Romania probes 'slaves' kidnapped, chained, forced to beg

July 13, 2016

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Dozens of vulnerable men and boys were kidnapped, chained, whipped, fed scraps and forced to work or fight each other for entertainment over an eight-year period in rural southern Romania, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Three men and two boys aged between 10 and 12 were found chained up and were rescued by police Wednesday in the mountain town of Berevoiesti during searches at the homes of suspects — members of an extended Roma family. Organized-crime prosecutors said the investigation involves some 90 suspects who they say exploited around 65 people with physical and mental disabilities or who were very poor, making them log wood, beg or look after animals.

Some 160 police and prosecutors took part in the raid Wednesday on the town, some 150 kilometers (95 miles) northwest of Bucharest. Berevoiesti mayor Florin Bogdan told Digi24 television he had alerted authorities about suspicions of slavery in the town last year. Media reported investigators have been monitoring suspects for months and took action when the majority of suspects were at home.

A prosecutors' statement said some victims were snatched from railway and bus stations, outside churches or even from their own homes and transported to private homes by members of the group. Some of them performed domestic chores while others were made to transport and sell wood that was the product of illegal logging.

It said the captives were sometimes held in chains, whipped, beaten and threatened, refused food or made to eat off the ground, and coerced into fighting each other for entertainment. They were locked up overnight to prevent them escaping. Some were stripped naked and doused with hot or cold water. There are suspicions some were raped or sexually abused.

One youngster told Digi24 he had had received just 10 lei ($4.20) a week for cleaning horses and other work. Valentin Preoteasa, chief prosecutor at the Pitesti office, called the case unprecedented. "It is shocking to hear this in the 21st century," he told The Associated Press by telephone, adding he had immediately poured his office's resources into the probe. "All five prosecutors in the Pitesti office are working on the case," together with police officers, he said.

Preoteasa said the victims have been housed in centers and given food, showers and beds. He could not say how many were children. Spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office Mihaela Porime said some of the youngsters had their identity papers and birth certificates confiscated.

Preoteasa said investigators have located about 30 suspects, including women, and are in the process of questioning them. Police carrying out the searches confiscated 228,000 lei ($56,300), about one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of gold, nine chainsaws and three trucks that they said were used in the criminal activity.

They risk up to 20 years in prison.

Hungarian officers beat migrants severely, rights group says

July 13, 2016

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian police and soldiers have beaten some migrants severely before sending them back across the border to Serbia, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Wednesday. Since July 5, migrants caught within 8 kilometers (5 miles) of the border are being returned to the Serbian side of the razor-wire fence built by Hungary last year to stem the migrant flow. Police said 621 people were sent back to Serbia through the fence during the first week the new rules were in effect.

One of the claims of abuse noted in the HRW report said men in a group of between 30 and 40 migrants that also included women and children were beaten by soldiers for two hours after being detained in Hungary.

"I haven't even seen such beating in the movies," the reported quoted an unidentified man as saying. "Five or six soldiers took us one by one to beat us. They tied our hands with plastic handcuffs on our backs. They beat us with everything, with fists, kicks, and batons. They deliberately gave us bad injuries."

Others interviewed by HRW claimed to have been beaten by police and of being injured when forced back to Serbia through small openings in the razor-wire fence. The HRW report was based on interviews with 41 asylum-seekers and migrants as well as officials from a wide range of Hungarian and international institutions, including the U.N. refugee agency, Hungarian police and the immigration office.

The organization said Hungary was also failing to comply with international standards regarding asylum-seekers, for example by quickly dismissing most asylum claims from single men, while accepting only 15 claims daily at each of the two transit zones on the Serbian border. This has led to hundreds of refugees being stranded at the border in precarious conditions.

"The abuse of asylum seekers and migrants runs counter to Hungary's obligations under EU law, refugee law, and human rights law," said Lydia Gall, the advocacy group's regional researcher. "The European Commission should use its enforcement powers to press Budapest to comply with its obligation under EU law to provide meaningful access to asylum and fair procedures for those at its borders and on its territory."

"Hungary is breaking all the rules for asylum seekers," Gall said. The Hungarian government did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but authorities last month rejected similar allegations of abuse reported by the U.N. refugee agency. HRW said it sent its findings and questions to Hungary's Office of Immigration and Nationality, as well as to the interior and defense ministries on June 13 and did not receive any response.

HRW also said Hungary was applying "legal fiction" at the transit zones on the border, as people there were not considered to have entered the country even though the zones are in Hungarian territory. This makes it possible for Hungary to ensure that refugees whose asylum claims are rejected in the transit zones do not try to stay in Hungary or pass through the country, as nearly 400,000 people did last year, on their way west.

Germany's Schweinsteiger weds Serbian tennis ace Ivanovic

July 13, 2016

BERLIN (AP) — German soccer star Bastian Schweinsteiger has tied the knot with Serbian tennis player Ana Ivanovic. Photos of the couple in Venice, Italy, had stirred talk that they were getting married.

On Wednesday, the 31-year-old Manchester United player posted a picture of himself and his bride with the words "Mr. & Mrs. (heart)" on Twitter. Ivanovic, 28, a former No. 1, crashed out of Wimbledon in the first round last month.

Schweinsteiger captained Germany's team to the semifinal of the European Championship, where it lost to host France.

Berlin leftist rioting leaves 120 officers injured

July 10, 2016

BERLIN (AP) — Police say more than 120 officers were injured and 86 demonstrators were detained during leftist riots in the German capital which police call "the most aggressive and violent protests in the last five years."

Berlin police said in a statement Sunday that protesters threw bottles, cobblestones and fireworks, destroyed cars and attacked officers. Only one of the police officers required treatment at a hospital. It wasn't immediately clear how many rioters were injured.

About 3,500 protesters participated in the rallies, which started Saturday evening and lasted until early Sunday. Activists had called for the demonstration to protest against police operations at buildings taken over the squatters in the eastern part of the city last month.

Around 1,800 police officers were called in to monitor the protesters.

Theresa May becomes Britain's new leader as Cameron exits

July 13, 2016

LONDON (AP) — Theresa May entered No. 10 Downing St., on Wednesday as Britain's new prime minister, following a bittersweet exit by David Cameron that was tinged with humor and regret. "I was the future once," Cameron quipped as he left office. But that future now belongs to May, and it involves instability, uncertainty and tough wrangling over Britain's departure from the European Union.

Britain's transition of power unfolded with startling speed since the June 23 referendum on EU membership. Cameron announced his resignation after voters rejected his appeal to stay in the 28-nation bloc, and May, the former home secretary, became Conservative Party leader Monday after an abbreviated contest in which her only remaining rival dropped out.

Then came Wednesday's ceremonial choreography: Two trips to Buckingham Palace and two audiences with Queen Elizabeth II that ended with one prime minister out of a job and a new one curtseying to the monarch to begin her term.

May stood in front of the iconic door of No. 10 with her husband, Philip, as the 13th prime minister of the queen's reign and the first woman to hold the job since fellow Conservative Margaret Thatcher served from 1979 to 1990.

She acknowledged that Britain faces a rocky road ahead as it undoes 43 years of EU ties and forges a new relationship with its neighbors. "Following the referendum, we face a time of great national change," May said. "And I know because we're Great Britain we will rise to the challenge.

"As we leave the European Union we will forge a bold new positive role for ourselves in the world and we will make Britain a country that works not for a privileged few, but for every one of us," she said.

May promised to fight for social justice in a speech that addressed "hard-working families" who have struggled during the years of instability since the 2008 financial crisis. Many of those people, fed up with remote politicians and bureaucrats, voted to leave the EU.

"When it comes to opportunity we won't entrench the advantages of the fortunate few. We will do everything we can to help anybody, whatever your background, to go as far as your talents will take you," May said, in language more often used by left-of-center politicians, rather than by members of the center-right Conservative Party.

May began appointing her new Cabinet within an hour of taking office, and several posts went to "leave" supporters. The most notable was former London Mayor Boris Johnson, who was given the meaty job of foreign secretary, Britain's top diplomatic post. The blond, Latin-speaking Johnson — a leader of the campaign for a British exit, or Brexit — had aspired to be prime minister himself before his bid failed because of party infighting.

Former Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond was named Treasury chief, ousting George Osborne, a strong "remain" voice in the referendum. May's former job of home secretary went to Amber Rudd. May has said she will create a new post of "Brexit" minister to oversee talks on a British EU exit from the 28-nation EU. That key job went to veteran Conservative lawmaker David Davis — a longstanding advocate of leaving the EU — and he will lead at least two years of negotiations with the bloc.

Wednesday's carefully orchestrated political changeover began with Cameron making a final appearance in Parliament, turning the usually raucous prime minister's question time into a session filled with praise, thanks, gentle ribbing, cheers — and a sprinkle of criticism.

Later, in a brief speech on Downing Street, the 49-year-old Cameron defended his government's legacy. "It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve our country as prime minister over these last six years, and to serve as leader of my party for almost 11 years," he said. "It's not been an easy journey, and of course we have not got every decision right, but I do believe that today our country is much stronger."

Then, he and his wife, Samantha, and his children — 12-year-old Nancy, 10-year-old Elwen and 5-year-old Florence — left their home of six years and made the short drive to Buckingham Palace. The palace soon confirmed that Cameron had "tendered his resignation as prime minister and First Lord of the Treasury, which her majesty was graciously pleased to accept."

Minutes later, the palace released a photo of May curtseying to the monarch and confirmed that the queen had "requested her to form a new administration." As home secretary, the 59-year-old May has been in charge of immigration and law and order for the past six years. She has the tough task of calming the country and global financial markets after the upheaval that followed the referendum.

Although May had backed remaining in the EU, she has reassured "leave" supporters that "Brexit means Brexit, and we will make a success of it." Not all believe her. As May spoke in front of her new residence, a small band of pro-Brexit demonstrators down the street chanted "Theresa May, don't delay!"

She is under pressure from pro-Brexit Conservatives and other EU leaders to start formal exit talks with the bloc. But Tony Travers of the London School of Economics said May probably would not rush to trigger Article 50 of the EU constitution, which starts a two-year countdown to a departure from Europe.

"I don't detect Theresa May being an impulsive person," Travers said. "I think she's a cautious person, and the British political establishment needs to come to terms with this massive decision." Cameron used his final day in office to try to stake a claim on a legacy beyond his status as the prime minister who — by gambling on a referendum — took Britain out of the EU.

He said his government had cut the deficit, overseen economic growth and legalized same-sex marriage. And he offered the closest thing he has ever given to a mission statement: "I believe that politics is about public service in the national interest."

"I will miss the roar of the crowd, Cameron told Parliament. "I will miss the barbs from the opposition." He ended by referring to a jibe he directed at then-Prime Minister Tony Blair more than a decade ago: "He was the future once."

"Nothing is really impossible if you put your mind to it," Cameron said. "After all, as I once said, I was the future once." He left the chamber to applause from all sides of the House and a standing ovation from his Conservative colleagues.

Britain's new leader May seen as more Merkel than Maggie

July 12, 2016

Within moments of Theresa May's confirmation as the next prime minister of Britain, London tabloids and wags were comparing her to Britain's "iron lady" of the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher. But those taking a closer look see more in common with Europe's most powerful woman today: Germany's "iron chancellor," Angela Merkel.

Both women have a track record of cautious pragmatism. Merkel famously will sit on the fence on many issues waiting for consensus to build before she commits herself to whichever side is more likely to work. May demonstrated her own grasp of patient tactics, opting to stay on the policy sidelines during Britain's bruising referendum on European Union membership — positioned in the middle, seemingly the best spot from which to take charge of a divided Conservative Party in the wake of David Cameron's resignation.

"It's often said that you cannot tell what Merkel thinks about an issue until the last moment, if even then. May seems to be similarly inscrutable. She waits for her moment," said Hans Kundnani, a London-based foreign policy analyst at the German Marshall Fund think tank.

"Everyone seems to want to compare women leaders to Thatcher. Even when Merkel first emerged, she was compared with Thatcher as well. But actually, Merkel is the anti-Thatcher," Kundnani said. "Thatcher was very passionate with strong beliefs and fought for them. She was a divisive politician, whereas Merkel is the opposite. So far, based on what we know of May, there seems to be more Merkel in her than Maggie."

The German media explored how May, 59, might strike a strong working relationship with the 61-year-old Merkel, Germany's leader since 2005, citing similarities in substance and style, from family background to hobbies.

"How much Merkel is in Mrs. Brexit?" asked Tuesday's online edition of the German tabloid Bild, which cited parallels between the leaders and cited hopes that they could form a bond that limits the political damage to Europe as Britain negotiates a slow exit from the 28-nation EU.

Both grew up in the countryside in devout Christian households: May in a village near Oxford where her father was a Church of England vicar, Merkel in a town north of Berlin where her father served as a Lutheran pastor.

They both like to relax in the kitchen and cook for their camera-shy husbands. May says she keeps more than 100 cookbooks at the ready to consult with her investment banker husband Philip, while Merkel has described spoiling her husband, Joachim Sauer, with home-made plum cake.

Neither have children, an issue that proved strangely decisive in May's quick confirmation as British leader. Her main rival for the leadership, Andrea Leadsom, resigned barely a day after clumsily suggesting she'd make a better leader because she, unlike May, was a mother.

Merkel and May both favor businesslike dress, with a shared fondness for big-beaded necklaces and the colors mint and turquoise. Fashion parallels diverge decisively at their feet, which May famously adorns with an array of high-end footwear.

May's collection of shoes is so synonymous with her otherwise sober image that the German newspaper Die Welt, when reporting on Britain's new leader, displayed a front-page shot of her feet in leopard-print heels alongside the headline, "The shoes of power."

Possibly the biggest issue now is whether May will evolve as prime minister into a consensus-seeking centrist like Merkel or turn right toward her Conservative Party's most vocally anti-European lawmakers. While Thatcher was famous for inflexibility — "This lady's not for turning," she once declared in mocking other lawmakers open to compromise — May has highlighted the need for Conservatives to look critically at their uncaring image and reach out to the poor and marginalized.

"Under my leadership, the Conservative Party will put itself — completely, absolutely, unequivocally — at the service of ordinary working people," she said Monday hours before officially becoming the prime minister-designate.

May has spent the past six years working as Cameron's home secretary, the top law and order post for England and Wales, the first five of those in coalition with the left-wing Liberal Democratic Party. Merkel has governed twice with left-wing rivals, and has relentlessly moved her conservative Christian Democrats to the center. Merkel has shifted Germany away from reliance on nuclear power, scrapped military conscription and increased support for working mothers.

The two leaders have carved starkly different paths on the issue that most fueled anti-Europe sentiment in Britain: immigration. Merkel was seen to inspire a traffic jam of immigrants into Europe with a 2015 promise to provide unlimited shelter to war refugees, a position she's been forced to moderate as Germany's capacity to absorb newcomers has been pushed to its limits.

May, by contrast, has been consistently firm in seeking to reduce immigration to Britain — though, in her emerging leadership role, she has cautioned that immigration could spike before Britain leaves the EU.

And on that key question, those comparing May to Merkel see signs that Britain's negotiations with the EU could prove a drawn-out affair, with May already pledged not to invoke the treaty article formally starting exit negotiations until 2017.

In Monday's speech, May pledged that "Brexit means Brexit" — but offered not a hint what kind of exit she actually imagines will happen, or when. Some hope that May might come to command the art of the political U-turn, much like Merkel, who has shifted course as events and coalition requirements demanded.

Kundnani said he suspects that May would like to minimize the United Kingdom's disconnection from the EU's border-free economy but could find herself with particularly little room for maneuver within Conservative ranks because she, unlike most of her defeated leadership rivals, supported the "remain" side in the referendum.

"She has to be tougher to prove her 'leave' credentials," he said. "She might privately favor another course, but the pressure on her not to backtrack from the Brexit vote will be greater."

Pogatchnik reported from Dublin. Associated Press reporters Geir Moulson and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to this story.

Britain's prime minister chairs his final Cabinet meeting

July 12, 2016

LONDON (AP) — The brutal swiftness of British politics was on display Tuesday as moving vans pulled up to take David Cameron's possessions away from 10 Downing Street and his successor posed for photos in front of her new home.

Cameron will step aside on Wednesday after losing the campaign to keep Britain in the European Union. The next prime minister, Theresa May, is seeking to calm the country, and financial markets, after upheaval following the unexpected result.

Ministers — including May — gathered for Cameron's 215th and final weekly Cabinet session Tuesday, the day after she was confirmed as the new Conservative leader and prime minister-in-waiting. The moment was bittersweet. Culture Secretary John Whittingdale said there had been a "touch of sadness" to the meeting, which saw May and Treasury chief George Osborne lead tributes to Cameron.

Cameron's spokeswoman, Helen Bower, said ministers banged the Cabinet table in approval and tribute at the end of the "warm and reflective" meeting. Osborne and May cited Cameron's achievements including legalizing same-sex marriage, reform of schools and an increased minimum wage — but Britain's relationship with Europe looks set to define his legacy.

Cameron resigned after Britons voted — against his advice — to leave the EU. May will have to deal with the political fallout and oversee the complex process of separating from the bloc. She spent the day considering the makeup of her own Cabinet before she moves into 10 Downing Street on Wednesday. She went to Conservative head office and got down to work.

Cameron has said he will give his resignation to Queen Elizabeth II after his last appearance in Parliament as prime minister; May will then go separately to Buckingham Palace to meet with the queen and take up her new post.

British media have focused on whether Osborne will keep his job in charge of the economy, which has been rattled since the Brexit vote. With the pound in crisis and fears over the wider economy, some argue that May could opt for continuity and keep Osborne in place, particularly as he has the confidence of many in the banks and markets.

But others say that the key position should go to someone who favored leaving the European Union. Osborne, a one-time leadership hopeful, had strongly backed the bid to stay in the 28-nation bloc. May supported remaining in the EU, but has promised to give prominent "leave" campaigners key Cabinet roles in a bid to heal the party's longstanding split over Europe.

Two of the leading Brexiteers, former London Mayor Boris Johnson and Justice Secretary Michael Gove, were briefly Conservative leadership contenders, and May could show magnanimity by putting them in her Cabinet.

She has also said she will appoint a "Brexit minister" to oversee negotiations with the EU. May is already facing pressure from the 27 remaining EU countries to invoke Article 50 of the bloc's constitution, which sets the clock ticking on two years of formal exit talks.

She is also facing calls from opposition politicians to call an early election, before the next scheduled vote in 2020. In remarks to party workers Tuesday, she signaled strongly she would not do that, saying the party must "put this time to good use, to build the support we need to go to the country in four years' time, and not just win, but win big."

Even so, May might be tempted to go to the polls to confirm her own mandate, and because the main opposition Labour Party is in the midst of a leadership struggle that puts it in a weak position. Leader Jeremy Corbyn has lost the support of most Labour members of Parliament and is facing a challenge from legislator Angela Eagle, in a contest with all the brutality but none of the speed of the Conservative succession.

Left-winger Corbyn has a strong base of support among grassroots Labour members and some trade union leaders, but little backing from Labour lawmakers. The party's governing National Executive Committee met for several hours Tuesday to decide whether Corbyn should automatically be on the ballot in a leadership contest, or whether he needed to gather nominations from 51 lawmakers — something he would struggle to do.

Passions around the issue ran high. Len McCluskey, general-secretary of the Unite union, called Eagle's challenge a "coup" and said it would be a "sordid little fix" to exclude Corbyn from the ballot paper.

The committee decided by a vote of 18-14 that Corbyn would be on the ballot automatically. Several hundred thousand party members are eligible to vote in the leadership race. The bitter battle risks splitting the century-old Labour Party in two, and has led to allegations of abuse and violence. Police said Tuesday they were investigating reports that a brick had been thrown through the window of Eagle's constituency office in northwest England.

Corbyn said the attack on Eagle's office and abuse directed at other lawmakers was "extremely concerning." Last month Labour legislator Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death in her northern England constituency, the first lawmaker to be killed in a quarter of a century.

"As someone who has also received death threats this week and previously, I am calling on all Labour Party members and supporters to act with calm and treat each other with respect and dignity, even where there is disagreement," Corbyn said.