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World

U.N. council demands end to Myanmar violence in first resolution in decades

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UNITED NATIONS, Dec 21 (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council adopted its first resolution on Myanmar in 74 years on Wednesday to demand an end to violence and urge the military junta to release all political prisoners, including ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar has been in crisis since the army took power from Suu Kyi’s elected government on Feb. 1, 2021, detaining her and other officials and responding to pro-democracy protests and dissent with lethal force.

“Today we’ve sent a firm message to the military that they should be in no doubt – we expect this resolution to be implemented in full,” Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward said after the vote on the British-drafted resolution.

“We’ve also sent a clear message to the people of Myanmar that we seek progress in line with their rights, their wishes and their interests,” Woodward told the 15-member council.

It has long been split on how to deal with the Myanmar crisis, with China and Russia arguing against strong action. They both abstained from the vote on Wednesday, along with India. The remaining 12 members voted in favor.

“China still has concerns,” China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun told the council after the vote. “There is no quick fix to the issue … Whether or not it can be properly resolved in the end, depends fundamentally, and only, on Myanmar itself.”

He said China had wanted the Security Council to adopt a formal statement on Myanmar, not a resolution.

Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow did not view the situation in Myanmar as a threat to international peace and security and therefore believed it should not be dealt with by the U.N. Security Council.

Myanmar citizens who live in Thailand, hold a portrait of former Myanmar state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi as they protest against the execution of pro-democracy activists, at Myanmar embassy in Bangkok, Thailand July 26, 2022. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the resolution’s adoption. “This is an important step by the Security Council to address the crisis and end the Burma military regime’s escalating repression and violence against civilians,” he said in a statement.

‘FIRST STEP’

Until now the council had only agreed formal statements on Myanmar, where the army also led a 2017 crackdown on Rohingya Muslims that was described by the United States as genocide. Myanmar denies genocide and said it was waging a legitimate campaign against insurgents who attacked police posts.

Negotiations on the draft Security Council resolution began in September. The initial text – seen by Reuters – urged an end to the transfer of arms to Myanmar and threatened sanctions, but that language has since been removed.

The adopted resolution expresses “deep concern” at the continuing state of emergency imposed by the military when it seized power and its “grave impact” on Myanmar’s people.

It urges “concrete and immediate actions” to implement a peace plan agreed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and issues a call to “uphold democratic institutions and processes and to pursue constructive dialogue and reconciliation in accordance with the will and interests of the people”.

The only other resolution adopted by the Security Council was in 1948, when the body recommended the U.N. General Assembly admit Myanmar – then Burma – as a member of the world body.

Myanmar’s U.N. Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, who still holds the U.N. seat and represents Suu Kyi’s government, said while there were positive elements in the resolution the National Unity Government – comprised of remnants of the ousted administration – would have preferred a stronger text.

“We are clear this is only a first step,” he told reporters. “The National Unity Government calls on the UNSC (to build) on this resolution to take further and stronger action to ensure the end of the military junta and its crimes.”

Reporting by Michelle Nichols and Kanishka Singh; Editing by Alex Richardson and Grant McCool

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COVID border restrictions on migrants to stay after U.S. Supreme Court order

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WASHINGTON/CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico, Dec 19 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said COVID-era restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border that have prevented hundreds of thousands of migrants from seeking asylum should be kept in place for now, siding with Republicans who brought a legal challenge.

The restrictions, known as Title 42, were implemented under Republican former President Donald Trump in March 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and gave border officials the ability to rapidly expel migrants to Mexico without a chance to seek U.S. asylum.

U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, had campaigned on overturning Trump’s hardline immigration measures before taking office in 2021 but kept Title 42 in place for more than a year. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said this year that Title 42 was no longer needed for public health reasons, and the Biden administration has said it wants it to end but will abide with any court rulings.

A federal judge last month ruled Title 42 was unlawful in response to a lawsuit originally brought by asylum-seeking migrants represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. The judge set the restrictions to be lifted on Wednesday, Dec. 21.

But a group of 19 states with Republican attorneys general sought to overturn that decision by intervening in the case and on Monday took their request to the conservative-leaning Supreme Court.

Hours later, Chief Justice John Roberts in a brief order issued a stay that will leave Title 42 in place until further notice from the court. The parties in the legal dispute have until Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET (2200 GMT) to respond, the court said.

After Robert’s action, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Title 42 “will remain in effect at this time and individuals who attempt to enter the United States unlawfully will continue to be expelled to Mexico.”

The Biden administration had been preparing for Title 42 to end on Wednesday and press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday that the White House was seeking more than $3 billion from Congress to pay for additional personnel, technology, migrant holding facilities and transportation at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The push for additional resources came as U.S. authorities had been preparing for the possibility of 9,000 to 14,000 people per day trying to cross into the United States if Title 42 was lifted, Reuters and other outlets have reported, around double the current rate.

The Biden administration has been weighing plans to prepare for Title 42’s end, with government officials privately discussing several Trump-style plans to deter people from crossing, including barring single adults seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.

[1/10] A group of migrants walks towards a border patrol processing area, accompanied by a Texas National Guard member, as U.S. border cities are bracing for an influx of asylum seekers when COVID-19-era Title 42 migration restrictions are set to end, in Eagle Pass, Texas, U.S. December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Jordan Vonderhaar

DHS last week updated a six-pillar plan that calls for the expanded use of a fast-track deportation process if Title 42 is terminated. The revised DHS plan also suggests there could be expansion of legal pathways for migrants to enter the country from abroad, similar to a program launched for Venezuelans in October.

BORDER CITIES OVERWHELMED

Since Biden took office in January 2021, about half of the record 4 million migrants encountered at the U.S.-Mexico border have been expelled under Title 42 while the other half have been allowed into the United States to pursue their immigration cases.

Mexico accepts the return of only certain nationalities, including some Central Americans and, more recently, Venezuelans.

For months, El Paso, Texas, has been receiving large groups of asylum-seeking migrants, including many Nicaraguans who cannot be expelled to Mexico. On Saturday, the city’s mayor declared a state of emergency to move migrants from city streets as temperatures had dropped below freezing.

U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar, a Democrat whose South Texas district borders Mexico, has said U.S. border officials told him that an estimated 50,000 people are waiting in Mexico for the chance to cross.

“If Title 42 remains in place, we must continue waiting,” said Venezuelan migrant Lina Jaouhari, who said she had attempted to enter the United States from Ciudad Juarez on Dec. 1 but had been sent back to Mexico under Title 42. “It won’t do any good to try to cross again if we know they will send us back.”

In El Paso, shelters have struggled to provide for arriving migrants even as many ultimately are headed to join relatives in other parts of the United States.

Rescue Mission of El Paso, a shelter near the border, last week housed 280 people, far beyond its 190-person capacity, with people sleeping on cots and air mattresses in the chapel, library and conference rooms, said Nicole Reulet, the shelter’s marketing director, in an interview with Reuters.

“We have people where we tell them, ‘We have no room,'” she said. “They beg for a place on the floor.”

Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington and Jose Luis Gonzalez in Ciudad Juarez; Additional reporting by Jackie Botts in Oaxaca City, Richard Cowan in Washington and Lizbeth Diaz in Tijuana and by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Stephen Coates and Bradley Perrett

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El Paso mayor declares state of emergency over influx of migrants from Mexico border

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Dec 17 (Reuters) – The mayor of the Texas border city of El Paso declared a state of emergency on Saturday, citing the hundreds of migrants sleeping on the streets in cold temperatures and the thousands being apprehended every day.

Mayor Oscar Leeser, a Democrat, said the emergency declaration would give city authorities the resources and ability to shelter migrants who have crossed the Mexican border.

“We wanted to make sure people are treated with dignity. We want to make sure everyone is safe,” Leeser told reporters.

The move comes as El Paso, a Democratic stronghold with a history of welcoming immigrants, has struggled in recent months to deal with tens of thousands of migrants crossing the border with Mexico. The city is bracing for a possible jump in migrant arrivals after a U.S. judge ordered COVID-era border restrictions known as Title 42 to end by Dec. 21.

A record number of migrants have been caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border under President Joe Biden, a Democrat who took office in January 2021, fueling attacks by Republican opponents who favor tougher policies.

[1/7] Venezuelan migrants stand near the Rio Bravo river, the border between Mexico and the U.S., as they wait for the announcement about the end of Title 42 on December 21, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico December 17, 2022. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

U.S. border agents have encountered an average of more than 2,400 migrants per day in a 268-mile stretch of the border known as the El Paso Sector over the past week, according to figures published by the city, a 40% increase compared with October.

Even as government officials move migrants in El Paso to other U.S. cities, local shelters are beyond capacity and migrants have been sleeping on the streets as temperatures dip below freezing.

Mario D’Agostino, El Paso’s deputy city manager, said the emergency declaration will also provide the city with extra transportation options to bus migrants to other locations, and extra help from state law enforcement.

As migrant arrivals increased in late August, the city launched a busing program that sent nearly 14,000 migrants to New York and Chicago, saying many Venezuelans were arriving without U.S. sponsors.

The city halted the program in October when the Biden administration began expelling Venezuelans back to Mexico under Title 42, but could restart it if Venezuelans again are allowed to cross into El Paso, D’Agostino said on Thursday.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Friday denied an attempt by a group of U.S. states with Republican attorneys general to intervene in a lawsuit to keep Title 42 in place. The states could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Reporting by Tim Reid and Ted Hessen
Editing by Chris Reese and Michael Perry

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World

China reportedly delays key economic meeting amid signs of surging infections

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  • Beijing drops key tools of ‘zero-COVID’ regime
  • Changes follow historic protests last month
  • Opening up sparks fears of infection spread

SHANGHAI/HONG KONG, Dec 13 (Reuters) – Chinese leaders have reportedly delayed a key economic policy meeting amid growing signs that COVID-19 infections are surging nearly a week after Beijing jettisoned some of the world’s toughest restrictions.

President Xi Jinping and other Politburo members and senior government figures had been expected to attend the closed-door Central Economic Work Conference, most likely this week, to chart a policy course for the embattled Chinese economy in 2023.

A Bloomberg News report on Tuesday night, citing people familiar with the matter, said the meeting had been delayed and there was no timetable for rescheduling.

The delay comes as authorities continue to overturn the previously resolute “zero-COVID” policy championed by Xi.

Long queues are appearing outside fever clinics in a worrying sign that a wave of infections is building, even though official tallies of new cases have dropped in recent weeks as authorities reduce testing.

And companies in China, from e-commerce giant JD.com to cosmetics brand Sephora, are rushing to minimise the impact of surging infections – doling out test kits, encouraging more work from home and, in some cases, procuring truckloads of medicine.

The signs come as China attempts to swiftly align with a world that has largely reopened, following unprecedented protests last month in China three years into the pandemic.

The protests were the strongest show of public defiance during Xi’s decade-old presidency and come amid growth figures for China’s $17 trillion economy that were some of the worst in 50 years.

Despite rising infections, people in China cheered the withdrawal on Tuesday of a state-mandated app used to track whether they had travelled to COVID-stricken areas.

As authorities deactivated the “itinerary code” app at midnight on Monday, China’s four telecoms firms said they would delete users’ data associated with the app.

“Goodbye itinerary code, I hope to never see you again,” said a post on social media platform Weibo, where people cheered the demise of an app that critics feared could be used for mass surveillance.

“The hand that stretched out to exert power during the epidemic should now be pulled back,” wrote another user.

And in a further sign of policy easing, Chinese healthcare company 111.inc has started selling Pfizer’s Paxlovid for COVID-19 treatment in China via its app – medicine previously only available in some hospitals.

It sold out just over half an hour after the listing was reported by local media, according to the platform’s customer service.

For all the relief over last week’s decision to begin overturning the government’s zero-COVID policy, there are fears that China may now pay a price.

[1/11] People wearing face masks walk on a street, as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks continue in Shanghai, China, December 13, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song

Infections are expected to rise further during the Chinese New Year holiday next month, when people travel across the country to be with their families, – a risk for a 1.4 billion population that lacks “herd immunity” and has relatively low vaccination rates among the elderly, according to some analysts.

The moves made last week to unwind the COVID curbs included dropping mandatory testing prior to many public activities and reining in quarantine.

HONG KONG RELAXES

Beijing’s envoy to the United States on Monday said he believes China’s COVID-19 measures will be further relaxed in the near future and international travel to the country will also become easier.

China has all but shut its borders to international travel since the pandemic first erupted in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in later 2019. International flights are still at a fraction of pre-pandemic levels and arrivals face eight days in quarantine.

Financial hub Hong Kong, which already has less stringent border controls than mainland China, on Tuesday said it would drop a requirement for incoming travellers to avoid bars and restaurants in the three days after arrival.

Hong Kong will also scrap its mobility-tracking app governing access to restaurants and venues such as gyms, clubs and salons, Chief Executive John Lee said.

While the lifting of controls is seen as brightening the prospects for global growth longer term, analysts say Chinese businesses will struggle in the weeks ahead, as a wave of infections creates staff shortages and makes consumers wary.

Analysts say the decline in reported new cases could reflect the dropping of testing requirements rather than the actual situation on the ground.

“The rapid surge of infections in big cities might be only the beginning of a massive wave of COVID infections,” said Ting Lu, Chief China Economist at Nomura.

“We reckon that the incoming migration around the Chinese New Year holiday in late January could bring about an unprecedented spread of COVID.”

Experts say China’s fragile healthcare system could be quickly overwhelmed if those fears are realised.

In Beijing, empty seats on commuter trains and deserted restaurants highlight some people’s caution.

“Maybe other people are afraid or are worried about kids’ and grandparents’ health. It’s a personal choice,” Gao Lin, a 33-year-old financier, told Reuters.

China stocks (.CSI300) edged lower on Tuesday as a recent rebound triggered by reopening hopes gave way to concerns about spreading infections. The yuan currency was little changed, but it is already set for its worst year since 1994, when China unified the official and market exchange rates.

Reporting by Bernard Orr in Beijing, Brenda Goh and Shen Yiming in Shanghai and Farah Master in Hong Kong; Writing by John Geddie and Greg Torode; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Nick Macfie

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Exclusive: International legal experts assist Ukraine in sexual violence investigation

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KHERSON, Ukraine, Dec 11 (Reuters) – An international team of legal advisers has been working with local prosecutors in Ukraine’s recaptured city of Kherson in recent days as they began gathering evidence of alleged sexual crimes by Russian forces as part of a full-scale investigation.

The visit by a team from Global Rights Compliance, an international legal practice headquartered in The Hague, has not previously been reported.

Their efforts are part of a broader international effort to support overwhelmed Ukrainian authorities as they seek to hold Russians accountable for crimes they allegedly committed during the conflict, now nearly 10 months old.

Accusations surfaced soon after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of rape and other abuses across the country, according to accounts Reuters gathered and the U.N. investigative body.

Moscow, which says it is conducting a “special military operation” in Ukraine, has denied committing war crimes or targeting civilians, and the Kremlin denies allegations of sexual violence by the Russian military in Ukraine.

The Russian defence ministry did not immediately respond to questions for this article.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Dec. 9 that a UN Human Rights report about Russian attacks on civilians was based on “rumours and gossip”, and Moscow has accused Ukrainian forces of brutal reprisals against civilians who cooperated with Russian forces.

The scale of the Ukrainian prosecution’s task is daunting, with the number of alleged international crimes running into tens of thousands and as war in the east and south of the country makes already complex work more difficult and dangerous.

“We’ve come down here for a three-day mission to support the Office of the Prosecutor General (OPG), and specifically the team investigating conflict-related sexual violence,” said Julian Elderfield, one of the legal advisers who took part in the Kherson visit that ran from Thursday to Saturday.

“(It’s about) asking the right questions, pursuing unique or different lines of investigation that might otherwise not have been pursued by local investigators,” he told Reuters in Kherson on Saturday.

Kherson was occupied by Russian forces for months before Ukrainian troops recaptured it in early November, in one of Moscow’s biggest military defeats of the war so far.

Some residents who remained during the occupation have described being detained and tortured, repeating allegations made by Ukrainians across territory that has been reclaimed by local forces in recent months.

More than 50,000 alleged incidents of international crimes have been reported by Ukraine’s prosecutor general since Russia’s full-scale invasion.

They include hundreds of potential cases of alleged war crimes, genocide and crimes of aggression, some of which could be escalated to overseas tribunals like the International Criminal Court (ICC) if they are deemed sufficiently serious.

In June, Ukraine held a preliminary hearing in its first trial of a Russian soldier charged with raping a Ukrainian woman during Russia’s invasion. The suspect was not in Ukrainian custody and was tried in absentia.

COLLECTING CLUES

Elderfield and Olha Kotlyarska, a legal adviser also working for Global Rights Compliance, together make up the mobile justice team supporting the Ukrainian prosecutors’ fact-finding mission in Kherson.

They joined Ukrainian prosecutors visiting hospitals, a local aid distribution centre and other sites to pursue lines of investigation and interview victims of alleged abuses, including sexual violence.

Ukraine’s special war crimes unit for conflict-related sexual violence is also collecting video and photographic evidence that could help them identify perpetrators for future prosecutions.

Whether Russian commanding officers are to blame, or subordinates who carry out their orders, is one of many thorny issues to be resolved in the future, local investigators said.

Anna Sosonska, deputy head of Ukraine’s eight-member war crimes unit for sexual violence, told Reuters she would supervise the investigation and look into the possible role of Russian political and military leaders in any crimes.

“Everywhere where Russian soldiers were based they committed war crimes, they committed sexual violence and they tortured, they murdered,” she said.

“Аccording to the results of this trip, we discovered the facts of conflict-related sexual violence and the information has been entered into the unified register of pre-trial investigations.”

Rape can constitute a war crime under the Geneva Conventions that establish international legal standards for conduct of armed conflicts. Widespread or systematic sexual violence could amount to crimes against humanity, generally seen as more serious, legal specialists said.

Serhii Doroshyn, deputy head of the national police’s Investigation Department in Crimea and Sevastopol, told Reuters the unit had questioned about 70 people so far. Many of them said they had been held at up to 10 detention centres in the Kherson region during Russia’s occupation.

He added that more than half said they had been subjected to various forms of sexual violence. There are likely to be many more witnesses, he added.

“We find someone, conduct investigative actions, question, find information and then look for other people … We conduct them despite the situation, despite the shelling,” he said.

Doroshyn added that Kherson differed from the capital Kyiv, where investigators had been most active until now, because it had been occupied by Russian forces for so long.

“There were well-established temporary detention facilities, the so-called ‘torture chambers’, where up to 30-40 people could be brought daily,” he said.

“That is, massive work was carried out here. Of course, they did not observe any laws, conventions and statutes.”

UNIQUE CHALLENGES

Elderfield said sexual violence was not always given the prominence it should have in national and international investigations. Social stigma and shame contributed to under-reporting, he added.

“So a specialised team can really help to bring to light the information about these crimes and evidence about these crimes, so they’re given the priority that they deserve.”

A further challenge lies in the fast-shifting dynamics of the war.

Teams like his are likely to have to move in and out of contested areas quickly, and the sound of distant explosions while Reuters reporters accompanied investigators in Kherson last week were a reminder of the ongoing fighting.

Witnesses have fled the area and need to be found, and people may also be nervous about speaking out when it is unclear whether Ukrainian troops will be able to hold the territory they have recaptured for long.

“The proximity of the ongoing conflict has really impacted the Ukrainian prosecution office’s investigation in Kherson,” Elderfield said.

Writing by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Raissa Kasolowsky

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World

Serbs in Kosovo clash with police as ethnic tensions flare

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MITROVICA, Kosovo Dec 11 (Reuters) – Serb protesters in northern Kosovo blocked main roads for a second day on Sunday following a nighttime exchange of fire with police after the arrest of a former Serb policeman, amid rising tensions between authorities and Kosovo’s Serb minority.

In recent weeks Serbs in northern Kosovo – which they believe to be part of Serbia – have responded with violent resistance to moves by Pristina that they see as anti-Serb.

EULEX, the European Union mission tasked with patrolling northern Kosovo, said a stun grenade was thrown on one of its armoured vehicles on Saturday evening, but no one was injured.

Josep Borrell, EU foreign policy chief, warned the bloc will not tolerate violence against members of its mission.

“#EU will not tolerate attacks on @EULEXKosovo or use of violent, criminal acts in the north. Barricades must be removed immediately by groups of Kosovo Serbs. Calm must be restored,” he wrote on Twitter.

The latest protests were triggered by the arrest of a former police officer on Saturday. He was part of a mass resignation of Serbs from the force last month, after Pristina said it would require Serbs to scrap Serbian license plates dating to before the 1998-99 Kosovo War that led to independence.

For a second day on Sunday, trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles blocked several main roads leading to two border crossings with Serbia. Both crossings were closed to traffic.

“The United States expresses its deep concern about the current situation in the north of Kosovo,” the United States embassies in Belgrade and Pristina said in a statement.

“We call on everyone to exercise maximum restraint, to take immediate action to achieve a de-escalation of the situation, and to refrain from provocative acts.”

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has asked NATO’s mission KFOR to remove the barricades.

“We call KFOR to guarantee the freedom of movement (and remove roadblocks)…KFOR is asking for more time to finish this … so we are waiting,” Kurti said.

Late on Saturday Kosovo police said they came under fire in different locations close to a lake bordering Serbia. The force said it had to return fire in self-defence. There were no reports of injuries.

EU PLAN IN DANGER

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 with the backing of the West, following the 1998-99 war in which NATO intervened to protect Albanian-majority Kosovo.

Serb mayors in northern Kosovo municipalities, along with local judges and some 600 police officers, resigned last month in protest over a government decision to replace Belgrade-issued car licence plates with ones issued by Pristina.

Police in Pristina said former policeman Dejan Pantic was arrested for allegedly attacking state offices, the election commission offices, and police officers and election officials.

Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic presided over a National Security Council meeting on Sunday. “I call on Serbs to be calm. Attacks against KFOR and EULEX must not happen,” Vucic told RTS national TV.

On Saturday, Vucic said Belgrade would ask KFOR to let Serbia deploy troops and police in Kosovo, but acknowledged there was no chance of permission being granted.

“We do not seek conflict, but dialogue and peace. But let me be clear: the Republic of Kosovo will defend itself – forcefully and decisively,” Kurti said in response to Vucic’s comments.

Kosovo and Serbia are holding talks in Brussels to try to normalise relations and the EU has already presented a plan.

Additional reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic, Florion Goga and Ognen Teofilovski; Editing by Susan Fenton and Ros Russell

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Croatia joins Europe’s free-travel zone, Romania and Bulgaria barred

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BRUSSELS/BREGANA BORDER CROSSING BETWEEN CROATIA AND SLOVENIA, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Croatia got the green light on Thursday to join Europe’s open travel zone, but Bulgaria and Romania were kept out because of opposition led by Austria over concerns about unauthorised immigration.

From 2023, people will not have to stop for border checks as they pass between Croatia and the rest of the so-called Schengen area – the world’s largest free-travel area seen as one of the main achievements of European integration.

It will “shorten the journey and the wait, thank God,” driver Nenad Benic said as he queued to cross the Bregana border point from Croatia into Slovenia on Thursday.

Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said he was disappointed and would apply to enter the zone again. “We regret and honestly do not understand the inflexible position taken by Austria,” he said.

Bulgaria would also try again, its foreign minister said.

Croatia got the go-ahead to become the zone’s 27th member after tense talks between the bloc’s interior ministers in Brussels.

“To the citizens of Croatia: welcome, congratulations!,” European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson, said.

“To the citizens of Romania and Bulgaria – you deserve to be full members of Schengen, to have access to the free movement… I share the disappointment with the citizens of Bulgaria and Romania.”

Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said he had opposed Romania and Bulgaria because of security concerns.

“It is wrong that a system that does not work properly in many places would get expanded at this point,” he said.

Austria, he added, had recorded 100,000 illegal border crossings so far this year, including 75,000 people who had not been previously registered in other Schengen countries as they should have been.

Accession needs unanimous backing from all members – 22 EU nations as well as Lichtenstein, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.

The Netherlands also opposed granting access to Bulgaria, citing concerns over corruption and migration.

Immigration has been a hot button issue in Europe since 2015 when more than a million people arrived across the Mediterranean Sea, mostly on smugglers’ boats, prompting the EU to tighten its borders and asylum laws.

U.N. data shows some 145,000 people have made the sea crossing this year while more than 1,800 perished trying to reach Europe’s shores, numbers way lower than in 2015.

But the EU’s border police Frontex said last month that 281,000 irregular entries had been recorded throughout the bloc in the first 10 months of 2022, up 77% from a year before and the highest since 2016.

With the Western Balkans route currently the most active, and the EU welcoming several million Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s war, worries about immigration have returned to the fore.

Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, additional reporting by Bart Meijer and Clement Rossignol, Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Crispian Balmer and Andrew Heavens

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World

Iran state body reports 200 dead in protests, Raisi hails ‘freedoms’

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DUBAI, Dec 3 (Reuters) – President Ebrahim Raisi on Saturday hailed Iran’s Islamic Republic as a guarantor of rights and freedoms, defending the ruling system amid a crackdown on anti-government protests that the United Nations says has cost more than 300 lives.

A top state security body meanwhile said that 200 people, including members of the security forces, had lost their lives in the unrest, a figure significantly lower than that given by the world body and rights groups.

The protests, in their third month, were ignited by the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police enforcing strict mandatory hijab rules.

The demonstrations have turned into a popular revolt by furious Iranians from all layers of society, posing one of the boldest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution.

Meanwhile, a social media video appeared to show authorities demolishing the family home of Elnaz Rekabi, a climber who competed in an international contest without a headscarf in October. Rekabi later she had done so unintentionally, but she was widely assumed to have expressed support for the protests. read more

State media on Saturday quoted the head of the judiciary in northwestern Zanjan province as saying the ruling to demolish the villa had been issued four months ago as the family had failed to obtain a construction permit.

Unfazed by the brutal crackdown, protesters have raised slogans against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and repeatedly demanded an end to the Islamic government.

Social media videos showed renewed protests late on Saturday in some parts of the capital Tehran, including the eastern Haft Howz area where protesters could be heard chanting: “Murderer Khamenei should be executed.” Reuters could not immediately verify the footage.

The authorities blame the revolt on foreign enemies, including the United States, Saudi Arabia and Israel.

“Iran has the most progressive constitution in the world” because it marries “ideals with democracy,” Raisi said in a speech to parliamentarians, quoting an unidentified African lawyer he said he met several years ago.

“The constitution guarantees the (existence) of the Islamic system,” he said, adding that it also “guarantees fundamental rights and legitimate freedoms.”

The judiciary’s Mizan news agency quoted the interior ministry’s state security council as saying 200 people lost their lives in the recent “riots”.

Amirali Hajizadeh, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander was quoted as saying on Monday that 300 people, including security force members, had been killed in the recent unrest.

Javaid Rehman, a U.N.-appointed independent expert on Iran, said on Tuesday that more than 300 people had been killed in the protests, including more than 40 children.

Rights group HRANA said that as of Friday 469 protesters had been killed, including 64 minors. It said 61 government security forces had also been killed. As many as 18,210 protesters are believed to have been arrested.

A prominent Baluch Sunni Muslim cleric, Molavi Abdolhamid, has called for an end to the repression of protests through arrests and killings, and a referendum on changing Iran’s government system.

“The people’s protest has shown that the policies of the last 43 years have reached a dead end,” he said in late November.

dubai.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com, Editing by William Maclean and Louise Heavens

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China mourns former leader Jiang Zemin with bouquets, black front pages

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BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Dec 1 (Reuters) – Chinese newspapers turned their front pages black on Thursday and flags were put at half mast in mourning for the death of former president Jiang Zemin, while well-wishers laid piles of bouquets outside his childhood home.

Jiang died in his home city of Shanghai just after noon on Wednesday of leukaemia and multiple organ failure, aged 96.

His death has prompted a wave of nostalgia for the relatively more liberal times he oversaw.

A date has yet to be set for his funeral.

The front page of the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily devoted its whole front page to Jiang, and carried a large picture of him wearing his trademark “toad” glasses.

“Beloved comrade Jiang Zemin will never be forgotten,” it said in its headline, above a story republishing the official announcement of his death.

Flags flew at half mast on key government buildings and Chinese embassies abroad, while the home pages of e-commerce platforms Taobao and JD.com also turned black and white.

Mourners laid piles of bouquets of white chrysanthemums, a traditional Chinese symbol for mourning, outside Jiang’s childhood home in the eastern city of Yangzhou, a witness told Reuters, declining to be identified given sensitivities about discussing anything political in China.

Some people knelt down in front of his house in a show of respect, the person added.

“Grandpa Jiang, rest in peace,” read a note on one bouquet.

In Shanghai, where Jiang died, police closed off streets but hundreds of people still tried to catch a glimpse of a vehicle thought to be carrying his body, according to images that were shared on Chinese social media.

In one picture, people held up a black and white banner reading “Comrade Jiang Zemin you will forever live in our hearts”.

FOREIGNERS NOT INVITED

But foreign governments, political parties and “friendly personages” will not be invited to send delegations or representatives to China to attend the mourning activities, the official Xinhua news agency said.

At one of the largest foreign banks in China, employees have been asked to wear black in meetings with regulators, senior staff have been asked not to be photographed at parties and the bank has put marketing activities on hold for 10 days, a senior executive at the lender told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Jiang’s death comes at a tumultuous time in China, where authorities are grappling with rare widespread street protests among residents fed up with heavy-handed COVID-19 curbs nearly three years into the pandemic.

China is also locked in an increasingly bad-tempered stand-off with the United States and its allies over everything from Chinese threats to democratically-governed Taiwan to trade and human rights issues.

While Jiang could have a fierce temper, his jocular side where he would sometimes sing for foreign dignitaries and joke around with them stand in marked contrast to his stiffer successor Hu Jintao and current President Xi Jinping.

“Having someone educated as leader really is a good thing, RIP,” wrote one user on WeChat adding a candle emoji.

Some Chinese social media users have posted pictures and videos of Jiang speaking or laughing and articles about his 1997 speech at Harvard University in English, reminiscing about an era when China and the West were on better terms.

The U.S. and Japanese governments both expressed their condolences.

U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said that during his two visits to the United States as president as well as multiple other meetings with U.S. officials, Jiang worked to advance ties “while managing our differences – an imperative that continues today”.

Even Taiwan, which Jiang menaced with war games in the run up to the island’s first direct presidential election in 1996, said it had sent its “best wishes” to Jiang’s family, though it added he did “threaten the development of Taiwan’s democratic system and foreign exchanges with force”.

Reporting by Beijing and Shanghai newsrooms; Additional reporting by Engen Tham; Writing by Yew Lun Tian and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Michael Perry

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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US

U.S. to boost spending on tribal lands, protect Nevada sacred site

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WASHINGTON, Nov 30 (Reuters) – The Biden administration will give Native American tribes more say in managing federal and tribal lands as part of a plan that includes assistance for tribes whose land has been harmed by climate change, the White House said on Wednesday.

President Joe Biden and other Cabinet officials announced the measures at a two-day Tribal Nations Summit, with additional steps focused on providing better access to capital for tribal nations.

Biden also said at the summit that he intends to protect the area surrounding Spirit Mountain in Nevada, known as Avi Kwa Ame to the Fort Mojave tribe, which has been urging the United States to designate the huge swath of land as a national monument.

“I’m committed to protecting this sacred place that is central to the creation story of so many tribes that are here today,” Biden announced during remarks at Tribal Nations summit in Washington.

Biden was met by applause when he commented that he intends to visit tribal lands while in office.

Among the other new actions announced by the administration are efforts to boost purchases of tribal energy and other goods and services, and to revitalize Native languages.

The three signature pieces of legislation passed during Biden’s time in office – laws dealing with infrastructure, climate and COVID-19 relief – have provided nearly $46 billion in funding for tribal communities and Native American people, the White House said.

The actions include new uniform standards for how federal agencies should consult Native American tribes in major decisions that affect their sovereignty, the creation of a new office of partnerships to advance economic development and conservation initiatives and agreements promoting the co-stewardship of federal lands, waters, fisheries and other resources of significance and value to tribes.

“I made a commitment my administration would prioritize and respect nation-to-nation relationships,” Biden said. “I hope our work in the past two years has demonstrated that we’re meeting that commitment.”

The Interior Department also announced it would award $115 million to 11 tribes that have been severely impacted by climate-related environmental threats, and $25 million each to two Alaska tribes and the Quinault Nation in Washington state to help them execute their plans to relocate their villages to safer ground.

Federal agencies will also be instructed to recognize and include indigenous knowledge in federal research, policy, and decision-making, by elevating tribal “observations, oral and written knowledge, practices, and beliefs” that promote environmental sustainability.

The Small Business Administration will announce plans to boost access to financing opportunities, while the Energy Department plans to increase federal agencies’ use of tribal energy through purchasing authority established under a 2005 law unused for more than 17 years.

The administration will also work to deploy electric-vehicle infrastructure in tribal lands, prioritize the replacement of diesel school buses with low or zero emission school buses, and help tribes buy or lease EV fleet vehicles.

As part of that drive, the Interior Department will set a goal to award 75% of contract dollars from Indian Affairs agencies and 10% of the department’s remaining contract dollars to Native-owned businesses. Along with a new Indian Health Service goal of 20% of purchases, the actions could redirect hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses on tribal lands.

The government will also release a draft of a 10-year plan to revitalize Native American languages and which underscores the urgency for immediate action, while formally recognizing the role that the U.S. government played in erasing Native languages.

The administration also announced a new initiative that will aim to widely deploy broadband and other wireless services on tribal lands, helping Native American tribes improve communication services that have lagged those of non-tribal lands.

Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Valerie Volcovici and Jeff Mason in Washington
Additional reporting by Katharine Jackson in Washington
Editing by Robert Birsel and Matthew Lewis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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