published this month, has been delayed because the Cabinet cannot agree on a united stance. May's government is divided between Brexit-backing ministers such as Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson who support a clean break with the EU, and those such as Treasury chief Philip Hammond who want to keep closely aligned to the bloc, Britain's biggest trading partner.

Parliamentary debates about complex legal amendments rarely rouse much heat, but passions run high over anything to do with Brexit. Pro-Brexit tabloid the Sun warned lawmakers on Tuesday's front page that they had a choice: "Great Britain or great betrayal." The Daily Express thundered: "Ignore the will of the people at your peril."

Anna Soubry, a pro-EU Conservative lawmaker, said she knew of one legislator who would not vote with their conscience because of "threats to their personal safety" and that of staff and family. Pro-Brexit Conservative lawmaker Edward Leigh slammed pro-EU colleagues, saying Parliament must respect the result of the June 2016 voter referendum.

"The people want us to leave the EU. They want us to regain control of our borders," he said. "Parliament, don't stand against the people — implement their will!"

Danica Kirka contributed to this story.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to visit Australia, Fiji

June 11, 2018

LONDON (AP) — Kensington Palace says Prince Harry, and his wife, the former actress Meghan Markle, will be touring Australia, Fiji, the Kingdom of Tonga and New Zealand this fall. The royal couple, now known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, will be making the tour around the time of the Invictus Games in Sydney, which is set for Oct. 20-27.

Harry, a British military veteran who served in Afghanistan, created the Paralympic-style games as a way to inspire wounded soldiers toward recovery. About 550 competitors from 17 countries competed in 12 sports during the event in Canada last year.

The couple joined the pageantry Saturday of the annual Trooping the Color ceremony in London for the first time since their wedding three weeks ago. The event celebrates Queen Elizabeth II's official birthday.

Austria to close 7 mosques, expel imams in crackdown

June 08, 2018

BERLIN (AP) — Austria's government said Friday that it is closing seven mosques and plans to expel imams in a crackdown on "political Islam" and foreign financing of religious groups. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said the government is shutting a hardline Turkish nationalist mosque in Vienna and dissolving a group called the Arab Religious Community that runs six mosques.

The actions by the government are based on a 2015 law that, among other things, prevents religious communities from getting funding from abroad. Interior Minister Herbert Kickl said the residence permits of around 40 imams employed by ATIB, a group that oversees Turkish mosques in Austria, are being reviewed because of concerns about such financing.

Kickl said that, in two cases, permits have already been revoked. Five more imams were denied first-time permits. The conservative Kurz became chancellor in December in a coalition with the anti-migration Freedom Party.

In campaigning for last year's election, both coalition parties called for tougher immigration controls, quick deportations of asylum-seekers whose requests are denied and a crackdown on radical Islam. The government recently announced plans to ban girls in elementary schools and kindergartens from wearing headscarves, adding to existing restrictions on veils.

"Parallel societies, political Islam and tendencies toward radicalization have no place in our country," Kurz told reporters in Vienna. He added that the government's powers to intervene "were not sufficiently used" in the past.

Friday's measures are "a first significant and necessary step in the right direction," said Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, the Freedom Party's leader. "If these measures aren't enough, we will if necessary evaluate the legal situation here or there."

Nicaraguans block roads across country, want Ortega out

By Ray Downs
May 31, 2018

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, May 31 (UPI) -- Across Nicaragua, protesters are blocking highways and streets to send a message to the government after more than 70 protesters were allegedly killed by police last month.

The tranques vary in size, from about 4-foot-high walls on Managua avenues that slow car traffic, to piles of metal and burning tires on vital highways that delay trucks transporting food staples to other parts of the country, causing food and medicine shortages in some regions.

Protesters, whom authorities have allowed to maintain the tranques without interference in most -- but not all -- cases, say they plan to block roads until they get justice for the more than 70 people who were killed during protests against the government's plan to increase social security taxes and cut benefits.

What that justice entails depends on who is describing it, but generally consists of some iteration of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega leaving office.

"The tranques will stay up until he is gone because that's the only way we will survive," said a 19-year-old demonstrator in Managua who gave his name as "S-1."

"We have to show that the people are in charge of Nicaragua and this pressure shows that," he said. "The government wants to say that people are hurting because of the tranques but how can they talk when they're the ones who are murdering the people?"

In Managua, Nicaragua's largest city, the roadblocks are usually walls made of stacked, gray stones. They're manned by masked teenagers -- mostly boys but a few girls -- as young as 15 and wielding homemade mortar guns. These walls are up at streets and roundabouts around the city. During the day, vehicles may pass through one at a time, with the teenage guards directing traffic. At night, typically around 7 p.m., the tranques are closed until the next morning.

"Traffic is slowed down but people can get to where they need, either through the tranque or by going around," S-1 said. "That's why you don't see people complaining because most of the people are with us and they support us."

On the highway into Masaya, a large roadblock is periodically up on one of the main arteries of the nation. The tranque guards here are older -- in their 20s and 30s -- and they block the road with burning tires and car hoods propped up with wooden boards.

Inside the city's downtown area, a popular tourist destination before the current protests, a series of unguarded walls have been put up every few blocks along the main thoroughfare. Like in Managua, there's enough room for one car at a time to go around.

"Those are there to protect us from the police. If they try to attack again, they'll be slowed down and we have time to prepare," said 50-year-old Manuel Lopez of Masaya.

Ortega 'no longer a Sandinista'

Much of the violence in April occurred in Masaya -- at least three protesters were killed and many more injured, allegedly by police. On the same street with the periodic roadblocks, a memorial has been set up to commemorate the slain protesters. A few feet away, walls are covered in anti-government graffiti and vendors sell t-shirts that honor the student protesters with what has become the protest movement's unofficial slogan: "Que se rinda tu madre!" or "Let your mother submit!"

The phrase comes from Nicaraguan poet and Sandinista guerilla Leonel Rugama, who is rumored to have said it while fighting soldiers of former Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza just before they killed him in 1970.

A protest movement against Ortega, the longtime face of the Sandinistas, using a slogan uttered by another iconic Sandinista fighting dictatorship, is done on purpose.

"Ortega no longer represents the Sandinista ideals of the '70s and '80s that was about supporting the people," said a protester who asked not to be named. "He's no longer a Sandinista. He's an Ortegista."

Delays and discontent

In the less populated regions of the country, the highway tranques are bigger and have stricter rules about passage. They're also manned by people of various ages, many of whom are not the university students who have received most of the media attention. These people are known as the campesinos, many of whom have been organized since 2015 when they began protesting the government over its plan to build an inter-oceanic canal through their land.

Las Maderas, about 32 miles northeast of Managua, is a major passageway for bus passengers traveling to the eastern part of the country. But since May 22, the tranque there has prohibited buses from passing through. Passengers are allowed to pass through on foot and bus companies have adapted by having another bus ready on the other side.

In January, the first road connecting Managua and Bluefields, the largest city on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast, was opened in January -- a historic moment for the country. But the road goes through Nueva Guinea, where another major tranque has been set up, clogging a major artery for getting goods and passengers to and from the Caribbean coast. Last week, buses from Bluefields to Managua were stopped for up to 30 hours.

Many Nicaraguans say they the need to protest the government and see the tranques as a necessary inconvenience. But others question the value of burdening the lives of the people to protest the government.

"Okay, build the tranques -- but why put them around the people? Put them around El Carmen," said 42-year-old restaurant worker Ivan Santoy, referring to the Managua neighborhood where the Nicaraguan president lives. "The government doesn't work but the people have to."

Pro-government media channels have also seized on the discontent over tranques.

"Streets in Leon are blocked by right-wing coup leaders who are stealing the peace of the Nicaraguan people," Nicaragua's Channel 13 posted on Instagram with a photo of a tranque.

There have also been reports of tranques set up by "pirates," who threaten people unless they pay a fine to pass.The government says this is the true face of the protesters, calling them "right-wing vandals." But protesters say these tranques are put up by Sandinista turbas, referring to pro-government gangs, to portray them in a negative light and spread propaganda.

Empty shelves, rising prices

In the less populated eastern part of Nicaragua, people have been feeling the impact of the tranques in serious ways.

David Zywieck, the Bishop of Siuna, a mining town in northeast Nicaragua, said pharmacies are short on medicine, building materials like tools and cement are in short supply and people are running out of sugar, flour, milk and cooking oil. Gasoline has also become scarce and more expensive.

Miners have been directly impacted. Many work freelance, Zywieck said, and are unable to get dynamite to do their jobs.

"These are things that are affecting people's health and economy," Zywieck said.

As for whether people of Siuna support the tranques, Zywieck says it's "mixed."

"There's no consensus, but it's hurting people's pockets and their way of life," he said. "How can you support your family?"

S-1 said he sympathizes with people in other parts of the country who are impacted by the roadblocks.

"But that has been a problem before the tranques and the government didn't care," he said. "It took hurting private business profits for them to notice."

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/Blog/2018/05/31/Nicaraguans-block-roads-across-country-want-Ortega-out/3321527628262/.

Amnesty International: Nicaragua used 'lethal strategy' on protesters

By Ray Downs
May 30, 2018

MANAGUA, Nicaragua, May 30 (UPI) -- Amnesty International issued a report Tuesday detailing the Nicaraguan government's deadly response to recent protests that killed more than 70 people in the Central American nation.

In "Shoot to Kill: Nicaragua's Strategy to Repress Protest," the human rights group documents the use of police force, alleged extrajudicial killings by armed, pro-government groups and the repression and condemnation of news media since April 18, when violence against protesters began.

"The Nicaraguan authorities have turned on their own people in a vicious, sustained and frequently lethal assault on their rights to life, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly," said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International. "The government of President Ortega has then shamelessly tried to cover up these atrocities, violating the victims' rights to truth, justice and reparation."

After people began protesting across the country last month against a government plan to increase social security taxes while cutting benefits, police and armed pro-government groups began attacking protesters, resulting in 81 recorded deaths as of Tuesday, the report found. Most of those killed were college-age demonstrators. Two police officers were also included in the death toll.

Amnesty International's report documents a system of repression that went further than attacking protesters by denying medical care in public hospitals, obstructing investigations of deaths and vilifying protesters in media by blaming them for the violence.

One protester who was denied medical care was 15-year-old Álvaro Conrado, who was shot in the neck while handing out water in Managua on April 20. The teen's relatives told Amnesty International that he was denied medical attention at the government-run Cruz Azul Hospital before he was taken to a private hospital and died of his injuries.

Conrado's parents said he was buried without a forensic examination, that police prevented them from filing a complaint with a human rights center and unknown people destroyed his uncle's food stall.

"Álvaro's parents believe these actions were a threat in retaliation for their persistent complaints, which were publicized in the media," the report states. "They consider the response of the Attorney General's Office 'a farce.'"

Amnesty International's report documents several similar cases in which protesters were killed and investigations were hindered, followed by official denials.

The human rights group recommended the Nicaraguan government guarantee free expression and stop using excessive police force against protesters. It also recommends the public prosecutor's office and other law enforcement agencies initiate impartial and thorough investigations into the deaths and carry out due process.

Amnesty International is the latest human rights group to castigate the Nicaraguan government for its response to recent protests.

On May 21, the United Nations' Human Rights Office for Central America called for an immediate end of government repression in Nicaragua and to allow investigations into the protest violence.

Shortly after Amnesty International released its report Tuesday, the agency said it had still not received an answer from the Nicaraguan government on whether its investigators can enter the country.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/05/30/Amnesty-International-Nicaragua-used-lethal-strategy-on-protesters/4001527651754/.