Italy quake rocks resort island of Ischia, at least 1 dead

August 22, 2017

ROME (AP) — An earthquake rattled the Italian resort island of Ischia at the peak of tourist season Monday night, killing at least one person and trapping a half dozen others under collapsed homes. Police said all but one of the people known to be trapped were responding to rescuers and were expected to be extracted alive, including three children. One person, however, wasn't responding, raising worries the death toll could increase, said Giovanni Salerno of the financial police.

Italy's national volcanology institute said the temblor struck a few minutes before 9 p.m., just as many people were having dinner. The hardest-hit area was Casamicciola, on the northern part of the island.

There was great discrepancy in the magnitude reported: Italy's national vulcanology agency put the initial magnitude at 3.6, though it later revised it to a 4.0 sustained magnitude. It put the epicenter in the waters just off the island and a depth of 5 kilometers (3 miles). The U.S. Geological Survey and the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center gave it a 4.3 magnitude, with a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles).

While such discrepancies and revisions are common, Italian officials complained that the Italian agency's initial low 3.6-magnitude greatly underestimated the power of the temblor. At least one hotel and parts of a hospital were evacuated. A doctor at the Rizzoli hospital, Roberto Allocca, told Sky TG24 that some 26 people were being treated for minor injuries at a makeshift emergency room set up on the hospital grounds. He said the situation was calm and under control.

Salerno confirmed one woman was killed by falling masonry from a church. At least three people were extracted from the rubble alive, the civil protection said, adding that the island had sustained at least 14 aftershocks.

Civil protection crews, already on the island in force to fight the forest fires that have been ravaging southern Italy, were checking the status of the buildings that suffered damage. Other rescue crews, as well as dogs trained to search for people under rubble, were arriving on ferries from the mainland.

Together with the nearby island of Capri, Ischia is a favorite island getaway for the European jet set, famed in particular for its thermal waters. Casamicciola was the epicenter of an 1883 earthquake that killed more than 2,000 people.

The quake came just two days shy of the one-year anniversary of a powerful 6.2-magnitude earthquake that devastated several towns in central Italy. That temblor last Aug. 24 killed more than 250 people in Amatrice and beyond and set off a months-long series of powerful aftershocks that emptied many towns and hamlets of their people.

Hungary asks EU to help pay for anti-migrant border fence

September 01, 2017

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary's prime minister has asked the European Union to pay for half of the cost of anti-migrant fences it built on its southern borders, or about 440 million euros ($523 million).

In a letter dated Thursday to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the fences erected in 2015 on the borders with Serbia and Croatia have practically eliminated the migrant flow through Hungary, guarding more than just his country.

The move comes days before Europe's top court is expected to reject an appeal by Hungary and Slovakia against an EU agreement obliging them to take in refugees from Greece and Italy. "With the construction of the fence, training and placing 3,000 border hunters into active service, our country is protecting not only itself but entire Europe against the flood of illegal migrants," Orban said in the letter. "I hope that, in the spirit of European solidarity, we can rightly expect that the European Commission ... will reimburse half of our extraordinary border protection expenses in the foreseeable future."

But European Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein encouraged Hungary to put in a formal application to use funds already earmarked in the 2014-2020 EU budget. "We are not financing the construction of fences or barriers at external borders. We do support border management measures at external borders. This can be surveillance measures. This can be border control equipment. But fences, we do not finance," Winterstein said Friday. "We won't change" our stance on that.

The border hunter corps was set up within the police force a year ago and its officers dedicated to border protection duties and guarding the fence. Hungarian soldiers have also been aiding police in the tasks.

Orban said Europe needed to show solidarity with Hungary's border protection efforts, not just with Greece and Italy, the countries which have received the brunt of the migration influx. EU leaders have criticized Hungary for failing to show solidarity because it refuses to take in any asylum-seekers sought to be relocated from Greece and Italy until their asylum requests are decided.

"Solidarity is a two-way street and all member states should be ready to contribute. This is not some sort of a la carte menu where you pick one dish, for example border management, while refusing another dish, like compliance with relocation decisions," Winterstein said.

Orban's demand comes less than a week before the European Court of Justice is scheduled to rule on a legal challenge to the relocation scheme by his government and Slovakia. A top legal adviser recommended in July that the appeal by Hungary and Slovakia be rejected next Wednesday.

The European Commission has also launched its own legal action against Hungary, plus the Czech Republic and Poland, for failing to respect their commitment to take in refugees. Orban's government has promoted a "Let's Stop Brussels" billboard and publicity campaign rejecting the EU's migration policies. Last year, over 98 percent of participating voters said the EU shouldn't settle anyone in Hungary without the consent of the Hungarian parliament, but the referendum was invalid because of low voter turnout.

As Orban and other government officials earlier made it a point of pride that Hungary had paid for nearly all the costs of the fences and their maintenance with local funds, the change of heart could also let Orban generate another conflict with the EU, should it reject the "reasonable" request for reimbursement.

Lorne Cook contributed to this report from Brussels.

Greek firefighters close to containing wildfire near Athens

August 16, 2017

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's fire department says it's close to containing a wildfire that is burning north of Athens for a fourth day. Army bulldozers are being used to set up firebreaks around the Kalamos area, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of Athens, before an expected pickup in winds later Wednesday.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras visited fire-damaged areas by helicopter, while more than 300 firefighters remained deployed there, supported by five water-dropping planes and six helicopters. No serious injuries have been reported since the fire broke out Sunday. The Fire Service hasn't issued a damage estimate, but the blaze is believed to have gutted or damaged several dozen homes.

Wildfires also continued in the Peloponnese in southern Greece and on the western island of Zakynthos.

German election: Merkel, Schulz gear up for TV showdown

September 02, 2017

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her center-left rival, Martin Schulz, are preparing for their only televised debate before the Sept. 24 election following a campaign that so far has lacked a head-to-head showdown between the two leading candidates.

Merkel, who heads Germany's center-right Christian Democrats, has stepped up her campaigning in recent weeks as she seeks a fourth term leading Europe's biggest economy. She has highlighted the country's prosperity and sought to address conservative fears with a tougher line on policing and immigration.

In an interview published Saturday, Merkel said she wants to continue police checks introduced at Germany's borders as a temporary measure in September 2015, a procedure the European Union says runs contrary to the bloc's passport-free travel rules.

Merkel, 63, told daily newspaper Rheinische Post she's confident the EU's executive arm has "an open ear for our arguments" to extend the controls beyond their Nov. 11 expiration date. They began amid an influx of asylum-seekers that critics partly blame on the chancellor's welcoming approach to refugees.

Germany's Social Democratic Party unexpectedly nominated Schulz, 61, in January to challenge Merkel. He has been free to campaign full-time since he left his post as president of the European Parliament, the EU's legislative body.

But Schulz has refrained from making sustained attacks on Merkel's leadership, focusing instead on issues of social justice and pledging to get rid of U.S. nuclear weapons stationed in Germany. In an interview published Saturday by daily newspaper Bild, Schulz said he wasn't nervous about Sunday's debate, which will be broadcast live by four of Germany's main television stations.

The former bookseller, whose highest elected position in Germany was as mayor of the small western town of Wuerselen, acknowledged that his party had suffered two "very, very difficult defeats" in recent regional elections. He insisted that the national contest could swing his way because many voters are still undecided.

A poll published Friday by public broadcaster ZDF put the Social Democrats with 22 percent support compared to 39 percent for Merkel's bloc. The survey of 1,309 German voters had a margin of error of up to 3 percentage points.

The parties are currently in a coalition at the national level.

Merkel emphasizes German prosperity, security at rally

August 12, 2017

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the final phase of her election campaign Saturday with a focus on her record, emphasizing the economic growth and prosperity achieved during her dozen years at the helm as she seeks a fourth term.

Merkel told a rally organized by her Christian Democratic Union party in the western city of Dortmund that unemployment has dropped to a post-reunification low since she first was elected chancellor in 2005.

She told the crowd she hoped to achieve full employment — a rate below 3 percent — by 2025. The rate hit as high as 12.6 percent in early 2005 and was most recently at 5.6 percent in July. "Those are really excellent figures," Merkel said, going on to note that government and industry must not be complacent because technology is changing the way the economy functions.

"On one hand, Germany stacks up well, but on the other hand we live in a time of change, a time of uncertainty," she said. Singling out the damage done to the "Made in Germany" label with Volkswagen's diesel cheating scandal, Merkel said honesty in business was a prerequisite going forward.

"The way things were swept under the rug or where loopholes in emissions tests were massively exploited to the point they were unrecognizable, that destroys trust," she told the crowd. In addition to Volkswagen, Germany is home to Mercedes, BMW and other top brands.

Merkel emphasized the need for the auto industry to develop cleaner technologies, but also sought to allay widespread fears that older diesel cars could be banned from the streets. A "transition phase" would be better than a ban, she said.

The government could help provide the infrastructure to support vehicles run by alternative power sources, but innovation was up to the automakers, she said. "The question of whether the German automobile industry has recognized these signs of the times will decide their future, and with it hundreds of thousands of jobs," she said.

Merkel, however, rejected outright an idea floated by her main challenger, Social Democrat Martin Schulz, who suggested in an interview Friday that there should be a Europe-wide quota instituted for electric cars.

Merkel said such a quota could harm the development of other alternative technologies and she didn't think the idea "has been thought through." A defining moment of Merkel's tenure as chancellor was the decision in 2015 to open Germany's doors to 890,000 migrants seeking asylum and economic opportunities. She pledged Friday not to avoid immigration as a topic on the campaign trail, but did not mention the controversial issue in her Dortmund speech.

Merkel's conservative bloc currently enjoys a lead of more than 15 percent over its main competition, the Social Democrats, leading up to the Sept. 24 election. Most polls put support for Merkel's bloc at about 40 percent compared to about 23 percent for the SPD.

The two parties currently govern together in a so-called "grand coalition." The SPD's slumping popularity figures and recent gains by Merkel's bloc, which also includes the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union, have led many to speculate that she might be able to form a new coalition with the pro-business Free Democrats or another smaller party.

Merkel urged members of her party to keep up the pressure over the next six weeks. "We need to advocate, we need to fight and we need to stand up for our ideas," she said. Campaign posters for Merkel's Christian Democratic Union have highlighted the country's economic prosperity, with slogans such as "For a Germany in which we live well and happily," and "For good work and good pay." Other themes include "More respect for families," and "Security and order."

At Saturday's rally, Merkel cited another campaign slogan: "Strengthening Europe means strengthening Germany." "For us, the greatest security and the greatest peace project is the European Union," she told the cheering crowd.

France's Macron in Romania for talks on 'posted workers'

August 24, 2017

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Romania Thursday, the second leg of his trip to Central Europe where he will raise concerns over so-called "posted workers" — cheap labor from Eastern Europe posted temporarily to more prosperous European countries.

Amid tight security, Macron headed for talks with President Klaus Iohannis at the Cotroceni presidential palace and he will later have lunch with Premier Mihai Tudose and other officials. "Posted workers" from Eastern European nations including Romania and Poland continue to pay into the tax and social security systems of their home countries, allowing employers to hire them for less than in Western countries where welfare costs are higher. The majority work in construction, but many also work as welders, electricians or carers for the elderly.

Macron wants to require companies to pay posted and local workers the same salaries and limit postings abroad to up to one year. Posted workers account for about 1 percent of the EU's total workforce, but they are perceived as pricing out local workers in Western Europe, putting downward pressure on wages and exacerbating inequalities in wealth.

Last year, the European Commission proposed new rules to regulate the issue, requiring companies to pay posted and local workers the same. But the proposals haven't won support from member states in central and eastern Europe.

Romania's National Pension House says last year some 50,000 Romanian workers were posted abroad to other EU countries.

French first lady says husband's only fault is being younger

August 16, 2017

PARIS (AP) — France's first lady says President Emmanuel Macron's only fault is "being younger than me," addressing their atypical love story in a rare interview. Brigitte Macron told France's Elle magazine that if she hadn't pursued their romance, "I would have let my life pass me by." Excerpts of the interview were released Wednesday.

The couple of about 20 years met when he was a student at the high school where she taught. Brigitte Macron now is 64, her husband 39 — an age difference about the same as Donald and Melania Trump's. Macron is facing resistance to the president's push to formalize the first lady's role. She insisted she would not take a salary and promised her official activities would be posted online "so that the French know exactly what I'm doing."