Campaigning to elect a new German leader this month is being clouded by concerns that the country will face a new influx of refugees — this time those fleeing Taliban rule in Afghanistan.  In 2015, more than 1 million migrants, many of them Syrians escaping their country’s civil war, traveled across the Mediterranean and Europe to reach Germany, according to German officials. Angela Merkel is not standing in the September 26 election, so Germany will soon have a new chancellor tasked with formulating policy toward Afghanistan and the unfolding refugee crisis. FILE – Armin Laschet, chairman of the German Christian Democratic Union, addresses the media during a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 13, 2021.Armin Laschet is the candidate for Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party, which currently shares power with the Social Democrats. Speaking shortly after the Taliban seized power last month, he pledged there would be no repeat of the refugee influx. “The European Union must be prepared that there will be refugees heading towards Europe. And this time we must provide humanitarian aid to the region, to the countries of origin in time. 2015 must not repeat itself. We need an orderly protection for those who are heading towards Europe,” Laschet told reporters on August 16.  Laschet’s rival — Olaf Scholz of the Social Democrats, who are leading in the polls — also maintains that Europe must share the burden of any imminent refugee influx. FILE – German Finance Minister and Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks during a press conference in Berlin, Germany, Dec. 13, 2020.”It isn’t just Germany, but all of Europe has a responsibility, and we have to remember that almost all refugees, and there are millions in the world, have often found refuge in a neighboring country,” Scholz told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. Germany has evacuated more than 4,000 Afghans since August. The government says anyone directly employed by German forces in Afghanistan is entitled to asylum. The situation for contractors, however, is not clear.  Afghan brothers Ahmad and Ikram, who did not want to give their real names, arrived in Germany in 2015 as part of the wave of migrants seeking a new life in Europe. They are currently staging a protest outside the Foreign Ministry in Berlin, to demand that Germany speed up the asylum process for refugees. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 11 MB480p | 15 MB540p | 21 MB720p | 46 MB1080p | 88 MBOriginal | 236 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioIkram says he worked with NATO forces in Afghanistan and recently showed VOA the documentation he hopes will secure him refugee status. After six years of trying, they have both been denied visas. The brothers were due to be deported to Afghanistan in August but were given a reprieve after the Taliban seized power.”Afghanistan is no longer safe. People cannot let themselves die there — they themselves, and their families. And so, they say it doesn’t matter how dangerous the way is, people are saying we’re leaving, because otherwise they will be killed,” Ahmad told VOA.  So, could Germany face another migrant influx? The situation is very different, says Nora Brezger of the Berlin Refugee Council, a support group for migrants.  “At the moment now, there is actually no way to Europe where people can cross, like it was in 2015 or 2016. So, it’s more that a lot of Afghan refugees are in the surrounding countries of Afghanistan, and in the Balkan route they are stuck in Bosnia, they are stuck in Serbia, they are stuck in Greece, they are stuck in Turkey,” Brezger told VOA.  “So, it’s not a question of how we should avoid people coming here. For us, it’s more a question of how should we make people come here because they need a safe place,” she said. VOA recently spoke to several Afghan refugees currently stuck in the Turkish city of Erzurum. Among them was Yusuf, who said he was doing casual work to try to save money to reach Europe. Germany continues to exert a strong pull for those seeking a new life.  “We want to go to Germany, but the borders are closed at the moment. If you want to go to Germany via Bulgaria, you would be held in Bulgaria. The human smugglers say that the borders are open, you can go — but we know that they are closed. Once the borders are opened, God willing, we will go,” Yusuf said.  It appears unlikely that Germany — or the rest of Europe — is prepared to reopen those borders anytime soon. VOA’s Memet Aksakal contributed to this report.
 
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Six years ago, more than a million migrants traveled across the Mediterranean and Europe to reach Germany — many of them Syrians escaping the civil war. So, could history repeat itself as refugees try to flee Taliban rule in Afghanistan? As Henry Ridgwell reports from Berlin, immigration is high on the agenda as Germany prepares for a general election later this month.Camera: Henry Ridgwell, Memet Aksakal   Produced by: Henry Ridgwell, Mary Cieslak 
 
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The European Union’s chief executive called on member nations to develop its defense capabilities without U.S. support, an appeal that came after the Taliban’s recent seizure of Afghanistan.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s remarks came a month after the Afghan army’s swift collapse and the messy evacuation of thousands of people fleeing the country after the Taliban’s seizure of Kabul.“Europe can and clearly should be able and willing to do more on its own,” von der Leyen said during her annual state of the union speech before the European Parliament in Strasbourg. “What has held us back until now is not just shortfalls of capacity, it is a lack of political will,” said von der Leyen, a former German defense minister whose country is among the most hesitant EU member countries to send troops into combat around the world.She called on the EU to create a “defense union,” a development that would complement the bloc’s traditional soft power approach.The EU president proposed tax incentives to encourage the development and sale of weapons within the EU, improving intelligence-sharing programs and bolstering defenses against cyberattacks. The proposal to establish a 5,000-member force was first raised in May during a review of the bloc’s overall strategy. EU foreign policy head Josep Borrell said at the meeting he hoped a plan would be finalized by November.The EU currently has a system of combat troops to deploy to areas of unrest, but they have never been used. Some information in this report was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
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London’s High Court said on Wednesday it would take steps if necessary to serve papers on Britain’s Prince Andrew in a U.S. lawsuit brought by a woman who accuses him of sexually assaulting her two decades ago. 
The prince, Queen Elizabeth’s second son, is accused by Virginia Giuffre of assaulting her when she was 17, at a time she says she was being abused by the financier Jeffrey Epstein. 
Andrew, 61, who is officially known as the Duke of York, has rejected the accusations and his lawyers have described the case as baseless. His legal team declined comment. 
Last week, Giuffre’s legal team said it had tried to serve papers on Andrew by leaving the documents with a police officer at his home in southern England. The prince’s lawyers told the U.S. District Court in Manhattan they had not been properly served under English law and the Hague Convention. 
A spokesperson for London’s High Court said the issue about how claims could be served on parties in different jurisdictions was governed by the Hague Service Convention, which requires requests to be made and approved by the relevant authority in each country. 
“The lawyers acting for Ms Giuffre have now provided further information to the High Court, and the High Court has accepted the request for service under the Hague Service Convention,” the spokesperson said in a statement. 
“The legal process has not yet been served but the High Court will now take steps to serve under the Convention unless service is arranged by agreement between the parties.” Manhattan hearing 
At a hearing on Monday in Manhattan, the prince’s lawyer, Andrew Brettler, said Giuffre appeared to have in 2009 signed away her right to sue the prince in resolving a separate lawsuit. 
“This is a baseless, nonviable, potentially unlawful lawsuit,” Brettler said. “There has been a settlement agreement that the plaintiff has entered into in a prior action that releases the Duke and others from any and all potential liability.” 
Andrew is a former friend of Epstein, a registered sex offender who killed himself in a Manhattan jail in August 2019 after U.S. prosecutors charged him with sexually exploiting dozens of girls and women. 
The prince stepped down from royal duties and charities and other organizations distanced themselves from him after a BBC interview in November 2019 about his relationship with Epstein. 
He denies having sex or any relationship with Giuffre. Her lawsuit, filed last month, says he forced her to have unwanted sexual intercourse at the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite and Epstein’s longtime associate. 
It also said Andrew abused Giuffre at Epstein’s mansion on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, and on a private island Epstein owned in the U.S. Virgin Islands. 
Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to charges she aided Epstein’s sexual abuses. She faces a scheduled Nov. 29 trial before U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan. 
The next conference for Giuffre’s lawsuit is scheduled for Oct. 13.  
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U.S. warnings to Russian President Vladimir Putin over shielding cybercriminals holed up in Russia appear to have made little impact, according to top U.S. law enforcement and cyber officials. “There is no indication that the Russian government has taken action to crack down on ransomware actors that are operating in the permissive environment that they’ve created there,” Paul Abbate, deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said Tuesday at an intelligence summit just outside Washington.  “We’ve asked for help and cooperation with those who we know are in Russia, who we have indictments against, and we’ve seen no action,” Abbate said. “So, I would say that nothing’s changed in that regard.” U.S. President Joe Biden has twice called on the Russian leader to take action against cybercriminals operating out of Russia — first at a summit in June in Geneva and again in a phone call a month later. FILE – President Joe Biden, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet at the Villa la Grange, in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021.”I made it very clear to him that the United States expects when a ransomware operation is coming from his soil, even though it’s not sponsored by the state, we expect them to act if we give them enough information to act on who that is,” Biden told reporters following the July phone call.Biden, Putin Discuss Ransomware Attacks From Russia Biden warns of consequences if attacks continueSince the initial talks, senior White House officials have noted a decrease in ransomware attacks, though they have been hesitant to attribute the change to any action by Moscow. “The present absence of criminal activity should not be confused with solid policing,” U.S. National Cyber Director Chris Inglis told an audience later Tuesday. “There’s still a monetary incentive and possibly a geopolitical incentive to allow that to come back,” he said, pushing back against calls for the U.S. to go on the offensive. “There is a sense that we can perhaps fire some cyber bullets and kind of shoot our way out of this. That will be useful in certain circumstances if we have a clear shot at a cyber aggressor and it could take them offline,” Inglis said. “That’s not going to affect the leadership that allows this to happen.”  “We have to figure out what is it that matters to Putin and the oligarchs and how do we change their decision calculus,” he added. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied any role in a series of ransomware and cyberattacks against U.S. companies and infrastructure. And following the Biden-Putin call in July, it issued a statement supporting collaboration on cybersecurity, calling for such efforts to “be permanent, professional and nonpoliticized and should be conducted via special communication channels … and with respect to international law.” New: Discussions w/#Russia on #cyber continue, per Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber Anne Neuberger@POTUS “looking for action” she says, adding US must also focus on “doing everything we can to lock our digital doors”— Jeff Seldin (@jseldin) September 2, 2021The U.S. blames Russia or Russian-based cyber actors for a series of high-profile hacks and ransomware attacks, including the December 2020 hack of SolarWinds, a U.S.-based software management company, and for the May 7 ransomware attack against Colonial Pipeline, the largest fuel pipeline operator in the U.S.  U.S. officials have blamed the GRU for targeting the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 elections and the pharmaceutical companies developing vaccines against the coronavirus.  US, Britain Warn of Russian ‘Brute Force’ Cyber CampaignUS officials urge agencies and organizations to take basic precautions as a first step in fighting backAsked Tuesday whether the U.S. has reached the point where it is ready to take action against Russia, the commander of U.S. Cyber Command deferred to the White House. “That’s obviously for the president to decide,” CYBERCOM’s General Paul Nakasone said. “But those options certainly will be provided for his consideration.” VOA’s Masood Farivar contributed to this report.
 
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In a message of inclusion, Pope Francis is reaching out to the Roma people of Slovakia, where he has condemned Central Europe’s historic marginalization of communities including Jews.On his second day in Slovakia, the pope travelled to the town of Presov in the eastern part of the country where he celebrated mass in the Byzantine rite in the city’s sports stadium. The highlight of the day was a visit to the Roma community in the nearby town of Kosice — a gesture analysts see as a sign of inclusion.The impoverished Lunik neighborhood, which the pope will visit, is home to the country’s highest community of Roma residents, where his message is welcomed by a population living with problems that include overcrowded housing, in some cases with no running water or electricity. Slovakia has a 400,000-strong Roma minority which has historically faced discrimination.On Monday, the pope addressed the Slovak president and other officials in the gardens of Bratislava’s presidential palace and stressed the need to work for the common good and not focus on individual needs.Referring to nation’s communist past, the pope said that until a few decades ago, a single thought system stifled freedom adding that “today another such system is emptying freedom of meaning, reducing progress to profit and rights only to individual means.”Pope Francis said, “Fraternity is necessary for the increasingly pressing process of integration.” The pope also addressed representatives of the Jewish community on Monday at a memorial for Jews that were killed in the Holocaust. At this site, a synagogue was demolished in 1969 in what the pope said were efforts to cancel every trace of the Jewish community.Here in this place, the pope said, the Name of God was dishonored, for the worst form of blasphemy is to exploit it for our purposes, refusing to respect and love others.More than one hundred thousand Slovak Jews were killed during the Holocaust and the pope added that it was shameful how people who said they believed in God perpetrated or allowed “unspeakable acts of inhumanity.”The Jewish community in Slovakia now amounts to some 2,000 people. Pope Francis said, “Let us unite in condemning all violence and every form of antisemitism.”An open-air Mass in the Slovak town of Sastin Wednesday caps the pontiff’s visit before his return to Rome. This visit to Hungary and Slovakia is his first foreign trip since he underwent intestinal surgery in July.
 
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A Russian court has fined Facebook, Twitter and Telegram, saying the companies failed to delete content that Russian internet regulator Roskomnadzor said violates Russian law. 
 
Facebook was fined about $288,000, while Twitter was fined about $69,000 and Telegram was hit with $124,00 in fines, according to the magistrate court in Moscow’s Taganskiy district. 
 
None of the companies has commented on the issue. 
 
The most recent fines come as Russia has levied similar fines on Google, WhatsApp and TikTok in recent months.  
 
In March, the Kremlin slowed down Twitter in the country for failing to remove content. 
 
The fines have been over content, as well as for the companies’ refusal to store personal data on Russian users in Russia.  
 
Russia is also trying to compel these companies to open official offices in Russia. 
 
Kremlin critics say the moves are an effort by the country’s ruling United Party to stifle dissent in the run-up to September 19 parliamentary elections. 
 Some information in this report came from Reuters. 
 
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When Germany’s long-standing chancellor, Angela Merkel, steps down following federal elections later this month, it will mark the end of an era, not only for Germany but also for the European Union.In power since 2005, the 67-year-old Merkel has been the third longest-serving chancellor in German history, beaten in the longevity stakes only by Otto von Bismarck in the nineteenth century and in the twentieth by Helmut Kohl. And she has been the country’s only woman chancellor.For 16 years German politics has revolved around Merkel — and so too to a large extent has the politics of the European Union.She has been widely seen as a steadying influence on the fractious bloc, the grown-up politician who could assuage and tamp down disputes, often finding a way out of seemingly intractable disputes between the 27 member states, frequently by delaying decisions or shelving them.It was to Merkel that Britain’s David Cameron looked to secure a deal that he hoped would help win the 2016 Brexit vote — and it was a Conservative British successor, Boris Johnson, who appealed to Berlin to help break an impasse in withdrawal talks between London and Brussels, which avoided a complete breakdown in relations between the EU and Britain.Euro crisisMerkel helped to steer the bloc out of the 2008 financial crash and the subsequent euro crisis when the bloc’s currency was under severe threat. “If the euro fails, then Europe fails,” Merkel warned as the economic storm gathered force. She took the lead in foisting tough austerity measures on the indebted countries of southern Europe, while at the same time backing aid and loans for struggling EU member states. She also supported the European Central Bank in buying large quantities of government bonds and bringing interest rates to zero, allowing then ECB chairman Mario Draghi to fulfill his promise to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro.FILE – A share trader watches German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck’s announcement on an impact of the global financial market, on television at the Frankfurt stock exchange, Oct. 13, 2008.Even Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greek finance minister, who fought Merkel over the austere bailout terms Berlin forced on Athens, credits Merkel with saving the European currency.“Crisis management has always been her forte, whether saving the euro during the global financial crisis of 2009, keeping Europe together during the refugee crisis, or now coping with the pandemic,” Judy Dempsey of the think tank Carnegie Europe, noted recently in a commentary on Merkel’s legacy.Mixed reviewsBut the Carnegie analyst also describes Merkel’s record as mixed and labels her legacy “ambiguous.” On the foreign front “her legacy, however, is inconsistent, especially with regard to Russia and China and some of the EU’s own member states,” she says. For some critics she has not been tough enough with Russia and has been too ready to allow profits and business to define relations with Beijing.Robert Terrell, a scholar of modern Germany at Syracuse University in New York, also sees a mixed record, although he says assessments of Merkel “will continue to change as shifting social contexts inform the politics of memory.” “In Europe, the Great Recession and the European Debt Crisis pushed Merkel into the unenviable position of trying to stabilize the economy of over two dozen states,” he told VOA. While her push for austerity measures was well received in Germany, it led to a degree of cultural chauvinism among Germans towards the Greeks. “In Greece, she remains divisive, with some Greek citizens blaming her for one of the bleakest periods in recent memory,” he says. Euro-skeptic sentiment has also increased dramatically in Italy and Spain.FILE – Greece’s Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, right, and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel speak at the Maximos mansion in Athens, Oct. 9, 2012.While decisive on the Euro crisis, much of Merkel’s record is marked by what her aides dubbed “strategic patience.” In 2015 “the German dictionary publisher Langenscheidt announced ‘merkeln’ — a verb form of Merkel’s name — was in the running for the ‘Youth Word of the Year.’ It meant to do nothing out of caution, or to be overly deliberative. Whether simply her political style, or a conscious effort to avoid the gendered critique of impulsiveness, Merkel made a point of cautious decision making,” says Terrell.Migration and nationalismShe wasn’t cautious, though, when it came to the migration crisis of 2015-16, when hundreds of thousands of asylum-seekers from the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia entered Europe. Merkel critics say her initial open-door policy encouraged the migration waves that buffeted Europe and roiled the continent’s politics, fueling the rise of populist nationalist parties.“The refugee crisis was another watershed moment during her chancellorship—one that will undoubtedly play a key role in shaping her legacy,” says Terrell. “Merkel’s decision to welcome well over a million refugees beginning in 2015 left the nation divided. Proponents of the Willkommenskultur — or ‘welcoming culture’ — helped furnish arriving refugees with money, supplies, and emergency accommodations. Others resisted, making the refugee crisis a catalyst for increasingly radical nativist sentiment,” he says.FILE – Immigrants are escorted by German police to a registration center after crossing the Austrian-German border in Wegscheid near Passau, Germany, Oct. 20, 2015.It also fueled tensions and clashes with other EU member states, especially with nearby Central European countries, Poland, Austria and Hungary.Move to centrismOn Germany her record looks less mixed. “Under Merkel’s helm, Germany changed. She moved the conservative, male-dominated Catholic CDU party to the center, which is no easy feat for someone brought up in communist East Germany and whose father was a Lutheran pastor,” says Dempsey.“She abolished military conscription, eventually came around to accepting single-sex marriage, gave parents more flexibility when it came to taking leave for newborn children, and supported the introduction of a minimum wage,” says Dempsey.Her supporters also credit her for closing Germany’s 17 nuclear power stations, a policy reversal following Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, a brave political move in the face of the country’s powerful energy lobby. Although her foes — and some Green lawmakers — have also pointed out that closing the power stations has meant Germany has had to resort to an excessive use of coal adding to greenhouse emissions.But much like her performance on the foreign policy stage, some critics note that for much of Merkel’s 16 years in office she preferred on the domestic front to do as little as possible, to manage and tinker rather than define broad visionary goals and to try to reach them.“Merkel’s years were one of stasis and of betting big on the indefinite continuation of the country’s manufacturing and export-driven growth model,” says Dalibor Rohac, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank. “Yet, without growing productivity, the perpetuation of the status quo is not a guarantee of limitless economic prosperity, especially in an environment in which Germany’s international value chains might be under threat from the looming de-globalization,” he warned.He says Merkel’s accomplishment was to have avoided conflict as much as possible the past 16 years. For Germans that has been a reassuring gift. 
 
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Turkey is calling for collective international action to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. The call comes as Turkey, already hosting the largest number of refugees globally, warns it cannot take any more.Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, addressing a high-level United Nations meeting on Afghanistan Monday, warned that with millions of Afghans displaced and facing a humanitarian crisis, now is the time for collective action.A humanitarian and security crisis in Afghanistan would have direct implications across the globe. So, we should take the collective action now.  Turkish leaders fear an Afghan exodus through its territory as refugees flee Afghanistan and head for Europe.  Last week, the UN High Commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, paid a four-day visit to Turkey and praised the country for receiving nearly four million refugees who fled the Syrian civil war. Under a deal with the European Union, Turkey gets billions of dollars in aid to host the Syrians.  Some EU leaders are already suggesting the agreement be extended to include Afghans, claiming refugees should be hosted in locations closest to their places of origin.  But Turkey’s main opposition CHP party is strongly critical of the government’s refugee policy.”It is a record of serious mismanagement. It was simply a transactional relationship between Turkey and the European Union,” said Unal Cevikoz is a CHP parliamentary deputy. “And they simply wanted to stop the flow of refugees by giving some financial assistance to Turkey. A majority of the Turkish population thinks that burden-sharing is not fairly distributed in the international community, and we are also scared the same mismanagement will continue in the case of Afghanistan.”Senior EU officials visited Ankara last week to talk about the refugee deal with Turkey. Ankara insists it cannot take any more refugees and calls for the EU to share the burden.  Some analysts say Ankara needs the money from Europe, but international relations expert Sol Ozel says Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will need more than monetary incentives to convince his people.  “He will have to show to the country something more than just money, and that is visa liberalization, which I don’t [think] the Europeans are capable of delivering on,” said Ozel.Visa-free travel for Turks in the European Union was part of the original Syrian refugee deal, but until now has been blocked by some EU members.  With Erdogan’s ratings languishing at record lows in opinion polls and the same polls indicating strong public opposition to receiving Afghan refugees, analysts predict any new EU refugee deal with Turkey will be difficult and fraught with political risk for the Turkish leader.
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The center-left bloc headed to a victory in Norway’s elections Monday as official projections pointed to the governing Conservatives losing power after a campaign dominated by climate change and the future of the country’s oil and gas exploration industry. With a projection based on a preliminary count of nearly 93% of the votes, the Labor Party and its two allies — the Socialist Left and the euroskeptic Center Party — would hold 100 seats in the 169-seat Stortinget assembly while the current government would get 68. One seat was still unsure. As Norway’s largest party, Labor will try to form a coalition government and its chief, 61-year-old Jonas Gahr Stoere, is poised to become Norway’s next leader. The Scandinavian country is not a member of the European Union. “We will now give Norway a new government and a new course,” Gahr Stoere said on a election night before cheering party members who chanted “Stoere” and clapped. He added that he will in the coming days invite the parties “that want a new change” for talks. Labor has promised an industrial policy that will funnel support to new green industries, like wind power, “blue hydrogen” that uses natural gas to produce an alternative fuel, and carbon capture and storage, which seeks to bury carbon dioxide under the ocean. In the 2013 election, Labor was ousted from power, enabling the Conservatives’ Erna Solberg to become prime minister and Norway’s longest-serving leader. Gahr Stoere said Monday that he wanted to thank Solberg for having been “a good prime minister.” Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, leader of the Conservative Party, casts her vote in the 2021 parliamentary election at Skjold School in her home town, in Bergen, Norway, September 13, 2021. (NTB/Hakon Mosvold Larsen via Reuters)”We knew we needed a miracle — the Conservatives’ work session is over,” Solberg said. “I congratulate Jonas Gahr Stoere with what looks like a clear majority.” Her Conservatives suffered a setback, losing 4.7 percentage points, which was dubbed by Norwegian broadcaster NRK as “the election’s biggest loser.” Its former coalition partner, the Progress Party lost 3.4 percentage points, according to a preliminary counting of more than 93% of the votes by Norway’s election commission. Thanks to her long tenure, as well as her commitment to economic liberalism, the 60-year-old Solberg became known at home as “Iron Erna,” inspired by the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who was nicknamed “The Iron Lady” for her firm style.  Solberg was hoping to become the first prime minister to win a third consecutive four-year term. During her eight-year tenure, she has expanded oil exploration, cut taxes and sought to make public administration more efficient.  Any post-election horse trading is likely to be fraught for the Labor Party and Gahr Stoere. The Socialist Left won’t offer its support lightly and the Center Party is also demanding a more aggressive approach toward shifting to renewable energy. The campaign focused on the North Sea oil and gas that has helped make Norway one of the world’s wealthiest countries. But fears about climate change have put the future of the industry in doubt. The country’s biggest industry is responsible for more than 40% of exports and directly employs more than 5% of the workforce. On the other hand, Norwegians  are among the most climate-conscious consumers in the world, with most new car purchases now being electric. Most of Norway’s oil and gas still comes from mature areas in the North Sea, but most of the country’s untapped reserves are in the Barents Sea, above the Arctic Circle. That is a red line for environmentalists, who could play a crucial role in securing a majority government. Stoere also served as foreign minister from 2005-2013 under then-Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and took over the reins of the party when Stoltenberg became NATO’s secretary general. Nearly 3.9 million Norwegians were eligible to vote and more than 1.6 million of them voted in advance, according to Norway’s election commission. Turnout was 76.3%, down from more than 78% in this nation of 5.3 million voted.  
 
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Britain’s chief medical officer (CMO), Professor Chris Whitty, recommended Monday that children between the ages of 12 and 15 be offered the COVID-19 vaccine, saying they would benefit from reduced disruption to their education. More than a week ago, Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, the panel that advises British health departments on immunization policies, issued a statement saying the “margin of benefit” to inoculating children of those ages was too small for them to recommend the government do so. Britain’s Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty attends a remote press conference to update the nation on the COVID-19 pandemic, inside 10 Downing Street in central London on June 10, 2020.But Monday, Whitty, along with his counterparts from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, told reporters they are recommending to their respective health ministers that the age group be given a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. They have yet to decide on whether to give the students a second dose. Whitty stressed the vaccinations should be “an offer,” not a mandate, adding, “We do not think this is a panacea. This is not a silver bullet … but we think it is an important and potentially useful additional tool to help reduce the public health impacts that come through educational disruption.” Whitty said the CMOs have shared their recommendations with their ministers, and it is now up to the ministers to decide how to respond.  The United States, Israel and some European countries have rolled out vaccinations to children more broadly, putting pressure on the British government to follow suit. Britain has experienced more than 134,000 deaths from COVID-19, and a rapid start to its immunization rollout has slowed, with 81% of those over 16 receiving two vaccine doses. Some information in this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.
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Four months ago, Germany’s Green Party was riding high in the opinion polls and at one point even overtook Angela Merkel’s storied Christian Democrats and its Bavarian affiliate, the Christian Social Union, to briefly become the country’s most popular party in Germany.  
 
As the country headed into the campaign for September 26th federal elections there was much talk that 40-year-old party leader Annalena Baerbock, a fresh face, could become Europe’s first Green head-of-government. Germany’s media described her as the “superior candidate” to succeed longtime Chancellor Angela Merkel, who’s retiring from politics.  
 Stern magazine put her on the cover and announced, “At Last, Something Different.”
 
But now, two weeks away from voting, and Baerbock seems unlikely to pull off the political equivalent of what British sports-star Emma Raducanu managed this week in winning the U.S. Open tennis tournament. The Greens have slipped to third place according to pollsters, losing around 10 percent since highs in April and May.
 Popularity waningBaerbock’s star has waned with voters worrying how climate-action policies will impact their livelihoods and lifestyles, dashing the party’s hopes of repeating its success in May when it surged past the Social Democrats to capture second place in European parliamentary elections.
 
The precipitous slump is partly due to the impact of an old political tactic employed by their establishment opponents — labeling the Greens as nagging, didactic and keen to ban things, say pollsters. Baerbock has argued on the campaign trail that there should be a super-ministry with environmental veto powers over other Cabinet departments.  Armin Laschet, chairman of the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the party’s top candidate for the federal election, addresses the media during a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 13, 2021.Earlier in the campaign, Christian Democrat leader Armin Laschet was quick to seize on the Greens call for a hike in gas prices, accusing them of wanting to punish working-class motorists and of being too ready to ignore the needs of less-well-off Germans living in rural areas and small towns where public transport is less available. A Green plan to ban short-haul flights also appeared to go down badly with voters and the fall in their support started to be seen in the opinion polling.
 
On Sunday during a three-way televised debate with Laschet and the leader of the Social Democrats, Olaf Scholz, currently Germany’s finance minister, Baerbock was unable to revive her flagging campaign. She said Germany faced a stark choice between a new start or getting bogged down in “more of the same.”  
 
But snap polling after the debate by broadcaster ARD showed that 41% of those asked thought Scholz was the most compelling performer, compared to 27% for Laschet and 25% for Baerbock.
 
Part of the Green dip can be blamed on Baerbock, say analysts. While widely seen as tough, talented and highly ambitious, she has come under fire after the discovery of several exaggerations on her official resumé, lapses that undermined her party’s commitment to transparency and integrity.  And she faced calls to quit over plagiarism claims after it emerged, she copied dozens of passages from other works for a book she published this year.
 
Baerbock has also had to acknowledge during the campaign to break parliamentary rules by failing to declare thousands of euros she received from her party in addition to her salary as a federal lawmaker. The lapses have allowed critics to cast doubt on whether the 40-year-old is ready for the highest office after serving just eight years as a federal lawmaker.
 
“The number of unforced errors on the part of Baerbock, from embellishing her resumé to publishing an ill-conceived book, has sown doubts about her suitability. It has become obvious that the Green candidate and those around her may not yet have reached the level of professionalism required to aim at the highest office,” according to Henning Hoff, editor of the Internationale Politik Quarterly, which is published by the German Council on Foreign Relations.Olaf Scholz Another key factor has been the surprising campaigning success of Germany’s center-left Social Democrats under the leadership of the candidate for the chancellorship, Olaf Scholz. The story so far of this year’s German election campaign has been the unexpected rise in the fortunes of the Social Democrats. “
 
With great strategic foresight and remarkable focus, the Social Democrats’ candidate Olaf Scholz is now leading the race to replace Angela Merkel,” according to Hoff.  
 
In April, the SPD was only attracting around 13% support in opinion polls. An Insa poll Monday put the SPD on 26% ahead of Laschet, whose CDU is on 20%. “With the German election campaign entering its final stretch, Scholz’ popularity — always much greater than Baerbock’s and Laschet’s — has finally morphed into support for his party,” says Hoff. “With only two more weeks to go, there is now much to suggest that Germany’s next government will be led by Olaf Scholz,” he adds.
 
Merkel announced in October 2018 that she would be stepping down as chancellor in 2021. She has held the office since 2005. Part of the reason for Scholz’s rise has been success in presenting himself as a safe pair of hands and a natural successor to Merkel, say pollsters. His climate-policy proposals are more cautious — suggesting Germans may not be ready to be as green as the Greens.
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Firefighting crews in southern Spain are looking at the sky for much-needed rainfall expected on Monday and that they hope can help extinguish a major wildfire that has ravaged 7,700 hectares in five days and displaced around 2,600 people from their homes.     Authorities are describing the blaze in Sierra Bermeja, a mountain range in the Malaga province, as a sixth-generation fire of the extreme kind brought by the shifting climate on the planet. The “mega fires” are catastrophic events that kill, blacken large areas and are difficult to stop.     In Spain, that is paired with an increasing dynamic of rural areas losing population, leading to poorer management of forests and accumulation of burnable material.     “We are facing the most complex fire known by the forestry extinction services in recent years,’ Juan Sanchez, director of the southern Andalusia region’s anti-fire service, told reporters late Sunday.     “We have been talking a lot about the consequences of the abandonment of the rural environment and climate change,” Sanchez added. “We are seeing them today.”     The affected area has doubled since Saturday, when authorities said that the flames were contained within a perimeter of around 40 kilometers. An ember cloud led to a new fire hot spot soon after, causing a new wildfire that eventually joined the previous blaze, experts said Sunday. By Monday morning, the perimeter had reached 85 kilometers.     Spain’s weather agency, AEMET, had forecasted rain in the area for later Monday, but it was unclear if the rainfall would be sufficient to quell the flames.     About 500 firefighters were working in shifts on the ground, assisted by 50 water-dropping airplanes and helicopters from the air. They were joined on Sunday by 260 members of a military emergency unit. A 44-year-old firefighter died Thursday while trying to extinguish the blaze.     Around 2,600 residents have been relocated in total. Most of those evacuated from parts of the resort town of Estepona, had been able to return home by Monday, but 1,700 people remained displaced from six villages and hosted in other towns, including in a pavilion in the city of Ronda.     Climate scientists say there is little doubt that climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas is driving more extreme events, such as heat waves, droughts, wildfires, floods and storms.     In Spain, official data showed that the country had experienced fewer fires so far this year than the average during the past decade, but the number of big forest fires — those affecting more than 500 hectares — was 19 in the first eight months of 2021 compared to 14 on average for the same period since 2011.      That has also led to a greater bush and forest area burned: 75,000 hectares as of Sept. 5, compared to an average of 71,000 hectares on average in the previous years, data from the Ministry of Ecological Transition showed. 
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Poland’s top political leaders on Sunday attended the beatification of two revered figures of the Catholic Church — a cardinal who led the Polish church’s resistance to communism and a blind nun who devoted her life to helping others who couldn’t see.Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski and Mother Elzbieta Roza Czacka took a step toward sainthood at a time of declining church attendance and as some Poles have left the church over sex abuse scandals and the church’s coziness with the current right-wing government.In a time of growing secularization and societal divisions, the celebration was a reminder of the moral authority and the unifying power the church once held over Poland.The Mass was led by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, the head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints.  It took place in the Temple of Divine Providence in Warsaw, attended by President Andrzej Duda, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and many faithful.Wyszynski was Poland’s primate, or top church leader, from 1948 until his death in 1981. He was under house arrest in the 1950s for his refusal to bend to the communist regime and was considered by some to be the true leader of the nation. His long resistance to communism is credited as a factor that led to the election of a Polish pope, John Paul II, and ultimately the toppling of Poland’s communist system in 1989.Czacka, born in 1876 to an aristocratic family, went blind as a young woman and devoted the rest of her life to helping others. The Franciscan nun helped develop a Polish version of Braille and opened a center for the blind near Warsaw.Pope Francis paid tribute to them both during a visit to Budapest on Sunday, recalling how Wyszynski was arrested and imprisoned and how Czacka devoted her whole life to helping the blind.”May the example of these new Blesseds encourage us to transform darkness into light with the power of love,” he said.Wyszynski led the church through nearly three turbulent decades of often bitter conflict with the communist authorities, followed later by a form of partnership with the secular regime. Late in his life, Wyszynski had become accepted by the authorities as an important force in national life, and members of the regime attended his funeral.During the difficult years of the 1950s, when Poland’s avowedly atheistic government sought to silence the church, the tall, slender Wyszynski thundered from his pulpit that “Christ has the right to be announced, and we have the right to announce him.”Warsaw Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz recalled Wyszynski as a man who saved the Polish church under communism.Wyszynski is often called the Primate of the Millennium in recognition of his achievement of holding a celebration of Poland’s millennium of Christianity in 1966.Sunday’s ceremony comes after the Holy See has punished around 10 Polish bishops and archbishops over reported cover-ups of sexual abuse of minors by priests under their authority.The revelations of clerical abuse and coverups have been pushing some Poles away from the church and leading some to take their children out of religion classes in schools.Some Poles are also angry about the church’s closeness with the right-wing government and a new restriction on abortion. The ruling, which went into effect earlier this year, denies women the right to abort fetuses with congenital defects.
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North Sea oil and gas have helped make Norway one of the wealthiest countries in the world. But as Norwegians head to the polls on Monday, fears about climate change have put the future of the industry at the top of the campaign agenda.The ruling Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Erna Solberg, and the opposition Labor Party, which is leading in opinion polls, both advocate for a gradual move away from the fossil fuels that continue to underpin the economy.But the larger parties rarely rule alone in Norway; smaller players are usually required to build a majority coalition, and they can have an outsize influence on the government agenda. Some are demanding a more radical severing with the country’s dominant industry and income stream.”Our demand is to stop looking for oil and gas, and stop handing out new permits to companies,” says Lars Haltbrekken, climate and energy spokesman for the Socialist Left party — a likely coalition partner for Labor. He claims that after eight years in charge the government is protecting a status quo at a time when the country is thirsty for a post-oil future.A report in August from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicting global floods and fires created a wave in Norway that has crested throughout this election campaign.It is also forcing Norwegians to wrestle with a paradox at the heart of their society.With their hydro-powered energy grid and electric cars, they are among the world’s most enthusiastic consumers of green power, but decades of exporting oil and gas means this nation of 5.3 million enjoys a generous welfare buffer and sits on the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund.Tina Bru, the oil and energy minister, says it’s unthinkable that the country should force an end to the country’s biggest industry, which is responsible for more than 40% of exports and directly employs more than 5% of the workforce.”My question is always: What happens after you stop? What else are you going to do to make sure the world reaches its climate goals? It might affect our own climate budget, but it’s not going to make a difference globally,” she says.She agrees with a report highlighted by the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association, an industry group, that says an end to Norwegian production would have a net negative effect on global emissions. Demand would stay the same, and cleaner Norwegian production would be replaced by other countries with higher emissions, she says. She prefers a longer-term approach that focuses on demand.”It is kind of disappointing in this campaign where we see the only way to discuss policy and have credibility on your will to cut emissions is to stop producing oil and gas. It is such a more nuanced issue involving other things like agriculture and transport.”About 70% of all new cars sold in Norway are electric, with consumers continuing to benefit from government subsidies, and the government has signaled that environment taxes will rise. Earlier this month, it also proposed a tweak to the existing tax regime, where some explorers will have to shoulder more of the risk of searching for oil.Labor supports the approach and admits that it charts a similar future for the industry. But it has promised a more interventionist industrial policy that will funnel support to new green industries, like wind power, “blue hydrogen” that uses natural gas to produce an alternative fuel, and carbon capture and storage, which seeks to bury carbon dioxide under the ocean.However, any post-election horse trading is likely to be fraught for Labor. The Socialist Left says it won’t offer support lightly, and the other probable partner, the Center Party, is also demanding a more aggressive approach to the energy shift.”Right now our plan is to run together with our two old friends from these parties,” says Espen Barth Eide, Labor’s Energy spokesman. “We still think this works. But if their opening position is to end exploration, that is not going to happen. … We will try to have a mature dialogue about the next phase of the oil industry.”Most of the country’s oil and gas still comes from mature areas in the North Sea, but most of the untapped reserves are in the Barents Sea, above the Arctic Circle — a red line for environmentalists. Eide says a possible compromise might be found by focusing on where oil exploration can be carried out in the future.  However, Haltbrekken, a former chairman of Norway’s Friends of the Earth, a climate charity, says the new government needs to be more urgent.  “The IPCC report made a huge impression on the population,” he said. “But there is one thing I fear more than what was in the report, and that is that apathy and hopelessness will take over. People could think this is such a huge problem that we cannot do anything. But we can. We can do a lot to solve it. It just has to start now.”Election forecasts will be released when voting closes at 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Monday. The final official tally for the 169-member parliament usually comes at some point overnight, but experts believe the results could come quicker this year with a record number of people having already made their choice in advance voting. More than 78% of eligible people in this nation of 5.3 million voted in the last national election.
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Two French politicians kicked off their presidential campaigns Sunday, seeking to become France’s first female leader in next year’s spring election.The far-right National Rally party’s Marine Le Pen and Paris’ Socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, both launched their presidential platforms in widely expected moves.  They join a burgeoning list of challengers to centrist President Emmanuel Macron. This includes battles among multiple potential candidates on the right — including another female politician, Valerie Pecresse — and among the Greens.Hidalgo, 62, mayor of the French capital since 2014, is the favorite to win the Socialist Party nomination. She launched her candidacy in the northwestern city of Rouen.  “I want all children in France to have the same opportunities I had,” she said, invoking her roots. Hidalgo is the daughter of Spanish immigrants who fled their country in search of freedom amid dictator Francisco Franco’s rule.Le Pen, the 53-year-old leader of France’s far-right party, started her campaign in the southern city of Frejus with a pledge to defend French liberty. In keeping with a hard-right message that critics say has vilified Muslim communities, Le Pen promised to be tough on “parts of France that have been Talibanized.” Although she launched her candidacy earlier this year, on Sunday she made 26-year-old Jordan Bardella the acting head of the party as her campaign shifts into full gear.Le Pen is also remaking her image for this election. Gone is the dark blue wardrobe that has been her trademark. She now will be donning light blue for the campaign, “to show our vision, less partisan, (reaching) higher,” Le Pen’s special councilor Philippe Olivier was quoted as saying by Le Figaro, the conservative daily.  Macron, 43, has not yet announced his reelection bid but is expected to do so. Launching a candidacy in France is a necessary formality for each presidential election.  The vote is expected to boil down to a duel between Le Pen and Macron, as it was during France’s last presidential election in 2017.
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The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Sunday that it has recorded 224.3 million global COVID-19 infections and 4.6 million global deaths.  The center also said 5.7 billion vaccines have been administered.    Britain is expected to announce this week its plans for inoculating 12- to 15-year-old youngsters in the battle against the coronavirus.   The vaccine campaign will likely start later this month.   More than 50% of Japan’s population has received COVID-19 vaccines, according to the Japanese government.  Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said in a television interview Sunday that the inoculation rate is expected to reach 60% by the end of September.  Myanmar is fighting a third COVID-19 wave at a time of increasing political tensions.FILE – A man receives a COVID vaccine at a vaccination site, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Jan. 29, 2021, just days before a military coup threw the country into turmoil.According to World Health Organization data, more than 400,000 people have been infected with COVID-19 in Myanmar, with more than 16,000 dead.  Public health officials, however, say they believe the figures are widely undercounted.    The Times of India reported that the northeastern state of Mizoram’s COVID-19 tally reached 70,000, after 1,089 new cases were recorded Sunday, including 245 children.  Johns Hopkins has recorded 33.2 million COVID-19 cases in India and more than 442,000 deaths.  Health officials say they believe that India’s COVID-19 numbers are likely undercounted.   India is second only to the United States in COVID infections.  The U.S. has a COVID-19 tally of 41 million infections and nearly 660,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins. COVID-sniffing dogs at Miami AirportTwo COVID-sniffing dogs, a Belgium Malinois and a Dutch shepherd, are smelling the face coverings of employees at Miami International Airport to detect the presence of the coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 disease.   Daniella Levine Cava, mayor of Miami-Dade county, said in a statement about the pilot program that, “This pandemic has pushed us to innovate to stop the spread.”  Miami International Airport said the dogs, which have been deployed to an employee security checkpoint, were trained at Florida International University, where they “achieved accuracy rates from 96 to 99% for detecting COVID-19 in published peer-reviewed, double-blind trials.”  If the dogs identify someone as carrying the coronavirus odor, that person is then directed to a rapid COVID test.  Miami International said it is the first U.S. airport to utilize COVID-sniffing dogs.  
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The human rights records of more than 40 countries will come under scrutiny by the 47-member United Nations Human Rights Council during its upcoming four-week session.  
The session promises to be extremely busy.  Nearly 90 reports on a wide range of thematic issues will be presented.  They include torture, enforced disappearances, the right to development, slavery, the rights of people of African descent and racism. As in previous years, the council’s laser-lens focus on the way governments treat their people is expected to garner a lot of attention.  Reported abuses, some amounting to crimes against humanity, will be examined in countries such as Myanmar, Belarus, Syria, Eritrea, Burundi, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet will present an oral update on the situation in Afghanistan Monday as a follow-up to the council’s August 24 special session on that country. The European Union, Mexico and Britain along with human rights activists have criticized the resolution that was adopted for failing to establish a robust independent mechanism to monitor violations by the Taliban. Council President Fiji Ambassador Nazhat Shameem Khan says discussion on Afghanistan has not ended with the special session. “And, really, it is a matter for states to decide whether they want to take the outcome of the special session further and achieve another result,” she said. “But I do want to note that the Security Council on the 30th of August adopted a resolution on safe passage.  It addressed human rights concerns particularly as it relates to women and children.”   Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth says he is dismayed at the council’s reluctance to take on powerful countries such as Russia and China.  He says he fears the Kremlin will not be held to account for its unprecedented crackdown on opposition parties in advance of this month’s parliamentary elections. “Ideally, we would like to have a resolution.  At minimum, there should be a joint statement.  But, again, this is a situation that just because a government is relatively powerful, should not mean that it escapes scrutiny.  And this is again a bit of a test of the council’s credibility,”  he said.Roth says the same dynamics are playing out regarding China’s abusive treatment of more than a million Uyghurs in internment camps in Xinjiang province. “China has always escaped formal scrutiny by the council.  There has never been a resolution on China.  It is time to end that, given the severity and the atrocities, the crimes against humanity being committed in Xinjiang,”  he said.China maintains the Uyghurs are being held in reeducation camps and that the vocational training they are receiving is necessary to counter terrorism and alleviate poverty.   Roth is calling on Bachelet to present a report describing the inhumane conditions under which the Uyghurs are being incarcerated and to call for the Chinese government to be held accountable. 
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Pope Francis arrived in Hungary early Sunday at the start of his first big international outing since undergoing intestinal surgery in July. He will celebrate a Mass and meet with Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose right-wing, anti-immigrant policies clash with Francis’ call for countries to welcome refugees.Francis’ arrival at Budapest airport opened his four-day trip primarily to Slovakia with a seven-hour stop Sunday in the Hungarian capital. He is passing through Budapest to celebrate the closing Mass of an international conference on the Eucharist, though he will also meet with Hungarian religious figures and Hungary’s president and prime minister.Organizers expect as many as 75,000 people at the Mass in Heroes’ Square, which is going ahead with few coronavirus restrictions even as Hungary, like the rest of Europe, is battling infections fueled by the highly contagious delta variant.Despite pleas from the Hungarian Chamber of Doctors, congress organizers decided not to require COVID-19 vaccinations, tests, masks or social distancing for attendance. Organizers, however, said they had ordered 30,000 masks to distribute as well as hand sanitizer, and urged all attending to be prudent.During the flight from Rome, Francis seemed in good form and stayed so long greeting journalists at the back of the plane that an aide had to tell him to get back to his seat because it was time to land.Francis said he was happy to be resuming foreign trips again after the coronavirus lull and then his own recovery this summer from surgery to remove a 33-centimeter section of his colon. “Bad weeds never die,” he quipped about his recovery, quoting an Argentine dictum.The Vatican and trip organizers have stressed that Francis has only been invited to Hungary to celebrate the Mass – not make a proper state and pastoral visit as he is doing in Slovakia. But Francis and Orban disagree on a host of issues, top among them migration, and Francis’ limited stay in Budapest could indicate that he didn’t want to give Orban’s government the political boost of hosting a pope for a longer pilgrimage before the general election next spring.“At the beginning there were a lot who were angry (that Francis wasn’t staying longer), but now I think they understand,” said the Rev. Kornel Fabry, secretary general of the Eucharist conference.He noted that a majority of Hungarians back Orban’s migration policies, “that we shouldn’t bring the trouble into Europe but should help out where the trouble is.”Pope Francis, left, leaves by car upon arrival at Budapest International Airport in Budapest on Sept. 12, 2021, for a visit to Hungary.Orban has frequently depicted his government as a defender of Christian civilization in Europe and a bulwark against migration from Muslim-majority countries. Francis has expressed solidarity with migrants and refugees and criticized what he called “national populism advanced by governments like Hungary’s. He has urged governments to welcome and integrate as many migrants as they can.About 39% of Hungarians declared themselves to be Roman Catholic in a 2011 census, while 13% declared themselves to be Protestant, either Lutheran or Calvinist, a Protestant branch with which Orban is affiliated.Still, religious commitment in Hungary lags behind many of its neighbors. According to a 2018 survey by the Pew Research Center, only 14% of Hungarians said religion was an important part of their lives, and 17% said they attend religious services at least monthly.Despite that, registered churches have been major beneficiaries of state support under Orban since he returned to power in 2010. According to estimates by business website G7, contributions to churches from Hungary’s central budget rose from around $117 million in 2009 to more than $588 million in 2016.Additionally, around 3,000 places of worship have been built or restored using public funds since 2010, part of an effort by Orban’s government to advance what he calls “Christian democracy,” an alternative to liberal governance of which he is a frequent critic.Orban has been under fire for recent policies seen as targeting the rights of LGBT people, including a law passed in June forbidding the depiction of homosexuality or sex reassignment in media consumed by minors. The European Union’s executive branch launched two separate legal proceedings against Hungary’s government in July over what it called infringements on LGBT rights. The government says the measures, which were attached to a law that allows tougher penalties for pedophilia, seek only to protect children.Critics, though, have compared the legislation to Russia’s gay propaganda law of 2013, saying it wrongly conflates homosexuality with pedophilia as part of a campaign ploy to mobilize conservative voters before elections.The Roman Catholic Church, which has a dreadful record on protecting children from priestly predators, holds that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered,” and Francis recently authorized a statement saying priests can’t bless same-sex unions.But he has also called for the church to accompany the LGBT community and backed civil unions when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires as an alternative to gay marriage. He is seen as being much more welcoming of gays than his predecessors.As a result, some gay Catholics were welcoming Francis’ visit to Hungary, however brief, in hopes he might issue a message of encouragement.“Pope Francis has been extremely accepting of them, and I trust that for those who may still have some prejudices or reservations about LGBTQ people and other minorities, it will open their hearts a little bit and make them more accepting,” said Csaba Hegedus, a member of Hungary’s LGBT community and a practicing Catholic who planned to attend the pope’s Mass.   
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Pope Francis arrives in Budapest on Sunday morning to celebrate a Mass, with eyes focused on his meeting with the anti-migration Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.The head of 1.3 billion Catholics will have a half-hour meeting with Orban — accompanied by Hungarian President Janos Ader — in Budapest’s grand Fine Arts Museum, in what could be an awkward brief encounter.On the one side, Orban, a self-styled defender of “Christian Europe” from migration. On the other, Pope Francis, who urges help for the marginalized and those of all religions fleeing war and poverty.But the approach, eminently Christian according to the pope, has often been met with incomprehension among the faithful, particularly within the ranks of traditionalist Catholics.Over the last few years, there has been no love lost between Orban supporters in Hungary and the leader of the Catholic world.Pro-Orban media and political figures have launched barbs at the pontiff calling him “anti-Christian” for his pro-refugee sentiments, and the “Soros Pope”, a reference to the Hungarian-born liberal US billionaire George Soros, a right-wing bete-noire.Eyebrows have also been raised by the pontiff’s whirlwind visit to close the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress.His seven-hour-long stay in 9.8 million-population Hungary will be followed immediately by an official visit to smaller neighbor Slovakia of more than two days.”Pope Francis wants to humiliate Hungary by only staying a few hours,” said a pro-Orban television pundit.Born Jorge Bergoglio to a family of Italian emigrants to Argentina, the pope regularly reminds “old Europe” of its past, built on waves of new arrivals.And without ever naming political leaders he castigates “sovereigntists” who turn their backs on refugees with what he has called “speeches that resemble those of Hitler in 1934.”In April 2016, the pope said, “We are all migrants!” on the Greek island of Lesbos, gateway to Europe, bringing on board his plane three Syrian Muslim families whose homes had been bombed.Hungary HelpsIn contrast, Orban’s signature crusade against migration has included border fences and detention camps for asylum-seekers and provoked growing ire in Brussels.Orban’s supporters point instead to state-funded aid agency Hungary Helps which works to rebuild churches and schools in war-torn Syria and sends doctors to Africa.”The majority of Hungarians say the same thing: we should not bring the problem to Europe, but should help out where the problem is instead,” said Father Kornel Fabry, secretary general of the congress.Orban’s critics, however, accuse him of using Christianity as a shield to deflect criticism and a sword to attack opponents while targeting vulnerable minorities like migrants.Days before the pope’s arrival posters appeared on the streets of the Hungarian capital — where the city council is controlled by the anti-Orban opposition — reading “Budapest welcomes the Holy Father” and showing his quotes including pleas for solidarity and tolerance towards minorities.During the pope’s time  in Budapest he will also meet the country’s bishops and representatives of various Christian congregations.He will also meet leaders of the 100,000-strong Hungarian Jewish community, the largest in Central Europe.Rounding off his stay he will celebrate the open-air mass on the capital’s vast Heroes’ Square. Orban — who is of Calvinist Protestant background — and his wife, who is a Catholic — are to attend.Around 75,000 people have registered to attend the mass, with screens and loudspeakers placed the length of a main boulevard near the square to allow others to follow the ceremony.The trip to Budapest was at the invitation of the congress and follows the path of John Paul II who also attended the event in 1985 in Nairobi, Kenya.It is the first papal trip to Hungary since Pope John Paul II in 1996.”To welcome the Holy Father is an honor for us, but the organizers have asked us to take care of the pope, who is not young anymore,” said Father Fabry.The 84-year-old pontiff’s 34th foreign trip comes two months after a colon operation that required a general anesthetic and a 10-day convalescence in hospital. 
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Pope Francis travels to Hungary and Slovakia Sunday on his first foreign trip since undergoing surgery in July. He will meet Hungarian officials during a very short visit to Budapest, and preside over the closing mass of a eucharistic congress. Francis then travels to Slovakia, where he is expected to visit three cities before returning to the Vatican on Wednesday.  Francis will spend just seven hours in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, where he will be closing the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress. The visit to Hungary and Slovakia, the 34th abroad of this papacy, is his first foreign trip since the 84-year-old pontiff underwent intestinal surgery just two months ago.
 
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the visit is intended to be a “spiritual journey.” It starts with the Christian rite of Holy Communion and ends with prayers and celebration of Our Lady of Sorrows, Slovakia’s patron saint, who is believed to watch over Slavic lands wounded by totalitarianism.  
 
Francis asked for prayers for his pilgrimage to the heart of Europe, where he is expected to address issues that affect the entire continent.  
 
These will be days marked by adoration and prayer in the heart of Europe, the pope said, thanking those who helped prepare this visit. The pope sent greetings to those waiting to meet with him and said he was looking forward to this visit.  
The Hungarian ambassador to the Holy See, Eduard Habsburg-Lothringen, told Vatican Radio that the people of Hungary view the pope’s presence in Budapest as “a real gift.”
 
Francis will meet with the country’s top authorities, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Observers and Catholic media have noted that the brevity of his stay in Hungary compared to Slovakia is likely due to the differences that exist between the pope and the nationalist and anti-immigrant policies of the prime minister.
 
The pope’s meeting with Orban will take place before the closing mass of the Eucharistic Congress, a gathering of clergy, monks, nuns and lay people, in Budapest’s Heroes Square.
 
After the Sunday afternoon mass, Francis will travel to Bratislava, where he will stay until Wednesday, while visiting three other cities in Slovakia. He will meet with the country’s authorities, the Jewish community and the Roma population in the town of Kosice.  
 
The pope will celebrate two open air masses in Slovakia. The leadership in this country is also against uncontrolled immigration but their opposition has not been quite as strong and vocal as in Hungary.
 
This four-day pilgrimage will test the pope’s strength following his recent surgery. Bruni said no special measures have been adopted, except the usual caution for a papal trip. He said there is always a doctor and nurses in the papal entourage.
 
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Spain’s state television on Friday condemned a racist comment made by a guest sports commentator during the presentation of Real Madrid player Eduardo Camavinga.
 
During Wednesday’s presentation of Camavinga, analyst Lorena González was heard off camera saying “this guy is blacker than his suit.”
 
The 18-year-old Camavinga, a French player born in Angola, is Black.
 
Spanish broadcaster RTVE said González’s comments “showed a lack of respect and are inappropriate for a public television channel” while it apologized “to the player and laments and firmly condemns the denigrating comments.”
 
González, a regular guest on RTVE’s sports talk show “Estudio Estadio,” issued a statement on social media “to offer my sincerest apologies to anyone who felt offended.”
 
“My comment, which was made without malice or disrespect toward the player, was however unfortunate,” she wrote. “It was a comparison that I could have made about any person of any color. But I understand and feel that in this sensitive time we are going through, even though I also believe that things are becoming too radicalized and politicized, the media has an even bigger responsibility to help the fight against racism and any form of unjust inequality.”
 
The network said it was investigating the incident “and would take the appropriate action.”
 
Camavinga joined Madrid on a six-year contract from Rennes. He made his debut for France’s senior team last September.
 
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Britain’s Prince Andrew has been served with a lawsuit by a woman accusing him of sexually assaulting and battering her two decades ago, when she says she was also being abused by the financier Jeffrey Epstein, according to a Friday court filing. In an affidavit filed with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Cesar Sepulveda, identifying himself as a “corporate investigator/process server,” said he left a copy of Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit on August 27 with a police officer guarding the Royal Lodge in Windsor, England, a property Andrew occupies. The London-based Sepulveda said police had told him a day earlier they were instructed not to accept court documents on Andrew’s behalf, but upon his return he was told documents would be forwarded to the prince’s legal team. Spokespeople for Andrew said on Friday that his lawyers had no comment. A source close to Andrew’s legal team said the prince had not been personally served. Andrew, 61, is one of the most prominent people linked to Epstein, charged by Manhattan federal prosecutors in July 2019 with sexually exploiting dozens of girls and women. Epstein, a registered sex offender, killed himself on August 10, 2019, at age 66 in a Manhattan jail. In her lawsuit dated August 9 this year, Giuffre said Andrew forced her to have unwanted sexual intercourse at the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite and Epstein’s longtime associate. Giuffre also said Andrew abused her at Epstein’s mansion on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, and on a private island that Epstein owned in the U.S. Virgin Islands.  In a November 2019 BBC interview, Andrew, who had been a friend of Epstein’s, denied Giuffre’s claims of sexual abuse and said he did not recall meeting her. “I can absolutely, categorically tell you it never happened,” Andrew said. An initial conference is scheduled for Monday afternoon before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan. Maxwell faces a scheduled November 29 trial before a different Manhattan judge on charges she aided Epstein’s sexual abuses. She has pleaded not guilty. In 2017, Maxwell settled a $50 million civil defamation lawsuit against her by Giuffre for an unspecified amount. Maxwell is not a defendant in Giuffre’s lawsuit against Andrew.   
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Friday that all-out war with neighboring Russia was a possibility, and that he wanted to have a substantive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Asked at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) summit if there could really be all out-war with Russia, which seized the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and backs pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s east, Zelenskiy said: “I think there can be.” “It’s the worst thing that could happen, but unfortunately there is that possibility,” he added, speaking in Ukrainian. Kyiv says the conflict in eastern Ukraine has killed 14,000 people since 2014. Zelenskiy said relations with the United States had improved, but he bemoaned the fact that Ukraine had not received a clear answer to its request to join the NATO military alliance — a move that would be certain to infuriate Moscow. “We have not received … a direct position on Ukraine’s accession to NATO,” he said. “Ukraine has been ready for a long time.” He said a refusal to admit Ukraine would weaken NATO while playing into Russia’s hands. FILE – A Ukrainian soldier is seen at fighting positions on the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels near Donetsk, Ukraine, April 19, 2021.Tensions between Kyiv and Moscow increased earlier this year when fighting in eastern Ukraine intensified and Russia massed more troops near the border. Moscow accused Ukraine of losing interest in peace talks, while Zelenskiy pushed in vain for a meeting with Putin in the conflict zone. “Honestly, I don’t have time to think about him,” Zelenskiy said on Friday. “I’m more interested in whether we can really meet substantively, not declaratively as he does with some states,” he added. “It seems to me that today … they do not see the sense in resolving issues. End the war and resolve conflict issues quickly — they don’t want this.” 
 
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