Stealth candidate Theresa May to be UK's next leader

July 11, 2016

LONDON (AP) — After all of the flamboyant characters and very public backstabbing in the race to become Britain's next prime minister, the winner turned out to be an understated workhorse who maintained a low profile throughout the campaign.

Home Secretary Theresa May, 59 is not well-known internationally, but she has served for six years in one of Britain's toughest jobs, playing an important role in counter-terrorism policy, and now will take charge of delicate negotiations to separate Britain from the European Union.

She was less visible — and less talked about as a likely future prime minister — than Treasury Chief George Osborne and former London Mayor Boris Johnson, but she proved to be the stealth candidate, outmaneuvering both in the intense competition to follow Cameron at 10 Downing Street.

During the EU referendum campaign, Osborne was passionate about remaining in the EU, and lost his leadership hopes when voters turned the other way. Johnson led the campaign to take Britain out of the EU, but never formally entered the leadership race because of dwindling support among his party's lawmakers.

By contrast, May stayed largely out of the referendum fray. She tepidly backed remaining in the EU in a single speech, then remained largely out of sight as the behemoths of the Conservative Party — including Cameron and Justice Secretary Michael Gove — did each other in.

Her triumph is no surprise to colleagues who say she is cool and calm under pressure. She has grown in confidence and stature after six years in the limelight, projecting authority in front of TV cameras that once made her nervous. She is not flashy, does not call attention to herself, and had seemed content with her public role as a loyal Cameron backer.

There is no doubt she has her critics. Conservative Party elder statesman Kenneth Clarke last week called her a "bloody difficult woman" in an unguarded moment when he didn't know he was being filmed.

May has long seemed aware that the Conservative Party is saddled with an elitist, out-of-touch image. Serving as party chairwoman in 2002, she warned that the Conservatives had become known as "the nasty party" and needed to change their ways and broaden their appeal.

In her brief, successful leadership campaign, she took a more populist stance somewhat at odds with her "law and order" image. She emphasized the need for more equal opportunity and fairness within Britain.

"Right now, if you're born poor, you will die on average nine years earlier than others," she said. "If you're black, you're treated more harshly by the criminal justice system than if you're white. If you're a white, working-class boy, you're less likely than anybody else to go to university. If you're at a state school, you're less likely to reach the top professions than if you're educated privately. If you're a woman, you still earn less than a man."

As home secretary, May has earned a reputation as a reliable, even-tempered minister who capably ran a sprawling department responsible for counter-terrorism policy, policing, immigration, border control and drug policy.

She was criticized at times for problems with border staffing but generally got high marks from politicians and the media while taking a hard line on national security matters and calling for the easier deportation of extremists.

She took steps to limit the "stop and search" powers of police and used her position to criticize police and fire departments for lacking diversity. May ran a largely scandal-free department and managed to keep her personal life out of the news — the only exception being a slight media fascination with her impressive collection of shoes. She has spoken out at times about living with diabetes and colleagues have said they don't believe the illness will have any impact on her ability to serve as prime minister.

May is a vicar's daughter who came up through Conservative Party ranks, working behind the scenes at her local Conservative Association before becoming a city councilor in a London borough, then entering Parliament in 1997. Her position within the party was helped when she served as its chairwoman in 2002 and 2003.

Like several other top leaders in her party, May was educated at Oxford. She worked at the Bank of England and other financial institutions before entering politics. She has been married since 1980 and has no children — which was briefly a bone of contention during the abbreviated leadership campaign when a rival suggested having children made a person better qualified to serve as prime minister.

Stressing her extensive experience near the top of government, her campaign for the top job was launched with the slogan "Theresa May is ready to be prime minister from Day One." Day One will be Wednesday, when she is expected to visit Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace before assuming her formidable new role.

Britain may be yearning for a country that never was

July 10, 2016

GREAT YARMOUTH, England (AP) — Across Britain, from dilapidated Welsh coal mining towns to English beach resorts frozen in time, people say they voted to leave the European Union and plunge into the unknown to get their country back.

But which country is that, exactly? Could their stinging blow to the European project have stemmed from a yearning for a Britain that never really existed? On a rare blue-sky day in Great Yarmouth, a quintessentially English seaside resort with squeaky-floored hotels and screeching seagulls, the mostly elderly people strolling along the beach longed for a bygone era.

Not just in this declining coastal town but throughout the United Kingdom, they said, the sense of community that once glued the country together had been shattered. They blamed politicians, bankers, foreigners, European bureaucrats and even political correctness.

Yvonne Pycroft, a 69-year-old with purple highlights in her white hair, summed up the feelings of many "leave" voters when she said she's not sure Britain will be better off outside the European Union, "but what we had I didn't like so we're just taking a gamble. I'm just hoping it will change for the better."

In the Working Men's club of Haltwhistle, a quaint countryside village whose claim to fame is being the geographical midpoint of Britain, gray-haired men agreed their country was better off before it joined the EU in 1973. Except for Dryden Smith, the oldest man in the club and one of the few who said they voted "remain." With gleaming badges on his blazer, he said the quality of life has improved greatly since he was young.

"I'm 81 years old now. I'm looked after left, right and center. And I can't ask for more," he said, hands trembling. "I come out here and enjoy my whisky. Bring my wife out with us. And we just have a good time. Before that, we couldn't because we hadn't the money."

"Leave" voters, many of them pensioners, told Associated Press journalists on a road trip across Britain last week they were sick and tired of being told what to do by Brussels. But besides the free movement of people, which has resulted in hundreds of thousands of European migrant workers coming to Britain, they struggled to find examples of how the EU has encroached on their lives.

They still enjoy many of Britain's unique features, such as paying with pounds rather than euros, the currency of 19 EU members, driving on the left side of the road and using electricity plugs with three pins instead of two, the norm in most of Europe.

In Wales, more than 52 percent of the electorate voted out despite getting more money back from the EU than they put in. Jenny Hughes, an education consultant in the town of Pontypridd, said it reminded her of a scene in the 1979 Monty Python comedy film "Life of Brian," where occupied Judeans ask "what have the Romans done for us?" except improve sanitation, medicine, education, irrigation, public order and roads.

"They say this is a chance to have a go at (Conservative Prime Minister David) Cameron, this is a chance to have a go at the bankers," Hughes said. "They are voting against immigration, they are voting against the establishment."

Except in Scotland and Northern Ireland, which voted to remain, people in deprived former coal, steel and shipbuilding towns admitted they voted "leave" without having a clear idea of the potential economic consequences. Their decision, they said, was fueled by a feeling of being ignored and abandoned even by Labour, the traditional party of the working class, and this was their chance to make their voices heard.

In Great Yarmouth, Pycroft said she would like Britain to return to the days when children could play conkers, a traditional school yard game with chestnuts that some schools have reportedly banned for safety reasons, and people didn't get offended by nursery rhymes.

"We're not allowed to say 'baa-baa black sheep anymore," she said. "It's ridiculous." Having a pint on the beachfront promenade, Sean Sutton and Maria Atkins, both 46-year-old leave voters, said they didn't think they were glorifying the past.

"We were the best country in the world for making steel and producing coal and everything and it's all gone now," Sutton said, sunglasses perched on his shaved head. Heavy industry jobs that gave people an income and sense of identity have been sent overseas, while migrant workers are bringing down the pay for remaining jobs in Britain, he said.

Gone, too, he added, is the community spirit whereby "you can leave your back door open if you want. You can go to the shops without being scared of being mugged or anything like that. And that's what Britain's got to go back to."

Several studies have shown crime levels are declining in Britain and other Western European countries. Figures from the EU's official statistics agency show England saw an 18-percent drop in violent crimes recorded by police between 2002 and 2012.

Still, Atkins said people aren't treating each other the way they used to. Manners and respect for the elderly has gone "out the window," she said. Sutton agreed, saying migrants were partly to blame.

"They won't open doors for you," he said. "I was brought up to open doors for people and say 'please' and 'thank you.' Some of them just barge past you." Great Yarmouth was among several areas in eastern England where more than 70 percent voted "leave." Like many English seaside resorts it started stagnating when package tours to Spain became affordable in the 1970s. It's now struggling with unemployment, low education levels and high rates of teenage pregnancy.

In Peterborough, an eastern city with a high rate of immigration, the "leave" side got 61 percent. Mike Bullock said he voted "leave" partly because of the loneliness he had felt as the only Englishman working in a packing factory.

"All the rest of them spoke either Lithuanian or Polish," he said. "If there wasn't anybody else available, anybody who spoke English, I used to go have my tea break on my own." In a market stall in the city, 67-year-old Bruce Johnson also complained about immigration and said he wanted his country back from a "faceless group of diplomats" in Brussels. Asked whether he could think of anything Britain had gained from its EU membership, he paused for a second.

"I'm trying to think of something," he said. "I don't think it has." Behind him a jukebox was playing "Land of Hope and Glory," viewed by many as England's unofficial national anthem.

AP journalist David Keyton contributed to this report.

Support sought for kids left behind by UN troops in Haiti

July 14, 2016

PORT SALUT, Haiti (AP) — The first time Rosa Mina Joseph met Julio Cesar Posse he was hanging out in civilian clothes on the beach in her hometown in southern Haiti, where he was stationed as a member of a U.N. peacekeeping force.

Within weeks, she says, the Uruguayan marine was showing up every weekend at her family's shack, pledging his love in Spanish and broken Haitian Creole. But about a year later when his rotation ended, Posse quietly returned home. He left behind Joseph, a broken-hearted 17-year-old with an infant and no way to support the child without depending on struggling relatives.

"He promised me he'd marry me and would take care of me," Joseph, now 22, tearfully said in a recent interview at her mother's house in Port Salut, a town along the southwestern tip of Haiti. After years of mounting frustration, she and several other women with children fathered by peacekeepers say they will now pursue claims for child support against the absentee fathers and the U.N.

Haitian human rights attorney Mario Joseph said he will file civil suits in Haiti this month. Joseph's law firm also is involved in a high-profile claim on behalf of 5,000 cholera victims who blame the U.N. for introducing the disease. A U.S. federal appeals panel in New York is weighing whether the lawsuit can proceed or if the United Nations is entitled to immunity.

The peacekeeping force was sent to Haiti in 2004 to keep order following a violent rebellion that toppled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Since then, some peacekeepers have been accused of rape and other abuse, of using excessive force and of inadvertently introducing cholera because of inadequate sanitation at a base used by troops from Nepal.

U.N. troops have been accused of sexual exploitation elsewhere as well, most recently in the Central African Republic, and "peacekeeper babies," have long been a legacy of their deployments, as they have for other military forces throughout history.

Rosa Mina Joseph, whose son was born in 2011, said she received an envelope with $300 in cash from the U.N. two years ago when it established paternity. She had to drop out of school to care for the son and her dreams of becoming a nurse have all but vanished.

Posse sent her $100 once from Uruguay, she said, but has not sent anything more. While Joseph was a minor at the time she gave birth, potential criminal charges against the marine would confront a difficult legal challenge: U.N. peacekeepers can't be prosecuted in the countries in which they serve under international agreements.

The Associated Press does not typically identify sexual assault victims, but Joseph gave permission as long as a photo of her face was not published. "I want him to take responsibility to care for his son because I don't have the means by myself," she said in the yard where she spends her days doing laundry and cooking.

The U.N. force in Haiti currently includes 4,899 uniformed personnel, a combination of military and civilian police, from more than a dozen countries. That's down from over 13,000 peacekeepers following Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake.

Ghandi Shukry, head of a Conduct and Discipline Unit in the U.N. mission, which is known by its French acronym MINUSTAH, said 29 claims for paternity have been submitted to the U.N. in Haiti. He said 18 of the claimants have been classified as "victims" by the world body because they were receiving some kind of support.

"We are not facing a current wave of paternity claims. They are all kind of old cases," said Shukry, stressing that any kind of sexual relations by peacekeepers and locals is prohibited. The U.N. official confirmed that Joseph and three other Port Salut women represented by the attorney did have paternity established in 2014 after DNA swabs from the mothers, children and peacekeepers were analyzed. He declined to discuss any of the cases in detail.

He said that two members of his unit maintain regular contact with the Port Salut women. MINUSTAH also put the women in touch with a Uruguayan military representative, he said, since the U.N. allows troop-contributing countries to investigate allegations and decide how to pursue paternity claims.

The Port Salut women, however, say contact with U.N. staffers or Uruguay military representative is rare and generally bewildering. A 2015 U.N. report by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon acknowledged that there were "numerous obstacles to having paternity recognized and to obtaining support for children of United Nations personnel, whether they were born as a result of sexual exploitation and abuse or not."

MINUSTAH's uniformed personnel are now barred from leaving bases alone or when wearing civilian clothing and mission rules have changed in recent years to prohibit any fraternization. "Not only sexual relations are prohibited; even having normal relations with the local population is prohibited," Shukry said.

Uruguay's Navy spokesman, Capt. Gaston Jaunsolo, acknowledged there have been a small number of paternity cases and said service members found guilty are sanctioned and barred from peacekeeping missions.

He confirmed that Posse continued in the Navy and said service members are forbidden to speak the press without permission. A listed phone number for Posse was out of service. His profile on a social networking site says he's looking for a young woman between 18 and 25 to start a family with.

The Uruguayan Army issued a statement to AP saying it's sent roughly 3,000 troops to Haiti since 2011 and four paternity allegations were made against that military branch. There's been one positive DNA test, the statement said, and no complaints have been made since 2014. It said the soldier who tested positive was punished but not discharged.

Meanwhile, the women struggling to raise their kids in Port Salut are eking out a living with the help of their families. Their children are sometimes teased by other kids who call them "MINUSTAH babies" or mockingly ask where their daddies are.

"When he's older I'll find a way to explain things. For now, the only thing I can say is that his father's not here," Joseph said as she held a snapshot showing her and Posse together at her 17th birthday party, a heart drawn on the back of it reading "Osemina y Julio."

AP writer Leonardo Haberkorn contributed from Montevideo, Uruguay.

2 killed in northern Mali protest

13 July 2016 Wednesday

Two people were killed and 12 injured in protests in northern Mali on Tuesday, the military said.

The demonstrations in Gao, the largest city in the country’s north, against the installation of interim authorities across the region turned into a violent confrontation with the army, Abderahmane Souleymane, a military officer said.

The protest organized by civil society groups had been barred by the local authority due to security reasons.

The protesters claim they are not represented in fresh local authorities that are being established under a 2015 peace deal between the government, pro-government armed groups and former Tuareg rebels.

The agreement envisages fresh interim authorities to decentralize the five regions of northern Mali.

Protesters claimed they were demonstrating peacefully when the army opened fire.

In 2012, a failed coup was followed by a Tuareg rebellion that allowed al-Qaeda-linked militants to take over the northern half of the country.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-news/174881/2-killed-in-northern-mali-protest.

Portugal stuns France to lift 1st cup despite Ronaldo injury

July 10, 2016

SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — Portugal's players frantically tended to Cristiano Ronaldo's left knee but their tearful captain couldn't withstand the pain any longer. The Portuguese had to win their first major trophy the hard way, stunning host France in the European Championship final after playing without Ronaldo from the 25th minute through extra time on Sunday.

Two hours after being carried off injured with the 1-0 victory secured by his battling teammates, the three-time world player of the year returned a champion for the first time with his country. "I had bad luck because I had a small injury in the beginning of the game, but my colleagues did their part — they run, they fight," said Ronaldo, who has already won every major club honor. "Nobody believed in Portugal but we won".

An unlikely scorer secured the pre-tournament outsiders a title at last. It could be an uncomfortable few months ahead for Eder, the unheralded striker who will return shortly to French club Lille after breaking French hearts with his 109th-minute goal.

"The ugly duckling became beautiful," Portugal coach Fernando Santos said. A second-half substitute, Eder scored only his fourth goal in 29 appearances for Portugal with a low shot from 25 meters (yards) past goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

"Cristiano told me I would be scoring the winning goal," Eder said. "He gave me strength and positive energy." In doing so, Portugal denied the French a third final victory on home soil to add to Euro '84 and the 1998 World Cup.

"Football can be very cruel," said Lloris, France's captain. "The overriding emotion is a lot of sadness." Twelve years after losing to Greece on home soil in their last appearance in the final, it was Portugal's turn to spoil the host nation's party. And they achieved it after winning only one of their seven games at Euro 2016 inside 90 minutes, and after losing the inspirational Ronaldo midway through the first half.

"It was tough because we lost our main man and we had all our hopes pinned on him because he's a player who can score a goal at any minute," Portugal defender Pepe said. "When he said he couldn't go on, I tried to tell my teammates that we have to win it for him. That we were going to fight for him."

It was a mostly dull and stodgy final but the record books will only show that Portugal went from third-place in its group to champion, and with little help from Ronaldo in its last match. The championship's first 24-team tournament became a reality over the last month, but the quality of football deteriorated. Such a sterile showpiece — the first European Championship final to be scoreless after 90 minutes — seemed a fitting climax.

"We weren't clinical enough," said France coach Didier Deschamps who lifted the World Cup in the stadium as a player in 1998. "We weren't cool-headed enough." Even France forward Antoine Griezmann, the tournament's leading scorer, couldn't rise to the big occasion. There was no seventh goal of Euro 2016 from the Atletico Madrid forward, who also lost out in the Champions League final six weeks ago to Ronaldo's Real Madrid.

Griezmann was the first player to find the target, but his header was tipped over by Rui Patricio, who was formidable in the Portugal goal. When an inviting cross from Kingsley Coman was delivered in the 66th, Griezmann missed with a free header.

Only once was Patricio beaten, when Andre-Pierre Gignac's shot hit the inside of the post but it came back out. Luck was on Portugal's side, and Eder was able to strike the decisive blow. It didn't seem to be going Portugal's way in the ninth minute when Dimitri Payet's right knee clattered into Ronaldo's standing left leg.

Ronaldo went down in agony — writhing, grimacing and screaming. He was able to return, but this was one injury he could not run off. Ronaldo fell to the turf again in the 17th. One of the moths infesting the national stadium fluttered over Ronaldo's tearful right eye. Teammates tried to help in vain to help, with Nani tending to the knee.

Ronaldo watched the game forlornly on the touchline as strapping was attached before dragging himself back onto the field. But Ronaldo's mobility was restricted. Battling through the pain, regularly reaching down to check on the injury, Ronaldo realized there would be no miracle recovery.

The clock hit 23 minutes and Ronaldo ripped off his captain's armband and tossed it on the turf. Slumping to the ground again, Ronaldo was consoled by Nani, who embraced his former Manchester United teammate as the armband was transferred.

The stretcher came on and in the 25th minute Ronaldo became a spectator. But thanks to Patricio's array of saves and dogged defending, Ronaldo left a champion. Unlike his great rival Lionel Messi, the Argentina and Barcelona forward, the 31-year-old Ronaldo has now filled the medal void on the major international stage. It's a rapid turnaround for a national team that exited the 2014 World Cup in the group stage.

"It's something unbelievable in my career," Ronaldo said. "Something I deserve."

France, Portugal fans mingle amid tight security for final

July 10, 2016

SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — France and Portugal fans from as far afield as Switzerland and the South Pacific gathered Sunday at the Stade de France stadium or took in the sights in Paris as they prepared to watch their teams meet in the European Championship final.

Fans mingled peacefully outside the stadium amid tight security in a city still on high terror alert in the aftermath of Nov. 13 attacks by Islamic extremists that left 130 people dead and hundreds injured. That night of bloodshed started when three suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the Stade de France.

Hours before kickoff, a long line of police vans was parked alongside the main road near a metro station and officers in body armor stood outside a high fence ringing the stadium. Mathias Vicherat, the Paris mayor's chief of staff, said some 1,900 police and other security officers would patrol the 92,000-capacity fan zone in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. The city's police chief, Michel Cadot, said 3,400 officers would patrol the Champs-Elysees, where fans are expected to mass after the match.

Jean-Paul Ausu left the palm-fringed beaches of New Caledonia, a French territory in the South Pacific, and flew 22,000 kilometers (13,670 miles) to be in France for the tournament. He still wasn't sure he'd make it into the game.

"We tried to find tickets but haven't been able to find any," Ausu said. "We're trying now to see what we can do at the (French Football) Federation's sales point, but we're still waiting." Portugal fans Mickael and Anna Polo-Carvalho, had a much shorter trip to get to the match - driving a few hundred kilometers (miles) from their home in Switzerland - and were planning to motor back again after the match.

"We found tickets at the very last minute. We thought, let's drop off the kids at their grandparents and we hit the road. It all went fine," Anna Polo-Carvalho said. "When we got here, we visited the Eiffel Tower and the Champs-Elysees and we started preparing ourselves psychologically for this match. We'll see who wins but we hope it's Portugal. Tonight, it's straight to the car and back at work tomorrow morning at nine."

Patrick Baeurer looked slightly out of place in his Germany shirt as he entered the Stade de France. Baeurer, 22, won two tickets in a competition for videos showing football freestyle skills. "I had thought Germany would make it to the final, but unfortunately they lost last week to France," he said.

He was tipping France to win 2-1, thanks to its home advantage. Long before the final, Laura Bounineau knew she would be a winner come the final whistle. "My dad is French, my mother Portuguese, so I'm supporting both nations and proud of it," she said. "There's no problem: I will be happy tonight no matter what."

Indian Prime Minister Modi plays drums in Tanzania

July 10, 2016

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AP) — Visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli on Sunday signed five agreements, including one to provide credit $92 million to improve water accessibility on the island of Zanzibar.

Modi arrived here on Saturday night from South Africa on the third leg of his four-nation tour of Africa. Upon arriving at State House, the president's residence, Modi joined Magufuli to play traditional Tanzania drums at a colorful ceremony. Earlier, he received a 21-gun salute from members of the uniformed forces before inspecting a guard of honor.

According to the agreement on water, India will extend a line of credit for the rehabilitation and improvement of the water supply system for the semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar. Describing India as a trusted partner in helping Tanzania's development, Modi said they had agreed to deepen the two countries' defense and security partnership, especially in the maritime domain.

"Our in-depth discussions on regional and global issues reflected our considerable convergence on issues of common interest and concern," said Modi. Modi's trip is meant to raise India's profile in energy, trade and investment in Africa, where China's presence has been strong. He began in Mozambique and South Africa and will be heading to Kenya later Sunday.

India's foreign ministry has described the four countries on the Indian Ocean as economic gateways to landlocked African states.