A pandemic Christmas: Churches shut, borders complicated

December 25, 2020

ROME (AP) — Curfews, quarantines and even border closings complicated Christmas celebrations Friday for countless people around the globe, but ingenuity, determination and imagination helped keep the day special for many.

In South Africa, which is battling a spike in cases and deaths driven by a variant of COVID-19, scientist Tulio de Oliveira was spending the holiday in his lab doing genomic sequencing. He led the South African team which used sequencing to discover South Africa's variant of the coronavirus.

South Africa’s new surge shows no sign of reaching a peak, say experts, and new restrictions to battle the spread of infections include the closure of many beaches which usually see large crowds of people over the holidays.

Pope Francis delivered his Christmas blessing from inside the Vatican, breaking with his traditional speech from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica to tens of thousands in St. Peter's Square. But tourism in Italy has virtually vanished in the pandemic and the government's coronavirus restrictions for the holidays foiled any plans by locals to flock to the square.

Citing a cause for optimism amid the pandemic's bleakness, Francis said the invention of COVID-19 vaccines shines “lights of hope” on the world. In a passionate appeal to leaders, businesses and international organizations, he said they must ensure that the most vulnerable and needy in the pandemic be first in line to receive the vaccines.

Bells rang out around Bethlehem on Friday as the traditional birthplace of Jesus celebrated Christmas Day. But the closure of Israel’s international airport to foreign tourists, along with Palestinian restrictions banning intercity travel in the areas they administer in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, kept visitors away.

In Beijing, official churches abruptly cancelled Mass on Christmas Day in a last-minute move, after China's capital was put on high alert following the confirmation of two confirmed COVID-19 cases last week, and two new asymptomatic cases were reported on Friday. One of several notices was posted at Beijing's St. Josephs’ Church, which was built originally by Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century.

Border crossing closures kept thousands of migrants from economically devastated Venezuela who live in Colombia from going home for Christmas. Colombia's government shut down the crossings in a bid to slow down the spread of COVID-19 infections. Those trying to return home for the holidays this year had to turn to smugglers.

Yakelin Tamaure, a nurse who left Venezuela two years ago, won't be going home and said there will be no gifts or new clothes for her two children, aged 10 and 15. Tamaure said that she hasn’t been able to find work as a nurse because she still doesn’t have a Colombia residence permit. Her parents are still in Venezuela.

“My mother broke her foot and can’t walk properly so I’m worried about her,” said Tamaure. “I try to send her money, but its not the same as being there.” Others successfully crossed borders elsewhere only to find themselves in quarantine. For their first Christmas since getting married in March, Nattasuda Anusonadisai and Patrick Kaplin are cooped up in quarantine in a Bangkok hotel room. So they had a Christmas tree delivered to their room. They returned earlier this month from a 4 1/2-month trip to Canada and the United States. Short on tree ornaments, the couple said they put items collected on their travels, like an eagle feather, and, of course, masks.

Churches in South Korea have ignited clusters of coronavirus infections in densely populated Seoul, along with hospitals, nursing homes, restaurants and prisons. The 1,241 new daily cases reported by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Friday was a record for the country.

Song Ju-hyeon, a resident in Paju, near Seoul, who is expecting a child in February, said home is the only place she feels safe now. “It doesn’t feel like Christmas anyway, there’s no carols being played on the streets,” she said.

It’s Christmask,” the Daily Nation newspaper declared in Kenya, where a second surge in cases has eased and a brief doctors’ strike ended on Christmas Eve. Celebrations were muted in East Africa’s commercial hub as overnight church vigils could not be held because of a curfew. Fewer people also reportedly headed home to see families, which could help limit the spread of the virus to rural communities, which are even less equipped to handle COVID-19 than cities.

In Paris, members of Notre Dame Cathedral's choir, wearing hard hats and protective suits — not against COVID-19 but for construction conditions in the medieval landmark ravaged by fire in 2019 — sang inside the church for the first time since the blaze.

In a special Christmas Eve concert, the socially distanced singers performed beneath the cathedral’s stained-glass windows amid the darkened church, which is transitioning from being a hazardous clean-up operation to becoming a massive reconstruction site.

Thousands of drivers were stranded in their trucks at the English port of Dover, lacking the coronavirus tests that France was now demanding. The British army and French firefighters were brought in to help speed up the testing and free food was distributed.

Love cut through barriers of loneliness at St. Peter's Nursing home in the northern Spanish town of El Astillero. The 70 residents, mindful of thousands of coronavirus deaths at nursing homes in Spain, instead of spending the special day at relatives' homes they opted for a video chat, or a 30-minute visit, separated by a plexiglass wall.

Luisa Melero met her daughter Mercedes Arejula with that protective barrier between them. “As her daughter, I would love to have her home and hug her all the time,’’ Arejula said. But she took heart that at the nursing home, “they are doing everything to protect her, and again, as her daughter, that’s what I want.”

Melero sounded philosophical. "This terrible thing has come to us ,so we must accept it and deal with it with patience.” Only one relative was allowed inside per visit, so on the outside of the home’s fence, a granddaughter blew Melero kisses.

AP correspondents contributed to this report from around the globe.

No cafes, no tourists: Virus empties streets of old Athens

December 25, 2020

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — It’s been a while since visitors to Greece sought out souvenirs in Athens’ oldest neighborhood. The winding streets of Plaka, laid out long before the city imported a grid system, are lined with closed stores behind aluminum shutters. The coronavirus pandemic has kept tourists away from the historic city center that forms a semi-circle around the Acropolis, and the area remained unusually devoid of pedestrians and motorists before Christmas.

In their absence, ancient monuments are a little easier to make out from a distance, fewer horns are sounding in traffic and homeless cats parked in front of cafes are a little less aloof. Greece so far has imposed two nationwide lockdowns since the start of the pandemic. The first, in the spring, kept the country’s infection rates low. Authorities ordered the second in response to a rapid post-summer rise in reported cases and as of Christmas Eve has seen 4,4,57 confirmed virus-related deaths.

The restrictions have closed bars, restaurants, coffee shops and many other businesses considered non-essential but which make up a large slice of Greece’s tourism-dependent economy. The number of visitors traveling to the country plummeted 76.1% during the first 10 months of 2020 compared to a year earlier. Spending sank 77%, according to central bank data released this week.

Greece is expected to see a 10.5% contraction of its gross domestic product this year compared to the forecasted EU average of 7.4%, while its debt-to-GDP ratio is set to surge to a staggering 208.9%.

Truckers finally leave UK after days of virus gridlock

December 24, 2020

DOVER, England (AP) — Truckers and travelers stuck in a days-long gridlock at the English port of Dover started heading to France on Thursday after the country partially reopened its borders with Britain following international concern over a rapidly spreading new coronavirus variant.

However, thousands of stranded truck drivers still awaited their turns to cross the English Channel, held up by the slow delivery of coronavirus tests. Trucks inched slowly forward to the ferries and trains that link Britain with France, as authorities checked that drivers could show the negative virus tests now required to cross.

Officials warned the backlog could take days to clear, and many truckers will likely spend Christmas waiting in their cabs. Dozens of countries swiftly halted travel from the U.K. last weekend after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said London and other areas of southern England had to close all non-essential stores, shutter bars and restaurants and call off holiday travel plans to curb a new, much more contagious version of the virus.

China on Thursday became the latest nation to suspend flights to and from the U.K., further isolating the country. But infection rates continue to soar, particularly in London and surrounding areas. The capital now has the highest rate of people testing positive in the country, according to the latest figures. The Office for National Statistics estimated that 2.1% of the people in London had COVID-19 in mid-December, compared to around 1.18%, or one in 85 people, for the wider population in England. The figures do not include people in hospitals or care homes.

The majority of new positive cases confirmed in the city were believed to be the coronavirus variant, the statistics office said. For England as a whole, it estimated that about half of all new cases could be the new variant.

Officials say the new variant is dangerous because it is more transmissible, though they stress there is no evidence it makes people more ill. Christmas gatherings and festive shopping were cancelled for millions at the last minute in a bid to control the spread of the virus and ensure hospitals, many of which are nearing capacity, are not overwhelmed.

In Dover, two dozen French firefighters and British military were working with health officials to test thousands of truckers, who must return a negative COVID-19 test to make the crossing. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said on Twitter that of the 2,367 virus tests administered at the port as of Thursday afternoon, just three turned out positive.

Some 1,000 trucks have departed the U.K. via the Eurotunnel to France, the Road Haulage Association said, but more than 5,000 drivers remained stranded at the Dover ferry crossing. “Due to the logistical issues that have prevented freight getting to the port, we have unfortunately only been able to transport 144 trucks out of Dover,” shipping company DFDS said. The company is scrambling to arrange Christmas Day sailings to help clear the backlog, it added.

Shapps said British and French authorities have agreed to keep the border between the countries open throughout Christmas to help truck drivers and travelers get home. France’s temporary shutdown of the border raised the most concerns because France is a major conduit for trade and travel between Britain and the continent. The U.K. relies heavily on cross-Channel commercial links to the continent for food at this time of year, especially fresh fruit and vegetables.

The announcement of the coronavirus variant came as Europe has been walloped by soaring new virus infections and deaths. Europe as a whole has recorded over 500,000 virus-related deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University that experts agree is probably an undercount due to missed cases and other factors.

In France, officials defended the country's handling of the border after the EU’s transport commissioner issued unusually strong criticism. Commissioner Adina Valean, of Romania, tweeted: “I deplore that France went against our recommendations and brought us back to the situation we were in in March when the supply chains were interrupted.”

France’s European affairs minister, Clement Beaune, tweeted back that France had “exactly followed the EU recommendation” and is now “more open than other European countries” to arrivals from Britain.

Angela Charlton contributed from Paris.

Cut off: Britain hit with travel bans over new virus strain

December 22, 2020

LONDON (AP) — Trucks waiting to get out of Britain backed up for miles and people were left stranded at airports Monday as dozens of countries around the world slapped tough travel restrictions on the U.K. because of a new and seemingly more contagious strain of the coronavirus in England.

From Canada to India, one nation after another banned flights from Britain, while France barred the entry of trucks from Britain for 48 hours while the strain is assessed. The precautions raised fears of food shortages in Britain if the restrictions drag on.

After a conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he understood the reason for the new measures and expressed hope for a swift resumption in the free flow of traffic between the U.K. and France, perhaps within a few hours.

He said officials from both countries were working “to unblock the flow of trade as fast as possible." Macron said earlier that France was looking at establishing systematic testing of people for the virus on arrival.

Over the weekend, Johnson imposed strict lockdown measures in London and neighboring areas where Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the new strain is “out of control.” Experts said the early evidence indicates the strain is not more lethal, and they expressed confidence that the vaccines now being rolled out would still be effective against it.

After France announced Sunday night that it was closing its borders to trucks from Britain, hundreds of vehicles, mainly operated by drivers from continental Europe, became stranded outside the English Channel port of Dover. The lines shrank over the course of the day from 500 trucks to about 175 before rising again in the evening to 945, authorities said. Vehicles are being redirected to the disused Manston Airport nearby, which is being prepared to accommodate up to 4,000 trucks.

Around 10,000 trucks pass through the port of Dover every day, accounting for about 20% of the country’s trade in goods. Meanwhile, the European Union gave the go-ahead to the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, setting the stage for the first COVID-19 shots across the 27-nation bloc to begin just after Christmas.

“This is a very good way to end this difficult year and to finally start turning the page on COVID-19,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The approval came just hours after the EU's drug regulatory agency said the vaccine meets safety and quality standards. It is already being dispensed in Britain and the U.S.

The virus is blamed for 1.7 million deaths worldwide, including about 68,000 in Britain, the second-highest death toll in Europe, behind Italy's 69,000. While the French ban does not prevent trucks from entering Britain, the move stoked worries about shortages at a time of year when the UK produces very little of its food and relies heavily on produce delivered from Europe by truck.

Many trucks that carry cargo from the U.K. to the continent return laden with goods for Britain’s use. The fear is that the ban will lead to a drop in such deliveries. Also, some drivers or their employers might decide against entering Britain for fear they won't be able to get back home.

Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s warned that some products, such as lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli and citrus fruits, could soon be in short supply if the crisis not resolved in the coming days. Canada, India, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden were among the countries that suspended flights from Britain for various lengths of time.

In the United States, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has been calling on the U.S. to halt flights as well, said he asked airlines flying into his state from the U.K. to make all passengers take a coronavirus test before boarding. He said at least one carrier, British Airways, agreed to do so.

At Germany’s Berlin and Frankfurt airports, passengers arriving from Britain had to spend Sunday night in the terminals as they awaited test results. Eurotunnel, the rail operator that carries passengers and freight between Britain and mainland Europe, also suspended service out of the U.K.

Sophie Taxil, a Frenchwoman who lives in London, caught a train back home from Paris and urged everyone in Britain to follow the rules. “I live there and I need to go back there; my family is there,” she said. “I think that phlegmatic British nature suits these COVID times: Stay calm and carry on, fair play.”

Over the weekend, Johnson said early indications are that the variant is 70% more transmissible and is driving the rapid spread of infections in the capital and surrounding areas. As a result, he scrapped a planned relaxation of rules over Christmastime for millions of people and imposed other tough new restrictions in the affected zone. No indoor mixing of households will be allowed, and only essential travel will be permitted. Stores selling nonessential goods were ordered closed, putting a crimp in Christmas shopping.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said that while preliminary analysis suggests the new variant is “significantly more transmissible,” there is no indication that infections are more severe. Still, experts have stressed that more infections will lead to more hospitalizations and deaths.

The Stockholm-based agency said a few cases of the variant have been reported by Iceland, Denmark and the Netherlands. It also cited news reports of cases in Belgium and Italy. With the rollout of coronavirus vaccines set to pick up speed in early 2021, countries are clearly worried about the new variant.

“I think the vaccine will be fine," said Dr. Julian Tang, a clinical virologist at the University of Leicester. But the new strain "is spreading so fast we may not be able to reach the vulnerable population, the elderly, in time with the vaccine before the virus does."

The chaos at the border comes at a time of huge uncertainty for Britain, less than two weeks before it completes its exit from the EU and frees itself from the bloc's rules. Talks on a post-Brexit trade relationship between the two sides are deadlocked.

The retail industry played down fears of food shortages in the short term but warned of problems if the travel bans last for a while and if Britain and the EU fail to reach a trade deal. Trade association Logistics U.K. urged people to stay calm and resist panic-buying in supermarkets.

“If freight gets moving again today, then the overall impact on fresh produce arriving to supermarkets should be fairly minimal," said Kevin Green, the association's director of marketing and communications

Associated Press writers Frank Jordans and Geir Moulson in Berlin, Thomas Adamson in Paris and Susie Blann in London contributed to this report.

New virus strains prompt travel restrictions with Britain

December 21, 2020

(AP) More and more countries around the world are restricting travel from Britain and elsewhere amid concerns about new strains of the coronavirus, as their governments analyze test results and try to find ways to protect their populations and hospital systems.

The restrictions focus mainly on Britain, which imposed strict new lockdown measures Saturday night because of what it described as the unusually rapid spread of a new strain there. A few other European countries have confirmed cases of the virus variant, and another strain considered especially infectious has been identified in South Africa.

Here is a look at various restrictions so far:

EUROPE

France: Banned all passenger and cargo traffic from Britain for 48 hours, the toughest restrictions so far. The ban is set to end at midnight Tuesday and applies to flights and traffic via the tunnel beneath the English Channel.

Belgium: The other country that connects with Britain via the tunnel banned all passenger travel, including transit passengers, for 24 hours starting Sunday at midnight.

Germany: No passenger flights from Britain allowed to land through Dec. 31.

Netherlands: Banned flights from the U.K. at least until the new year.

Spain: Will suspend flights from Britain as of Tuesday and until further notice, except for those carrying Spanish citizens or people with Spanish residency. Spain will also step up border controls with Gibraltar, the British colony on Spain’s southwestern coast.

Switzerland: Banned foreign nationals arriving from the U.K. and South Africa and ordered those who arrived since Dec. 14 to go into quarantine.

Italy: Suspending flights from and to Britain until Jan. 6. Also forbids entrance into Italy by anyone who has transited through Britain in the last 14 days.

Russia: Will suspend air traffic with the U.K. for one week starting Tuesday.

Austria: No passenger flights allowed to land from Britain through Jan. 1.

Denmark: Suspended flights from Britain until 0900 GMT Wednesday.

Sweden: Suspended all incoming travel from Britain and Denmark until further notice.

Norway: Banned incoming flights from Britain starting Monday for 48 hours.

Croatia: Announced Sunday night a 48-hour ban on flights from Britain.

Bulgaria: Banned all flights to and from Britain until Jan. 31.

Malta: Banned flights to and from Britain until further notice.

Finland: Suspending flights with Britain; national carrier Finnair ceased all U.K. flights for two weeks.

Poland, Portugal, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, North Macedonia: Banned flights from Britain until further notice.

MIDEAST

Israel: Initially banned flights from Britain, Denmark and South Africa then further tightened restrictions Monday, forbidding any foreign nationals from entering the country for 10 days.

Oman: Suspended all entry to the country by foreigners and halted international passenger flights, starting Tuesday for one week. Cargo flights are exempted.

Saudi Arabia: Suspended all international passenger flights and land and sea arrivals for a week or until clearer details emerged about the more contagious variant of the virus identified in Britain. The suspension will not affect cargo flights and supply chains.

Iran: Suspended flights to the U.K. for two weeks starting Monday. All Iranian planes were ordered to return to Iran from the U.K. without passengers.

Turkey: Suspended flights from Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands and South Africa temporarily, until further notice.

Jordan: Banned flights from the U.K. until Jan. 3, both direct and indirect flights.

AFRICA

Sudan: Banned travelers arriving from Britain, the Netherlands and South Africa, starting Monday and until Jan. 5.

Tunisia: Suspended air links with Britain, South Africa and Australia, from this Monday and until further notice. Anyone who has resided or transited through these countries will not be allowed access to Tunisian territory.

THE AMERICAS

Canada: Banning flights from Britain.

United States: The governor of New York state said he wanted a ban on flights from Britain to New York City.

Peru: Suspended commercial flights from Europe for the next two weeks.

El Salvador: Banned entry to anyone traveling from Britain and South Africa.

Chile: Suspended direct flights with Britain and barred the entry of foreigners who had been in Britain in the past two weeks.

Argentina: Suspended commercial flights to and from Britain.

ASIA

Hong Kong: Banned all flights from Britain.

Pakistan: Imposed temporary ban on travelers arriving from Britain starting Tuesday and through Dec. 29. Pakistani nationals will be allowed to return home from Britain provided their COVID-19 tests are negative.

India: Suspended flights from Britain until Dec. 31.

Pandemic exposes the vulnerability of Italy's 'new poor'

December 20, 2020

MILAN (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic did not produce Elena Simone's first budgetary rough patch. The 49-year-old single mother found herself out of the job market when the 2008 global financial crisis hit Italy and never fully got back in, but she created a patchwork of small jobs that provided for herself and the youngest of her three children.

That all changed with Italy's first COVID-19 lockdown in the spring. With schools closed, so went Simone's cafeteria job. Her housecleaning gigs dried up, too. While others returned to work when the lockdown ended, Simone stayed frozen out.

“There was a period when I was only eating carrots,’’ she recalled from her kitchen decorated with colorful plush characters shaped like vegetables. For the first time in her life, Simone needed help putting food on the table. At a friend's urging, she enrolled for access to the food stores operated by Roman Catholic charity Caritas. Her eligibility covers her through January, and she hopes to be off the charity rolls by then “to make room for people who need it even more.”

The charity serving more than 5 million people in the Milan archdiocese, Caritas Ambrosiana, says the pandemic is revealing for the first time the depths of economic insecurity in Italy's northern Lombardy region, which generates 20% of the country's gross domestic product.

Simone, who has two adult children and a 10-year-old son at home, is typical of Italy's new poor. These are people who managed to get by after the 2008 financial crisis, staying off the radar of Italy's welfare system by relying on informal, gray-market jobs and the help of friends and family.

But between Italy’s near-total spring lockdown, the introduction of a partial lockdown when the virus surged again in the fall and the continued toll the pandemic is taking on Italy's economy, the slim threads that allowed people to weave together employment have snapped.

Nowhere in Italy is this more evident than in Lombardy, where COVID-19 first exploded in Europe. Italian agriculture lobby Coldiretti estimates that the virus has created 300,000 newly poor people, based on surveys of the dozens of charity groups operating in the region.

Caritas Ambrosiana provided help to 9,000 people during the spring lockdown, 20% of whom reported that their financial situation had “drastically” worsened over the 10-week closure. In October, nearly 700 families requested food aid for the first time.

Nationally, one-third of all people seeking help from Caritas during the pandemic are first-time recipients, and in a reversal of usual trends, most are Italians and not foreign residents. More than 40 organizations provide food on a daily basis in Milan, Italy’s financial capital. One of the largest, Pane Quotidiano, serves some 3,500 meals a day. Many of those in need once worked in restaurants and hotels, which have been particularly penalized by the coronavirus restrictions, or as domestic help.

“It is even more widespread than we knew, especially for a rich city like Milan,’’ Caritas Ambrosiana spokesman Francesco Chiavarini said. “These precarious jobs were lost. And we don’t know when or if they will be restored.”

Researchers at Milan’s Bocconi University said in a working paper for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that blue-collar workers without college degrees paid the heaviest price for Italy's virus restrictions. Half reported a drop in their salaries, compared with just 20% of the top earners, and many did not have the luxury of working remotely.

“What we are seeing is a substantial increase in inequality,’’ Bocconi University researcher Vincenzo Galasso said. Those without solid job contracts are the most exposed in the pandemic that has already killed over 68,000 people in Italy, the highest death toll in Europe.

Simone discovered too late that her cafeteria contract described her as an occasional worker, meaning she had no basis to request government support to replace lost income. Her cleaning jobs were off the books altogether, and she has recovered only two of the dozen she held before the pandemic.

Even when workers qualify for Italy’s public-private short-term layoff scheme, the money has arrived late and is generally inadequate to cover a family's basic expenses, Chiavarini said. Basic coverage is 400 euros ($490) a month, yet monthly rents in a city like Milan start around 600 euros ($735).

Food security is emerging as a key issue as the pandemic enters winter. Progetto Arca, which runs shelters and provides other social services in Milan, started operating a food truck last month after seeing that homeless people who had filled their stomachs with restaurant and bar handouts were going hungry during the partial fall lockdown when many establishments had closed.

And isn’t just the homeless coming by the food truck. On a recent night, a well-dressed man in a quilted jacket and dress trousers waited off to the side until the line had dissipated. He identified himself as a lawyer but declined further comment and asked not to be photographed as he took away two hot meals and two bags of food for the next day, one for his companion waiting at home.

So far, government moratoriums on evictions and the firing of contracted workers have helped keep a cap on what charity workers see as an emerging poverty crisis. “When these are lifted, we will see the real price that we need to pay for this pandemic,’’ Chiavarini said. “We celebrate Milan as the capital of innovation, but beneath these skyscrapers of which we are so proud, there is a hidden world where people are living in conditions of real precariousness."

UN expert fears violence with troops sent to Myanmar city

February 17, 2021

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — The U.N. expert on human rights in Myanmar warned of the prospect for major violence as demonstrators gather again Wednesday to protest the military’s seizure of power. U.N. rapporteur Tom Andrews said he had received reports of soldiers being transported into Yangon, the biggest city, from outlying regions.

“In the past, such troop movements preceded killings, disappearances, and detentions on a mass scale,” he said in a statement issued by his office in Geneva. “I am terrified that given the confluence of these two developments­ - planned mass protests and troops converging - we could be on the precipice of the military committing even greater crimes against the people of Myanmar.”

More protests were expected Wednesday all over the country despite the possibility of violence by the army and police. “Let’s march en masse. Let’s show our force against the coup government that has destroyed the future of youth and our country,” Kyi Toe, a spokesman for the National League for Democracy party of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, wrote on his Facebook page late Tuesday.

On Monday in Mandalay, the country’s second biggest city, security forces pointed guns at a group of 1,000 demonstrators and attacked them with slingshots and sticks. Local media reported that police also fired rubber bullets into a crowd and that a few people were injured.

The protests are taking place in defiance of an order banning gatherings of five or more people. Police filed a new charge against Suu Kyi, her lawyer said Tuesday, a move likely to fuel further public anger.

Suu Kyi, who was detained in the Feb. 1 military takeover, already faced a charge of illegally possessing walkie-talkies — an apparent attempt to provide a legal veneer for her house arrest. The new charge accuses her of breaking a law that has been used to prosecute people who have violated coronavirus restrictions, lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told reporters after meeting with a judge in the capital, Naypyitaw. It carries a maximum punishment of three years in prison.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a strong denunciation of the legal maneuver against Suu Kyi. “New charges against Aung San Suu Kyi fabricated by the Myanmar military are a clear violation of her human rights,” he tweeted. “We stand with the people of Myanmar and will ensure those responsible for this coup are held to account.”

A spokesman for the United Nations said any new charges against Suu Kyi don’t change the world body’s “firm denunciation” of the military overturning the “democratic will of the people” and arresting political leaders, activists and peaceful protesters.

“We have called for charges against her to be dropped, for her to be released,” Stéphane Dujarric said. The coup has brought a shocking halt to Myanmar’s fragile progress toward democracy, most visible in Suu Kyi’s tenure as national leader.

For a third night in a row, the military ordered an internet blackout — almost entirely blocking online access from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. It has also prepared a draft law that would criminalize many online activities.

While the military did not say why the internet was blocked, there is widespread speculation that the government is installing a firewall system to allow it to monitor or block online activity. Social media users have speculated widely that neighboring China, with extensive experience in censoring the internet, was giving technical assistance for such a project.

China has so far not condemned the takeover. Some protesters have accused Beijing — which has long been Myanmar’s main arms supplier and has major investments in the country — of propping up the junta.

China’s ambassador said Beijing has friendly relations with both Suu Kyi’s party and the military, according to the text of an interview posted on the embassy’s Facebook page Tuesday. Chen Hai said he wished the two sides could solve their differences through dialogue.

“The current development in Myanmar is absolutely not what China wants to see,” he said. Chen also denied that China was helping Myanmar to control its internet traffic and that Chinese soldiers were showing up on the Myanmar’s streets.

“For the record, these are completely nonsense and even ridiculous accusations,” Chen said. The military contends there was fraud in last year’s election, which Suu Kyi’s party won in a landslide, and says it will hold power for a year before holding new elections. The election commission found no evidence to support the claims of fraud.

Myanmar coup leader: 'Join hands' with army for democracy

February 12, 2021

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's coup leader used the country's Union Day holiday on Friday to call on people to work with the military if they want democracy, a request likely to be met with derision by protesters who are pushing for the release from detention of their country's elected leaders.

“I would seriously urge the entire nation to join hands with the Tatmadaw for the successful realization of democracy,” Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said using the local term for the military. “Historical lessons have taught us that only national unity can ensure the non-disintegration of the Union and the perpetuation of sovereignty,” he added.

In addition to the military commander's message published Friday in the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper, the new junta also announced it would mark Union Day by releasing thousands of prisoners and reducing other inmates’ sentences.

Min Aung Hlaing's Feb. 1 coup ousted the civilian government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and prevented recently elected lawmakers from opening a new session of Parliament. It reversed nearly a decade of progress toward democracy following 50 years of military rule and has led to widespread protests in cities around the country.

The military has said it was forced to step in because Suu Kyi’s government failed to properly investigate allegations of fraud in November elections, though the election commission has said there is no evidence to support those claims.

The U.N.’s top human rights body opened an urgent session on Friday to discuss the coup, while on Thursday the U.S. announced fresh sanctions targeting Myanmar's top military officials. Recent rallies against the coup — now daily occurrences in Myanmar’s two largest cities, Yangon and Mandalay — have drawn people from all walks of life, despite an official ban on gatherings of more than five people. Factory workers and civil servants, students and teachers, medical personnel and people from LGBTQ communities, Buddhist monks and Catholic clergy have all come out in force.

Thousands of protesters, including Myanmar celebrities, demonstrated outside the Chinese Embassy in Yangon on Friday to criticize what they said was Beijing's failure to condemn the coup. Many of the protesters were students from local international schools and universities, and they held signs that read “We don’t want dictatorship,” “Stop helping the military coup” and “Free our leader."

“The students and the people are about to face bloodshed," protester Phyo Yadana Aung said. She accused state-run media of spreading “misinformation” about the protests. “We cannot let this happen.” On Thursday, people from Myanmar’s ethnic minority groups, who are concentrated in far-flung, border states, joined in — a striking show of unity in a country where some groups have resented the Burman majority’s control and have also had their differences with Suu Kyi. But their deep mistrust of the military, which has brutally repressed their armed struggles for more autonomy, has made them uneasy allies with her party.

The protesters are unlikely to be swayed by Min Aung Hlaing’s call for unity, which come on Union Day, a national holiday celebrating the date in 1947 that Myanmar, then known as Burma, when many of the country’s ethnic groups agreed to unify following decades of British colonial rule.

The junta's pardon orders published Friday in government-run media said that 23,314 prisoners would be freed, along with 55 foreign inmates. The orders also commuted some death-penalty sentences to life imprisonment and reduced the terms of other prison sentences.

It is also unlikely to win over the international community, which has widely condemned the coup as well as the use of police force such as water cannons and rubber bullets to disperse some of the protests.

The international rights group Amnesty International called the junta's release of prisoners “a sideshow designed to distract from the military authorities’ daily trampling of human rights.” “It should only highlight the fact that the military have thrown hundreds of people in jail since the start of the coup for peacefully challenging their rule," Ming Yu Hah, the group's deputy regional director for campaigns, said in a statement.

At its meeting Friday, the U.N. Human Rights Council called for the immediate release of people “arbitrarily detained” — including Suu Kyi — and more action by top U.N. officials to increase scrutiny in the country.

The council has no power to impose sanctions but can train a potent political spotlight on rights abuses and violations. “The seizure of power by the Myanmar military earlier this month constitutes a profound setback for the country after a decade of hard-won gains,” said the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada al-Nashif.

During Myanmar's previous decades of military rule, Western governments put sanctions in place, but they were eased when elections in 2010 and 2015 showed the country’s tentative steps toward democracy.

The new U.S. sanctions announced Thursday named Min Aung Hlaing and his deputy Soe Win, as well as four members of the State Administration Council. An executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden also allows the Treasury Department to target the spouses and adult children of those being sanctioned.

The move will prevent the generals from accessing more than $1 billion in Myanmar government funds held in the United States. It remains to be seen what, if any, impact the U.S. action will have on Myanmar’s military regime. Many of the military leaders are already under sanctions because of attacks against the Muslim Rohingya minority.

Myanmar protesters back on streets despite police violence

February 10, 2021

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Large crowds demonstrating against the military takeover in Myanmar again defied a ban on protests Wednesday, even after security forces ratcheted up the use of force against them and raided the headquarters of the political party of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Witnesses estimated that tens of thousands of protesters, if not more, turned out in Yangon and Mandalay, the country’s biggest cities. Rallies also took place in the capital Naypyitaw and elsewhere.

The protesters are demanding that power be restored to Suu Kyi’s deposed civilian government. They’re also seeking freedom for her and other governing party members since the military detained them after blocking the new session of Parliament on Feb. 1.

“As part of Generation Z we are first-time voters. This is our first time to protest as well,” said one student who declined to give her name for fear of harassment. “They negated our votes and this is totally unfair. We do not want that. We hope they release our leaders and implement a real democracy.”

The military says it acted because November’s election, which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy won in a landslide, were marred by irregularities. The election commission had refuted the allegation.

Some demonstrators in Yangon gathered at foreign embassies to seek international pressure against the coup. A small group outside the Japanese Embassy held signs and chanted “We want democracy, we get dictators!” They sat in several children's wading pools, three or fewer per pool, in what appeared to be a tongue-in-cheek way of showing compliance with an emergency law that bans gatherings of more than five people.

Others marched through the city, chanting and waving flags of Suu Kyi’s party. Another group hauled a fake coffin as part of a mock funeral for Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the military chief who is the country’s new leader.

The burgeoning protests and the junta’s latest raid suggest there is little room for reconciliation. The military, which ruled directly for five decades after a 1962 coup, used deadly force to quash a massive 1988 uprising and a 2007 revolt led by Buddhist monks.

In Naypyitaw and Mandalay on Tuesday, police sprayed water cannons and fired warning shots to try to clear away protesters. In Naypyitaw, they shot rubber bullets and apparently live rounds, wounding a woman protester, according to witnesses and footage on social media. The reports could not be independently confirmed.

Human Rights Watch cited a doctor at a Naypyitaw hospital as saying the woman was in critical condition. The doctor said the woman had a projectile lodged in her head, believed to be a bullet that had penetrated the back of the right ear, and had lost significant brain function. The doctor said a man had been also been treated with an upper body wound consistent with that of live ammunition.

State television network MRTV, in one of its few reports on the protests, on Tuesday night broadcast scenes it claimed showed the protesters were responsible for the violence. “Myanmar police should immediately end the use of excessive and lethal force” the New York-based watchdog urged.

No major incidents were reported in connection with the big turnout at Wednesday's protest in Mandalay. Social media users said 82 people who had been arrested were freed due to the work of local lawyers.

Medical students and personnel and Buddhist monks were among a huge cross-section of residents who marched in Mandalay, but the most social media buzz was generated by a contingent of shirtless muscled men with well-defined six-packs who were said to be members of a fitness gym.

The military on Tuesday night raided the national headquarters of Suu Kyi’s party, which before the military seized power had been slated to take power for a second five-year term. Kyi Toe, a spokesman for the party, wrote on Facebook that the army broke into the headquarters in Yangon and another office and took away documents and computer hardware. The headquarters was shuttered Wednesday.

The United States “strongly” condemned the violence against demonstrators. State Department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday that Washington would review assistance to Myanmar so that those responsible for the coup face “significant consequences.”

“We repeat our calls for the military to relinquish power, restore democratically elected government, release those detained, and lift all telecommunication restrictions, and to refrain from violence,” Price said.

New Zealand suspended all military and high-level political contact with Myanmar, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced in Wellington, adding that any New Zealand aid should not go to or benefit Myanmar’s military government.

The U.N. Human Rights Council, the 47-member-state body based in Geneva, is to hold a special session on Friday to consider “the human rights implications of the crisis in Myanmar.” Britain and the European Union spearheaded the request for the session, which will amount to a high-profile public debate among diplomats over the situation in Myanmar and could lead to a resolution airing concerns about the situation or recommending international action.

UK's chief mouser celebrates 10 years on the prowl

February 15, 2021

LONDON (AP) — Larry the cat, a four-legged inhabitant of London’s 10 Downing St., is marking a decade as Britain’s mouse-catcher in chief on Monday. The tabby cat was recruited by then-Prime Minister David Cameron to deal with a pack of rats seen scuttling close to the British leader’s official residence, and entered Downing Street on Feb. 15, 2011.

The former stray, adopted from London’s Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, was given the title Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, an unofficial pest control post. He was the first cat to hold the rat-catching portfolio since the retirement of Humphrey in 1997, and has loyally served three prime ministers.

But it seems like yesterday that Larry was just another cat — as opposed to a media superstar — said Lindsey Quinlan, the head of cattery of Battersea. “Throughout his time at Number 10, Larry has proven himself to not only be a brilliant ambassador for Battersea but also demonstrated to millions of people around the world how incredible rescue cats are,’’ she said. “His rags to riches tale is yet more proof of why all animals deserve a second chance — one minute they may be an overlooked stray on the streets, the next they could become one of the nation’s beloved political figures, with fans around the world.”

Larry, who has met a number of world leaders, has been largely unfriendly to men but took a liking to former U.S. President Barack Obama. When former President Donald Trump visited in 2019, Larry took a nap under his car.

His grip on the public imagination is clear — and political leaders know better than to ignore that popularity. The tomcat was a sentimental topic of conversation in Cameron’s final appearance in Parliament as prime minister when he said he wanted to quash a rumor that — perish the thought — he didn’t like Larry.

And just to prove it, he whipped out evidence: a picture of Larry lying on his lap. “He belongs to the house and the staff love him very much — as do I,” he said at the time, explaining why he wasn't taking Larry with him after leaving office.

After the December 2019 election, rumors swirled that Larry might be headed for retirement with the news that the new prime minister, Boris Johnson, was a dog man. However, despite the prime minister moving Jack Russell cross Dilyn into Downing Street, Larry remained in office.

Reports of his rodent-killing abilities vary. Larry became known for his occasional scraps with neighboring cats -- especially Palmerston, chief mouser to the Foreign Office across the street -- and fondness for sleep. Palmerston has retired to the country, so things have been a bit quieter of late.

These days Larry, now 14, is often seen by photographers patrolling his turf. Visitors to the building can sometimes find him napping on a ledge above a radiator or sleeping on a floor, where dignitaries occasionally have to step over him.

At the heart of government, he specializes in power naps.

In Athens, rare snow blankets Acropolis, halts vaccinations

February 16, 2021

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Heavy snowfall blanketed the Acropolis and other ancient monuments in Athens, caused power cuts and halted COVID-19 vaccinations in the Greek capital on Tuesday as the weather brought many services across the country to a standstill.

Greek media reported that three deaths in separate parts of the country were linked with the bad weather. State ERT TV said two elderly men with breathing problems died after their mechanical respiratory aids stopped working due to power cuts, and a farmer on the island of Crete was found dead in a snow-covered area near his sheepfold.

While western Europe got some respite from winter weather, temperatures plunged in the southeast of the continent and storms also battered Turkey. The snow, an unusual sight in the Greek capital of more than 3 million residents, also stopped most public transport services. Hundreds of toppled trees downed power cables, causing blackouts in several suburbs, while one area on the city's northern fringes was declared in a state of emergency for the next month. Some of the affected suburbs were also left without water.

Snow is common in Greece’s mountains and in the north of the country, but much rarer in the capital. Some Athenians emerged cautiously outside, snapping photos on balconies and in the streets. The snow arrived as Athens and several other parts of Greece remain in lockdown to curb coronavirus infections. Schools and most stores are closed, and residents must stay indoors during a nightly curfew.

Some children skipped online classes Tuesday to play in the snow. Adults also went out to play, with some digging out skis to use on the capital’s hilly slopes. One man skied along Pnyx hill in central Athens, near the Acropolis.

Norwegian Ambassador Frode Overland Andersen tweeted a video of himself skiing down a hill in the suburb of Filothei with his teenage daughter. “Challenge accepted,” he wrote, after a friend in Oslo challenged him to prove it really was possible to ski in Athens.

“It was the best day at my home office during the lockdown so far,” the ambassador told The Associated Press. “Sadly, my skis took a rather hard beating, so I will be waxing and prepping for next season.”

Outside the parliament building, orange snowplows cleared streets of ice and snow, while presidential guards, dressed in traditional pleated kilts and pompom-tipped shoes, were given heavy woolen overcoats.

The cold snap, which has already caused snowstorms around much of Europe, kept temperatures hovering around freezing in Athens on Tuesday but was expected to lift abruptly with highs of 14 degrees Celsius (57 degrees Fahrenheit) expected on Thursday.

In neighboring Turkey, heavy snow and blizzards forced the closure of a highway in northwest Turkey. Around 600 vehicles were stranded on a nine-kilometer (six-mile) stretch of the snow-covered road, and another 800 other vehicles were stranded elsewhere, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Sections of Greece’s main north-south highway were also closed until early Wednesday, leaving about 300 lorry drivers stranded at a highway access point outside Thessaloniki, in northern Greece. Most ferry services to the islands were canceled, while flights from regional airports to Athens were disrupted.

Greek Fire Service spokesman Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis said the service had received hundreds of calls for assistance in greater Athens. “The calls mainly concerned downed trees and transporting people stuck in their vehicles to a safe place, but also to transport kidney dialysis patients to receive treatment,” he told state TV.

“Vaccinations have been postponed, but we have helped transport doctors and medical staff where they are needed, and we helped power technicians get to damaged electricity pylons in areas where access was difficult,” Vathrakoyiannis said.

Power and water cuts were also reported in central Greece. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met with emergency response leaders to assist residents in blacked-out areas and villages cut off by the snow.

“We obviously recommend great care be taken in all movement, all unnecessary movement should be avoided,” Mitsotakis said after the meeting, adding that authorities were doing everything they could to keep the roads open and to restore power to areas without electricity.

“I think we will all show patience as we deal with a phenomenon that is truly unprecedented,” he added.

Woman gives birth outdoors in freezing temps in Germany

February 12, 2021

BERLIN (AP) — A homeless woman gave birth outdoors in temperatures well below freezing early Friday in the Bavarian city of Nuremberg, authorities said. A police patrol spotted the 20-year-old woman, a companion and the newborn infant shortly after the birth at about 5 a.m. on a ventilation grate outside a subway station, the dpa news agency reported.

The woman and her baby were huddled in a sleeping bag trying to keep warm in minus 15 Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) temperatures. Both were taken by authorities to a hospital to warm up and for observation.

Further details on the incident were not immediately available.

UN agencies press EU over rising migrant pushback cases

February 10, 2021

BRUSSELS (AP) — U.N. agencies are pressing the European Union to end the growing practices of denying migrants their right to apply for asylum, collectively expulsing them and using violence against people trying to enter the bloc without authorization.

Border pushbacks and collective expulsions are illegal under international refugee treaties, which allow people fearing for their safety to apply for protection. Greece and even the EU’s border and coast guard agency Frontex are among those accused of pushbacks or complicity in them. They deny using such methods.

The International Organization for Migration said Wednesday that it continues to receive documented reports of human rights violations against migrants and refugees, including children, involving countries that are part of the 27-nation bloc.

“The use of excessive force and violence against civilians is unjustifiable,” IOM Chief of Staff Eugenio Ambrosi said. He said the sovereignty of EU countries “including their competence to maintain the integrity of their borders must be aligned with their obligations under international law and respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all.”

The IOM, which receives EU funds for its work in countries around the Mediterranean and North Africa, said it welcomed a series of investigations launched to get to the bottom of the pushback cases. Late last month, the U.N. refugee agency also warned that the right to asylum is “under attack” at Europe’s borders and it called on countries to investigate and stop illegal pushbacks and expulsions.

The UNHCR said new migrant arrivals to the EU continue to decline each year, with 95,000 arrivals by sea and land last year -- a decrease of 23% compared to 2019 and by one-third compared to 2018, when more than 141,000 people arrived.

Last month, Frontex announced it was ceasing work in Hungary until the nationalist government there brings its laws into line with a ruling by the EU’s top court that the country is denying people entering without authorization the right to apply for asylum and unlawfully detaining them in “transit zones.”

The rising number of pushback allegations comes at an embarrassing time, as the European Commission struggles to win unanimous support among EU nations for its new Pact on Migration and Asylum, which is meant to revamp the bloc’s dysfunctional asylum laws.

French government seeks to set age for sexual consent at 15

February 10, 2021

PARIS (AP) — France’s government wants to set the age of sexual consent at 15 and make it easier to punish long-ago child sexual abuse, amid growing public pressure and a wave of online testimonies about rape and other sexual violence by parents and authority figures.

Calling such treatment of children “intolerable,” the justice ministry said in a statement that “the government is determined to act quickly to implement the changes that our society expects.” “An act of sexual penetration by an adult on a minor under 15 will be considered a rape,” Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said Tuesday on France-2 television. Consent would no longer be able to be cited to diminish the charges, but exceptions would be made for teenagers having consensual sex, he said.

The change would still need to be enshrined in law, but the announcement is a major step after years of efforts to toughen French protection for children victims of rape and sexual violence. A push to set France’s first age of consent three years ago in the wake of the global #MeToo movement failed amid legal complications. But the effort has gained new momentum since accusations emerged last month of incestuous sexual abuse involving a prominent French political expert, Olivier Duhamel. That unleashed an online #MeTooInceste movement in France that led to hundreds of similar testimonies.

The Justice Ministry says it is in discussions with victims’ groups about toughening punishment of incest and extending or abolishing the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse, which has prevented prosecution in several high-profile cases in France in recent years.

It also says it wants “to ensure that victims of the same perpetrator do not receive different legal treatment,” which could broaden the scope to prosecute people accused of abuse of multiple people over decades.

In the Duhamel case, the Paris prosecutor opened an investigation into alleged “rapes and sexual abuses by a person exercising authority” over a child following public accusations made in a book by his stepdaughter that he abused her twin brother in the 1980s, when the siblings were 13-years-old.

Duhamel said he was “the target of personal attacks” and stepped down from his many professional positions, including as a respected TV commentator and head of National Foundation of Political Sciences. The foundation manages the prestigious Sciences Po university in Paris, whose director Frederic Mion resigned this week amid the fallout from the accusations.

Eiffel Tower needs blowtorch for ice as snow blankets Europe

February 10, 2021

PARIS (AP) — Workers at the Eiffel Tower used a blowtorch to melt the ice collecting on its surfaces and snow was blocking roads and halting trains and school buses Wednesday across northern France. Amid a European cold snap, areas in Normandy and Brittany unused to such icy conditions were closing highways for lack of snow-clearing equipment. In parts of the Paris region, local authorities halted school buses and urged parents to keep their children at home.

Snow blanketed the French capital and froze the Eiffel Tower. “When negative temperatures return, my floors get partially covered with ice! To get rid of it, we need to use a blowtorch because ice-control salt is too corrosive for the metal,” tweeted the monument, which has been closed to the public for months because of coronavirus restrictions.

Parts of central and northern Europe as well as Britain have been gripped by a cold weather front since the weekend. Heavy snowfall tangled traffic and stranded drivers in Germany and the Czech Republic.

Some took advantage of the frosty climes. Cross-country skiers glided across the Charles Bridge in Prague, children sledded in the usually snowless parks of Belgium's capital of Brussels, and the deep winter freeze has reawakened the Dutch national obsession with skating on frozen canals.

Rubbish-covered lake brings to light Balkans waste problem

January 26, 2021

PRIBOJ, Serbia (AP) — Trucks and building machines are parked on a river dam in southwest Serbia but not for construction work. Instead, huge cranes are being used to clear tons of garbage crammed at the foot of the power plant.

Serbia and other Balkan nations are overwhelmed by communal waste after decades of neglect and lack of efficient waste-management policies in the countries aspiring to join the European Union. Burning rubbish dumps can be seen from the roads, plastic bags are hanging from trees and islands of waste are floating down the region's rivers. The problem usually comes into focus in winter, when swollen waters sweep over landfills, pushing the garbage toward hydropower dams.

This has been the case at the Potpec accumulation lake near the power plant after a spate of rainy and snowy weather in December and early January. The surface of the lake got covered in a thick layer of waste ranging from plastics to rusty metal scraps, tree trunks and even reportedly a coffin.

The garbage has been swept downstream by the Lim River, which feeds the Potpec dam. The Lim originates in neighboring Montenegro, passing through several municipalities and their waste sites in both Montenegro and Serbia.

“Based on a recent study, we found out that in these towns, in the five municipalities in Montenegro and three in Serbia, about 45,000 tons of waste are collected (per year),” said Predrag Saponjic, the Lim River hydropower plant system manager. Looking at the rubbish-strewn lake, he added that "even if only a fraction of that waste ends up in the Lim River, we get this.”

Environmentalists in the Balkans have warned that because most landfills aren't managed properly they leak toxic materials into rivers, threatening ecosystems and wildlife. Bosnia too has reported a garbage pileup that endangers the hydroelectric dam on the Drina River, near the eastern town of Visegrad. The Lim is one of the tributaries of the Drina, which makes their waterways — and garbage flows — closely connected.

The two emerald-colored rivers — the Drina flows along the border between Serbia and Bosnia — during summer are favored by adventurers and water rafters who enjoy the winding waterways and seemingly pristine nature.

While Balkan nations have been struggling to recover following a series of wars and crises in the 1990s, environmental issues often come last for the countries whose economies are lagging far behind the rest of Europe and where public funds are vulnerable to widespread corruption.

Jugoslav Jovanovic, from Serbia's state-run Srbijavode company that is in charge of the country's water system, put the waste problem down to “our neglect and lack of care.” Landfills are located too close to rivers and are overfilled rather than closed down over the years, he warned.

“If we find ourselves forced to do this year after year, then that’s not really a solution," he said of the clearing operation. “We must find common ground and solve this by joining forces.” Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia have held meetings on the issue but little has been done. The Balkan countries also face other environmental emergencies, including dangerous levels of air pollution in many cities.

Experts predict the clearing of Potpec lake will take few weeks, depending on the weather. However, all the garbage from the water will end up again on a landfill in western Serbia. Goran Rekovic, an activist from the nearby town of Priboj, said raising public awareness about pollution is a key goal, along with “institutional and systematic” solutions. These are needed also if Serbia and other Balkan countries wish to move closer to EU membership.

“This is not European Union's obligation. We should not be doing this for them," Rekovic said. “The reason why we should take care of our environment is for our own future generations."

Jovana Gec and Marko Drobnjakovic contributed to this report.

Arab Spring exiles look back 10 years after Egypt uprising

January 24, 2021

LONDON (AP) — The Egyptians who took to the streets on Jan. 25, 2011, knew what they were doing. They knew they risked arrest and worse. But as their numbers swelled in Cairo's central Tahrir Square, they tasted success.

Police forces backed off, and within days, former President Hosni Mubarak agreed to demands to step down. But events didn't turn out the way many of the protesters envisioned. A decade later, thousands are estimated to have fled abroad to escape the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi that is considered even more oppressive. The significant loss of academics, artists, journalists and other intellectuals has, along with a climate of fear, hobbled any political opposition.

Dr. Mohamed Aboelgheit was among those jailed in the southern city of Assiut in 2011 after joining calls for revolt against police brutality and Mubarak. He spent part of the uprising in a cramped cell.

Released amid the chaos, he reveled in the atmosphere of political freedom in the Arab world’s most populous country — protesting, working as a journalist and joining a campaign for a moderate presidential candidate. But it did not last.

Interim military rulers followed Mubarak. In 2012, Mohamed Morsi, a member of Egypt’s most powerful Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, was elected as the first civilian president in the country’s history. But his tenure proved divisive. Amid massive protests, the military — led by then-Defense Minister el-Sissi — removed Morsi in 2013, dissolved parliament and eventually banned the Brotherhood as a “terrorist group.” A crackdown on dissent ensued, and el-Sissi won two terms in elections that human rights groups criticized as undemocratic.

“I began to feel, by degree, more fear and threats,” Aboelgheit said. Friends were jailed, his writings critical of the government drew attention, and “I wasn’t going to wait until it happened to me,” he added.

After el-Sissi came to power, Aboelgheit left for London, where he's published investigative reports on other parts of the Arab world. At his former home in Egypt, national security agents asked about him. When Aboelgheit’s wife last returned to visit relatives, she was summoned for questioning about his activities. The message was clear.

No one knows exactly how many Egyptians like Aboelgheit have fled political persecution. Data from the World Bank shows an increase in emigres from Egypt since 2011. A total of 3,444,832 left in 2017 — nearly 60,000 more than in 2013, the years for which figures are available. But it’s impossible to tell economic migrants from political exiles.

They relocated to Berlin, Paris and London. Egyptians also have settled in Turkey, Qatar, Sudan and even Asian countries like Malaysia and South Korea. Human Rights Watch estimated in 2019 that there were 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt. The Committee to Protect Journalists ranks Egypt third, behind China and Turkey, in detaining journalists.

El-Sissi maintains Egypt has no political prisoners. The arrest of a journalist or a rights worker makes news roughly every month. Many people have been imprisoned on terrorism charges, for breaking a ban on protests or for disseminating false news. Others remain in indefinite pretrial detentions.

El-Sissi maintains Egypt is holding back Islamic extremism so it doesn't descend into chaos like its neighbors. “Sissi wants not only to abrogate the rights of the opposition and to prevent any critical voice from being uttered, Sissi doesn’t actually believe, not only in the opposition, but he doesn’t believe in politics," said Khaled Fahmy, an Egyptian professor of modern Middle Eastern History at Cambridge University

Fahmy believes this is the worst period in Egypt’s modern history for personal rights. “It’s much more serious, it’s much deeper and much darker, what Sissi has in mind,” he said. Those abroad who could challenge el-Sissi have chosen to not return.

Taqadum al-Khatib, an academic who also worked in the nascent political scene after 2011, was researching Egypt’s former Jewish community in Germany when he learned that returning to his homeland was no longer an option.

The Egyptian cultural attaché in Berlin summoned al-Khatib for a meeting, and an official questioned him about his articles, social media posts and research. He was asked to hand over his passport but refused. Shortly thereafter, he was fired from his job at an Egyptian university. He feels lucky to be able to work toward his doctorate in Germany but misses Cairo’s bustle.

“It’s a very difficult situation. I couldn’t go back to my home,” al-Khatib said. Fahmy said he’s seen outspoken expatriates have their Egyptian citizenship revoked. A government press officer did not respond to a request for comment on targeting and intimidating Egyptians — either abroad or at home — based on their work as journalists, activists or academics, or for expressing political opinions.

Journalist Asma Khatib, 29, remembers the heady days of 2011, when young people thought they could bring change. A reporter for a pro-Muslim Brotherhood news agency, Khatib covered Morsi’s short presidency amid criticism the group was using violence against opponents and seeking to monopolize power to make Egypt an Islamic state. After Morsi's ouster, his supporters held sit-ins for his reinstatement at a square in Cairo. A month later, the new military leaders forcibly cleared them out, and more than 600 people were killed.

Khatib documented the violence. Soon, colleagues started being arrested, and she fled Egypt — first to Malaysia, then to Indonesia and Turkey. She was tried in absentia on espionage charges in 2015, convicted and sentenced to death. Now, she and her husband Ahmed Saad, also a journalist, and their two children are seeking asylum in South Korea.

They expect they’ll never return, but also realize they’re lucky to be free. On the day the ruling was announced, the journalist remembers telling herself: “You don’t have a country anymore.” “I know that there are lots of others like me. I’m not any different from those who are in prison,” she said.

The exiles have had ample time to think about where Egypt's uprising failed. The broad alliance of protesters — from Islamists to secular activists — fractured without a common enemy like Mubarak, and the most extreme voices became the loudest. The role of religion in society remained largely unanswered, and liberal secular initiatives never gained traction. No one accounted for how many people would embrace former regime figures, especially in a crisis.

Most Egyptians abroad have not been politically active, fearing for family and friends back home. But some have continued on the path begun on Jan. 25, 2011. Tamim Heikal, working in the corporate world when the protests erupted, had doubted the government could ever reform. But he soon became a communications manager for an emerging political party. Later, he watched others being locked up, and knew his turn had come when he got an invitation from intelligence officers in 2017 to “come have coffee.”

He booked a ticket to Paris and hasn’t gone back. Now, at age 42, he wants to educate himself and others for when a popular movement re-emerges in Egypt. He makes ends meet by editing, translating and doing consulting work for rights groups, and tries to network among the diaspora.

“It’s as if I was infected with a virus, after the revolution,” he said. “I don’t know how to go back. I won’t be able to relax until change happens.” Others try to cope in strange lands. Asma Khatib and her husband aren’t sure what to say to their young children when they ask where they’re from.

Abouelgheit, the doctor-turned-journalist, worries his son won’t speak Arabic after so much time in the United Kingdom. He hopes to go home one day, but in the meantime, he’s considering returning to the medical profession.

More heads roll at US-funded international broadcasters

January 23, 2021

WASHINGTON (AP) — The heads of three federally funded international broadcasters were abruptly fired late Friday as the Biden administration completed a house-cleaning of Donald Trump-appointees at the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

Two officials familiar with the changes said the acting chief of the USAGM summarily dismissed the directors of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks just a month after they had been named to the posts.

The changes came a day after the director of the Voice of America and his deputy were removed and the chief of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting stepped down. The firings follow the forced resignation of former President Donald Trump’s handpicked choice to lead USAGM only two hours after Joe Biden took office on Wednesday.

Trump’s USAGM chief Michael Pack had been accused by Democrats and others of trying to turn VOA and its sister networks into pro-Trump propaganda machines. Pack had appointed all of those who were fired on Thursday and Friday to their posts only in December.

The two officials said the acting CEO of USAGM, Kelu Chao, had fired Middle East Broadcasting Network director Victoria Coates, Radio Free Asia chief Stephen Yates and Radio Free Europe head Ted Lipien in a swift series of moves late Friday. It was not immediately clear if any of those removed would try to contest their dismissals.

The White House appointed Chao, a three-decade VOA veteran journalist, to be the agency’s interim chief executive on Wednesday shortly after demanding Pack’s resignation. Chao did not respond to phone calls seeking comment about her actions. The two officials familiar with the dismissals were not authorized to publicly discuss personnel matters and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Coates, Yates and Lipien, along with former VOA director Robert Reilly and former Cuba broadcasting chief Jeffrey Shapiro were all prominent conservatives chosen by Pack to shake up what Trump and other Republicans believed was biased leadership in taxpayer-funded media outlets.

Reilly and his deputy Elizabeth Robbins were removed just a week after coming under harsh criticism for demoting a VOA White House correspondent who had tried to ask former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a question after a town hall event.

Pack had created a furor when he took over USAGM last year and fired the boards of all the outlets under his control along with the leadership of the individual broadcast networks. The actions were criticized as threatening the broadcasters’ prized editorial independence and raised fears that Pack, a conservative filmmaker and former associate of Trump’s onetime political strategist Steve Bannon, intended to turn venerable U.S. media outlets into pro-Trump propaganda machines.

Biden had been expected to make major changes to the agency’s structure and management, and Pack’s immediate dismissal on inauguration day signaled that those would be coming sooner rather than later. Pack had not been required to submit his resignation as his three-year position was created by Congress and not limited by the length of a particular administration.

VOA was founded during World War II and its congressional charter requires it to present independent news and information to international audiences.

Democrats start reining in expectations for immigration bill

January 23, 2021

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's taken only days for Democrats gauging how far President Joe Biden's bold immigration proposal can go in Congress to acknowledge that if anything emerges, it will likely be significantly more modest.

As they brace to tackle a politically flammable issue that's resisted major congressional action since the 1980s, Democrats are using words like “aspirational” to describe Biden's plan and “herculean” to express the effort they'll need to prevail.

A similar message came from the White House Friday when press secretary Jen Psaki said the new administration hopes Biden's plan will be “the base" of immigration discussions in Congress. Democrats' cautious tones underscored the fragile road they face on a paramount issue for their minority voters, progressives and activists.

Even long-time immigration proponents advocating an all-out fight concede they may have to settle for less than total victory. Paving a path to citizenship for all 11 million immigrants in the U.S. illegally — the centerpiece of Biden's plan — is “the stake at the summit of the mountain,” Frank Sharry, executive director of the pro-immigration group America’s Voice, said in an interview. “If there are ways to advance toward that summit by building victories and momentum, we’re going to look at them.”

The citizenship process in Biden's plan would take as little as three years for some people, eight years for others. The proposal would make it easier for certain workers to stay in the U.S. temporarily or permanently, provide development aid to Central American nations in hopes of reducing immigration and move toward bolstering border screening technology.

No. 2 Senate Democratic leader Richard Durbin of Illinois said in an interview this week that the likeliest package to emerge would create a path to citizenship for so-called Dreamers. They are immigrants who’ve lived in the U.S. most of their lives after being brought here illegally as children.

Over 600,000 of them have temporary permission to live in the U.S. under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Former President Barack Obama created that program administratively and Durbin and others would like to see it enacted into law.

Durbin, who called Biden's plan “aspirational,” said he hoped for other elements as well, such as more visas for agricultural and other workers. “We understand the political reality of a 50-50 Senate, that any changes in immigration will require cooperation between the parties,” said Durbin, who is on track to become Senate Judiciary Committee chairman. He said legislation produced by the Senate likely “will not reach the same levels” as Biden’s proposal.

The Senate is split evenly between the two parties, with Vice President Kamala Harris tipping the chamber in Democrats’ favor with her tie-breaking vote. Even so, major legislation requires 60 votes to overcome filibusters, or endless procedural delays, in order to pass. That means 10 Republicans would have to join all 50 Democrats to enact an immigration measure, a tall order.

“Passing immigration reform through the Senate, particularly, is a herculean task,” said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who will also play a lead role in the battle. Many Republicans agree with Durbin's assessment.

“I think the space in a 50-50 Senate will be some kind of DACA deal,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who’s worked with Democrats on past immigration efforts. “I just think comprehensive immigration is going to be a tough sale given this environment.”

Illustrating the detailed bargaining ahead, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a moderate who’s sought earlier immigration compromises, praised parts of the bill but said she wants more visas for foreign workers her state's tourism industry uses heavily.

Democrats' hurdles are formidable. They have razor-thin majorities in a House and Senate where Republican support for easing immigration restrictions is usually scant. Acrid partisan relationships were intensified further by former President Donald Trump's clamorous tenure. Biden will have to spend plenty of political capital and time on earlier, higher priority bills battling the pandemic and bolstering the economy, leaving his future clout uncertain.

In addition, Democrats will have to resolve important tactical differences. Sharry said immigration groups prefer Democrats to push for as strong a bill as possible without making any concessions to Republicans on issues like boosting border security spending. He said hopes for a bipartisan breakthrough are “a fool’s errand” because the GOP has largely opposed expending citizenship opportunities for so long.

But prevailing without GOP votes would mean virtual unanimity among congressional Democrats, a huge challenge. It would also mean Democrats would have to either eliminate the Senate filibuster, which they may not have the votes to do, or figure out other procedural routes around the 60-vote hurdle.

“I'm going to start negotiating" with Republicans, said Durbin. He said a bipartisan bill would be far better “if we can do it" because it would improve the chances for passage. Democrats already face attacks from Republicans, eyeing next year's elections, on an issue that helped helped power Trump's 2016 victory by fortifying his support from many white voters.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Biden’s bill would “prioritize help for illegal immigrants and not our fellow citizens.” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who heads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP campaign arm, said the measure would hurt “hard-working Americans and the millions of immigrants working their way through the legal immigration process."

Democrats say such allegations are false but say it's difficult to compose clear, sound-bite responses on what is a complex issue. Instead, it requires having “an adult conversation” with voters, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., said in an interview.

“Yeah, this is about people but it's about the economy" as well, said Spanberger, a moderate from a district where farms and technology firms hire many immigrants. “In central Virginia, we rely on immigration. And you may not like that, but we do."

In Portugal presidential race, how high can a populist fly?

January 22, 2021

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — With the moderate incumbent candidate widely seen as the sure winner of Sunday’s presidential election in Portugal, the most intriguing question for many Portuguese is how well a brash new populist challenger will fare in a ballot skewed by a surging COVID-19 pandemic.

Mainstream populism, which has upended political assumptions elsewhere in Europe in recent years, is a novelty in Portugal. But that could change as taxpayers squeezed by the economic downturn, vexed by hefty bailouts for banks and galled by corruption look for somewhere to vent their anger. A significant political shift in Portugal could help add fresh momentum to a continental trend.

Lawyer and former TV soccer pundit André Ventura leads a right-wing populist party called CHEGA! (ENOUGH!), founded in 2019. Nobody expects him to win on Sunday, as he is polling around 11% compared with more than 60% for incumbent Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. Even so, Ventura, 37, could conceivably place second among the seven candidates, drawing a level of support that until recently was unthinkable and sending a shudder through Portuguese politics.

A recent surge in the COVID-19 pandemic that has placed Portugal among the worst-hit countries in the world for new daily infections and deaths has added an unpredictable ingredient into the contest, even though the head of state is not directly involved in organizing the country's response.

A potentially low turnout as voters, especially the elderly, possibly shy away from busy polling stations could upset expectations and allow determined populist sympathizers to capture a bigger share of the ballot.

Ventura's showing “is quite something for a new party,” says Marina Costa Lobo, a senior researcher at Lisbon University’s Institute for Social Sciences. “He has gained a lot of visibility, a lot of exposure.”

Like other populists, Ventura portrays himself as leading common people against an entrenched and corrupt elite. French far-right populist Marine le Pen flew in for one of his campaign events in Lisbon. Ventura has participated in rallies in Italy held by Matteo Salvini, leader of the right-wing League party.

Ventura occupies his party’s single seat in Portugal’s 230-seat parliament. But he punches above his weight by generating headlines. He is eloquent, happy to scrap in public and disdained by mainstream parties. His firebrand speeches have whipped up public support, especially on social media. He calls his supporters the “Portuguese Popular Army.”

He has complained that “minorities are living at our expense” and questions recent liberalizing trends. He asked in parliament last year, “You can change sex at 16 but you can’t go to a bullfight! Doesn’t this country have things the wrong way round?”

Ventura ticks the populist boxes. He wants heavier prison sentences, including currently disallowed life terms, for some crimes and chemical castration for convicted pedophiles and rapists before their release from prison. He opposes letting migrants, especially Muslims, into Europe and supports police demands for higher pay. He also wants to reduce the number of lawmakers in parliament and their salaries.

Major scandals in recent years have provided grist for his cause. Corruption cases against a former prime minister and against the head of the country’s largest private bank, which went bankrupt, have fueled outrage and tainted Portugal’s two main parties, the center-left Socialists and the center-right Social Democrats.

Taxpayers, meanwhile, shelled out more than 20 billion euros ($24 billion) to help banks between 2008 and 2019. That’s a substantial sum in one of the European Union’s smaller economies. The election frontrunner, incumbent Rebelo de Sousa, is the kind of target Ventura relishes: An establishment figure with a 46-year political career, including a stint as leader of the Social Democratic Party.

Over his past five years as president, the gaunt 72-year-old has displayed the patrician bearing and cordial manner expected of a head of state. Though a president in Portugal has no legislative power, which lies with the government and parliament, the role carries considerable influence.

But Rebelo de Sousa’s once cozy relationship with the head of what was Portugal’s biggest private bank, including luxury vacations spent together, and his long spell at the heart of power, have left him vulnerable to attacks from Ventura and the election’s five other candidates.

Even so, Rebelo de Sousa has during his term kept his approval rating above 60% and is held in affection by many in this country of 10.3 million. He cultivates an image of man of the people: Portuguese capture photos of him standing alone in line with his groceries at the supermarket, having a shave at a barber’s shop and chatting with excited children on the beach near his house in Cascais, an old fishing town 30 kilometers (18 miles) west of Lisbon. His small security detail keeps a discreet distance.

On Sunday, more Portuguese are likely to value those traits than Ventura’s pugnacity.

First-ever treaty to ban nuclear weapons enters into force

January 22, 2021

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The first-ever treaty to ban nuclear weapons entered into force on Friday, hailed as a historic step to rid the world of its deadliest weapons but strongly opposed by the world's nuclear-armed nations.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is now part of international law, culminating a decades-long campaign aimed at preventing a repetition of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. But getting all nations to ratify the treaty requiring them to never own such weapons seems daunting, if not impossible, in the current global climate.

When the treaty was approved by the U.N. General Assembly in July 2017, more than 120 approved it. But none of the nine countries known or believed to possess nuclear weapons — the United States, Russia, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel — supported it and neither did the 30-nation NATO alliance.

Japan, the world's only country to suffer nuclear attacks, also does not support the treaty, even though the aged survivors of the bombings in 1945 strongly push for it to do so. Japan on its own renounces use and possession of nuclear weapons, but the government has said pursuing a treaty ban is not realistic with nuclear and non-nuclear states so sharply divided over it.

Nonetheless, Beatrice Fihn, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize-winning coalition whose work helped spearhead the treaty, called it “a really big day for international law, for the United Nations and for survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”

The treaty received its 50th ratification on Oct. 24, triggering a 90-day period before its entry into force on Jan. 22. As of Thursday, Fihn told The Associated Press that 61 countries had ratified the treaty, with another ratification possible on Friday, and “from Friday, nuclear weapons will be banned by international law” in all those countries.

The treaty requires that all ratifying countries “never under any circumstances ... develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.” It also bans any transfer or use of nuclear weapons or nuclear explosive devices — and the threat to use such weapons — and requires parties to promote the treaty to other countries.

Fihn said the treaty is “really, really significant” because it will now be a key legal instrument, along with the Geneva Conventions on conduct toward civilians and soldiers during war and the conventions banning chemical and biological weapons and land mines.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the treaty demonstrated support for multilateral approaches to nuclear disarmament. “Nuclear weapons pose growing dangers and the world needs urgent action to ensure their elimination and prevent the catastrophic human and environmental consequences any use would cause,” he said in a video message. “The elimination of nuclear weapons remains the highest disarmament priority of the United Nations.”

But not for the nuclear powers. As the treaty was approaching the 50 ratifications needed to trigger its entry into force, the Trump administration wrote a letter to countries that signed it saying they made “a strategic error” and urging them to rescind their ratification.

The letter said the treaty “turns back the clock on verification and disarmament" and would endanger the half-century-old Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, considered the cornerstone of nonproliferation efforts.

Fihn countered at the time that a ban could not undermine nonproliferation since it was "the end goal of the Nonproliferation Treaty.” Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, said the treaty’s arrival was a historic step forward in efforts to free the world of nuclear weapons and “hopefully will compel renewed action by nuclear-weapon states to fulfill their commitment to the complete elimination of nuclear weapons.”

Fihn said in an interview that the campaign sees strong public support for the treaty in NATO countries and growing political pressure, citing Belgium and Spain. “We will not stop until we get everyone on board,” she said.

It will also be campaigning for divestment — pressuring financial institutions to stop giving capital to between 30 and 40 companies involved in nuclear weapons and missile production including Airbus, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.