Tsipras heads to Moscow, Europeans keeping wary eye on visit

April 07, 2015

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's new left-wing prime minister, whose cash-strapped country is embroiled in tortuous negotiations with its European creditors, is heading to Moscow for a visit that has stirred high hopes in Athens but caused consternation elsewhere in Europe.

The trip starting Tuesday night couldn't come at a more critical time. Greece, dependent on international bailouts worth 240 billion euros since mid-2010, will run out of funds within weeks unless it reaches a deal with its creditors to release at least part of the last remaining 7.2 billion-euro bailout installment.

Alexis Tsipras' government — a coalition of the radical left and nationalist right elected in January on promises to repeal the austerity measures imposed as a condition of the rescue — has been flirting with Moscow from the start.

His trip may clarify whether he views his relationship with Russia as a potential bargaining chip, or whether he simply aims to enhance Greece's international relations and deepen the two countries' traditionally warm ties.

"It's a move clearly of high symbolism on the part of Greece," said Constantinos Filis, research director at the Institute of International Relations. "From there on, one must see what the substance is and whether there will be any substance."

He noted, however, that "Russia is not and cannot be a (EU) substitute for Greece, it can only be a supplementary option." Russia, whose own economy is struggling, could only offer limited financial help to Greece.

But Tsipras, who meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev the following day, has been cultivating the impression that Athens might see Moscow as a potential means of pressure in its current negotiations.

"Greece lost a large part of its economic power in the last 4 ½, five years," Tsipras said Monday in an unrelated Parliamentary debate. But, he added, "it is a sovereign country that partners and creditors cannot play with. You will see that, and the partners and creditors will see that."

Tough talk, particularly in relation to Greece's creditors, has made Tsipras' popularity soar at home, with many Greeks saying they have regained a sense of lost national pride. And Greece is seeking any financial leverage it can get. Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis returned last week from his own Moscow trip with pledges to deepen energy cooperation and hopes that an embargo on Greek fruit imports to Russia might be lifted.

The U.S. and EU have imposed crippling economic sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and support for an insurgency in eastern Ukraine. Moscow retaliated by banning most Western food imports, which hurt Greek agricultural exports.

Moscow hopes talks with Tsipras will help further weaken the EU's resolve to maintain the sanctions against Russia, said Sergei Oznobishchev, head of Russia's independent Institute of Strategic Assessment.

"We see a group of countries ... which are against the prolongation of sanctions against Russia, and Greece is among them," Oznobishchev said. "Now it's time to move further. For the Russian side, this is one more possibility to raise (the issue of) sanctions, to make the European Union less strong and to acquire some economic privileges."

But analysts warn Tsipras is playing a dangerous game, particularly if the tough talk reflects actual intentions rather than just rhetoric aimed at a domestic audience. "If Greece goes to Moscow with the logic of showing, as the prime minister said, to its creditors that it cannot be blackmailed, and it attempts itself to blackmail its partners through the so-called deepening of its relations with Russia, then I fear this will be a very strong blow to the confidence of our partners toward us," said Filis.

Tsipras has made no secret of his disagreement with the EU's position on Russia. Yet the EU has made clear it expects every country in the 28-nation bloc to follow the common line on Russia. "We expect that all member states are treated equally and we expect as well that all member states speak with one voice to all our trade partners, including Russia," EU Commission spokesman Daniel Rosario said. Potential bilateral agreements to lift import bans from any state "are for the moment speculation," he said.

Not everyone in Greece's government has been playing the Russian card. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has insisted the country's place is firmly within the EU. "The solution to the Greek social economic crisis concerns the European family, and must be found within the framework of the EU," he said in an interview with the financial daily Naftemporiki published Monday.

"The tightening and cultivation of relations with countries outside the eurozone and outside the EU, which have common interests with Greece ... is a totally different issue."

Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Raf Casert in Brussels contributed.

Huge French protests as strikes close schools, Eiffel Tower

April 09, 2015

PARIS (AP) — Thousands of protesters, many blowing whistles and waving union flags, marched through Paris and other French cities on Thursday in a day of nationwide strikes that kept many children out of school, forced the closure of the Eiffel Tower and cancelled some 2,000 flights in and out of France.

Stepping up pressure on President Francois Hollande's already-unpopular Socialist government, the protesters aired an array of grievances against state funding cuts, planned increases in the retirement age, and business-friendly reforms that could make firing workers easier.

The strikes, called by key unions like the Communist-backed CGT, in the protest-friendly country follow recent complaints by groups as diverse as doctors and notaries against new government reforms, and come on top of ongoing strikes by air traffic controllers and workers at the state radio.

Workers have traditionally made up the bedrock of support for Hollande's Socialists, and the protests suggested that his government's recent move to the political center — including with business-friendly reforms — has rankled many on the left.

Analyst Pascal Perrineau said the mishmash of movements suggested that Hollande, who has cast himself as primarily a negotiator since he was elected in 2012, has not been clear enough with the French about his plans for getting the economically struggling country back on track.

"This proves that, if you will, he (Hollande) has lost control. When you're the president, it's not enough to be a negotiator. You have to able to fix a clear line for everyone," said Perrineau, a professor at Paris' Sciences Po political university.

The air traffic controllers were holding the second half of a two-day strike. It led to the cancellation of some 2,000 flights, mostly short- and medium-haul routes, in and out of France Thursday, according to Eric Heraud, spokesman for the French civil aviation agency DGAC.

Their walkout, in part over plans to raise their maximum retirement age to 59, was expected to resume in each of the next two weeks. Many European carriers were avoiding French airspace. Employees at Radio France, the state-backed broadcaster, were entering the third week of their walkout to protest budget cuts — and many of them were expected to be carrying banners at the Paris protest.

Railway workers, health care providers, teachers and energy sector personnel and others honored Thursday's general strike, partially to register discontent against the government's proposed so-called "Macron Law" that would reduce workplace protections coveted by many French employees.

"All the established social rights of our labor law are being questioned with this bill," said Nicolas Mas, a teacher marching in Paris. "We are back to the nineteenth century. It is incredible. A total loss of all the benefits of the working class obtained through years."

The CGT's website laid out 10 of its reasons for employees to stay off the job — such as to end wage stagnation for state workers, demand equal pay for women and men and defend the state-supported health care system.

A spokeswoman for the Eiffel Tower said it closed because many employees of the famed Paris landmark took part in the protest in solidarity with the overall movement. A sign out front said it was closed until 6:30 p.m. local time, frustrating some eager would-be visitors.

"The Eiffel Tower closed because of the strike in the peak season, it's kind of disappointing," said Diane Powell, a 49-year-old tourist from New York.

Oleg Cetinic and Nicolas Garriga contributed to this report.

40 percent of flights canceled in France amid strike

April 08, 2015

PARIS (AP) — French air traffic controllers went on strike Wednesday to demand better working and retirement conditions, prompting the cancellation of nearly half of flights across France.

The powerful SNCTA union called the two-day strike, saying the government has refused to open negotiations about matters such as how to better organize their work schedules to account for downtime and more traffic.

The start of the walkout led to the cancellation of 40 percent of flights across France on Wednesday, and the French civil aviation agency called for the cancellation of 50 percent of flights on Thursday due to staffing shortages.

Air France said long-haul flights were not affected, and guaranteed some 60 percent of medium-haul flights from and to Paris' main airport, Charles de Gaulle. The carrier said it would ground two of three flights at Paris' second-largest airport, Orly.

Among other things, strikers are protesting against government plans to increase the maximum retirement age for air traffic controllers from 57 by 2017 to 59 in 2020, said Nicolas Bertolissio, an SNCTA representative and a controller in the Basel-Mulhouse airport in eastern France.

While the union isn't altogether opposed to that, it wants a study into the health effects of controllers working till age 59, Bertolissio said. He said many other countries in Europe generally allow for traffic controllers to retire at 55 or 56.

The strike caused passengers like Mathias Mourier, 24, who was trying to fly to his job in southern England as an au pair, to scramble for alternatives. He said he will be spending an extra couple of nights at his grandmother's house in the Paris region.

"I was about to get my flight to go to Exeter ... and finally it was cancelled because of the strike," he said at Paris' Roissy airport. "So I have to wait until Saturday because all the other flights were full ... It is the only solution."

Jackie Knight, who was hoping to return home to Somerset, England, after a family visit to Disneyland Paris, said they were forced to connect through London, but was taking it in stride. "Rather than being home at about 3 or 4 (p.m.), it will be in the evening — but we'll get there," she said.

Further strikes are planned April 16-18 and April 29-May 2, coinciding with spring school holidays in France.

Venezuela urged by former leaders to free jailed politicians

April 06, 2015

MADRID (AP) — Nineteen former leaders from Latin America and Spain are pressuring Venezuela to release opposition politicians who have been detained.

In a statement released by the foundation of former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, the leaders called for the politicians' immediate release and for groups like the Organization of American States and the United Nations to craft "an alternative solution that respects constitutional principles and international standards."

The statement was released on Monday, four days before the Summit of the Americas starts in Panama. Leaders from 35 nations, including Latin American and Caribbean countries, the U.S. and Canada, are expected to attend.

The detentions in Venezuela are sure to be a summit issue. The biggest theme is the thaw in relations between the U.S. and Cuba.

Zimbabwean president arrives in South Africa for state visit

April 08, 2015

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Zimbabwe's president has arrived in South Africa for his first official state visit in more than 20 years.

President Robert Mugabe arrived with his wife, Grace, on Tuesday at the Waterkloof air force base outside the capital Pretoria. "This is a bilateral visit," said Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane. "The focus is largely on consolidation of our bilateral ties."

One of the main aims of Mugabe's visit is strengthen economic cooperation between Zimbabwe and its wealthier neighbor, South Africa, according to an earlier statement by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation.

Mugabe will visit the Union Buildings, the seat of South Africa's government, on Wednesday where the two presidents will sign an agreement to increase trade. South Africa's exports to Zimbabwe amount to about $2 billion dollars, while in contrast Zimbabwe exports goods worth about $170 million to South Africa.

Mugabe has visited South Africa on other occasions, such as presidential inaugurations and the state funeral of South Africa's first black president, Nelson Mandela in 2013.

Putin gives visiting Greek PM Tsipras historic Greek icon

April 09, 2015

MOSCOW (AP) — In a sign of a blossoming friendship, Russian President Vladimir Putin has given visiting Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras an historic Greek icon stolen by Nazis during the German occupation of Greece as the two countries mulled a series of economic projects.

Greece's international creditors are watching Tsipras' visit to Russia with concern amid speculation that Greece might seek aid from Russia, as a bargaining chip with Western creditors. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin presented the icon depicting St. Nicholas and St. Spyridon to Tsipras following Wednesday's talks at the Kremlin. He said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies that the icon was stolen by a Nazi officer when Greece was under German occupation in the Second World War, and was recently bought by an unidentified Russian man from the officer's descendants.

Speaking Thursday, Tsipras reaffirmed his opposition to Western sanctions slapped on Russia last year and said his government helped block proposals to strengthen the sanctions. "Greece could become a bridge between the EU and Russia," he said.

Both he and Putin rejected, however, allegations that they were trying to weaken the European Union's united front on Russia's actions in Ukraine. Speaking to students, Tsipras said he and Putin have found a way to resume Greek agricultural exports, which were blocked last year under Russia's ban on Western food in retaliation to the EU sanctions. Putin said Wednesday it could be done by setting up joint ventures.

Tsipras also confirmed the two countries have agreed to look into the possibility of extending a Russian gas pipeline to Greece and encourage Russian companies' participation in the privatization of Greek industry.

Report: Iran sends navy vessels near Yemen amid airstrikes

April 08, 2015

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Iran dispatched a naval destroyer and another vessel Wednesday to waters near Yemen as the United States quickened weapons supply to the Saudi-led coalition striking rebels there, underlining how foreign powers are deepening their involvement in the conflict.

Iran's English-language state broadcaster Press TV quoted Rear Adm. Habibollah Sayyari as saying the ships would be part of an anti-piracy campaign "safeguarding naval routes for vessels in the region."

The maneuver comes amid an intense Saudi-led Gulf Arab air campaign targeting the Yemeni rebels, known as Houthis, who come from a Shiite sect. Critics say Shiite power Iran backs the Houthis, though both the Islamic Republic and the rebels deny any direct military assistance.

Speaking a day earlier in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken blamed the violence in Yemen on the Houthis, and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, saying that the U.S. is committed to defending Saudi Arabia.

"We have expedited weapons deliveries, we have increased our intelligence sharing, and we have established a joint coordination and planning cell in the Saudi operations center," he said in a statement to reporters after meeting with Saudi royals and Yemen's President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled his country amid rebel advances.

Intelligence sharing includes making available raw aerial imagery the coalition could use to better strike anti-Hadi forces, said a U.S. defense official who was not authorized to comment publicly. Blinken said the U.S. and the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council must coordinate closely and press all parties to seek a political solution.

The Gulf Arab-backed air campaign supporting Hadi, which began on March 26, has so far failed to stop the Houthis' advance on Aden, Yemen's second-largest city, which was declared the provisional capital by Hadi before he fled.

The U.S. says that the chaos has allowed the local al-Qaida branch, which it considers the world's most dangerous wing of the group, to make "great gains" on the ground, causing Washington to rethink how it prevents it from launching attacks in the West.

Speaking from Tokyo, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the collapse of the central government in Yemen makes it harder to conduct counterterrorism operations against al-Qaida, which has ambitions to strike Western targets, including the United States. Regarding the weapons deliveries, he said it involved "some resupply of equipment and munitions" to Saudi Arabia.

The World Health Organization warned Tuesday of an unfolding humanitarian crisis, saying at least 560 people, including dozens of children, have been killed, mostly in the air campaign and ground battles. The aid group said that over 1,700 people have been wounded and another 100,000 have fled their homes as fighting has intensified over the past three weeks.

The first boat carrying medical aid to Yemen since the coalition began bombing arrived in the southern port city of Aden on Wednesday, international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders said.

The group's head of mission in Yemen, Marie-Elisabeth Ingres, said the ship carried some 2.5 tons of supplies from Djibouti for its hospital in Aden. The group is concerned about how it will transport the supplies and wounded people given the chaos in Aden's streets, where the situation continues to deteriorate and combat intensified overnight.

"We have street fighting, snipers, tanks in the street, roads cut and areas not accessible, and electricity, water and fuel cuts," she said. "Last night the different groups were fighting around the hospital. It lasted all night into the morning and continues now, so all our employees were forced to sleep at the hospital."

Tons of desperately needed aid awaits clearance to be flown into Yemen, including a Red Cross shipment with 17 tons of medical supplies from Jordan which emergency workers hope can be flown into the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, on Wednesday. Another 35 tons of supplies were also ready for shipment.

Also Wednesday, Human Rights Watch cited witnesses as saying that Houthi forces fired into crowds of demonstrators in the cities of Taiz and Torba the day before the bombing campaign began, killing at least 7 people and wounding over 80 others. The New York-based group called on Houthi authorities to investigate the incidents.

"Yemen's spiraling conflict is causing a calamitous breakdown in law and order," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Security forces in control, whatever side they are on, have responsibilities to uphold and protect people's rights and to take action against their members who commit abuses."

Rohan reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran, Iran, and Adam Schreck in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.