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Migrants arrive with a dinghy accompanied by a Frontex vessel at the village of Skala Sikaminias, on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey, on Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. An air strike by Syrian government forces killed scores of Turkish soldiers in northeast Syria, a Turkish official said Friday, marking the largest death toll for Turkey in a single day since it first intervened in Syria in 2016. Screenshot from Youtube as Migrants arrive with a dinghy accompanied by a Frontex vessel at the village of Skala Sikaminias, on the Greek island of Lesbos, after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey, on Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. An air strike by Syrian government forces killed scores of Turkish soldiers in northeast Syria, a Turkish official said Friday, marking the largest death toll for Turkey in a single day since it first intervened in Syria in 2016. (Photo a screenshot from Youtube)
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Hundreds of refugees and migrants in Turkey have begun heading for the country’s land and sea borders with Greece, buoyed by Turkish officials’ statements indicating they will not be hindered from crossing the frontier to head into Europe.
Migrants walked to the Turkey-Greece border, in Pazarkule, Edirne, Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. NATO envoys were holding emergency talks Friday at the request of Turkey following the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in northeast Syria, as scores of migrants gathered at Turkey’s border with Greece seeking entry into Europe. (Photo/aa.com.tr/en) Provided by Associated Press Migrants walk to the Turkey-Greece border, in Pazarkule, Edirne, Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. NATO envoys were holding emergency talks Friday at the request of Turkey following the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in northeast Syria, as scores of migrants gathered at Turkey’s border with Greece seeking entry into Europe.
The move comes a day after a deadly Syrian airstrike that killed more than 30 Turkish troops in Idlib, Syria, where Turkey has been engaged since 2016.
WHO ARE THE REFUGEES OR MIGRANTS IN TURKEY?
Turkey currently hosts about 3.6 million Syrian refugees. In 2016, it agreed with the European Union to step up efforts to halt the flow of hundreds of thousands of refugees who headed from its shores into Greece in 2015, in return for funds to support the refugees.
Apart from the Syrian refugees registered in Turkey, the country has also been a staging ground and transit point for many people from the Middle East, North Africa and central Asia hoping to head to Europe. Its coastline’s proximity to Greek islands, and the country’s land border with EU member Greece, have made it one of the preferred routes into the EU for those fleeing war and poverty at home.
REPEATED THREATS
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has frequently warned he could open Turkey’s borders and allow refugees into Europe — a threat often made during periods of tense relations with EU countries.
An elderly cancer patient became the third person known to be infected with the coronavirus to die in Italy, health officials said on Sunday, as the number of people contracting the virus continued to mount.
The death of the woman in a hospital in the small city of Crema in Lombardy, the centre of Italy’s coronavirus scare, followed that of a 77-year-old woman on Saturday and a 78-year-old man on Friday, the first European victim of coronavirus.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte urged people “not to give in to panic and follow the advice of health authorities”.
“We should not be afraid because of the rising numbers,” he told public radio station Rai Uno, adding in another interview that cases were being discovered “because we are carrying out thousands of checks”.
The head of Italy’s civil protection department, Angelo Borrelli, told a news conference that 152 people had now tested positive for the virus in the country, including the three deceased.
The cancer patient had been hospitalised for a few days, said Lombardy’s health chief, Giulio Gallera. “She’d been tested and they already knew she had the coronavirus,” Gallera said, adding that it was too early to know whether the virus was the actual cause of death.
The deaths, and steadily rising number of cases of infected people, have prompted a series of security measures to try to check the spread of the contagion.
Eleven towns—10 in Lombardy and one in neighbouring Veneto—are under lockdown, with some 50,000 residents prohibited from leaving.
Regional authorities have ordered gathering spots, such as bars, restaurants and discos to close. Schools throughout the affected areas are to remain closed.
An Austrian train from Venice bound for Munich was stopped on Sunday on the Italian side of the Brenner Pass border crossing with Austria because of two possible cases, the Austrian interior ministry said.
It later announced that the passengers had tested negative and train services resumed.
Cultural fallout
The spread of the virus has disrupted high-profile events including Milan Fashion Week and the Venice Carnival while Serie A football matches were postponed. Operas have also had to be cancelled at Milan’s famed La Scala.
Most of the cases in Italy are in Lombardy, a prosperous region in the country’s north, and can be traced back to a 38-year-old man whom authorities have called “patient one”.
The man, who is intensive care, dined last month with another man who had visited China in January. He exhibited flu-like symptoms at the time of the dinner, but has since tested negative for the virus, media reports said.
Health officials are still puzzled over certain cases with no obvious links with infected persons.
“The rapid increase in reported cases in Italy over the past two days is of concern,” World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said on Sunday.
“What is also worrying is that not all reported cases seem to have clear epidemiological links, such as travel history to China or contact with a confirmed case,” he added.
Experts from WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control plan to arrive in Italy on Tuesday, he said.
Conte’s government moved on Saturday to set up checkpoints in the region affected to ensure that nobody leaves the contaminated zone without special permission. Sunday saw police checking all vehicles travelling in and out of the area along Codogno’s main highway.
One police officer told AFP that “we’re going to quickly enforce a total blockade” and that those who had made it into the area in recent days would be unable to leave.
Conte has said that residents could face weeks of lockdown, enough time for any potential infection to incubate.
Posted by DanielS on Thursday, 20 February 2020 07:20.
Salvini quotes Ezra Pound, “If a man is not ready to fight for his ideas, either his ideas are worthless, or he is,”
Italian ethnonationalist leader Matteo Salvini is to stand trial on charges of illegally detaining migrants at sea after senators voted Wednesday to strip him of his parliamentary immunity.
A court in Sicily recommended that former interior minister Salvini stand trial for blocking migrants from disembarking from a coast guard boat last July.
But ministers cannot be tried for actions taken while in office unless their parliamentary immunity is revoked.
The Senate’s decision sends the chief of the anti-immigrant League party to trial for abuse of power and illegal detention, charges for which he faces up to 15 years in jail.
“I have defended Italy. I have full and total faith in the justice system,” Salvini told ANSA news agency after the vote.
“I am not worried at all, and I’m proud of what I’ve done,” he said, adding he would “do it again when I get back into power.”
Salvini had refused to allow 116 rescued migrants to leave the Gregoretti coast guard boat – where they had been languishing for about a week in insalubrious conditions – until a deal was reached with other European states to host them.
A Catania court accused him of “abuse of power” in blocking them on board from July 27 to July 31 last year, and of illegally detaining them.
Salvini insists the decision had the backing of the government and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
‘Head Held High’
Before the debate began, Salvini took to Facebook to say he had his “head held high, with the calm conscience of those who have defended their land and people.”
“If a man is not ready to fight for his ideas, either his ideas are worthless, or he is,” Salvini wrote, quoting Ezra Pound, a 20th-century American poet known for his fascist sympathies.
The Gregoretti on July 25 took on board 140 migrants who were trying to make the perilous crossing from war-torn Libya to Europe – the same day 110 migrants drowned off the Libyan coast.
The NHS will soon bar discriminatory patients from non-critical care - powers that currently only cover aggression or violence.
More than a quarter of NHS patients have reported being bullied, harassed or abused.
But these protections will extend to any harassment, bullying or discrimination, including homophobic, sexist or racist remarks.
Ambulance workers are among those worst affected by abuse
Health Secretary Matt Hancock wrote to all NHS staff on Tuesday to announce stronger measures to investigate abuse and harassment towards staff, saying “no act of violence or abuse is minor”.
“Being assaulted or abused is not part of the job,” he said.
“Far too often I hear stories that the people you are trying to help lash out. I’ve seen it for myself in A&Es, on night shifts, and on ambulances.”
Mr Hancock said he was “horrified that any member of the public would abuse or physically assault a member of our NHS staff but it happens too often”.
Posted by DanielS on Wednesday, 19 February 2020 07:13.
Prior to his arrest in 2003 Khodorkovsky (in photo with first Russian President Boris Yeltsin) funded several Russian parties, including the Communist Party, most of which were in competition with each other. Voltairenet.org
A Dutch appeals court on Tuesday (18 February) overturned the annulment of a $50 billion award to shareholders in the now defunct Russian oil giant Yukos, a surprise ruling 13 years after the assets came under control of the Kremlin.
Yukos Oil went bankrupt in 2006 after its former chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky fell out with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and the government began demanding billions of dollars in back taxes that ultimately resulted in its being expropriated by the state.
Tuesday’s verdict reinstates a decision by The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ordering the Russian state to compensate shareholders in the company once headed by fallen oligarch Khodorkovsky. That decision had been overturned in April 2016 by The Hague District Court.
Russia’s Justice Ministry has said it will challenge the appeals court ruling at the Dutch Supreme Court.
“The (lower) court ruled in favour of the Russian Federation, but the court of appeal in The Hague today ruled that the court’s verdict is incorrect. This means that the arbitral award is again in force,” the appeals court said in a statement.
Most of Yukos’ assets were absorbed by the Kremlin’s flagship oil producer Rosneft, and its former owners have for years been trying to recover their possessions.
Legal proceedings seeking damages have been brought by GML, formerly known as Group Menatep Ltd., which held around 70% of shares in Yukos.
Rule of law
Tim Osborne, GML’s chief executive, said the latest ruling was “a victory for the rule of law.”
“The independent courts of a democracy have shown their integrity and served justice. A brutal kleptocracy has been held to account,” he said.
The PCA had ruled in July 2014 that four plaintiffs – not including Khodorkovsky – were entitled to compensation for the loss of their holdings, enabling them to go after Russian state assets.
Russian government assets in France and Belgium including bank accounts have been frozen in a row over compensation for shareholders of defunct oil giant Yukos, officials and a claimant representative said yesterday (18 June).
Salvini quotes Ezra Pound, “If a man is not ready to fight for his ideas, either his ideas are worthless, or he is,”
Prior to his arrest in 2003 Khodorkovsky (in photo with first Russian President Boris Yeltsin) funded several Russian parties, including the Communist Party, most of which were in competition with each other. Voltairenet.org
More than a quarter of NHS patients have reported being bullied, harassed or abused.