Month: May 2021

Two young Senegalese men met on a Europe-bound migrant boat in 2006, a year that saw a record influx of Africans to Spain’s Canary Islands. Since then, one died of a heart attack running away from Spanish police and the other is running in a polarized election Tuesday for a seat in Madrid’s regional assembly.Serigne Mbaye not only wants to fight what he considers to be “structural racism” against African migrants but also to defy a history of underrepresentation of the Black community and other people of color in Spanish politics.“That’s where all discrimination begins,” the 45-year-old told The Associated Press.In …

READ MORE

Berlin police on Sunday said they had arrested more than 250 people after May Day rallies descended into “unacceptable” violence that saw protesters pelt officers with stones and bottles and set fire to bins.   Around 30,000 people from across the political spectrum took part in several marches in the German capital on Saturday as part of the traditional Labor Day workers’ rights demonstrations.   Most of the demonstrations passed off peacefully, police said.   But the mood darkened in the evening after police pulled far-left “black block” protesters out of the crowd for not adhering to pandemic hygiene regulations such as social distancing.    Along with …

READ MORE

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken leaves for Europe on Sunday, where he will hold meetings in London and Kyiv.Blinken’s first stop will be London, where he will meet with the foreign secretaries from the Group of Seven countries. Later in the week, he will travel to Kyiv to show U.S. support for Ukraine’s government as it faces threats to its sovereignty from Russia.The meetings in London with the G-7 ministers are in preparation for the meeting of the G-7 leaders in June in Cornwall.The ministers are also expected to discuss their handling of challenges they are all facing, including …

READ MORE

For British IT consultant Yogen Shah, India’s COVID-19 crisis is deeply personal.The pictures of people hooked up to oxygen bottles on the streets of New Delhi and patients sharing beds in overcrowded hospitals remind him of his uncle in India, who recently contracted the disease.So Shah joined volunteers from one of Britain’s largest Hindu temples who set out to raise 500,000 pounds ($690,000) by racking up 7,600 kilometers (4,722 miles) on stationary bikes — roughly the distance from London to Delhi — in 48 hours.”I think every single person of Indian origin will have someone affected over there,” Shah, 40, …

READ MORE

Two Italian ports faced an influx of hundreds of migrants on Saturday, as a charity ship sailed toward a Sicilian port with 236 people rescued in the Mediterranean from traffickers’ boats, while Italian coast guard and border police brought 532 others to a tiny island.The maritime rescue group SOS Mediterranee said a ship it operates, Ocean Viking, pulled the migrants to safety four days ago from two rubber dinghies. Upon instructions from Italian authorities, the Ocean Viking was sailing to Augusta, Sicily, with its passengers, 119 of whom were reported to be unaccompanied minors.SOS Mediterranee said some passengers told rescuers …

READ MORE

Europeans marked International Workers’ Day, May 1, with traditional lily of the valley flowers and street protests. But this year’s mood was grim, with many countries feeling the health and economic backlash of COVID-19, including a double-dip recession in the 19-member euro currency zone.The weather was cold and damp in Paris as thousands of protesters marched down Boulevard Voltaire to Place de la Nation — or Nation’s Square — a favorite guillotine spot during the French Revolution.A protester holds a sign denouncing profiteers who have enriched themselves from the COVID crisis, in Paris, May 1, 2021. (Lisa Bryant/VOA)There was no …

READ MORE

High-ranking diplomats from China, Germany, France, Russia and Britain resumed talks Saturday focused on bringing the United States back into their landmark nuclear deal with Iran.The U.S. will not have a representative at the table when the diplomats meet in Vienna because former President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the country out of the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, in 2018. Trump also restored and augmented sanctions to try to force Iran into renegotiating the pact with more concessions.U.S. President Joe Biden wants to rejoin the deal, however, and a U.S. delegation in Vienna is taking part …

READ MORE

Turkish police detained 212 demonstrators after scuffles broke out at May Day marches Saturday amid a coronavirus-related curfew, according to the Istanbul governor’s office and Reuters witnesses.   Riot police and plainclothes officers jostled with union leaders and other demonstrators and threw some to the ground before detaining dozens of them near Istanbul’s Taksim Square, Reuters video and images showed.   The governor’s office said some labor unions were allowed to hold memorials to mark the annual holiday, while others who had “gathered illegally” in violation of the lockdown, and ignored calls to disperse, were detained.   State-owned Anadolu Agency …

READ MORE

Saturday, parties to the Iran nuclear agreement are to resume the third round of negotiations in Vienna aimed at bringing the United States back into the accord.   The deal, which curbs Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, has been on life support since then U.S. president Donald Trump bolted in 2018.   The remaining partners to the 2015 accord have been engaged in negotiations since early April to try to revive it.   The third round of talks started on Tuesday and, after several days of technical discussions between expert groups and delegations, will resume on Saturday. …

READ MORE

A total of 125 Europe-bound children were among those intercepted at sea this week by Libyan authorities off the Mediterranean coast, the United Nations child welfare agency said Friday, adding that most were brought to detention centers.The children, fleeing war and poverty across the perilous maritime route to Europe, included 114 unaccompanied minors, UNICEF added in a statement.”The majority of those rescued are sent to overcrowded detention centers in Libya under extremely difficult conditions and with no or limited access to water and health services. Nearly 1,100 children are in these centers,” read the statement.UNICEF urged the Libyan authorities to …

READ MORE

Russia on Friday barred eight officials from European Union countries from entering the country in retaliation for sanctions imposed on Russian citizens by the EU.Russia’s foreign ministry said those banned included Vera Jourova, vice president for values and transparency at the executive European Commission, David Sassoli, the president of the European parliament, and Jacques Maire, a member of the French delegation at the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly.”The European Union continues to pursue its policy of illegitimate, unilateral restrictive measures against Russian citizens and organizations,” the ministry said in a statement.It accused the EU of “openly and deliberately” undermining the …

READ MORE