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World

France beefs up sea rescue work, migrants vow to pursue UK quest

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  • Twenty-seven migrants died when their dinghy deflated
  • Britain and France trade blame over the incident
  • Macron says France is beefing up sea rescue operations

DUNKIRK, France/ZAGREB, Nov 25 (Reuters) – France said on Thursday it will beef up the surveillance of its northern shores, but migrants huddling in makeshift camps said neither that nor a tragic drowning the day before would stop them from trying to cross the Channel to Britain.

Seventeen men, seven women and three teenagers died on Wednesday when their dinghy deflated in the Channel, one of many such risky journeys attempted in rickety, overloaded boats by people fleeing poverty and war in Afghanistan, Iraq and beyond.

The deaths deepened animosity between Britain and France, already at odds over Brexit, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying France was at fault and French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin accusing Britain of “bad immigration management”.

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With relations fraught over Brexit and immigration, much of the focus on Thursday was on who should bear responsibility, even if both sides vowed to seek joint solutions.

President Emmanuel Macron defended Paris’s actions but said France was merely a transit country for many migrants and more European cooperation was needed to tackle illegal immigration.

“I will … say very clearly that our security forces are mobilised day and night,” Macron said during a visit to the Croatian capital Zagreb, promising “maximum mobilisation” of French forces, with reservists and drones watching the coast.

“But above all, we need to seriously strengthen cooperation … with Belgium, the Netherlands, Britain and the European Commission.”

“MAYBE WE DIE”

Wednesday’s incident was the worst of its kind on record in the waterway separating Britain and France, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

But migrants in a small makeshift camp in the outskirts of Dunkirk, near the seashore, said they would keep trying to reach Britain, no matter the risks.

“Yesterday is sad and it is scary but we have to go by boat, there is no other way,” said 28-year old Manzar, a Kurd from Iran, huddled by a fire alongside a few friends.

“Maybe it’s dangerous, maybe we die, but maybe it will be safe. We have to try our chance. It’s a risk, we already know it is a risk,” said the young man, who left Iran six months ago and arrived in France 20 days ago, after walking across Europe.

A damaged inflatable dinghy and a sleeping bag abandonned by migrants are seen on the beach near Wimereux, France, November 24, 2021. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

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Britain on Thursday repeated an offer to have joint British-French patrols off the French coast near Calais.

Paris has resisted such calls and it is unclear whether it will change its mind five months before a presidential election in which migration and security are important topics.

They are also sensitive issues in Britain, where Brexit campaigners told voters that leaving the European Union would mean regaining control of the country’s borders. London has in the past threatened to cut financial support for France’s border policing if Paris fails to stem the flow of migrants.

One smuggler arrested overnight had bought dinghies in Germany, and many cross via Belgium before reaching France’s northern shores on their way to Britain, French officials said.

EU Migration Commissioner Ylva Johansson said she would talk to Darmanin later on Thursday to offer financial help and assistance from the bloc’s border guard force Frontex.

‘A TRAGEDY THAT WE DREADED’

Rescue volunteers and rights groups said such drowning incidents were to be expected as smugglers and migrants take more risks to avoid a growing police presence.

“To accuse only the smugglers is to hide the responsibility of the French and British authorities,” the Auberge de Migrants NGO said. It and other NGOs pointed to a lack of legal migration routes and added security at the Eurotunnel undersea rail link, which has pushed migrants to try the perilous sea crossing.

“This a tragedy that we dreaded, that was expected, we had sounded the alarm,” said Bernard Barron, head of the Calais region SNSM, a volunteer group which rescues people at sea.

But Britain rejected one of the NGOs’ main demands.

Providing a safe route for migrants to claim asylum from France would only add to pull factors encouraging people to make dangerous journeys, Johnson’s spokesman said when asked about the possibility of a safe means of claiming asylum from France.

The number of migrants crossing the Channel has surged to 25,776 so far in 2021, up from 8,461 in 2020 and 1,835 in 2019, according to the BBC, citing government data.

Before Wednesday’s disaster, 14 people had drowned this year trying to reach Britain, a French official said. In 2020, seven people died and two disappeared, while in 2019 four died.

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Reporting by Ardee Napolitano in Calais, Lucien Libert in Zagreb, Alistair Smout, Paul Sandle and Kylie MacLellan in London, Richard Lough and Sudip Kar-Gupta in Paris, Gabriel Baczynska in Brussels; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Mike Collett-White, Timothy Heritage, Giles Elgood, William Maclean

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World

Austria locks down, Merkel says new steps needed as Europe faces COVID freeze

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  • Austria to make COVID-19 vaccinations compulsory
  • Financial markets wary of further lockdowns
  • Violent protests erupt in French region of Guadeloupe

VIENNA/BERLIN, Nov 22 (Reuters) – Austria became on Monday the first country in western Europe to reimpose lockdown since vaccines were rolled out, shutting non-essential shops, bars and cafes as surging caseloads raised the spectre of a second straight winter in deep freeze for the continent.

Germany will also need tighter restrictions to control a record-setting wave of infections, outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel was quoted as saying, remarks that erased gains on European stock markets and sent bond yields down. read more

With Europe once again the epicentre of the global pandemic that first prompted lockdowns in March 2020, new restrictions and vaccine mandates are expected to spread nearly two years after the first COVID-19 case was identified in China.

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“We are in a highly dramatic situation. What is in place now is not sufficient,” Merkel told leaders of her conservative CDU party in a meeting, according to two participants, confirming comments first reported by Bloomberg.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn, urgently calling on people to get vaccinated, said he was certain that by the end of the winter everyone in Germany would be “vaccinated, recovered or dead”.

Austria told people to work from home if they can, and shut cafes, restaurants, bars, theatres and non-essential shops for 10 days. People may leave home for a limited number of reasons, such as going to workplaces, buying essentials or taking a walk.

The Austrian government has also announced it will make it compulsory to get inoculated as of Feb. 1. Many Austrians are sceptical about vaccinations, a view encouraged by the far-right Freedom Party, the third biggest in parliament.

“It’s like a luxury prison. It’s definitely limited freedom and for me it’s not great psychologically,” said Sascha Iamkovyi, a 43-year-old entrepreneur in the food sector, describing his return to lockdown on a chilly, overcast day in an unusually quiet Vienna.

“People were promised that if they got vaccinated they would be able to lead a normal life, but now that’s not true.”

The return of severe government restrictions in Austria had already brought about 40,000 protesters to Vienna’s streets on Saturday, and protests turned to violence in Brussels and across the Netherlands over the weekend.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia banned unvaccinated people from services including pubs from Monday. read more

Around a third of Austrians are unvaccinated, one of the highest rates in western Europe, and authorities mainly blame the unvaccinated for the current COVID wave, though protection from vaccines given early this year is also waning. Inoculation greatly reduces the risk of serious illness or death, and reduces but does not prevent viral transmission or re-infection.

Austria’s conservative-led government imposed a lockdown on the unvaccinated last week, but daily infections kept rising far above the previous peak, requiring this week’s full lockdown.

In many parts of Germany, including its capital Berlin, Christmas markets opened for the first time in two years on Monday. But states bordering Austria and the Czech Republic that have Germany’s highest case numbers have introduced stricter rules, cancelling Christmas markets, barring the unvaccinated from restaurants and bars and imposing curfews at night.

WATER CANNON AND TEAR GAS

Eastern European countries where vaccination rates are even lower have been experiencing some of the highest death tolls per capita in the world, with hospitals becoming overrun in countries such as Bulgaria and Romania.

In cities across the Netherlands, riots broke out as police clashed with mobs of angry youths who set fires and threw rocks to protest at COVID-19 restrictions. More than 100 people were arrested during three nights of violence, which saw police open fire at rioters in Rotterdam on Friday. read more

Police and protesters clashed in the streets of Brussels on Sunday, with officers firing water cannon and tear gas at demonstrators throwing rocks and smoke bombs. read more

In France, proof of vaccination or a recent negative test is required to go to restaurants and cinemas. President Emmanuel Macron said last week more lockdowns were not needed.

But violence erupted last week in on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe amid protests over COVID-19 restrictions such as the mandatory vaccines for health workers.

Police have arrested at least 38 people and dozens of stores have been looted. Macron said on Monday the protests had created a “very explosive” situation as a general strike entered a second week on Monday and many stores remained shuttered. read more

Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus: open https://tmsnrt.rs/2FThSv7 in an external browser.

Eikon users can click https://apac1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/cms/?navid=1063154666 for a case tracker.

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Additonal reporting by Jason Hovet and Jan Lopatka; Writing by Nick Macfie
Editing by Alison Williams, Mark Heinrich and Peter Graff

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Business

U.S.-bound passengers stranded after emergency landing

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Nov 20 (Reuters) – Dozens of people were stranded in Europe for a second night on Saturday after their U.S.-bound flight made an emergency landing in Dublin following an engine failure, passengers said.

Brussels Airlines flight 101 was en route from Brussels to New York on Friday when pilots issued a “pan-pan” message, which indicates a problem less serious than a “mayday,” when flying at 37,000 feet, aviation media and tracking websites said.

Pilots of the 12-year-old Airbus A330-300 requested to divert to Shannon in western Ireland but switched to Dublin on instructions from the airline, according to Aviation Herald, an independent website which tracks airplane incidents.

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Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) unit Brussels Airlines confirmed that the plane had diverted after an engine warning and said pilots had followed standard procedure.

Passengers praised the crew but said they had been put up in hotels in Dublin before being flown to Paris on Saturday, where many were then unable to get on overcrowded flights to New York days before Thanksgiving in the United States.

They included 18-year-old Maja Schmidt from Germany who was heading to New York to work as an au pair.

“They didn’t have anything vegetarian so I ate bread and a cookie,” she told Reuters. The airline said it had a policy of offering vegetarian meals and blamed the problem on a hotel.

Also on board was 22-year-old Oliver Sommerburg from near Hamburg, Germany, taking only the second flight of his life.

“It was crazy, I don’t know what’s going on. They don’t tell us anything,” he said.

Bernard Vidick, a Belgian judicial officer, said he had been refused a connecting flight in Paris because the plane bringing stranded passengers from Dublin had also been delayed.

“This means we are blocked in Paris whereas we should be in New York. We are wasting two of the few vacation days we have,” he told Reuters.

“We have done our utmost to give care to our passengers in difficult circumstances … but unfortunately we could not provide an optimal solution to all. We very much regret the inconvenience this caused for our customers,” the airline said.

Carriers serving the United States are bracing for congestion and delays next week as the Thanksgiving holiday overlaps with airline labour shortages.

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Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Jane Merriman and Andrew Heavens

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Health

Bird flu spreads in Europe and Asia

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Officials in protective suits head to a poultry farm for a suspected bird flu case in Higashikagawa, western Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo November 8, 2020. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS

PARIS, Nov 15 (Reuters) – Several outbreaks of severe bird flu in Europe and Asia have been reported in recent days to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), in a sign the virus is spreading quickly again.

The spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has put the poultry industry on alert after previous outbreaks led to the culling of tens of millions of birds. Outbreaks also often lead to trade restrictions.

It is attracting the attention too of epidemiologists as the virus can be transmitted to humans. China has reported 21 human infections with the H5N6 subtype of avian influenza so far this year, more than in the whole of 2020. read more

South Korea reported an outbreak at a farm of around 770,000 poultry in Chungcheongbuk-do, the OIE said on Monday, citing a report from the South Korean authorities. All animals were slaughtered.

Also in Asia, Japan reported its first outbreak of the 2021 winter season, at a poultry farm in the northeast of the country, the OIE said, confirming a statement last week by Japan’s agriculture ministry. The serotype in this outbreak was H5N8 read more

In Europe, Norway reported an H5N1 bird flu outbreak in the Rogaland region in a flock of 7,000 birds, the OIE said.

Outbreaks generally occur in the autumn, spread by migrating wild birds.

The Belgian government put the country on increased risk for bird flu, ordering poultry to be kept indoors as of Monday, after a highly pathogenic variant of bird flu was identified in a wild goose near Antwerp. read more

This followed a similar move in neighbouring France earlier this month and in the Netherlands in October. read more

Bird flu cannot be transmitted through the eating of poultry products.

Reporting by Gus Trompiz and Sybille de La Hamaide
Editing by Mark Potter

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World

Hungary’s Orban accuses Brussels, Washington of meddling as 2022 election race heats up

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  • Tens of thousands rally in support of Orban
  • Opposition alliance also holds protest in Budapest
  • Hungary faces heated election race ahead of 2022 vote

BUDAPEST, Oct 23 (Reuters) – Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who faces a close election race next year, accused Brussels and Washington of trying to meddle in Hungarian politics and called on his supporters to defend the achievements of his nationalist government’s decade in power.

For the first time since he came to power in 2010, Orban will face a united front of opposition parties including the Socialists, liberals and the formerly far-right, now centre-right, Jobbik in 2022 parliamentary elections.

The six-party alliance is led by Peter Marki-Zay, a 49-year-old Catholic conservative, father of seven and small-town mayor who seems to embody the traditional values Orban publicly champions and is seen as a tough challenger. read more

Orban told tens of thousands of supporters in central Budapest that Washington and billionaire George Soros were trying to get their people, the Hungarian leftist opposition, elected using their money, media and networks.

“But what matters is not what they in Brussels, in Washington and in the media which is directed from abroad, want. It will be Hungarians deciding about their own fate,” Orban said on Saturday.

“Our strength is in our unity … we believe in the same values: family, nation, and a strong and independent Hungary.”

At a separate opposition rally Marki-Zay said that if elected, his government would draft a new constitution, clamp down on corruption, introduce the euro and guarantee freedom of the media.

“This regime has become morally untenable … the momentum we have now should take us to April 2022,” he said.

Opinion polls show Orban’s Fidesz party and the opposition alliance running neck-and-neck, with about a quarter of voters undecided.

Saturday’s anniversary of the 1956 uprising against Soviet rule has offered Orban a symbolic platform for his agenda as his Fidesz party scales up its pre-election campaign.

He has showered the electorate with handouts, including a $2 billion income-tax rebate for families, and stepped up his strong anti-immigration rhetoric.

Orban’s government, with its main ally Poland, has clashed with Brussels over media freedoms, rule of law issues and LGBT rights – while stating that Hungary’s interest is to remain a member of a strong European Union.

“Brussels speaks to us and treats us, along with the Poles, as if we were an enemy … well, it is time for them in Brussels to understand that even the communists could not defeat us,” Orban told cheering suppporters, who were waving the national flag and held banners with slogans such as “Brussels equals dictatorship.”

Reporting by Krisztina Than; Editing by Mike Harrison and Ros Russell

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World

Six EU countries warn against open door for Afghan asylum seekers

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BRUSSELS, Aug 10 (Reuters) – Six EU member states have sent a letter to the bloc’s executive warning against halting deportations of rejected Afghan asylum seekers despite major advances of Taliban militants in their country.

The Taliban, fighting to reimpose strict Islamic law after their 2001 ouster, have made sweeping gains in their campaign to defeat the government as U.S.-led foreign forces pull out.[nL1N2PH0LT]

“Stopping returns sends the wrong signal and is likely to motivate even more Afghan citizens to leave their home for the EU,” Austria, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Greece and Germany said in the letter dated Aug. 5 and seen by Reuters.

“This is why we urge you and your teams at the Commission to intensify talks with the Afghan government on how returns to Afghanistan can and will continue in the coming months.”

Many EU member states are nervous that developments in Afghanistan could trigger a replay of Europe’s 2015/16 migration crisis when the chaotic arrival of more than a million people from the Middle East stretched security and welfare systems and fuelled political support for far-right groups.

The European Commission said it had received the letter from the six countries and would reply when ready.

Asked if the European Commission considers Afghanistan a safe country to which asylum seekers can be returned, a spokesman for the EU executive said it is up to member states to make that judgement.

“At an EU level there isn’t a list of countries considered safe relating to asylum applications or for returns. It’s up to each member state to assess … the country of origin and the situation of the person concerned,” he said.

The issue is expected to come up at a crisis meeting of EU domestic affairs ministers on Aug. 18, which was arranged mainly to discuss a surge of illegal border crossings from Belarus to EU member state Lithuania. read more Poland and Latvia have also seen an increased flow of migrants from Belarus.

Since 2015, around 570,000 Afghans have requested asylum in the EU, the letter from the six EU countries noted, 44,000 in 2020 alone, making Afghanistan the second most important country of origin last year.

“We fully recognise the sensitive situation in Afghanistan in light of the foreseen withdrawal of international troops,” the countries said, adding that an estimated 4.6 million Afghans were already displaced, many of them in the region.

The six countries urged the bloc to look into providing the best support for refugees by increasing cooperation with Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.

Belgium’s state secretary for asylum and migration, Sammy Mahdi, defended the initiative against criticism.

“That regions of a country are not safe does not mean that each national of that country automatically is entitled to protection,” he said on Twitter.

A spokeswoman for the Netherlands’ Safety and Justice Ministry said that if individuals had the right to asylum they can get it but there should be no catch-all label for one country.

“The situation is very worrying, it’s always under review,” said spokeswoman Charlotte Hees.

Additional reporting by Toby Sterling in Amsterdam; Editing by Nick Macfie

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World

Belgium sets day of mourning as flood deaths hit 20

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TROOZ, Belgium, July 16 (Reuters) – Belgium declared a national day of mourning next week as the death toll from burst rivers and flash floods in the south and east of the country rose to 20 on Friday, with another 20 people missing.

“What should have been beautiful summer days suddenly turned into dark and extremely sad days for our fellow citizens,” Prime Minister Alexander De Croo told a news conference. “These are exceptional circumstances that our country has not seen before.”

A week of rain finally came to an end after reaching levels in some places normally expected once in 200 years. But several communities across parts of Belgium were nervously watching as the river Meuse, which flows through the city of Liege in eastern Belgium, continued to rise and threatened to overflow.

Others were trying come to terms with disaster.

“We did work, we renovated everything, we’re losing everything we’ve got. Now we have to start from zero and work at it little by little to put it back in order.” said Sylvia Calvo Lorente, 33, surveying damage in her home in the small town of Trooz near Liege.

In the eastern town of Verviers, the swollen river was still rushing through neighbouring streets, where people gingerly tried to salvage ruined shops, homes and cars.

“We made it through COVID, we were hoping we’d get back on our feet and now look!” a shopkeeper said through tears in a pause from his work.

A damaged vehicle is seen next to the river, following heavy rainfalls, in Pepinster, Belgium, July 16, 2021. REUTERS/Yves Herman

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Several towns and villages were submerged, including Pepinster near Liege, where around 10 houses collapsed. Belgium’s king and queen visited the town on Friday, wading through flooded streets.

The government set next Tuesday as a day of mourning and decided to tone down festivities for Belgian National Day the day after.

Interior minister Annelies Verlinden said 20 people had lost their lives, with a further 20 missing.

The crisis centre, which is coordinating rescue efforts, urged people in the affected areas to avoid all travel.

Belgium has called on the European Union’s civil protection mechanism, resulting in contributions from France, Austria and Italy, principally boats, helicopters and rescue personnel.

It also received help from Luxembourg and the Netherlands, despite these countries also suffering from flooding. More than 250 foreigners, including helicopter pilots and divers, have come to aid the search.

Over 20,000 people in the southern region Wallonia were without electricity. Others lacked clean water. Large parts of the rail network in southern Belgium were unusable, with certain sections of track swept away.

Additional reporting and writing by Philip Blenkinsop; editing by Philippa Fletcher

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Health

Unvaccinated Belgian woman contracted two COVID variants simultaneously

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An employee at an elderly residence checks a person for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as tests are performed among seniors in the country, in Brussels, Belgium, April 16, 2020. REUTERS/Yves Herman

BRUSSELS, July 11 (Reuters) – A 90-year-old Belgian woman who died from COVID-19 in March had contracted two variants of coronavirus at the same time, which is believed to be the first documented case of its kind, a scientific congress and Belgian media said on Sunday.

The case, discussed at this year’s European Congress on Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), shows that it is possible to catch two COVID-19 variants simultaneously, the society that organised the congress said in a statement.

The society said the woman became sick with Alpha and Beta types first identified in Britain and South Africa and her doctors said she could have contracted the infections from two different people.

The woman, who was treated at a hospital in Aalst near Brussels, had not been vaccinated, Belgium’s Dutch-language public broadcaster VRT said. Belgium, like much of the European Union, faced vaccine delivery problems early in 2021 and its vaccination programme started slowly, although the EU has now delivered vaccines to cover 70% of the population. read more

The society, citing discussions at the July 9-12 congress, said doctors believe it was the first documented case of its kind and, although rare, similar dual infections are happening.

“Both variants were circulating (in March) in Belgium,” molecular biologist Anne Vankeerberghen of the OLV hospital in Aalst said on VRT’s website.

“It is therefore probable that this woman was infected by two different people with two variants of the virus. Unfortunately, we do not know how this infection happened,” she said.

The European Commission, the EU executive, has warned that it expected the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus to become dominant in Europe this summer, citing estimates from the EU disease prevention agency. read more

Reporting by Robin Emmott. Editing by Jane Merriman

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Sports

UFC Vegas 21: Leon Edwards Plans To Be Second UK Champion – UFC – Ultimate Fighting Championship

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  1. UFC Vegas 21: Leon Edwards Plans To Be Second UK Champion UFC – Ultimate Fighting Championship
  2. White: Leon Edwards title shot ‘100 percent’ guaranteed with ‘spectacular’ win over Belal Muhammad MMA Mania
  3. Dana White: Leon Edwards ‘100 percent’ next for title shot with impressive win over Belal Muhammad MMA Fighting
  4. Belal Muhammad plans to steal Leon Edwards’ title shot with finish at UFC Fight Night 187 MMA Junkie
  5. Leon Edwards on long time off: ‘The body had a good rest and it’s ready to go now’ The Athletic
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