INTL Europe: Politics, Economics, Military- June 2020

[Plain Jane]

May's thread:

INTL - Europe: Politics, Economics, and Military - May 2020

April's thread: https://www.timebomb2000.com/xf/index.php?threads/europe-politics-economics-military-april-2020.570968/ Main Coronavirus Thread: https://www.timebomb2000.com/xf/index.php?threads/main-coronavirus-thread.566780/page-1163#post-7740132...

www.timebomb2000.com

Main Coronavirus thread from page 1230:

CORONA - Main Coronavirus thread

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lzFDgedVBg 5:27 min WILL SPORTS COME BACK SOON? How professional leagues can continue to play amid coronavirus pandemic •May 31, 2020 Glenn Beck Is it time for sports to make a comeback despite the continuing coronavirus pandemic? Because the NBA and...

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Mediterranean Regional Conflict thread from page 23:

WAR - Regional conflict brewing in the Mediterranean

News That Matter @jay1stnewyorker 7m War in Libya reaches critical point in favor of GNA, still too early to hope for peace | Daily Sabah View: https://twitter.com/jay1stnewyorker/status/1266563167900987392?s=20

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World alarmed by violence in US; thousands march in London

LONDON (AP) — Nations around the world have watched in horror at the five days of civil unrest in the United States following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer pressed his knee on his neck until he stopped breathing.

apnews.com

World alarmed by violence in US; thousands march in London
By DANICA KIRKAan hour ago



1 of 25
Police officers on horseback stand next to demonstrators blocking the road outside the Houses of Parliament in central London on Sunday, May 31, 2020, to protest against the recent killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, USA. US Police officers have been detained in connection with the death of George Floyd that has led to protests in many countries and across the U.S.(AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

LONDON (AP) — Nations around the world have watched in horror at the civil unrest in the United States following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer pressed his knee on his neck until he stopped breathing.

Racism-tinged events no longer startle even America’s closest allies, though many have watched coverage of the often-violent protests with growing unease. Burning cars and riot police in the U.S. featured on newspaper front pages around the globe Sunday — bumping news of the COVID-19 pandemic to second-tier status in some places.



Floyd’s death on May 25 in Minneapolis was the latest in a series of deaths of black men and women at the hands of police in the U.S.

Thousands gathered in central London on Sunday to offer support for American demonstrators. Chanting “No justice! No peace!” and waving placards with the words “How many more?” at Trafalgar Square, the protesters ignored U.K. government rules banning crowds because of the pandemic. Police didn’t stop them.

Demonstrators then marched to the U.S. Embassy, where a long line of officers surrounded the building. Several hundred milled around in the street and waved placards.

Protesters in Denmark also converged on the U.S. Embassy on Sunday. Participants carried placards with messages such as “Stop Killing Black People.”

The U.S. Embassy in Berlin was the scene of protests on Saturday under the motto: “Justice for George Floyd.” Several hundred more people took to the streets Sunday in the capital’s Kreuzberg area, carrying signs with slogans like “Silence is Violence,” “Hold Cops Accountable,” and “Who Do You Call When Police Murder?” No incidents were reported.

Germany’s top-selling Bild newspaper on Sunday carried the sensational headline “This killer-cop set America ablaze” with an arrow pointing to a photo of now-fired police officer Derek Chauvin, who has been charged with third-degree murder in Floyd’s death, with his knee on Floyd’s neck. The newspaper’s story reported “scenes like out of a civil war.”

In Italy, the Corriere della Sera newspaper’s senior U.S. correspondent Massimo Gaggi wrote that the reaction to Floyd’s killing was “different” than previous cases of black Americans killed by police and the ensuring violence.

“There are exasperated black movements that no longer preach nonviolent resistance,” Gaggi wrote, noting the Minnesota governor’s warning that “anarchist and white supremacy groups are trying to fuel the chaos.″

In countries with authoritarian governments, state-controlled media have been highlighting the chaos and violence of the U.S. demonstrations, in part to undermine American officials’ criticism of their own nations.

In China, the protests are being viewed through the prism of U.S. government criticism of China’s crackdown on anti-government protests in Hong Kong.

Hu Xijin, the editor of the state-owned Global Times newspaper, tweeted that U.S. officials can now see protests out their own windows: “I want to ask Speaker Pelosi and Secretary Pompeo: Should Beijing support protests in the U.S., like you glorified rioters in Hong Kong?”

Hua Chunying, a Chinese Foreign ministry spokeswoman, pointed out America’s racial unrest by tweeting “I can’t breathe,” which Floyd said before his death.


In Iran, which has violently put down nationwide demonstrations by killing hundreds, arresting thousands and disrupting internet access to the outside world, state television has repeatedly aired images of the U.S. unrest. One TV anchor discussed “a horrible scene from New York, where police attacked protesters.” Another state TV message accused U.S. police agencies in Washington of “setting fire to cars and attacking protesters,” without offering any evidence.

Russia accused the United States of “systemic problems in the human rights sphere.″ It denounced Floyd’s death as the latest in a series of police violence cases against African Americans.

“This incident is far from the first in a series of lawless conduct and unjustified violence from U.S. law enforcement,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “American police commit such high-profile crimes all too often.’’

There also have been expressions of solidarity with the demonstrators.

Over the weekend, Lebanese anti-government protesters flooded social media with tweets sympathetic to U.S. protesters, using the hashtag #Americarevolts. That’s a play on the slogan for Lebanon’s protest movement — Lebanon revolts — which erupted on Oct. 17 last year. Within 24 hours, the hashtag #Americanrevolts became the No. 1 trending tag in Lebanon.

In another expression of solidarity with American protesters, about 150 people marched through central Jerusalem on Saturday to protest the shooting death by Israeli police of an unarmed, autistic Palestinian man earlier in the day. Israeli police mistakenly suspected that the man, Iyad Halak, was carrying a weapon. When he failed to obey orders to stop, officers opened fire.
___
Associated Press Writers David Rising in Berlin, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Frances D’Emilio in Rome, Zeina Karam in Beirut, Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem, Ken Moritsugu in Beijing, Jari Tanner in Helsinki, Finland, and Jim Heintz in Moscow, contributed to this report.
___
Follow the AP’s latest news about the protests in the U.S. at America Protests

 

[Plain Jane]

Hungarian MEP defends Viktor Orban’s emergency powers – DW – 05/21/2020

Budapest’s response to COVID-19 has been to suspend parliament and give Prime Minister Viktor Orban open-ended powers to rule by decree. Will the latest move by the ruling Fidesz party cement authoritarianism in Europe?

www.dw.com

Hungarian MEP defends Viktor Orban’s emergency powers
Budapest’s response to COVID-19 has been to suspend parliament and give Prime Minister Viktor Orban open-ended powers to rule by decree. Will the latest move by the ruling Fidesz party cement authoritarianism in Europe?



Watch video26:06
Is the Hungarian response to the COVID-19 pandemic a move to cement authoritarianism in Europe?
In an exclusive interview with DW’s Conflict Zone, Member of the European Parliament, Balazs Hidveghi of the Fidesz party, defended the emergency measures passed by the Hungarian government in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. He called the legislation, which suspended parliament for an unspecified time and allows Prime Minister Viktor Orban to rule by decree, similar to measures taken across the European Union.

From the Fidesz party headquarters in Budapest, Hidveghi told DW’s Tim Sebastian the legislation was passed in accordance with the Hungarian constitution, and that: "rule of law works in Hungary very well."

A number of critics have called the move the latest power grab by Orban and his governing Fidesz party yet another effort to restrict democracy in Hungary.
The head of Human Rights Watch, Ken Roth, said the measures have created the EU’s first dictatorship.

MEP Hidveghi refuted this, saying: "we didn't crack down or anything. We just had to deal with a situation that was extraordinary in every sense of the word."

He also rejected the criticism as unnecessary, saying the Fidesz party already had a two-thirds majority in parliament and said that the country was now nearing the end of the state of emergency anyway.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaking about coronavirus in parliament, Budapest, March 23, 2020

The MEP said controversial provisions in the pandemic legislation allowing prosecution for “spreading misinformation” were necessary.

"It has to do with spreading fake information, false information that have nothing to do with the facts," Hidveghi told Sebastian.

It could lead to people facing jail time for misinterpreting facts.



Watch video03:35
Press freedom in Hungary – DW speaks to Dalma Dojcsak of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union
Hidveghi justified the measures as necessary, given the unprecedented nature of the virus outbreak.
"Quite simply, during a state of danger and during a state of a pandemic that has been as dangerous as this one, control has to be accomplished."

The MEP said the government needed those measures to protect the public and ensure that "real facts" were transmitted.

Sebastian asked if this is Hungarian-style free speech.

"Very similar things and very similar special orders or special decisions have been made across the European Union," the MEP said.

Hidveghi pointed out governments around the world were considering measures to stop the spread of misinformation: "on social media, all kinds of fake news are transmitted. And authorities across the European Union, or across the whole world, I might say, are trying to find a way to deal with that, so that public order is maintained."

The Hungarian politician said the state of emergency law had been "looked at in detail by the European Commission, which is the guardian of the treaties of the European Union works. And they found that in no way did it go against any democratic norm or European law."
Critics have disputed that point.
Hidveghi dismissed surveys showing most Hungarians did not believe the Orban government had strengthened democracy and press freedom in Hungary.

"The most important survey, of course, is always in a democracy, elections. Parties go for elections. The Fidesz government has been reelected three times," Hidveghi said.
“People believe that the country is in good hands … the majority of people believe that the government is doing a good job.”

Hidveghi also rejected critics who saw the consolidation of media in the country in recent years as a concerted government effort to eliminate independent journalism.

“They are drawing the wrong conclusions ... In fact, political debate … and public discourse in general is one of the freest in the European Union. It's more taboo-free than in many other places in Western Europe or elsewhere in the European Union.”

Hidveghi attacked Freedom House for saying Orban’s government had "dropped any pretense of respecting democratic institutions."
"Freedom House once was an organization that I respected, I don't think their analysis over the past couple of years have been trustworthy or based on facts,” said Hidveghi, who joined Orban’s Fidesz party in 1989.

He pushed back at reports from the EU’s anti-fraud agency OLAF that placed Hungary among the top countries for fraud with European funds.

"I reject the opinion that there would be more corruption or significantly more corruption in Hungary than in an average situation in the region or in the European Union."
"There is corruption everywhere … in the EU," he added.
The MEP defended the country’s response to allegations brought to light by the EU’s anti-fraud agency, saying:

"Hungary is amongst the best, in fact, performers of the percentage of how many looks, cases are looked into."

Similarly, Hidveghi said allegations Orban had stuffed the courts with party loyalists had led to what he called a "lively debate" in judicial circles, and that Hungary still had a normal functioning of judges in the constitutional court with the "parliament nominating new ones."
Hidveghi said Hungary remained in line with the norms of the EU: "There are different constitutional identities and systems within the European Union. They are all democratic. Just the fact that they are different does not mean that they are undemocratic."

He also disputed allegations the government had altered the electoral system to disadvantage opposition parties.

"We have streamlined the electoral system. There was no gerrymandering," he said, pointing to opposition wins in local elections as proof.

Hidveghi ignored Sebastian’s question about a recent decision handed down from the Court of Justice of the European Union on refugees detained at the border with Serbia, insisting:
“There’s no forced detention at Hungary's borders. Those who come and stay in the transit zone can, at any time that they wish, go back and leave from where they came from."
Hidveghi said his government’s policy on restricting access to Hungary for refugees was based on a higher motivation. "Christian responsibility means that you help people, where they are. You take help, where help is needed instead of bringing the problem into the European Union.”

He warned Europe "is unable to deal with hundreds of thousands or millions of migrants coming into this continent. That's not the way forward, the past five years have shown it very clearly."

"That's not the way forward and it's not supported by the European people," he said.

 

[Plain Jane]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-euro...rld/europe&link_location=live-reporting-story

[/URL]

Irish government formation still weeks away
By Shane HarrisonBBC NI Dublin correspondent

• 31 May 2020

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionLeo Varadkar and Micheál Martin lead Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil

It is well over 100 days since the Republic of Ireland's inconclusive general election.
If there is to be a new coalition government involving Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, the Greens and possibly some independents, it still seems weeks away.

Negotiations between the three parties have been continuing.

There is an expectation they may be able to agree a programme for government within two weeks.

But the difficult and divisive issues, such as how to deal with the economic implications of repaying debts arising from the Covid-19 crisis, are being left till last.
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The three parties have a combined Dáil (lower house of parliament) vote of 84 - just four above a majority and many believe they will need to get the support of some independent TDs to have a more comfortable existence.

That could further delay a coalition formation because the independents may have their own individual priority issues.

If the parties do reach agreement on a programme for government they will then have to get the deal passed by their memberships.

• Fianna Fáil's Micheál Martin 'open to coalition with Fine Gael'
• Irish general election: Sinn Féin bids to form new government

Although two cabinet ministers have voiced their opposition and concerns about coalition, Fine Gael, with its electoral college which gives a big say to the parliamentary party, is expected to meet the least resistance to the proposed government.

Fianna Fáil, which has slumped in the polls since the election, is expected to post ballot papers to its estimated 15,000 members if there is a deal.

Eamon Ó'Cuív, a former minister and grandson of the party's founder Eamon de Valera, is among those most opposed to going into government with the party's traditional enemy Fine Gael.

Both parties have their origins in the conflicting sides of the Irish Civil War between 1922 and 1923.

Many believe that the relatively elderly membership of the party may reject such a coalition.
And then there are people, mainly in rural areas, in both parties who have deep concerns about the impact Green policies may have on them, road building and agriculture.

The Greens have the highest membership threshold to cross to go into coalition; the party must get a two thirds majority for a deal.

The party also has its opponents to going into government with the other two.

And all the while, simmering in the background, there is a potential leadership challenge to party leader Eamon Ryan from the deputy leader Catherine Martin.

Watching all of this unfold is Sinn Féin, the party which got the most votes in the February election 16 weeks ago.
Mary Lou McDonald and her colleagues know they are almost certain to be the main opposition.

But there remains the small, but very unlikely, possibility that if the current negotiations collapse there is a chance Sinn Féin may try to form a government with Fianna Fáil - probably under a new leader - and other left of centre parties and TDs.

Image copyrightGREEN PARTYImage captionThere is a potential leadership challenge to Green party leader Eamon Ryan

When the election results became known, the talk was of a government by Easter, then the middle of May, followed by mid-June and now the end of June and possibly the beginning of July for the election of a taoiseach (prime minister).

In these mainly sunny Covid-19 times, the clouds of uncertainty still hang over the if and when of Irish coalition government formation.

 

[Plain Jane]

EU balks at adding Russia back into G7

The European Union on Tuesday rejected any suggestion that the Group of Seven advanced economies could be expanded to include Russia and warned Washington that it could not change the rules for the group on its own.

www.reuters.com

WORLD NEWS
JUNE 2, 2020 / 11:52 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
EU balks at adding Russia back into G7

Andrea Shalal
3 MIN READ

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The European Union on Tuesday rejected any suggestion that the Group of Seven advanced economies could be expanded to include Russia and warned Washington that it could not change the rules for the group on its own.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday dismissed the G7 as a “very outdated group of countries” and said he would invite the leaders of Australia, Russia, South Korea and India to join a leaders summit now postponed to September.

The EU said it viewed the G7 as a vital multilateral framework that cannot be changed on a permanent basis by the chair of the group, currently the United States, an EU spokesman said on Tuesday.

“Russia’s participation in the G8 has been suspended until Russia changes course and the environment allows for the G8 to again have a meaningful discussion. This is not currently the case,” the spokesman said.

region from Ukraine. Russia still holds the territory, and various G7 governments have rebuffed previous calls from Trump to re-admit Moscow.

“While it is the prerogative of the G7 chair – in this case the United States - to issue guest invitations, which reflects the host’s priorities, changing membership or format on a permanent basis is not,” the spokesman said.

Britain and Canada have also spoken out in opposition to the idea of letting Russia back into the forum.

And Moscow itself said Trump’s proposal to invite Russia to an expanded Group of Seven summit later this year raised questions, but its diplomats would seek clarification from Washington.

G7 finance ministers are slated to meet online on Wednesday with the leaders of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to discus the novel coronavirus pandemic and efforts to mitigate the economic fallout.

India, Australia and South Korea have said they received invitations to attend the expanded G7 summit.

Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Richard Chang
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

In Sweden, anguished foreigners call it quits – DW – 06/02/2020

Sweden has left residents to decide for themselves how to behave in the COVID-19 pandemic. That's outraged some foreign residents, who now plan to move away from the country as soon as they can.

www.dw.com

Coronavirus in Sweden: Anguished foreigners call it quits
Sweden has left residents to decide for themselves how to behave in the COVID-19 pandemic. That's outraged some foreign residents, who now plan to move away from the country as soon as they can.





Eva Panarese grew up in Italy with a Swedish mother and had always dreamt about leaving Italy and settling down in Sweden. Two years ago she managed to make the move.
Panarese and her husband and children happily settled into their new Swedish life. But like many others, their lives were upturned by the coronavirus pandemic once it spread to Europe.

After returning to Sweden from a work trip in Italy in February, her son and husband fell ill. "I was pretty shocked by the way the hospital dealt with it, no masks, nothing, we may have brought corona to the hospital," she says. It transpired that they had pneumonia. Her son recovered quickly, but her husband remained sick.

To protect him from possibly catching COVID-19 from her children, she decided to keep them at home. But the school objected. Panarese began fielding threatening calls and letters from them daily.

"They don't care if you have an at-risk person at home. If your child is healthy, then they have to go to school," she says.

Eva Panarese (here with her husband and children) feels like the Swedish authorities have let her down

It is illegal not to send a healthy child to school in Sweden, while discretion is left to individual school principals to decide whether a child may stay at home. There have been myriad reports in the press of schools and local councils threatening parents who keep their kids at home with fines, calls to social services or issuing failing grades.

It has led Panarese to decide to move away from her dream country. "I will keep my job in Sweden and just move to Denmark — which is a 30-minute drive away — where they are sensitive to at-risk families."

While most countries have opted for lockdown measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Sweden has gone a different route, releasing loose guidelines on social distancing, leaving schools, restaurants and bars open and asking citizens to act responsibly. The Swedish strategy has elicited praise and condemnation both at home and abroad.

Strong feelings
Like Panarese, people who feel they have been affected adversely by Sweden's policy — or who would rather the country took a different tack — have started forging plans to move away once the pandemic is over.

"The aftermath of the pandemic will see a hemorrhage of foreign talents," predicts Emanuelle Floquet, a project manager at the Swedish think tank Working for Change Matters, which focuses on cultural diversity in business.

"Many are also losing jobs and will be even more at the bottom of the list of priorities," she says, "way behind Swedes."

Sweden did not institute a lockdown but it did issue guidelines for behavior during the pandemic

Floquet has seen two tendencies in monitoring Facebook expat groups: people who strongly support the Swedish strategy and people who want to leave. In an informal poll on a private Facebook group, 350 foreign residents indicated they were planning to move away or were in the process of doing so, Floquet said.

Deporting skilled workers
The government expects unemployment to reach 9% this year, the highest rate in more than 20 years, which would mean half a million of the 6.4 million people of working age in Sweden would be unemployed by the end of 2020. Meanwhile, foreigners who hold a work permit must find a new employer within three months if they lose their jobs, according to Swedish law.

But finding work within that grace period may not be enough to guarantee that a foreign resident can stay. A Nigerian IT specialist — who did not want her name published due to fear of reprisal — told DW she was recently served a deportation notice despite getting a job within the allotted time. The reason given by the migration authorities was that the position hadn't been advertised by the Swedish Public Employment Service, but was listed on LinkedIn, where she found it. She is now unsure how — or even whether — she can leave, since Nigerian airspace is closed.

The director of Sweden's migration agency stated in April that foreign workers and asylum-seekers who have lost their jobs could also lose their work permits without new legislation. Other EU countries like France have automatically extended all permits for six months.

Life has not remained exactly normal in Sweden since the coronavirus reached the country
"I don't know if talent will leave because of Sweden's handling of the coronavirus. But we do know that the authorities have very clearly told everyone what will happen with no legislation," says Matt Kritteman a migration expert with the Diversify Foundation, a Swedish organization that works for foreign workers' rights.

Criticism at a cost
It's too late for Belgian epidemiologist Dr Nele Brusselaers, who plans to move away after eight years in Sweden.
Brusselaers, who works for the prestigious Karolinska Institute, has been one of the most vocal opponents of Sweden's strategy and has found there has been a high cost for being a critical voice. "I am trolled and insulted because I worry about the safety of my students, friends, colleagues and their family," she wrote in an email.

She believes that the trust that many foreign residents had in Sweden has been damaged, possibly beyond repair.

"Every school all over the world worries about the safety of their teachers and pupils … except for Sweden. Every hospital or care facility worries about the health and safety of their healthcare workers, patients and residents, except for Sweden. Nobody takes responsibility, nobody takes the blame. Nobody seems to care."

 

[Plain Jane]

German sex offender named suspect in Madeleine McCann case – DW – 06/04/2020

"Maddie" disappeared from her bed in a holiday apartment at a resort in Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007. She has not been found since. German authorities believe she is probably dead.

www.dw.com

German sex offender identified as suspect in Madeleine McCann disappearance
"Maddie" disappeared from her bed in a holiday apartment at a resort in Praia da Luz in Portugal in 2007. She has not been found since. A German TV show has helped to identify the suspect.



Watch video02:17
New suspect emerges in Madeleine McCann abduction case
German prosecutors are investigating a 43-year-old German in connection to the 2007 disappareance of Madeleine Beth McCann, the Federal Criminal Police Office announced on Wednesday.
Public prosecutors in the northwestern city of Braunschweig said he is suspected of the murder of the then-3-year-old British girl.
The suspect is a sex offender with multiple convictions, including sexual abuse of children. He is currently in prison for offenses unrelated to the McCann case.
Long-running search
The toddler disappeared while on holiday with her family at a resort in Praia da Luz, in the Algarve region of Portugal. She has not been seen since, despite extensive police investigations. She disappeared from the holiday home while her parents had dinner with friends in a nearby restaurant. Her younger twin siblings were unharmed.
Between 1995 and 2007, the German suspect regularly lived in the Algarve region, including in a house between Lagos and Praia da Luz.
The unnamed suspect allegedly supplemented his income by criminal means, including carrying out burglaries in hotel complexes and holiday homes as well as selling drugs.
The prosecutor's office in Braunschweig is carrying out the investigation because the suspect's last registered address before going abroad was in the region.

Madeleine's parents had appeared on German crimewatch program 'Aktenzeichen XY' in 2013
Maddie's disappearance was one of the cases being presented in Wednesday's edition of German TV show "Aktenzeichen XY" that regularly asks the general public for help in unsolved cases. The McCanns had appeared on the show as early as 2013, when a tip-off led police to look into this suspect. Lead investigator Christian Hoppe said that there was not enough information then for an arrest or an investigation.
Strong lead
A spokeswoman for the McCann family, Clarence Mitchell, told BBC television on Thursday morning that "of all the thousands of leads and potential suspects that have been mentioned in the past, there has never been something as clear-cut as that from not just one, but three police forces."
German authorities are treating the toddler's disappearance as a murder investigation but Britain's Metropolitan Police has always considered the case a missing persons inquiry.
Every evening, DW sends out a selection of the day's news and features. Sign up here.
kmm/ng (AP, dpa, Reuters)

 

[Melodi]

If they prove this and convict the guy, the I hope the McCanns can sue the pants off the Portuguese police (AGAIN, I know they tried once and I don't recall the outcome) for the stunt we talked about here at TB2K at the time, when they intimated to the press that the parents had done it and made it look like they were going to charge them if they didn't leave the country.

So for about 24 hours a lot of the public thought they were guilty of murdering their own daughter until the next day when it turned out the police really had nothing on them, but they did want them pretty much to just "shut up and go away or else."

This was around the same time the American girl was charged with murder in Italy, another case with enough grey and weird stuff surrounding it that the real truth may never be known but there were indications the Italian police decided they knew the story and were going to try and make sure that things stayed that way.

It is totally understandable when police suspect parents in these cases, sadly often it can even turn out to be true, but what this couple was put through is beyond the pale.

Even if their daughter is gone, I hope they finally get real answers and justice is done; then they can decide if they want to take more action against the folks that tried to make them look like the criminals rather than the victims.

(and yeah, they made some unwise choices, but if you talk to ANY honest parent or auntie like me for that matter, there are always things that in 2020 hindsight we are lucky didn't turn out badly).

 

[Plain Jane]

Landslide in Arctic Norway sweeps away 8 homes

A powerful landslide in Arctic Norway has swept away eight homes but no injuries have been reported.

apnews.com

Landslide in Arctic Norway sweeps away 8 homes
yesterday



1 of 3
The scene of a landslide near Alta, Arctic Norway, seen Wednesday June 3, 2020, after a powerful landslide that took eight houses into the sea off northern Norway. Police spokesman Torfinn Halvari said a car was taken in the landslide but no people injured. (Anders Bjordal via AP)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Jan Egil Bakkedal had just prepared himself a sandwich when he heard a huge noise and realized that it was a landslide after which he ran out and filmed it from a nearby hill in Arctic Norway.

Bakkedal told The Associated Press on Thursday that he filmed Wednesday afternoon’s powerful landslide near the town of Alta that swept eight houses into the sea off northern Norway.

Bakkedal said he “ran for my life” into surrounding hills, and saw that one of the houses — which he owns — was washed away in the landslide.

Local police told Norwegian news agency NTB that the landslide was between 650 meters and 800 meters (2,145-2,640 feet) wide and up to 40 meters (132 feet) high.

Police spokesman Torfinn Halvari said a car was swept away in the landslide, but no one was injured. A dog that ended up in the sea was able to swim back to land and is safe, he said.

Several minor landslides followed, and nearby houses were temporarily evacuated.

The far end of the cape where the landslide occurred was Thursday closed off with Alta mayor Monica Nielsen saying that “the extent of the damage is considerable, and there’s a lot of debris.” Work was underway to ensure that the rubble doesn’t end up in shipping lanes.
https://apnews.com/1d2d9e4afdd822b27bfcce570e0cbdb5

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

Shots Fired On Turkish Police Boat From Greek Border As Athens 'Readies' Military Options

by Tyler Durden
Fri, 06/05/2020 - 16:15
TwitterFacebookRedditEmailPrint


Via AlMasdarNews.com,
Multiple Turkish news sources announced Friday that a Greek group wearing military fatigues opened fire on a Turkish police boat while the latter was patrolling the Mrayij River near the Turkish-Greek border.
The news agency said that the Special Operations Police found near the Bashiurt border police station, the body of one of the asylum seekers beside a tree, while they were patrolling the Mrayij River.
Image via Edirne - Anadolu Agency
,

They explained that “a military camouflaged group opened fire from the Greek side towards the Special Operations Police boat while photographing the body.”

The statement noted that “the police immediately took their positions and fired warning shots in the air, which led to the ceasefire from the Greek side.”

“A group of 10 to 12 people in military camouflage outfit opened harassment fire on the special forces boat,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, Greek Defense Minister Nikos Panayotopoulos said in a television interview that his country is ready for everything in order to protect its sovereign rights, including military action against Turkey in the event of provocations.

Serious War@serious_war_eng
https://twitter.com/serious_war_eng/status/1268825468234608640

Greek Defense Minister Nikos Panayotopoulos said the country is ready to use force to protect sovereignty from Turkey, if necessary. "We are ready for military action and make it clear that we will take any measures to protect the sovereign rights of Greece"@serious_war_eng



3
4:42 AM - Jun 5, 2020
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He pointed out that his ministry notes the increasing Turkish provocations in recent times. When asked if Greece was ready for a military solution to the dispute with Turkey, as the Greek Prime Minister’s advisor said, Panayotopoulos replied: “Exactly so.”

“The chancellor said that we are preparing for any situation. Of course, everything is possible, including military action. We do not want that, but we want to make it clear that we will do our best to protect our sovereign rights as possible,” the minister added.

A few days ago, the Turkish government newspaper published a request for a Turkish state oil company to obtain a license to explore for oil and gas in an area near the Greek islands. Then, on June 3, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis sent a letter to the European Union leadership on “Turkish provocations”. Greece announced that all of this would lead to a Turkish-European crisis.

On Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced in a joint press conference with Prime Minister of the Libyan Government of National Accord Fayez al-Sarraj in Ankara that Turkey intends, together with the Libyan government, to explore and develop oil and gas fields in the Mediterranean.

 

[Plain Jane]

Putin chastises Russian tycoon over massive Arctic oil spill

Russian President Vladimir Putin has chastised the billionaire owner of a nickel giant over a massive fuel oil spill that has inflicted huge damage on a fragile Arctic region.

apnews.com

Click to copy
Putin chastises Russian tycoon over massive Arctic oil spill
yesterday



1 of 7
In this handout photo provided by the Russian Marine Rescue Service, rescuers work to prevent the spread of an oil spill outside Norilsk, 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) northeast of Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, June 2, 2020. Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared a state of emergency in a region of Siberia after an estimated 20,000 tons of diesel fuel spilled from a power plant storage facility and fouled waterways.(Russian Marine Rescue Service via AP)

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday chastised the billionaire owner of a nickel giant for negligence resulting in a massive fuel oil spill that has inflicted huge damage on a fragile Arctic region.

An estimated 20,000 tons of diesel oil spilled into the Ambarnaya River last Friday from a broken tank at a power plant in Norilsk, 2,900 kilometers (1,800 miles) northeast of Moscow. Booms were laid across the river to prevent the fuel oil from getting into a lake downstream that feeds another river leading to the environmentally delicate Arctic Ocean.

Putin has declared a state of emergency in the region to help minimize the consequences of the spill. The power plant is operated by a division of Norilsk Nickel, whose giant plants in the area have made Norilsk one of the most heavily polluted places on the planet.



Prosecutors said Friday that the accident was apparently triggered by melting permafrost that caused the concrete foundation under the tank to crack.

During Friday’s video call with officials and environmental experts, Putin lashed out at Norilsk Nickel owner Vladimir Potanin, saying it was his company’s failure to check the fuel tanks’ condition.

Speaking from the site of the spill, Potanin said that his company will pay for the cleanup efforts that he estimated at 10 billion rubles ($146 million) and will also stand ready to pay fines for damage to the environment.

With a thin smile, Putin pointed out that replacing the aging fuel tank would have cost a tiny fraction of that.

“If you replaced them in time, there wouldn’t have been the damage to the environment and your company wouldn’t have to carry such costs,” Putin told Potanin, who is Russia’s richest man with an estimated fortune of $25.5 billion, according to Forbes magazine. “You should look at it closely inside the company.”

 

[Plain Jane]

Merkel allies criticize Trump decision to cut U.S. troops in Germany

Senior lawmakers from German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling conservative bloc on Saturday criticized President Donald Trump's decision to order the U.S. military to remove 9,500 troops from Germany.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
JUNE 6, 2020 / 7:42 AM / UPDATED 9 HOURS AGO
Merkel allies criticize Trump decision to cut U.S. troops in Germany


2 MIN READ

BERLIN (Reuters) - Senior lawmakers from German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling conservative bloc on Saturday criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to order the U.S. military to remove 9,500 troops from Germany.

The move would reduce U.S. troops numbers in Germany to 25,000, from 34,500.

“The plans once again show that the Trump administration is neglecting an elementary leadership task: the involvement of alliance partners in decision-making processes,” Johann Wadephul, foreign policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, told Reuters.


All NATO partners benefited from the cohesion of the alliance, and only Russia and China gain from discord, Wadephul said, adding: “This should be given more attention in Washington”.

Wadephul also spoke of a “further wake-up call” to Europeans to position themselves better in terms of security policy.

The German Foreign Ministry declined to comment.

Andreas Nick, like Wadephul a member of the parliamentary foreign relations committee, told Deutsche Welle the indications were that “that the decision was not a technical but a purely politically motivated decision”.

A U.S. official, who did not want to be identified, said on Friday the move was the result of months of work by the top U.S. military officer, General Mark Milley, and had nothing to do with tensions between Trump and Merkel, who thwarted Trump’s plan to host a G7 meeting this month.

The withdrawal, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, is the latest twist in relations between Berlin and Washington, which have often been strained during Trump’s presidency. Trump has pressed Germany to raise defense spending and accused Berlin of being a “captive” of Russia due to its energy reliance.

Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by James Drummond
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

Alleged German child sex ring busted – DW – 06/06/2020

Eleven people have been arrested in three German states over the alleged abuse of 5, 10, and 12 year-olds. Their victims were drugged, then seriously abused for hours at a summer house.

www.dw.com

Germany: Police bust alleged child sex ring operating from summer house
Eleven people have been arrested in three German states over the alleged abuse of 5, 10, and 12 year-olds. Their victims were drugged, then seriously abused for hours at a summer house.





Police in Germany have arrested 11 people in connection with a nationwide child sex abuse ring, the public prosecutor's office and police in the western city of Münster said in a statement released on Saturday.

Seven of the suspects have been remanded in custody, including a 27-year-old man – an IT technician, and his 45-year-old mother.

The arrests were carried out in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and Lower Saxony, after police uncovered encrypted data from hard drives found hidden in a false ceiling in a basement in Münster, belonging to the young man.

Investigators said more than 500 terabytes of data were seized from what had been converted into an air-conditioned server room.

Read more: Madeleine McCann: Prosecutors probe link between suspect and missing German girl

The three victims were aged 5, 10 and 12 years old. The head of the investigation, Joachim Poll, said the youngsters had been drugged before being abused for hours.
The acts are said to have taken place from November 2018 to May 2019.

Related to abusers
The main victim was the 10-year-old son of the partner of the 27-year-old suspect, investigators said. The 5-year-old was the son of another suspect from the town of Staufenberg in Hesse – over 200 kilometers (124 miles) from Münster.

The 12-year-old was the nephew of a suspect from the city of Kassel, a short drive from Staufenberg.

Investigators recognized him from video footage that showed him together with the 10-year-old.

Police said the 27-year-old had been in contact with pedophiles on the Darknet and offered the youngsters for abuse.

One video obtained by the investigators showed four men assaulting a boy "in the worst way," said Poll. "You could not even imagine it," he added.

The two younger children have since been taken into care.

Read more: French doctor on trial for sexually abusing hundreds of children

Abuse took place in a summer house

An allotment garden in Münster is among the suspected crime scenes.

Police allege that the mother of the 27-year-old suspect gave him access to the summer house in the knowledge he would use it to abuse children.

Inside had been kitted out with video cameras and other gadgets, according to German public broadcaster WDR. It said police did not want to release images of the inside of the building.

The latest investigation follows the revelations in 2019 of serious sexual abuse taking place at a campsite in Lügde, 125 kilometers (80 miles) from Münster.

Several men abused children hundreds of times at a campsite over a period of several years.

According to the latest crime statistics issued by Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), 2019 saw a nearly 65% increase in crime related to images of child sexual abuse in the country.

kmm/mm (epd, dpa)

 

[Plain Jane]

This thread contains video of the massive mudslide in Norway in post 8.

DISASTER - Norway: Massive landslide/mudslide drags homes into the sea.

:shkr: 6/4/20 A huge landslide has swept eight houses into the sea in Arctic Norway. There were no reports of injuries. Officials estimate the landslip was around 2km wide and 500 ft high. Video here: https://news.sky.com/video/huge-landslide-in-norway-sweeps-away-eight-houses-12000621

www.timebomb2000.com

 

[Plain Jane]

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

(Lengthy article in two parts)
France: Post-Pandemic Disaster?

by Tyler Durden
Tue, 06/09/2020 - 03:30
TwitterFacebookRedditEmailPrint


Authored by Guy Millière via The Gatestone Institute,
The coronavirus pandemic in the northern hemisphere seems starting to subside -- perhaps just temporarily.
Many journalists wonder if Italy, one of the eight countries most affected in Western Europe, will leave the EU. Another country of concern is France -- not in great shape.
Although France spends a significant amount on its healthcare (8.6% of France's GDP), the pandemic there has been frighteningly mismanaged. There was a tragic shortage of intensive-care beds: 5,000 for the whole country, compared to Germany's 28,000. There was also, until the end of April, a near-total lack of masks and protective equipment for hospital doctors and caregivers. Further, there was the great lack of an ability to test for the coronavirus. The situation led the government to decide on one of the strictest general lockdowns in Europe. For eight weeks, the French economy, like others, effectively stopped. The results were devastating.


France, before the pandemic, was already in an alarming economic state. For several years, the country's economic growth rate had been barely above zero; the country's central bank had lowered its growth forecast for 2020 to 1.1%. France's unemployment rate was high (8.1%); it had not fallen below 8% for two decades. France was, in addition, paralyzed from any kind of growth by a proliferation of regulations and an omnipresent bureaucracy. The Index of Economic Freedom, published each year by the Heritage Foundation, ranks France number 64 , behind the United Kingdom (7), the Netherlands (14), Germany (27), and far behind formerly communist countries such as Poland (46), Romania (42), Bulgaria (37) or the Czech Republic (23).

France has now entered a deep recession. Economists anticipate that growth at the end of 2020 will be minus 8%. By comparison, the figure given for Germany is minus 6.3%. Many economists seem unsure if, in 2021, growth in France will resume at all. They say the country's rigidities are such that for the country fully to recover, it could take a decade. Although the French government has not published any recent statistics on unemployment, commentators say that one out of two persons working in the private sector is now unemployed. Worse, as a large number of small and medium businesses have gone bankrupt during the pandemic, there is virtually no hope of seeing millions of jobs quickly recreated. Although the French government also has not published any recent statistics on poverty, an increase in unemployment is bound to go hand-in-hand with an increase in poverty.

Before the pandemic, taxes and public spending, the highest in the developed world, also further paralyzed France's economy. The overall tax burden equaled 48.4% of the country's GDP; government spending amounted to 56.5% of the country's GDP. The country's budget deficit was at least 3% a year. To cover its spending, the government, had to borrow; so the country's debt continued to rise. In 2019, it reached 100% of GDP.

During the pandemic, like the governments of other European countries affected, the French government injected tens of billions of euros into the economy, but could rely only partly on the European Central Bank: it remains bound by drastic rules that limit its ability for quantitative easing. France consequently went further into debt; its obligations now are even greater. Financiers estimate that its debt, which has increased by at least 15%, will reach 130% in 2021. The French government cannot increase taxes unless it intends to go from recession to depression, and is unlikely to lower public spending during a time of increased poverty and extremely high unemployment.

France's situation is all the more untenable in that for decades it has been a country of high immigration. France has accepted hundreds of thousands of newcomers -- on average, 400,000 migrants annually. Most have no marketable skills and rely on welfare indefinitely. Among people living on social benefits, the proportion of first-generation immigrants is more than 20% -- double the rest of the population. Even if the French government decided to put an abrupt end to immigration, the weight of unskilled immigrants already present in the country would not disappear.

A crucial factor for the country's future, largely overlooked since the pandemic, is that most of the immigration in France since the 1960s has come from the Muslim world: France is now the European country with the largest number of Muslims in its population. Some estimates were that they consisted of around or 6 million people: 8.8% of the population of roughly 67 million. Other estimates spoke of 10% of the total population, or 6.7 million people. In addition, available data show that the birthrate in Muslim families is higher than in non-Muslim families, further adding to the social and economic impact of the mass-migration. Demographers project that by 2050, the Muslim population in France will double, or possibly increase even more.

Before the pandemic, integrating Muslims into the general population did not seem to be working particularly well. In a survey conducted for the Institute Montaigne in 2016, 29% of French Muslims questioned said that, "Islamic law (sharia) is more important than the law of the Republic"; 65% said that women should wear an Islamic veil and that women who do not wear one are "immodest", and 24% said that modest women should wear the niqab, a veil that also covers the face. The figures for responders under the age of 25 were even higher.

No one is imagining that integration will suddenly work better, and the lack of it has visible effects. Muslim populations are increasingly living apart from the rest of the population. In Muslim neighborhoods, for instance, the lockdown was not respected at all. When journalists asked Muslims why they did not pay attention to the pandemic, they replied that Allah was protecting them and that the sickness only affected infidels.

In the 1980s, districts now officially regarded as "sensitive areas" (zones urbaines sensibles, or "no-go zones") barely existed. Twenty years later, they have become areas where French laws rarely apply. In 2002, the author Georges Bensoussan, defined these areas in his book as The Lost Territories of the Republic. Three years later, the "lost territories" rose up in protest for three weeks and France seemed on the brink of a civil war. Calm returned only thanks to imams to whom the government ceded power. The government told them that the police would no longer intervene where Muslim populations live. In 2017, when Bensoussan published A Submitted France, he said that now the entire country was affected.



There are presently 751 sensitive zones in France. There, gangs reign and the law that is enforced is the law of Islam, sharia. Most of the non-Muslim residents have gone. Doctors enter these areas only under escort. During the last decade, several perpetrators of the jihadist attacks that struck France -- and left 263 dead and many more wounded -- came from these districts. More than 150 mosques there are run by radical imams who incite hatred without the slightest murmur.

Some recent books show that perhaps an exhilarating feeling of supremacy combined with a desire for widespread submission to Islam might be at work. Bernard Rougier, a professor at the University of Paris who recently published a book, The Territories Conquered by Islamism, notes that "Islamist ideologues are doing in France what they did in the Maghreb 30 years ago". Many infiltrate political parties, various associations and sports clubs; make demands and intimidate; gain influence and are finally given their way. The lost territories of the republic, he says, are now "territories ruled by the Islamists".

François Pupponi, the former socialist mayor of Sarcelles, in the northern suburbs of Paris, in his book, The Emirates of the Republic, speaks of a "process of colonization" -- the creeping takeover of entire cities all over the country.

The police, during the pandemic, have been ordered to avoid going into the no-go zones. The government might have feared that if an incident occurred, riots could break out. On April 19, a young man riding a motorcycle at high speed hit the door of a police car near a sensitive zone in a suburb of Paris and was injured: for days, throughout the country, buildings and cars were burned.

 

[Plain Jane]

Part 2

The ubiquitous police checks during the pandemic seemingly forced many of the gangs to suspend their activities. The impoverishment of the country resulting from the lockdown will make drug trafficking less profitable. Police therefore expect in the months to come that the gangs might be more violent.


Social conflicts in France, always present, have become even more frequent since the beginning of the presidency of Emmanuel Macron. For years, almost all public gatherings have ended in riots, car burnings and store lootings. They are not a help.

The country's longest strike in four decades ended the day the lockdown was enacted. For more than six weeks, the movement of people and goods was effectively impossible or extremely slowed. The uprising of the "yellow vests", which began on November 17, 2018, before the long strike, lasted fifty weeks. Macron chose to ignore the claims of the strikers, and instead decided to crush the yellow vests movement by using police violence. Polls in January indicate that he has become the most hated president since the founding of the Fifth Republic in 1958.

When the general lockdown was officially supposed to end on May 11, the French intelligence services told Macron and the government that they feared a large uprising might begin going hand-in-hand with an explosion in gang violence.

Macron apparently then decided to keep the population under tight control. The French were not allowed to travel more than 60 miles from home (the restriction was lifted on June 2). They cannot leave the country without government authorization. Public gatherings of more than ten people are prohibited. Public parks, coffee shops and restaurants are still generally closed. In every city, the police are everywhere and visible. The country seems to be in a state of siege that cannot last indefinitely.

During the lockdown, a law was passed to fine heavily (250,000 euros, $275,000) any social network that published what a judge might consider "hateful." People are also being asked to report to the justice department any suspicious statement they read or hear about. Since schools and high schools have reopened, teachers were invited by the government to listen to the conversations of their students and immediately to report any comment criticizing the government.

There seems no political solution to the situation. Macron, elected in May 2017 when the main French political parties had collapsed, used a fear of "fascism" to defeat Marine Le Pen, president of the rightist National Front party. Macron is unpopular and widely rejected by the French population. His approval rating, which never exceeded 31%, fell to 23%. None of the decisions he made ever stopped the country's decline. The mismanagement of the pandemic in the country was appalling. Yet, he evidently still seems to think that by the next election, in the spring of 2022, he can defeat Marine Le Pen a second time -- she will probably be his main opponent once again -- and glide to an easy victory.

Recent polls, however, suggest that this strategy might not be so easy: it seems Marine Le Pen has been gaining ground.

The present situation, the columnist Ivan Rioufol in Le Figaro suggests, is the result of the "cowardice" of all of the leaders who have ruled the country for decades:

"At the source of French misfortune, there are French traitors who bear French first names. They have been abusing the voters' trust for more than 40 years. They lied about the real state of society and ransacked the country".

"A gunpowder smell spreads over the country," wrote the essayist, Maxime Tandonnet. "Never since the Liberation, even in the worst times, has a team in power been hated so much. The vast majority of the people reject it to a point that is difficult to express. "

He added that he hopes "one or more heroes will emerge from the apocalypse". At the moment, regrettably, no hero is in sight.

 

[Plain Jane]

Greece, Italy sign accord on maritime zones in Ionian Sea

Greece and Italy signed an agreement on maritime boundaries on Tuesday, establishing an exclusive economic zone between the two countries and resolving longstanding issues over fishing rights in the Ionian Sea.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
JUNE 9, 2020 / 4:20 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Greece, Italy to sign deal on maritime zones: foreign affairs ministry


1 MIN READ

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece and Italy will sign an agreement on maritime zones on Tuesday, the country’s foreign affairs ministry said.

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio is expected to meet his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias in Athens around 0900 GMT.

Reporting by Renee Maltezou
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota has sparked protests and riots in many parts of the world. The Main Riot thread is here.

TERRORISM - Riots in Minneapolis (now the main riot thread)

View: https://mobile.twitter.com/EndGameWW3/status/1265441129564168194

www.timebomb2000.com

 

[Plain Jane]

London may remove statues as Floyd's death sparks change

LONDON (AP) — London's mayor announced Tuesday that more statues of imperialist figures could be removed from Britain’s streets after protesters knocked down the monument to a slave trader, as the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis continued to spark protests — and drive change — around the worl

apnews.com

London may remove statues as Floyd’s death sparks change
By JILL LAWLESSyesterday



1 of 18
Demonstrators chant slogans during a rally at Downing Street in London, Tuesday, June 9, 2020. The rally is to commemorate George Floyd whose private funeral takes place in the US on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

LONDON (AP) — London’s mayor announced Tuesday that more statues of imperialist figures could be removed from Britain’s streets after protesters knocked down the monument to a slave trader, as the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis continued to spark protests — and drive change — around the world.

On the day Floyd was buried in his hometown of Houston, Texas, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said he was setting up a commission to ensure the British capital’s monuments reflected its diversity. It will review statues, murals, street art, street names and other memorials and consider which legacies should be celebrated, the mayor’s office said.


“It is an uncomfortable truth that our nation and city owes a large part of its wealth to its role in the slave trade and while this is reflected in our public realm, the contribution of many of our communities to life in our capital has been willfully ignored,” Khan said.

Even before the new commission got underway, officials in east London removed a statue of 18th-century merchant and slave owner Robert Milligan from its place in the city’s docklands.

Joe Biggs, mayor of London’s Tower Hamlets borough, said that following the toppling of a statue of slave trader Edward Colston by demonstrators in the city of Bristol on Sunday, “we’ve acted quickly to both ensure public safety and respond to the concerns of our residents, which I share.”

It was the latest sign that international protests of racial injustice and police violence that Floyd’s May 25 death spurred are already creating change. A white police officer who pressed a knee on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes has been charged with murder.

Statues, as long-lasting symbols of a society’s values, have become a focus of protest around the world.

On Sunday, protesters in Bristol hauled down a statue of Colston, a 17th-century slave trader and philanthropist, and dumped in the city’s harbor.

That act revived calls for Oxford University to remove a statue of Cecil Rhodes, a Victorian imperialist in southern Africa who made a fortune from mines and endowed Oxford University’s Rhodes scholarships.

Several hundred supporters of the Rhodes Must Fall group gathered near the statue at the university’s College on Tuesday, chanting “Take it down” before holding a silent sit-down vigil in the street to memorialize Floyd.

Oxford city officials urged the college to apply for permission to remove the statue so that it could be placed in a museum.


Another large statue of Rhodes that had stood since 1934 was removed from South Africa’s University of Cape Town in April 2015, after a student-led campaign that also urged the university to increase its numbers of black lecturers and to make the curriculum less Eurocentric.

In 2003, the Rhodes Scholarships started a new program in South Africa, the Mandela Rhodes Scholarships in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation. The Rhodes Scholarships continue to operate in South Africa and around the world.

In Antwerp, authorities used a crane on Tuesday to remove a statue of Belgium’s former King Leopold II that had been splattered with red paint by protesters, taking it away for repairs. It was unclear whether it would be re-erected.

Leopold took control of Congo in 1885 and enslaved much of its people to collect rubber, reigning over a brutal regime under which some 10 million Congolese died.

In Edinburgh, Scotland, there are calls to tear down a statue of Henry Dundas, an 18th-century politician who delayed Britain’s abolition of slavery by 15 years.

The leader of Edinburgh City Council, Adam McVey, said he would “have absolutely no sense of loss if the Dundas statue was removed and replaced with something else or left as a plinth.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has acknowledged that it was “a cold reality” that people of color in Britain experienced discrimination, but said those who attacked police or desecrated public monuments should face “the full force of the law.”

Some historical figures have complex legacies. At weekend protests in London, demonstrators scrawled “was a racist” on a statue of Winston Churchill. Britain’s wartime prime minister is revered as the man who led the country to victory against Nazi Germany. But he was also a staunch defender of the British Empire and expressed racist views.

Khan suggested Churchill’s statue should stay up.

“Nobody’s perfect, whether it’s Churchill, whether it’s Gandhi, whether it’s Malcolm X,” he told the BBC, adding that schools should teach children about historical figures “warts and all.”

“But there are some statues that are quite clear-cut,” Khan said. “Slavers are quite clear-cut in my view, plantation owners are quite clear-cut.”

Protests continued Tuesday in cities around the world. In Britain, where more than 200 demonstrations have been held so far, people gathered in London’s Parliament Square for a vigil timed to coincide with Floyd’s funeral.France has seen nationwide protests calling for greater law enforcement accountability, and more demonstrations were being held Tuesday evening.

Floyd’s death has resonated especially strongly in France’s banlieues, or suburbs, where poverty and minority populations are concentrated. Protesters marching in solidarity with U.S. demonstrations over Floyd’s death have also called for justice for Adama Traore, a young man of Malian origin whose death in French police custody in 2016 is still under investigation.

Thousands of people gathered in Paris once again Tuesday evening to denounce police violence in the United States and in France. Participants knelt and observed silence in George Floyd’s memory.

“It’s unacceptable that young people, when they’re in contact with the police, see their life expectancy melt like snow in the sun,” a 42-year-old artist who goes by the professional name Fhemann said.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has met police and citizens’ groups. He said Tuesday that the code of police ethics would be reviewed. The French government has also announced that the chokehold would no longer be taught in police training.

___

This story was first published on June 9, 2020. It was updated on June 10, 2020 to correct that the Rhodes scholarships continue to operate in South Africa.

___

Arno Pedram and Thomas Adamson in Paris, Raf Casert in Brussels and Andrew Meldrum in Johannesburg contributed to this story.

___

Follow all developments and AP stories on global protests against racial injustice and police brutality at George Floyd

 

[Plain Jane]

Germany extends travel warnings for 160 countries – DW – 06/10/2020

Warnings urging against "non-essential travel" to dozens of non-EU countries have been extended until August 31. Within Europe, Germany will lift its border controls on June 15, allowing travelers once again to enter.

www.dw.com

Germany extends travel warnings for 160 countries
Warnings urging against "non-essential travel" to dozens of non-EU countries have been extended until August 31. Within Europe, Germany will lift its border controls on June 15, allowing travelers once again to enter.





The German government extended travel warnings for 160 countries until the end of August on Wednesday, according to a decision reached by the German Cabinet.
The travel warnings, which do not include European Union countries, advises against "non-essential tourist travel" due to the risks posed by the coronavirus.
The Foreign Ministry decision allows for some exceptions to be made for individual countries if the spread of the virus has been curbed.
The decision to lift individual travel warnings will take into consideration the number of new COVID-19 cases, as well as the testing capacity, hygiene rules and the health system capacity in each country.
Repatriation possibilities and safety measures for tourists will also be considered.
Read more: Germany to lift travel ban for European countries on June 15
The non-EU countries listed in the travel warnings include some of the favorite destinations for German travelers, including Turkey.
EU urges end of travel curbs by July
As Germany extended its travel warnings, the European Union simultaneously urged its member states to reopen its external borders to travelers from outside the bloc starting on July 1.

• 

The EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell said that although individual member states can decide on their own restrictions, Brussels plans on recommending "a gradual and partial lifting" of the travel bans.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas issued travel warnings for around 200 countries in mid-March. The government agreed to lift warnings for 31 European countries last week, instead putting in travel guidelines informing tourists about the coronavirus situation in each country.

Germany to end border controls

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer also announced on Wednesday that Germany would relax border controls on June 15, meaning EU citizens will once again be allowed to travel into the country without being stopped.

Controls along Germany's land borders with Switzerland, France, Austria, and Denmark will be lifted on Monday, Seehofer said, adding that the government would reconsider its plans if the COVID-19 situation worsens.

Read more: Quarantine plans raise serious questions for tourism in Ireland and Britain

Flights from Spain will once again be allowed to land in Germany starting on June 21.

Quarantine orders will also largely be lifted, although each of Germany's 16 states can determine its own quarantine regulations. State leaders and the federal government agreed that travelers will have to enter a 14-day quarantine if there are more than 50 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants within a week.

Currently, several German states have quarantine regulations in place for travelers from Sweden due to the rising number of cases.

Since mid-March, citizens and residents of other EU-member states were only permitted to travel into Germany if they met specific requirements, such as traveling for work.

rs/rc (dpa, Reuters, AFP)

 

[Plain Jane]

Police converge at Paris' Arc de Triomphe to protest government line

Dozens of police cars converged at the Arc de Triomphe in central Paris on Saturday in defiance of the government, days after authorities promised "zero tolerance" for racism within law enforcement staff.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
JUNE 13, 2020 / 6:27 PM / UPDATED 10 HOURS AGO
Police converge at Paris' Arc de Triomphe to protest government line

Police officers attend a demonstration against French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner's reforms, including ditching a controversial chokehold method of arrest, following the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, near Arc de Triomphe in Paris,

France, June 13, 2020. Picture taken June 13, 2020. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
PARIS (Reuters) - Dozens of police cars converged at the Arc de Triomphe in central Paris on Saturday in defiance of the government, days after authorities promised “zero tolerance” for racism within law enforcement staff.

BFM television showed dozens of parked vehicles roaring their sirens and flashing blue lights in front of the monument, where intense unrest had taken place in December 2018 at the beginning of the “yellow vests” anti-government protests.

The French police had already marched in protest along Paris’ Champs Elysees boulevard to the interior ministry on Friday.

A wave of anger has swept around the world after the death of George Floyd, an African American who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes while detaining him on May 25.

Floyd’s death sparked debates worldwide over police behaviour and in France in particular, where accusations of brutal and racist treatment of residents of often immigrant background by French police remain largely unaddressed, rights groups said.

Riot police fired tear gas and charged at pockets of violent protesters at an anti-racism rally in central Paris on Saturday.

Reporting by Matthias Blamont; Editing by Richard Chang
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

Yankee go home: What does moving troops out of Germany mean?

For more than a year, President Donald Trump has issued thinly veiled threats that the United States could start pulling troops out of Germany unless the country increases its defense spending to NATO standards.

apnews.com

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Yankee go home: What does moving troops out of Germany mean?
By DAVID RISING59 minutes ago



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FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 27, 2018 file photo, President Donald Trump, center right, and first lady Melania Trump, center left, greet members of the military at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. After more than a year of thinly veiled threats that the United States could start pulling troops out of Germany unless the country increases its defense spending to NATO standards, President Donald Trump appears to be going ahead with the hardball approach with a plan to reduce the American military presence in the country by more than 25 percent. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, file)

BERLIN (AP) — After more than a year of thinly-veiled threats to start pulling U.S. troops out of Germany unless Berlin increases its defense spending, President Donald Trump appears to be proceeding with a hardball approach, planning to cut the U.S. military contingent by more than 25%.

About 34,500 American troops are stationed in Germany — 50,000 including civilian Department of Defense employees — and the plan Trump reportedly signed off on last week envisions reducing active-duty personnel to 25,000 by September, with further cuts possible.

But as details of the still-unannounced plan trickle out, there’s growing concerns it will do more to harm the U.S.’s own global military readiness and the NATO alliance than punish Germany.


The decision was not discussed with Germany or other NATO members, and Congress was not officially informed — prompting a letter from 22 Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee urging a rethink.

“The threats posed by Russia have not lessened, and we believe that signs of a weakened U.S. commitment to NATO will encourage further Russian aggression and opportunism,” Rep. Mac Thornberry of Texas wrote in a joint letter to Trump with his colleagues. Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, slammed it as “another favor” to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But Richard Grenell, who resigned as U.S. ambassador to Germany two weeks ago, told Germany’s Bild newspaper that “nobody should be surprised that Donald Trump is withdrawing troops.”

Grenell, who declined comment for this article, said he and others had been pushing for Germany to increase its defense spending and had talked openly about troop withdrawals since last summer.

“Donald Trump was very clear we want to bring troops home,” he said, adding: “there’s still going to be 25,000 American troops in Germany.”

The suggestion that removing troops will punish Germany, however, overlooks the fact that American troops are no longer primarily there for the country’s defense, said retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, who commanded U.S. Army Europe from 2014 until 2017.

Gone are the days when hundreds of thousands of American troops were ready to fight in the streets of Berlin or rush into the strategic Fulda Gap, through which Soviet armor was poised to push into West Germany during the Cold War.

“The troops and capabilities that the U.S. has deployed in Europe are not there to specifically defend Germany, they are part of our contribution to overall collective stability and security in Europe,” said Hodges, now a strategic expert with the Center for European Policy Analysis, a Washington-based research institute.


American facilities include Ramstein Air Base, a critical hub for operations in the Mideast and Africa and headquarters to the U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Africa; the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, which has saved the lives of countless Americans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan; and the Stuttgart headquarters of both U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command. There’s also the Wiesbaden headquarters of U.S. Army Europe, the Spangdahlem F-16 fighter base, and the Grafenwoehr Training Area, NATO’s largest training facility in Europe.

Hodges said the facilities are a critical part of the American global military footprint.

“What’s lost in all this is the benefit to the United States of having forward deployed capabilities that we can use not only for deterrence ... but for employment elsewhere,” he said. “The base in Ramstein is not there for the U.S. to defend Europe. It’s there as a forward base for us to be able to fly into Africa, the Middle East.”

Trump indicated last summer that he was thinking of moving some troops from Germany to Poland, telling Poland’s President Andrzej Duda during an Oval Office meeting: “Germany is not living up to what they’re supposed to be doing with respect to NATO, and Poland is.”

Duda has been trying to woo more American forces, even suggesting Poland would contribute over $2 billion to create a permanent U.S. base — which he said could be named “Fort Trump.” In the current plan, at least some Germany-based troops are expected to be shifted to Poland.

Following Trump’s comments last June, U.S. Ambassador to Poland Georgette Mosbacher tweeted Aug. 8 that “Poland meets its 2% of GDP spending obligation towards NATO. Germany does not. We would welcome American troops in Germany to come to Poland.”

Grenell then tweeted: “it is offensive to assume that the U.S. taxpayers will continue to pay for more than 50,000 Americans in #Germany, but the Germans get to spend their surplus on #domestic programs.”

In response, Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated Germany’s commitment to “work toward” the 2% NATO defense spending benchmark — a goal it hopes to meet in 2031.

“There is a lot invested here, and I think that we, in very friendly talks, will naturally always continue to heartily welcome these American soldiers, and there are also good reasons for them to be stationed here,” she said.

NATO members agreed at a 2014 summit in Wales to “aim to move toward” spending 2% of GDP on defense. Since then, the year Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula, overall NATO defense spending has grown annually.

Since his election in 2016, Trump has pushed for the 2% as a hard target, and repeatedly singled out Germany as a major offender, though many others are also below the goal.

Current NATO figures put Germany’s estimated defense spending for 2019 at 1.4%, and Poland’s at 2%. In dollar terms, however, Germany committed nearly $54 billion last year — NATO’s third-largest budget after the U.S. and Britain — while Poland spent slightly less than $12 billion.

Germany does need to spend more, Hodges said, but U.S. and NATO interests would be better served if Washington diplomatically pushed Berlin to spend on broader military needs, like transportation infrastructure, cyber protection and air defense, that would be easier for Merkel’s government to justify to a largely pacifist population.

“We don’t need more German tanks, we need more German trains,” he said. “Why not be a little bit more strategic and think about what the alliance really needs from Germany?”

 

[Plain Jane]

Far-right activists scuffle with police by London monuments

Hundreds of far-right activists have scuffled with police in central London’s Parliament Square. Groups including right-wing activists and soccer fans had come to the capital despite strict police restrictions and warnings to stay home to contain the coronavirus.

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Far-right activists scuffle with police by London monuments
By SYLVIA HUIyesterday



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British police officers, left, scuffle with members of far-right groups protesting against a Black Lives Matter demonstration, in central London, Saturday, June 13, 2020. British police have imposed strict restrictions on groups planning to protest in London Saturday in a bid to avoid violent clashes between protesters from the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as far-right groups.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

LONDON (AP) — Far-right activists scuffled with police in central London Saturday, as hundreds gathered to demonstrate despite strict police restrictions and warnings to stay home to contain the coronavirus.

Different groups of right-wing activists and soccer fans descended on the U.K. capital, saying they wanted to guard historical monuments that have been targeted in the last week by anti-racism protesters.

Many gathered around the statue of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the Cenotaph war memorial, which were both boarded up Friday to protect them from vandalism.

Officials put protective panels around the monuments amid fears that far-right activists would seek confrontations with anti-racism protesters under the guise of protecting statues.



Some activists threw bottles and cans at officers, while others tried to push through police barriers. Riot police on horses pushed the crowd back. The protesters, who appeared to be mostly white men, chanted “England” and sang the national anthem.“I am extremely fed up with the way that the authorities have allowed two consecutive weekends of vandalism against our national monuments,” Paul Golding, leader of the far-right group Britain First, told the Press Association.A Black Lives Matter group in London called off a demonstration planned for Saturday, saying the presence of the counter-protesters would make it unsafe.

Some anti-racism demonstrators gathered in smaller numbers at Hyde Park.Monuments around the world have become flash points in demonstrations against racism and police violence after the May 25 death of George Floyd, a black man who died in Minneapolis after a white police officer pressed a knee to his neck.

In Britain, the protests have triggered a national debate about the legacy of empire and its role in the slave trade. A statue of slave trader Edward Colston was hauled from its plinth by protesters in the city of Bristol on Sunday and dumped in the harbor. In London, Churchill’s statue was daubed with the words “was a racist.”Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted Friday that while Churchill “sometimes expressed opinions that were and are unacceptable to us today,” he was a hero and “we cannot now try to edit or censor our past.” Churchill, whose first term spanned 1940-45, has long been revered for his leadership during World War II.

Police have imposed strict restrictions on Saturday’s protests in a bid to avoid violent clashes. Authorities also fenced off other statues in Parliament Square, including memorials to Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincoln.Police Commander Bas Javid urged people not to gather in large groups at all because of the coronavirus. But if they must, he said activists have to stick to the planned route and be off the streets by 5 p.m. or risk arrest.He said that while protesters last weekend were largely peaceful, a minority was “intent on disorder” and that resulted in assaults on police and violent behavior.Dozens were arrested last weekend, and a police horse was pictured bolting past the crowds amid the chaos.

 

[Melodi]

And when they thought no one was looking - here's your UK "Propaganda" piece (in the UK it is perfectly legal for the government to encourage or even plant stories - I can smell um) which is really about a deal to allow GM crops into the UK.

They are very regulated in the EU, they are not illegal but no one buys them because they are on the label and consumers simply refuse to eat them - except for animal feed, which is why we do a lot of homemade animal feed and pay extra for organic when we have to buy commercially.

The pretends to be a "new" and "declared safe" technology but if you read to the bottom it would probably include good old GMO's banned from the UK for nearly 25 years now (for growing anyway).

This affects me because a lot of our food comes from the UK, not to mention the wind won't recognize the northern Irish border either.

What this really is, is BOJO and friends pandering to the demands of the USA when it comes to a trade deal.

Lords seek to allow gene-editing in UK 'to produce healthy, hardier crops'

Changes could herald gluten-free wheat and disease-resistant fruit and vegetables

www.theguardian.com

Lords seek to allow gene-editing in UK 'to produce healthy, hardier crops'
The Observer
Genetics

Changes could introduce gluten-free wheat and disease-resistant fruit and vegetables, say peers
Robin McKie Science Editor
Sun 14 Jun 2020 08.11 BSTLast modified on Sun 14 Jun 2020 08.17 BST
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A field of barley, left, growing alongside a field of wheat in Suffolk. New laws could change the way crops are produced. Photograph: Graham Turner/Alamy


Peers are preparing plans to legalise the gene-editing of crops in England, a move that scientists say would offer the nation a chance to develop and grow hardier, more nutritious varieties. The legislation would also open the door to gene-editing of animals.
The change will be proposed when the current Agriculture Bill reaches its committee stages in the House of Lords next month, and is supported by a wide number of peers who believe such a move is long overdue. At present, the practice is highly restricted by EU regulations.
The plan would involve introducing an amendment to the bill to give the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs the power to make changes to the Environmental Protection Act, alterations that would no longer restrict gene-editing in England. The rest of the UK would need separate legislation.
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Gene-editing of plants and animals is controlled by the same strict European laws that govern genetically modified (GM) organisms. However, scientists say gene-editing is cheaper, faster, simpler, safer and more precise than GM technology.
As they point out, GM technology involves the transfer of entire genes or groups of genes from one species to another while the more recently developed techniques of gene-editing merely involve making slight changes to existing genes in a plant or animal and are considered to be just as safe as traditional plant breeding techniques.
“Early benefits for UK agriculture could include gluten-free wheat, disease-resistant sugar beet and potatoes that are even healthier than those that we have now,” said plant scientist Professor David Baulcombe of Cambridge University.
This enthusiasm is also shared by peers who have argued that the wide use of gene editing of crops could give the nation a key advantage in agriculture and in the food industry after Brexit.

Peers have argued gene editing could give the nation a key advantage after Brexit

“I would like [to send] a clear message in this bill that we will move forward to allow gene editing in our research programmes,” said Lord Cameron during last week’s reading of the bill. “This is a way of speeding up the natural methods of farm breeding to ensure that we can improve the environmental and nutritional outcomes of feeding our ever-expanding human population.”

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And there was clear evidence that the government would also be sympathetic to such a move. “On gene editing, the government agrees that the EU approach is unscientific,” said Lord Gardiner, who was responding for the government.
By freeing gene-editing from the expensive restrictions imposed by the EU on the growing of GM plants it will also be possible for small and medium-sized enterprises to set up new projects, say supporters.
At present only major corporations can pay the costs of the rigorous trials required when growing GM plants. “We are looking for a brighter, greener, more innovative future, and this bill helps farmers produce that,” said Conservative peer Lord Dobbs last week.

We’ve never had a better chance …

 

[Plain Jane]

Irish parties plan to sign coalition deal on Monday

Irish political parties Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Greens will sign a deal on Monday on the formation of a new coalition government, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said after talks on Sunday aimed at ending four months of political deadlock.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
JUNE 14, 2020 / 5:46 AM / UPDATED 9 HOURS AGO
Irish parties plan to sign coalition deal on Monday

Padraic Halpin
3 MIN READ

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish political parties Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Greens will sign a deal on Monday on the formation of a new coalition government, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said after talks on Sunday aimed at ending four months of political deadlock.

The talks will resume on Monday morning to resolve the final issues, negotiators for the three parties told reporters. Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said it was just a matter of “crossing the ‘t’s” in the proposed policy programme.

“We’ve had good progress made, so we’re going to sign off tomorrow on it,” Martin said. “We’re nearly there.”


Martin, whose party has 37 seats in the 160-seat parliament after the closely fought February election, is widely expected to take over as prime minister from Leo Varadkar, whose Fine Gael party has 35 seats, if the deal is ratified by grassroot members of each party.

Martin and Varadkar are then expected to rotate the role during the government’s five-year term.

The policy programme includes plans for a July stimulus package for sectors most impacted by the coronavirus shutdown of the economy such as hospitality and the arts, a source involved in the talks told Reuters. A more comprehensive national recovery plan will follow alongside the budget in October.

The parties will also set up a unit in the prime minister’s office to oversee all-island co-operation with British-run Northern Ireland, the source said. That stops short of Fianna Fail’s election plan that such a unit would study how Dublin should approach the handling of an Irish unity referendum.

Historic rivals Fianna Fail and Fine Gael need the Greens’ 12 seats to command a majority in the fractured parliament that cannot pass any new laws, including those needed to uphold a 6.5 billion euro ($7.3 billion) package of support measures for coronavirus-hit businesses, until a new government is formed.

Any agreement would have to be ratified by rank and file members from each party, with the smaller Greens requiring two-thirds support, a higher bar than the larger parties and which could yet scupper the deal.

Reporting by Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky, Peter Cooney and Diane Craft
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

Armed French police sent into Dijon to quell ethnic gang violence

Armed police were sent into a suburb of Dijon in eastern France to restore order after score-settling between rival gangs resulted in a fourth night of street violence.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
JUNE 16, 2020 / 1:37 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Youths set fire to vehicles in French city of Dijon, police called in


2 MIN READ

PARIS (Reuters) - Youths set fire to vehicles and dustbins in the French city of Dijon overnight, in a fourth night of trouble in the city that led to French police intervening to restore order.

Clashes have broken out in recent months amid some of the high-rise, low-income housing estates across France as strict lockdown rules imposed earlier to tackle the coronavirus exacerbated social tensions.

Interior security minister Laurent Nunez is due to go to Dijon on Tuesday to monitor the situation, while farming minister Didier Guillaume said the violence was “unacceptable”.

“It’s a lot, it is too much. We cannot accept this,” Guillaume told C News TV.
Local French media said violence had broken out initially over the weekend between rival gangs of youths.

The events of the last few days in the Gresilles district of Dijon, where there had been gatherings of youths which had led to vehicles and dustbins set on fire, only leads to more insecurity and worries for the local population, following on from the events of the weekend,” the local police force said in a statement late on Monday on Twitter.

The police added they were prepared to bring in more forces to Dijon, if necessary.

Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Jean-Stephane Brosse; Editing by Michael Perry and Himani Sarkar
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

Spain may quarantine British tourists, minister tells BBC

Spain is considering imposing a quarantine on British travellers when it reopens its borders next week, in response to a similar policy at London's end, its foreign minister said.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
JUNE 16, 2020 / 4:01 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Spain may quarantine UK visitors, foreign minister tells BBC


2 MIN READ

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain is considering imposing a quarantine on visitors from Britain when it re-opens its borders next week, Spain’s Foreign Minister said, in response to a similar policy introduced last week for travellers to Britain.

Arancha Gonzalez Laya told the BBC she hoped Britain would lift its restriction, making a reciprocal Spanish one unnecessary.

“We will be in a dialogue with the UK to see whether or not we should be introducing reciprocity as they have different measures than the rest of the European Union,” she said in an advance excerpt from current affairs programme HARDtalk.

Britain, with more than 41,000 documented coronavirus-linked deaths, and Spain, with more than 27,000, have been two of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic.


Both, along with other European countries, are in the process of easing lockdown restrictions that have included border closures.

Spanish officials gave no mention of any quarantine curbs on Sunday, when the government moved forward the date for allowing European visitors back into the country to June 21 from July 1.

In recent weeks, Spain has caused some confusion in neighbouring countries by repeatedly changing the date and conditions for lifting the ban on foreign visitors it imposed in March in response to the epidemic.

Spain counts on tourism for about 12 percent of its economy and more than one in eight jobs, making it essential for the country to try and salvage some of the summer holiday season.

Britain’s Finance Minister Rishi Sunak told Sky News on Sunday that the quarantine was among measures it would review, saying the government could make changes including introducing travel corridors with specific countries.

Spain’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reporting by Inti Landauro and Ingrid Melander; editing by John Stonestreet
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

Pilot of US Air Force jet that crashed in North Sea is dead

LONDON (AP) — The pilot of a fighter jet that crashed into the North Sea, off the coast of northern England, has been found dead, the U.S. Air Force said Monday.

apnews.com

Pilot of US Air Force jet that crashed in North Sea is dead
By DANICA KIRKAyesterday


LONDON (AP) — The pilot of a fighter jet that crashed into the North Sea, off the coast of northern England, has been found dead, the U.S. Air Force said Monday.

In a statement hours after the crash, it said “the pilot of the downed F-15C Eagle from the 48th Fighter Wing has been located, and confirmed deceased.”

It said this is a “tragic loss” for the 48th Fighter wing community and sent condolences to the pilot’s family.

The name of the pilot will not be released until all next of kin notifications have been made.

Earlier, rescuers found the wreckage of the jet that was on a routine training mission from RAF Lakenheath when it crashed at 9:40 a.m. The cause of the crash wasn’t immediately clear.


Britain’s coast guard located wreckage from the downed fighter, and recovery efforts were underway, the U.S. Air Force said in a statement.

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Coast guard officials said in a statement that they received reports the plane went down 74 nautical miles off Flamborough Head on the Yorkshire coast.

A helicopter and lifeboats were deployed.

“Other vessels nearby are heading to the area,” the coast guard said in a statement.

Lakenheath is a Royal Air Force base that hosts the U.S. Air Force’s 48th Fighter Wing, known as the Liberty Wing. The base is about 80 miles (130 kilometers) northeast of London.

The wing has more than 4,500 active-duty military members.


https://apnews.com/325e14c77f6f3bf516778635c4fd8228

 

[Plain Jane]

EU, US display differences over Serbia-Kosovo negotiation

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo’s president on Tuesday hailed the United States for its leadership role in negotiations to normalize ties with its former wartime foe Serbia.

apnews.com

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EU, US display differences over Serbia-Kosovo negotiation
By SYLEJMAN KLLOKOQItoday


PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo’s president on Tuesday hailed the United States for its leadership role in negotiations to normalize ties with its former wartime foe Serbia. But differences emerged between the Trump administration’s envoy and European officials on who should lead the talks.

U.S. envoy Richard Grenell has invited officials from Kosovo and Serbia to meet at the White House on June 27 in hopes of boosting their talks after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. The invitation came as the new European Union envoy for the negotiations, Miroslav Lajcak, arrived in Kosovo on Tuesday.
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Grenell oversaw an agreement in February under which Kosovo and Serbia vowed to reopen road and rail links to boost economic cooperation before resolving their longtime animosity.

“If either side is unsatisfied with the June 27 discussions then they will go back to the status quo after they leave Washington,” Grenell tweeted. “We must first make progress on growing the economies.”

It wasn’t immediately clear if Europe and the United States are coordinating efforts toward urging Serbia and Kosovo to reach a deal. The EU and the U.S. have formally the same goal of resolving one of the last hotspots in Europe after a bloody 1998-1999 war and a NATO intervention to stop a bloody Serb crackdown against Kosovo Albanian separatists.

EU spokesman Peter Stano said the bloc has been facilitating the dialogue from the start in 2011 and would continue to keep that leading role.

“Whatever might be agreed on the sides we’ll feed into the EU-facilitated dialogue because this is the main platform for both Serbia and Kosovo to get closer to their final agreement,” he said.

Lajcak said in Pristina on Tuesday that his focus is on the EU-mediated talks to resume in Brussels very soon.

Lajcak said at a joint news conference with Kosovo President Hashim Thaci that his mandate was very clear “to help achieve a comprehensive legally binding agreement between Kosovo and Serbia that will normalize relations, that will solve all the outstanding issues once and for(backslash)ever, that will be acceptable to the countries of the region and the EU member states.”

“Everything that has been achieved in the dialogue was the result of the very close and joint work of the EU and the U.S. and this is exactly our ambition to continue,” Lajcak said.

Thaci didn’t hide that he favored Washington’s leadership role in the talks.
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“Kosovo has always trusted the U.S. and has come out victorious,” Thaci said at a news conference earlier. “This time the U.S. has taken the leadership role, which we welcome.”

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he or the prime minister would be at the Washington summit, insisting that potential recognition of Kosovo by Serbia won’t be on its agenda. Kosovo, on the other hand, insists bilateral recognition of its independence from Serbia can be the only outcome of the dialogue.

Vucic said that while he accepted Grenell’s invitaiton, the visit to the Washington talks aren’t meant to undermine the EU mediation effort.

“It’s important that in the battle of elephants we remain unhurt,” Vucic said, referring to the apparent differences that emerged between the U.S. and German officials over mediation of the talks. “We’re not going to fight with Germany or America.”

Wolfgang Ischinger, a former German ambassador to the U.S., said the Washington summit wasn’t coordinated with the EU and called for a reaction from Berlin, Paris and Brussels.

Kosovo was part of Serbia until an armed uprising by the ethnic Albanian majority population in 1998-1999 triggered a bloody Serb crackdown. This in turn prompted a NATO bombing campaign against Serbia to force its troops out of Kosovo.

Belgrade refuses to recognize Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence.

EU-facilitated negotiations between Pristina and Belgrade stalled in November 2018 after Kosovo set a 100% tariff on Serb goods. In April, the tariff was lifted by Kosovo’s previous prime minister, but it was replaced with other measures that irritated Serbia.

Kosovo’s new prime minister, Avdullah Hoti, has lifted all those obstacles, a move which was hailed by Vucic as opening the way to resuming talks.

——-

Llazar Semini in Tirana, Albania, Samuel Petrequin in Brussels, and Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia, contributed to this story.

 

[Plain Jane]

Russia starts early voting on reform extending Putin's rule

Early voting on the constitutional reform that would allow President Vladimir Putin to stay in power until 2036 has kicked off in Russia, with election officials travelling to remote areas and bringing ballots to residents who don’t have access to polling stations.

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Russia starts early voting on reform extending Putin’s rule
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Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, listens to Federal Security Service (FSB) director Alexander Bortnikov, back to a camera, during their meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, June 16, 2020. (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s far eastern region of Kamchatka has kicked off early voting on the constitutional reform that would allow President Vladimir Putin to stay in power until 2036, with election officials travelling to remote areas and bringing ballots to residents who don’t have access to polling stations.

Early voting on the reform has been officially allowed since June 10 — 20 days ahead of the vote scheduled for July 1 — with many regions starting the process this week.

Kamchatka election officials traveled to deer herder settlements, remote weather stations and divisions of the country’s Pacific Fleet on Monday and Tuesday. Footage showed officials in hazmat suits traveling by helicopter to several remote locations with a small ballot box and residents filling out ballots.


Some 60 people out of 2,000 residents of remote areas have already voted, Inga Irinina, head of Kamchatka’s regional election commission, told The Associated Press.

This week early voting has also kicked off in a number regions of Russia’s Siberia, the Ural mountains and the far north of the country.

After proposing a sweeping constitutional reform earlier this year, Putin insisted on putting it to a nationwide vote even though it wasn’t legally required. The plebiscite was initially scheduled for April 22, but was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Rescheduling the vote for July 1 has still elicited public health concerns, because Russia is reporting over 8,000 new virus cases daily and remains the third hardest-hit country in the world.

The Kremlin has repeatedly dismissed these concerns, saying that Russia was able to slow down the epidemic and assuring people that all the necessary measures will be taken to ensure the safety of the voters.

In one measure that aimed to avoid crowds on voting day, polling stations will open a week ahead of the vote, on June 25 through to June 30. Kremlin critics fear the move will hinder independent monitoring of the election.

___

Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and Understanding the Outbreak

 

[northern watch]

EU Moves to Shrink Chinese, U.S. Influence in Its Economy; Proposals aim to prevent foreign companies that have received state aid from acquiring European companies

Wednesday, June 17, 2020, 9:24 AM ET
By Valentina Pop
Wall Street Journal

BRUSSELS—The European Union plans to tighten its defenses against subsidized foreign companies, marking a sharp increase in the bloc's effort to assert "strategic autonomy" from China and the U.S. while defending its economic interests.

The European Commission , the EU 's executive body and top antitrust enforcer, on Wednesday outlined options to redress what it described as market distortions stemming from state-subsidized foreign firms. The proposals aim to prevent foreign companies that have received significant grants, loans, tax credits or other forms of state aid from acquiring European companies or competing with them for certain contracts inside the EU .

Many observers see the action as aimed at state-owned Chinese companies, but it could also affect U.S. rivals of European companies.

The proposed restrictions were put forward after several European countries, including France, Germany and Italy, tightened their foreign-investment scrutiny in a bid to protect companies reeling from the coronavirus-induced economic crisis from being scooped up by Chinese and U.S. investors . The proposals also fit changing attitudes in the EU over the past year toward China, which the bloc has labeled an economic and political rival.

"We need the right tools to ensure that foreign subsidies do not distort our market," said European Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager , in charge of competition and digital policy. "It's not because Europe is free of state aid, but it's because we have transparency and control [of subsidies]," Ms. Vestager said. "When it comes to foreign subsidies, we have no control."

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the bloc's reliance on Chinese imports in the medical sector, with countries scrambling for masks and medical devices and even taking the unprecedented step of temporarily banning exports to other European nations to keep their own hospitals supplied. This has prompted a rethink of investment policies in Europe. "The level playing field in the single market is at the heart of this initiative and will help our companies operate and compete globally and thus promote the EU 's open strategic autonomy," said Thierry Breton , the EU 's internal market commissioner.

The commission on Monday took the unprecedented step of slapping punitive tariffs on Chinese exporters based outside mainland China. Two Egyptian subsidiaries of glass-fiber producers China Jushi Co. Ltd. and Zhejiang Hengshi Fiberglass Fabrics Co. Ltd. were found to have received state subsidies to undercut European competitors.

EU officials insist that the new tools don't target one country or one single type of subsidy. China's subsidies to its own companies will be scrutinized in the same way as the financial aid—such as loan guarantees— that U.S. companies benefit from, the bloc's officials said.

Under the new proposals, the commission envisages cooperating with EU national competition authorities to scrutinize any foreign companies potentially relying on state aid to undercut their European competitors. If market distortions are found, companies can be ordered to repay the subsidies, sell assets or open access to a licensed technology to European competitors. Both national authorities and the commission would have the power to request documents and fine noncompliant companies.

Extra scrutiny would also be directed toward the role of subsidies in acquisitions, on top of existing merger rules and foreign investment screening. This could potentially complicate companies' plans to buy European assets, as it would add an extra layer of notification requirements for acquisitions.

The new proposals state that any company that in the three years before the acquisition received any type of state aid outside the EU would have to notify that to the European Commission , which would then decide whether the transaction can proceed and if any conditions such as divesting assets should be imposed. The notification requirement would apply for transactions over €100 million ($112 million) and the commission leaves open the possibility for it to be triggered also for acquisitions of stakes less than an outright takeover.

"This is highly controversial," said Jay Modrall, a partner specialized in competition with Norton Rose Fulbright LLP . "It's not obvious how this will work, on top of merger and FDI rules," he said, referring to foreign direct investment.

A third area of scrutiny would apply to public procurement, where the commission seeks to "fill a regulatory gap" currently allowing foreign state-backed companies to win public tenders with bids below those of European competitors. The scrutiny would cover national and EU-funded projects.

One EU official said a wake-up call was the awarding in 2018 to state-owned China Road and Bridge Corp . an EU-funded contract to build a $500 million-bridge in Croatia. Losing EU bidders challenged the award in court but lost.

"We're trying to prevent this from happening again," the official said. Under the proposal, national regulators would have the power to ban heavily-subsidized companies that undercut their EU rivals from ongoing and future tenders for a certain period.

The proposals are still subject to approval by national governments, but several capitals, including Paris, Berlin, Warsaw and Rome in recent weeks have formulated similar ideas, suggesting that agreement on the new rules might come soon, with the commission planning to put forward legislation next year.

Some countries welcomed the proposals but called for them to go even further. Mona Keijzer, Dutch state secretary for economic affairs, said that she sees room for improvement, "for instance via more extensive and stricter oversight on companies that have an unregulated, dominant position in their home markets."

Mr. Modrall noted that in 2017, the commission took a very cautious approach in proposing an FDI screening framework that saw only a coordinating role for the commission when governments scrutinize acquisitions of strategic assets by Chinese and other foreign entities. "This seems to be a second bite at the apple regarding FDI screening," Mr. Modrall said.

"It's reflective of how the political climate has changed since."

Write to Valentina Pop at valentina.pop@wsj.com

EU Moves to Shrink Chinese, U.S. Influence in Its Economy

The European Union plans to tighten its defenses against subsidized foreign companies, marking a sharp increase in the bloc’s effort to assert “strategic autonomy” from China and the U.S. while defending its economic interests.

www.wsj.com

 

[Plain Jane]

Elite French police arrest five Chechens after Dijon gang violence

France's elite 'RAID' police unit has arrested five Chechens after four nights of gang violence in the city of Dijon, the public prosecutor's office and a police source said on Thursday.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
JUNE 18, 2020 / 3:08 AM / A MINUTE AGO
Elite French police arrest five Chechens after Dijon gang violence

PARIS (Reuters) - France’s elite ‘RAID’ police unit has arrested five Chechens after four nights of gang violence in the city of Dijon, the public prosecutor’s office and a police source said on Thursday.

Trouble first broke out late on Friday when about 100 Chechen youths from across France came to the Dijon suburb of Gresilles to avenge an attack on a Chechen teenager.

Armed police moved in to restore order as the violence spread between rival gangs, authorities said.

Clashes have broken out in recent months in a number of high-rise, low-income housing estates across France, where the strict lockdown rules imposed to tackle the coronavirus have exacerbated social tensions.

Dijon prosecutor Eric Mathias cited allegations that the Chechens had issued a nationwide call for retaliation against the Maghreb community in Gresilles on social media, after blaming them for the initial attack on the Chechen teenager.

Reporting by Myriam Rivet, Jean-Michel Belot, Caroline Pailliez and Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Timothy Heritage
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

The dark legacy of sexual liberation in Germany – DW – 06/17/2020

Pedophiles in the guise of foster fathers — with vulnerable young boys in their care: The Kentler Project was just one manifestation of a perverted notion of Germany's sexual liberation that goes back to the 1960s.

www.dw.com

The dark legacy of sexual liberation in Germany
Pedophiles in the guise of foster fathers — with vulnerable young boys in their care: The Kentler Project was just one manifestation of a perverted notion of Germany's sexual liberation that goes back to the 1960s.





"Our lives have been ruined," says Marco. He is one of the victims of the Kentler Project, which placed homeless children with pedophile men for decades.

Marco is now 40, but you would not guess it. There are no signs, either, of the traumatic experiences he went through, beginning when he was just nine years old. From that age on, he was at the mercy of a pedophile foster father, who sexually abused him over a number of years.

What makes Marco's story, and that of many others, all the more shocking is that the Berlin authorities who were responsible for the welfare of the youngster apparently looked the other way and ignored evidence of the abuse he was suffering or, worse still, tacitly accepted what was going on.

"You can never really get over it," adds Sven, who was sent to live with the same foster father, Fritz H, a man with a criminal record.

The violence and the abuse they went through have left Sven and Marco with a profound sense of hurt. Both have struggled in later life. Both are dependent on state welfare payments.

Under the cover of academic interest
But they have not given up in their fight — a fight to see those responsible for their suffering finally being brought to justice. That will not, however, include Fritz H; The former foster father died in 2015.

Read more: German authorities overwhelmed by the increase in child abuse
Marco and Sven standing in the bright light and warm afternoon sun, in front of a restaurant in the central Berlin district of Mitte, have just attended a press conference that they hoped would at last cast some light on the structures behind the torment for so long inflicted on them and other young boys.

A team of researchers from the University of Hildesheim had published a report commissioned by Berlin's Department for Education, Youth and Family. It is the same department that had been responsible for protecting Marco and Sven.

The researchers were given access to files relating to what was called Foster Home Fritz H. It was here that Marco, Sven, and eight other boys and youths were placed in the years from 1973 to 2003. The youngsters were put into the care of Fritz H. by Berlin's youth welfare offices.

'Do you love children more than you'd like to?' — Berlin's Charite launched a campaign encouraging pedophiles to seek help.

Abuse disguised as sexual liberation
In Germany in the 1960s, people in some circles viewed sex with children not as a taboo but as progressive.

One key figure behind such thinking was the Berlin-based psychology professor Helmut Kentler. Today, it is clear that he was nothing less than a matchmaker for pedophiles. But for a long time, he was widely viewed as a visionary and one of Germany's most prominent sexologists, or sex experts.

His books on education sold well, and he was a popular expert and commentator on radio and TV. His theory of "emancipating sexual education" was based on the premise that children are also sexual beings who have are right to express their sexuality.

Liberating children's sexuality from repressive moral strictures would help to unleash energies that would in turn lead to political protest and the true democratization of German society that Kentler believed was still necessary.

Rising up against outdated moral values
During the late 1960s, a new young generation of Germans began to ask what exactly their parents and grandparents had got up to during the Nazi Third Reich.

Read more: '68 movement brought lasting changes to German society
All traditional and authoritarian moral values were subjected to critical scrutiny. The utopia of a free and unshackled society was shared by many. In this potent mood of social liberation, the previously unthinkable became thinkable: It was suddenly acceptable, it seemed, for pedophiles to indulge their sexuality with young children.
Among those that struggled to come to terms with the dark legacy of all that 1968 stood for is Germany's environmentalist Green party.

In their early days four decades ago, they even considered advocating the abolition of Paragraph 176 of the German Criminal Code, which criminalized sexual activity with children below the age of 14.

Five years later, the Greens in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia even agreed to push for the legalization of sex between adults and children as long as it was "consensual."
Abuse was also systematic at one of West Germany's most "progressive" schools: the Odenwald boarding school in the southwestern state of Hesse. As many as 900 pupils were victims of sexual abuse in the three decades from 1966 to 1989.

There is a link between the Odenwaldschule and the Kentler project: In both cases, it was Berlin's youth welfare offices that had sent what were seen as "difficult boys" to a place where they would suffer systematic abuse.

Exposed and abandoned

The current report from the University of Hildesheim has not been able to find out precisely how many youngsters were exposed to pedophile foster fathers in Berlin and West Germany. Instead, it has focussed on Foster Home H.

In an official report from 1988, Kentler gave a detailed account of how his "experiment" worked. Beginning in 1969, homeless boys were turned over to pedosexual "caretakers" for — as the perfidious system would have it — their mutual benefit. Kentler proudly commented on how he "succeeded in winning the backing of responsible local authority employees."

Read more:'If I'm attracted to children, I must be a monster'

But the vulnerable boys were not just turned over to "pedophile caretakers." The Hildesheim report is clear: "Evidence so far gathered shows that the care homes were, in fact, men living alone, often powerful and influential men (…) from academic life, research organizations and other educational contexts."

The report points to what is described as a "network" that included everything from academic facilities to state welfare offices. Under Helmut Kentler's influence, pedophile tendencies were tolerated and defended. He, too, will never be brought to justice. Kentler died in 2008.

Sandra Scheeres is the current Berlin senator responsible for the Kentler case. She has been outspoken in expressing her sympathy for the victims and condemnation of crimes she calls, "simply unimaginable." Although the statute of limitations for these crimes has expired, Scheeres has promised financial compensation for the suffering.

For Marco and Sven, it is all too little, too late. After all they say, one man suspected of having been involved in the system of abuse – the former head of a youth welfare office, is still alive. So far, though, there has been no investigation. As Marco puts it: "They didn't want anybody to be named. And they have achieved their goal. They've defended the system."

 

[Plain Jane]

NATO to probe France-Turkey Med naval incident

NATO's chief says the military alliance will investigate an incident between French and Turkish warships in the Mediterranean.

apnews.com

NATO to probe France-Turkey Med naval incident
By LORNE COOKyesterday



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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a video conference of NATO Defense Minister at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, June 17, 2020. NATO Defense Ministers began two days of video talks focused on deterring Russian aggression and a US decision to withdraw thousands of troops from Germany. (Francois Lenoir, Pool Photo via AP)

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that the military alliance would investigate an incident between Turkish warships and a French naval vessel in the Mediterranean, as France accused Turkey of repeated violations of the U.N. arms embargo on conflict-torn Libya and branded Ankara an obstacle to securing a cease-fire there.

According to a French defense official, the frigate Courbet was “lit up” three times by Turkish naval targeting radar when it tried to approach a Turkish civilian ship suspected of involvement in arms trafficking. The ship was being escorted by three Turkish warships. The Courbet backed off after being targeted.



The French frigate was part of NATO’s naval operation in the Mediterranean, Sea Guardian, at the time of the June 10 incident. France claims that under the alliance’s rules of engagement such conduct is considered a hostile act. Turkey has denied harassing the Courbet.

“We have made sure that NATO military authorities are investigating the incident to bring full clarity into what happened,” Stoltenberg told reporters after chairing a video meeting between NATO defense ministers, where he said the issue was addressed by several participants.

“I think that’s the best way now to deal with that, clarify what actually happened,” he added.

In remarks to a French Senate committee, Defense Minister Florence Parly said that eight NATO member countries are supporting Paris over the incident, which she described as “serious and unacceptable.”

In a statement prior to the NATO meeting, the French foreign ministry took aim at Ankara, saying that “the main obstacle to the establishment of peace and stability in Libya today lies in the systematic violation of the U.N. arms embargo, in particular by Turkey, despite the commitments made in Berlin” talks early this year.

The European Union has a naval operation in the Mediterranean aimed helping to enforce the embargo, but Turkey, a NATO member whose efforts to join the EU have stalled, suspects that it is too one-sided, focusing on the internationally recognized Libyan administration in Tripoli, which Turkey supports.

Asked whether the 30 members of the military alliance should respect the arms embargo, Stoltenberg said that “NATO of course supports the implementation of U.N. decisions, including U.N. arms embargoes.”

Libya has been in turmoil since 2011, when a NATO-backed uprising toppled leader Moammar Gadhafi, who was later killed. The country has since been split between rival administrations in the east and the west, each backed by armed groups and different foreign governments.

The government in Tripoli led by Fayez Sarraj is backed not just by Turkey, which sent troops and mercenaries to protect the capital in January, but also Italy and Qatar. Rival forces under the command of Khalifa Hifter, who launched an offensive on Tripoli last year, are supported by France, Russia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and other key Arab countries.

“Turkey’s support for the government of national accord’s offensive goes directly against the efforts to secure a ceasefire, which we support,” the French ministry said. “This support is aggravated by the hostile and unacceptable actions of Turkish naval forces toward NATO allies, which is aimed at undermining efforts taking place to uphold the U.N. arms embargo.”

“This conduct, like all foreign interference in the Libyan conflict, must cease,” it warned.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is trying to secure NATO’s support for Europe’s own naval effort, Operation Irini, possibly in part to avoid such incidents in the future, but diplomats and officials have said that Turkey is likely to block any such move.

Borrell, who took part in the NATO video meeting, said Wednesday that he hopes an EU-NATO “cooperation agreement can be set up” shortly, because helping to enforce the arms embargo is in the security interests of both organizations.

Asked Wednesday what the response might be, Stoltenberg said “we are looking into possible support, possible cooperation, but no decision has been taken. There is dialogue, contacts, addressing that as we speak.”

Borrell has highlighted some of the challenges the EU naval operation faces. He said its personnel tried to make contact last week with a “suspicious” Tanzanian-flagged cargo ship that was being escorted by two Turkish warships. He said the ship refused to respond, but its Turkish escorts said the cargo was medical equipment bound for Libya.

The EU operation tried to verify the information with Turkish and Tanzanian authorities, and reported the incident to the United Nations, but there was nothing more it could do, he said.

___

Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

 

[Plain Jane]

Official: German slaughterhouse virus outbreak untenable

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's agriculture minister said Thursday that conditions at a slaughterhouse where hundreds of workers tested positive for COVID-19 were untenable and backed an official investigation into the outbreak.

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Official: German slaughterhouse virus outbreak untenable
By FRANK JORDANSyesterday



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A member of the security walks in front of the Toennies meatpacking plant, Europe's biggest slaughterhouse, in Rheda-Wiedenbrueck, Germany, Thursday, June 18, 2020. Hundreds of new COVID-19 cases are linked to a large meatpacking plant, officials ordered the closure of the slaughterhouse, as well as isolation and tests for everyone else who had worked at the Toennies site — putting about 7,000 people under quarantine. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s agriculture minister said Thursday that conditions at a slaughterhouse where hundreds of workers tested positive for COVID-19 were untenable and backed an official investigation into the outbreak.

Authorities in the western region of Guetersloh said that 730 people at the Toennies Group meatpacking plant in Rheda-Wiedenbrueck had tested positive for the new coronavirus, an increase of 73 since Wednesday.

“Hundreds of infections in one plant. These conditions aren’t tenable,” Agriculture Minister Julia Kloeckner said in a statement. She added it was right for officials in North Rhine-Westphalia state, where the plant is located, to have launched a probe into the source of the infections.


Following a series of earlier coronavirus clusters at abattoirs, the German government pledged to crack down on the practice of using subcontractors, who often hire migrant workers and house them in cramped accommodation. But some lawmakers have warned of the risk that jobs might move abroad.

Coronavirus outbreaks have also affected meatpacking plants in other countries, including in the United States. The United Food and Commercial Workers union said recently that at least 44 slaughterhouse workers in the U.S. have died from the virus and another 3,000 have tested positive.

Labor campaigners said the outbreak at one of Germany’s biggest slaughterhouses, which employs about 7,000 people, showed the need for change.

“It’s no coincidence that the Toennies slaughterhouse has become the next hot spot of coronavirus infections,” said Freddy Adjan, the deputy chairman of the NGG union that represents workers in the food and drinks industry.

Adjan said workers employed by subcontractors face “catastrophic working and living conditions.”

“This sick system needs to finally end,” Adjan said. “The government’s decision that includes a ban on contract work needs to be fully implemented in the legislative process.”

Toennies has said the outbreak could be linked to recent travel by workers, especially from Eastern Europe, after borders started to reopen.

But experts questioned whether such a large outbreak — resulting in more cases than the entire country normally reports in a day — could have been caused by travel alone.


“The working conditions in slaughterhouses don’t seem to be very compatible with the currently required hygiene measures,” said Isabella Eckerle, who heads the center for emerging viral diseases at the University of Geneva.

“In my view the large number of (infected) employees indicates an undetected ‘super-spreading event’ in the company that has been going on for some time,” she said.

A spokesman for the company, Andre Vielstaedte, said conditions in the areas where carcasses are carved up could also have played a role, saying temperatures are “5 to 12 degrees Celsius (41 to 54 degrees Fahrenheit) in a humid atmosphere where aerosols are formed and the virus can then spread through the air.”

Karl-Josef Laumann, the health minister for North Rhine-Westphalia, said the scale the outbreak at Toennies was “intense,” noting that about two-thirds of all tests had come back positive so far.

“Of course I’m a bit worried about what will turn up when we test the other 6,000 in the next days,” he said.

Officials said a further 10 people from southeastern and Eastern Europe had also tested positive in Guetersloh county, though they didn’t work at the meat plant.

The region has asked the German army to assist in the mass testing of further slaughterhouse workers.

Meanwhile, dozens of parents protested the decision to close schools and child care centers in the county because of the outbreak.

Germany’s daily reported number of infections rose back above 500 for the first time in a week Thursday. While the figure didn’t yet include the cases from Guetersloh, it did capture about 100 infections reported from an apartment building in the central German city of Goettingen.

Germany has recorded almost 190,000 cases of COVID-19 and 8,868 deaths since the outbreak began, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

___

Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and Understanding the Outbreak
https://apnews.com/7267abcb991ec5210f85aa03eb7ed433

 

[Plain Jane]

France's Macron orders review into 'pressure' on former rival's legal case

French President Emmanuel Macron ordered on Friday a top judicial oversight body to review potential pressure on a prosecutor in a case targeting one of his former rivals in the presidential election that brought him to power.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
JUNE 19, 2020 / 6:45 PM / UPDATED 11 HOURS AGO
France's Macron orders review into 'pressure' on former rival's legal case

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron ordered on Friday a top judicial oversight body to review potential pressure on a prosecutor in a case targeting one of his former rivals in the presidential election that brought him to power.

The former head of France’s financial prosecutors, Eliane Houlette, told lawmakers earlier this month that she had come under pressure over her handling of former prime minister Francois Fillon’s case about the misuse of public funds.

Her remarks triggered concerns from conservatives that the legal system may have been biased against Fillon in the case and used for political ends.

It is therefore essential to erase all doubt about the independence and impartially of the justice system in this case,” Macron’s office said in a statement announcing the review.

Fillon and his wife Penelope went on trial in February over the fake jobs scandal that wrecked his 2017 run for president and opened the Elysee Palace door for Macron.

Since her first remarks to lawmakers, Houlette has since said that Fillon was not put under investigation under pressure from the executive branch and that she had referred to the heavy-handed supervision by superiors in the high-profile case.

Once a front-runner in the election, Fillon’s bid for the presidency fell apart after allegations he paid his wife hundreds of thousands of euros for doing little, if any, work as his parliamentary assistant.

A verdict in the case is due to be handed down at the end of the month.

Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Additional reporting by Marine Pennetier and Henri-Pierre André; editing by Grant McCool
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Plain Jane]

French protesters decry racism, other systemic injustices

PARIS (AP) — Hundreds of people in protested Saturday in Paris against racism and police violence and in memory of Black men who died following encounters with French police or under suspicious circumstances.

apnews.com

French demonstrators gear up for day of protests
23 minutes ago



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French activists of Attac stage a flash protest outside the French Health Ministry in support of medical workers, in Paris, France, Saturday, June 20, 2020. French hospital workers and others are protesting to demand better pay and more investment in France's public hospital system, which is considered among the world's best but struggled to handle a flux of virus patients after years of cost cuts. (AP Photo/Rafael Yaghobzadeh)

PARIS (AP) — Protesters are gearing up to stage a protest in Paris against racism and police violence and in memory of Lamine Dieng, a 25-year-old Franco-Senegalese who died in a police van after being arrested in 2007.

The protesters will march from his former home, and will be joined Saturday by a separate demonstration in support of undocumented workers.

Last week, it emerged that the French government agreed to pay 145,000 euros ($162,000) to Dieng’s relatives, after 13 years of legal wrangling.

Both protests have been authorized by French authorities, who have been exercising caution over protests in recent weeks as the country emerges from coronavirus restrictions.


Other protests on Saturday in the French capital have, however, been banned, including an anti-racism demonstration near the U.S. Embassy by the Black African Defense League, and another protest linked to recent violence involving Chechens in the French city of Dijon.

A small group of activists staged a flash protest Saturday outside the French Health Ministry in support of state medical workers, who are demanding higher pay and more hospital staff after France’s once-renowned health care system struggled to cope with the virus crisis following years of cost cuts.

The protesters sprayed red paint on the ministry building, symbolizing blood, and on a mock medal.

 

[Plain Jane]

Ruling populist party claims landslide win in Serbia vote

Serbia’s president has declared a landslide victory of his right wing party in a parliamentary vote held amid concerns of coronavirus spread and a boycott of the opposition.

apnews.com

Ruling populists look set to win Serbia vote amid pandemic
By JOVANA GECtoday



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People attend a protest against President Aleksandar Vucic and his government in front of the Serbian parliament building, in Belgrade, Serbia, Saturday, June 20, 2020. Serbia is holding a parliamentary vote this weekend that takes place amid concerns over continuing spread of the new coronavirus and deep political divisions in the Balkan country. The ruling populist of President Aleksandar Vucic are expected to cement their grip on power at Sunday's balloting, facing practically no challenge from the opposition parties despite Serbia's plummeting democracy record and mounting allegations of corruption. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s ruling populists are set to tighten their hold on power in a Sunday parliamentary election held amid concerns over the spread of the coronavirus in the Balkan country and a partial boycott by the opposition.

Nearly 6.6 million voters are eligible to cast ballots for the 250-member parliament and local authorities. The election — initially planned for April but postponed because of the pandemic — comes as Serbia still reports dozens of new cases daily after completely relaxing its strict lockdown rules.

President Aleksandar Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party appears set for a landslide victory, facing little challenge from the divided opposition.



Opponents say this is because Vucic has dominated the campaign on the mainstream media which he controls, clamping down on his critics. He has denied this.

Citing lack of free and fair conditions and danger to public health, several main opposition groups are boycotting the vote.

But a number of smaller parties have decided to run, saying the boycott would only sideline an already marginalized opposition.

Health authorities have provided face masks, gloves and sanitizers at the polling stations. Voters are advised to use them, but they’re not mandatory.

A former extreme nationalist, Vucic briefly served as information minister in the government of late strongman Slobodan Milosevic during the 1990s wars in the Balkans. While he now says he seeks European Union entry for Serbia, critics warn democratic freedoms have eroded since his Progressives came to power in 2012.

The president has called on his supporters to vote in large numbers in order to get a strong mandate for internationally mediated peace negotiations on the future of Serbia’s breakaway former province of Kosovo.

A U.S.-brokered Kosovo-Serbia summit is to he held in Washington on June 27, while EU officials have announced plans to restart Brussels-mediated negotiations.

Serbia has refused to recognize Western-backed independence of Kosovo but has relied on Russia and China for the support in the dispute.

___

Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and Understanding the Outbreak

 

[Plain Jane]

UK demonstrators hold fourth weekend of anti-racism protests

LONDON (AP) — Anti-racism demonstrators held protests across the U.K. for a fourth weekend on Saturday, despite a ban on large gatherings because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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UK demonstrators hold fourth weekend of anti-racism protests
yesterday



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People, most wearing protective masks against the spread of coronavirus, march to Britain's Parliament in central London, Saturday, June 20, 2020, during a protest organised by Black Lives Matter, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis, USA last month that has led to anti-racism protests in many countries calling for an end to racial injustice. Anti-racism demonstrators are holding a fourth weekend of protests across the U.K. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)

LONDON (AP) — Anti-racism demonstrators held protests across the U.K. for a fourth weekend on Saturday, despite a ban on large gatherings because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Demonstrations inspired by the Black Lives Matter campaign were taking place in cities including London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Several thousand people gathered in London’s Hyde Park, sitting on the grass and listening to speakers, before setting off on a boisterous, peaceful march to Trafalgar Square. A smaller group marched from south London, near the U.S. Embassy.

“We are all here today because we know that black lives matter. We are all here today because we know that black is beautiful,” Imarn Ayton, one of the protest organizers, told the crowd in Hyde Park. “And we are all here today because we know that it is time to burn down institutional racism.”

The largely youthful crowds in London were smaller — and more socially distanced — than those seen in the first two weeks after Floyd’s death. Since then the protest movement has become more geographically widespread, with hundreds of demonstrations held in towns, cities and neighborhoods across the U.K.

Jeremy Mukel, 33, originally from New York, said he was encouraged by the number of white people among the protesters in London.

“I think people are becoming a lot more aware,” he said.

Hundreds attended a socially distanced Say No to Racism rally in Glasgow’s George Square, where earlier this week members of the far right attacked a refugee-rights gathering.

In Edinburgh, protesters including “Trainspotting” author Irvine Welsh called for the removal of a statue of Henry Dundas from its column in the city’s St. Andrew Square. The late 18th-century Scottish politician was responsible for delaying Britain’s abolition of the slave trade by 15 years until 1807. During that time, more than half a million enslaved Africans were trafficked across the Atlantic.

Hundreds of thousands of people have held mostly peaceful protests across Britain since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, urging the U.K. to confront its own history of imperialism and racial inequality.

After some protesters scuffled with police and defaced a statue of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill in London, and demonstrators in Bristol toppled a statue of slave trader Edward Colston, counter-protesters rallied last week with the stated aim of protecting monuments.

Hundreds of soccer hooligans and far-right activists clashed June 13 with police near the Churchill statue in London, which had been boarded up for protection.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced he is setting up a commission to look at what more can be done to eliminate racial injustice, but opponents accuse the Conservative government of opting for talk rather than action.

Protests were also being held Saturday in France, where hundreds of people in Paris marched against racism and police violence and in memory of Black men who have died following encounters with French police or under suspicious circumstances.

 

[Plain Jane]

Britain reels from latest terrorism-linked stabbing, American among dead

The English town of Reading held a minute's silence on Monday for the victims of a stabbing that killed three people, in an attack that police called a terrorist incident.

www.reuters.com

NEWS
JUNE 22, 2020 / 2:49 AM / UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO
Britain reels from latest terrorism-linked stabbing, American among dead

Peter Nicholls
3 MIN READ

READING, England (Reuters) - The English town of Reading held a minute’s silence on Monday for the victims of a stabbing that killed three people including an American in the latest terrorism-linked attack.

Three people were also hospitalised after a man wielding a five-inch knife went on the rampage in a park on Saturday, randomly stabbing people enjoying a sunny, summer evening.

A Western security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the suspect was a 25-year-old Libyan called Khairi Saadallah.

Calling the incident terrorism, police said a 25-year-old had been arrested but they were not hunting others. “What we saw here on Saturday evening in Reading was the actions of one lone individual,” Home Secretary (interior minister) Priti Patel said

The Philadelphia Inquirer said one of the dead was U.S. citizen Joe Ritchie-Bennett, 39, who had lived in Britain for 15 years. U.S. ambassador Woody Johnson sent condolences to families of victims. “To our great sorrow, this includes an American citizen,” he said on Twitter

Teacher James Furlong, 36, who was friends with Ritchie-Bennett according to media reports, was also killed. “He was beautiful, intelligent, honest and fun,” his parents said.

The third victim has not yet been identified.

ON MI5’S RADAR
The security source told Reuters that Saadallah had come across the radar of Britain’s domestic security agency MI5 last year over intelligence he had aspirations to travel for extremist purposes, although his plans then came to nothing.

“The security services have records on thousands of people and rightly so,” said Patel, adding she was limited in what she could say because the investigation was live.

Shocked residents of Reading, about 40 miles (65 km) west of London, held a minute’s silence at 0900 GMT.

The attack was reminiscent of some recent incidents in Britain that authorities also called terrorism.

In February, police shot dead a man, previously jailed for promoting violent Islamist material, who had stabbed two people on a busy street in south London. Last November, another man who had been jailed for terrorism offences stabbed two people to death on London Bridge before he too was shot dead by police.

Writing by Guy Faulconbridge and Michael Holden; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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[Plain Jane]

Defense lawyers seek more investigations into MH17 downing

Defense lawyers for a Russian charged with involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 have cast doubt on prosecutors’ assertions that the passenger jet was shot down by a surface-to-air missile.

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Defense lawyers seek more investigations into MH17 downing
By MIKE CORDER13 minutes ago



Presiding judge Hendrik Steenhuis, rear, fourth from left, opens the court session as the trial resumed at the high security court building at Schiphol Airport, near Amsterdam, Monday, June 8, 2020, for three Russians and a Ukrainian charged with crimes including murder for their alleged roles in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine nearly six years ago. (AP Photo/Robin van Lonkhuijsen, POOL)

SCHIPHOL, Netherlands (AP) — Defense lawyers for a Russian charged with involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 cast doubt Monday on prosecutors’ assertions that the passenger jet was shot down by a Buk surface-to-air missile.

The comments came as Dutch defense lawyers for Oleg Pulatov began listing their requests for further investigations in the international probe into the July 17, 2014, downing of MH17.

Defense lawyer Boudewijn van Eijck pointed out to judges that prosecutors were unable to seal off or carry out forensic investigations at the crash scene, which was in a region controlled by pro-Russia rebels fighting against Ukraine’s government.



“For that reason it can’t be ruled out that evidence went missing, was manipulated or even was augmented,” Van Eijck said.

The trial of three Russians and a Ukrainian charged with murdering all 298 passengers who died on board the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur flight is still at an early phase, when defense attorneys can ask judges to order further investigations.

None of the suspects has appeared for trial. Only one, Pulatov, has lawyers representing him in court. All of the suspects face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted.

After years of investigations, an international team of investigators and prosecutors last year named four suspects: Russians Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinskiy and Pulatov as well as Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko.

Earlier this month, prosecutors outlined in detail how the international investigation ruled out other theories and concluded that a Buk missile trucked into Ukraine from a Russian military base was used to shoot down the plane.

But Van Eijck accused investigators of tunnel vision in focusing on that theory and not adequately checking out other possible causes, such as the possibility MH17 was shot down by a Ukrainian fighter jet.

“It certainly seems that they are extremely attached to the Buk missile scenario,” Van Eijck said.

Another defense lawyer, Sabine ten Doesschate, asked judges to order new investigations including interviews with witnesses who claimed to have seen fighter jets in the sky around the time MH17 was shot down, suggesting that the Ukraine air force could even have used passenger jets as “human shields” for its fighter planes.

She also asked for more investigations into radar images from the day of the downing.

Van Eijck also called into question the international investigation’s reliance on information from Ukraine to build the case against the four suspects, saying that one Ukrainian prosecutor has said he wanted to prove Russia was involved.

“That does not reflect a willingness and a determination to uncover the truth,” Van Eijck said.