Category: EU

Mali restored interim authorities to its northern cities of Timbuktu and Menaka Thursday, ending a standoff with armed Tuareg factions that had prevented the transfer of power.

The return of state authority is meant to fill a power vacuum that has turned northern Mali into a launch pad for jihadi attacks across a vast region on the Sahara Desert.

Most government posts have been unfilled since ethnic Tuareg separatists and desert jihadists took over northern Mali in 2012, before French forces intervened to push them back. A peace deal signed in 2015 was meant to enable authorities to return.

Pro- and anti-government Tuareg-dominated factions finally agreed in February how this would happen, after months of arguments over how the authorities should be constituted.

They returned to Gao and Kidal two weeks later, but some armed groups prevented them from setting up in Timbuktu and Menaka at the beginning of March.

State TV announced the impasse was over. A spokesman for the anti-government Tuaregs, Iyad Ag Mohamed, confirmed by telephone that the authorities had been allowed in.

“Everyone feels that a big step has been made and thinks that peace will now come,” Timbuktu resident Moulaye Haidara told Reuters by telephone.

Despite such encouraging moves towards peace, Mali mains plagued by banditry and deadly Islamist attacks.
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The embalmed corpse of Vladimir Lenin has lain in a mausoleum on Red Square since his death in 1924 but now, a century after the revolution he spearheaded, legislation designed to bury him has been introduced into the Russian parliament.

The communist party, which ruled the country until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, called any such move “a provocation” that could lead to mass unrest if pursued.

Polls favor burial

But the draft law’s authors — four lawmakers from the ruling United Russia party and two from a pro-Kremlin nationalist party — cited polls showing a majority opposed the presence of the corpse in the heart of the Russian capital.

Lenin’s body was originally laid out in a wooden mausoleum, but it was later replaced by a granite structure, the seat of a powerful cult of personality from which generations of Soviet leaders presided over parades. The corpse, laid out in three-piece suit, is still viewed by the faithful and by curious tourists, but queues are now shorter than in Soviet times.

Previous attempts to remove it have foundered amid warnings it would split society. The legislation introduced Thursday would enforce no immediate action but remove legal impediments to reburial when authorities judged the time right.

Aware that the issue has the potential to stir up strong feelings, among communist supporters and those who saw him as a ruthless dictator, the legislators said they were not acting for political reasons; but critics noted they had introduced the law two days before Lenin’s birthday, April 22, and a century after the 1917 revolution that brought the Bolsheviks to power.

Lenin’s wishes

“[We are] not suggesting that a historical analysis of the events associated with the burial of Lenin be conducted or trying to argue for the necessity of reburying the remains because of an assessment of his role in state history,” the lawmakers wrote in a note explaining the legislation.

Lenin died of a stroke in 1924 and is said to have wanted to be buried alongside his mother in St Petersburg’s Volkovskoye Cemetery, resting place of writers, intellectuals and academics.
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The Serbian government made budget savings of around 480 million euros ($515.95 million) in the first quarter of 2017 and wants to inject nearly 10 percent of that sum into the defense industry, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said Thursday.

Vucic also said Serbia’s exports of weapons and military equipment was expected to reach 550 million euros in 2017, up from an estimated 449 million euros last year.

“We agreed to give big money to the defense industry. … When you have a market that is secured for a decade or so, then you invest in production,” Vucic told a news conference after meeting top executives from the sector.

He said the funds would be used to develop new factories and overhaul existing ones, based on increased demand in the global weapons market.

Serbia exports small arms, artillery systems, missiles, ammunition and various equipment through 173 licensed companies to dozens of countries, including the United States, Israel, Canada, Myanmar and Saudi Arabia.

In February, Assistant Defence Minister Nenad Miloradovic said the United Arab Emirates remains a key market for Serbia’s defense industry, where it has “active contracts” worth some $220 million, the B92 news portal reported.

The budget savings have been generated by structural reforms and improved tax collection. Serbia’s budget deficit is seen at around 1.2 percent of GDP this year, down from 2.1 percent at the end of 2016, and economic growth is put at around 3 percent.

Vucic said Serbia’s own 28,000-strong armed forces also needed new weaponry and modernization.

Belgrade has recently procured six MiG-29 jets, 30 tanks and armored personnel carriers from Russia as well as nine helicopters from Airbus.

Serbia’s military budget for 2017 accounts for 1.39 percent of GDP, or around $503 million. The country is militarily neutral and tries to balance between NATO and Russia, its traditional Slavic and Orthodox Christian ally.
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Billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates is urging British leaders not to back down from their commitment to foreign aid, saying it could cost lives in Africa.

Gates on Wednesday was in London, where campaigning has started for early elections called by Prime Minister Teresa May.

May has so far declined to say whether she will heed calls by fellow Conservatives to slash British foreign aid as part of her party platform.

Gates told the Guardian newspaper Wednesday that a British refusal to commit itself to targeted spending on foreign aid could hurt efforts to wipe out malaria in Africa.

“The big aid givers now are the U.S., Britain and Germany … and if those three back off, a lot of ambitious things going on with malaria, agriculture and reproductive health simply would not get done,” he said.

Gates said British funding has made an “absolute phenomenal difference” in eradicating tropical diseases that affect more than 1 billion people.

Many conservatives want the government to spend more money at home to combat domestic crises. Some also contend that foreign aid money is frequently squandered.

Gates said as a business executive who spends $5 billion a year helping developing nations, he hates wasting money. But he told an audience of British politicians and diplomats that no country can “build a wall to hold back the next global epidemic,” and that foreign aid combats socioeconomic problems “at the source.”
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A feel-good Paris concert, a meeting with Muslim leaders and a blowout rally in Marseille – France’s presidential candidates are blanketing the country Wednesday with campaign events to try to inspire undecided voters just four days before a nail-biting election.

Crowds danced on a Paris plaza as Socialist presidential candidate Benoit Hamon held what is seen as a last-chance rally and concert. Hamon is polling a distant fifth place ahead of Sunday’s first-round election and has little chance of reaching the decisive May 7 runoff – a failure that could crush his party.

French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, who has dominated the campaign with her anti-immigration, anti-EU proposals, is appealing to her electoral base in hopes of maintaining a shot at the runoff.

She assailed recent governments for failing to stop extremist attacks in recent years and warned on BFM television that “we are all targets. All the French.”

The candidates have increased security in recent days. Authorities announced Tuesday that they had arrested two Islamic radicals suspected of plotting a possible attack around the vote.

Independent centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron reached out to the French Muslim community Wednesday, saying it’s fighting on a “common front” alongside the state against Islamic extremism.

Macron met with the head of leading French Muslim group CFCM, Anouar Kbibech. In a statement afterward, Macron insisted on the importance of respecting France’s secular traditions but said they shouldn’t be used to target Muslims. Some Muslims feel unfairly targeted by French laws banning headscarves in schools and full-face veils in public.

Also Wednesday, the Grand Mosque of Lyon issued an appeal urging Muslims to cast ballots instead of isolating themselves, “so that all the children of France, regardless of their skin color, their origins or their religion, are fully involved in the future of their country.”

Le Pen also defended her decision to force national news network TF1 to take down the European flag during an interview Tuesday night.

She said Wednesday that “I am a candidate in the election for the French republic” and that Europe is acting like France’s “enemy.”

Accusing the EU of taking away France’s sovereignty and hurting its economy, she wants to pull France out of the EU and the euro – which would devastate the bloc and badly disrupt financial markets.
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Russia Wednesday blocked a draft U.S. statement in the U.N. Security Council condemning the latest North Korean missile test.

The statement said North Korea’s illegal ballistic missile activities are leading to a nuclear weapons delivery system and “greatly increasing tension in the region and beyond.”

The council also would have demanded that the North “immediately cease further actions in violation of the relevant Security Council resolutions and comply fully with its obligations under these resolutions.”

Members said they are concerned Pyongyang is diverting resources toward building missiles and bombs while the population has “great unmet needs.”

It is unclear why Russia blocked the statement, which is almost identical to a February council statement that Russia approved, condemning other ballistic missile tests.

But diplomats say Moscow objected to the removal of the words “through dialogue” in the latest statement when talking about a diplomatic solution in the North.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson plans to preside over a Security Council meeting next week on North Korea. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will brief the members.

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley warned North Korea Wednesday not to “pick a fight” with the United States.
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Turkey’s prime minister hit back Tuesday at European monitors who said more than 2 million votes could have been manipulated in Sunday’s closely contested referendum on expanding presidential powers.

Binali Yildirim, responding to criticism from the Council of Europe’s observer mission, said debate over the outcome of the referendum was “over,” and that “the people’s will had been reflected at the ballot box.”

He spoke in response to calls from the council to investigate alleged vote irregularities that several official observers said allowed as many as 2.5 million uncertified ballots to be counted.

Alev Korun, an Austrian member of the council’s observer mission, said the number of uncertified ballots would almost double the margin of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s victory — an electoral win that vastly broadens the power of the presidency.

Another observer, German lawmaker Andrej Hunko, told The New York Times “it seems credible that 2.5 million were manipulated, but we are not 100 percent sure.”

Separately, European monitors alleged that those who campaigned against Erdogan’s push for expanded powers faced numerous obstacles, including a lack of freedom of expression, intimidation and access to the media. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe also alleged misuse of administrative resources by Erdogan ahead of Sunday’s vote.

Dramatic shift signaled

Sunday’s vote created a powerful executive presidency that largely sidelines the Turkish parliament and abolishes the Cabinet and the office of prime minister. Ministers will be directly appointed by the president, who also will set the national budget. The president also will appoint judges to the high court and the constitutional court.

The constitutional amendments also end the official neutrality of the presidency, allowing a president to lead a political party and declare states of emergency.

Critics argued the reforms were tantamount to creating an elected dictatorship, while Erdogan and his supporters said they would create a fast and efficient system of government better able to confront terrorism and a sluggish economy.

Unstamped ballots

Opposition complaints and calls for a new vote centered on a decision by electoral officials to use and tally ballots that did not have an official stamp, despite a 2010 law that requires such official validation. Additional complaints included the barring of nearly 200 opposition members from serving as election monitors and the temporary detention of other election observers.

On Monday, the head of Turkey’s electoral board, Sadi Guven, strongly defended his decision to allow the controversial ballots, citing high demand for ballots and saying similar procedures had been followed in the past.

“This is not some move we’ve done for the first time,” said Guven, speaking to reporters Monday in Ankara. “Before our administration took over, there had been many decisions approving the validity of unstamped ballots.”

Trump congratulates Erdogan

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday congratulated Erdogan on his referendum victory.

The White House said in a statement the two leaders spoke by phone, with their conversation also including the need to hold Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accountable for a recent chemical attack. It further said the two leaders discussed the fight against Islamic State and “the need to cooperate against all groups that use terrorism to achieve their ends.”
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The U.S. military says it intercepted two Russian bombers in international airspace off Alaska’s coast.

Navy Commander Gary Ross, a Pentagon spokesman, said a pair of F-22 Raptor aircraft intercepted the Russian TU-95 Bear bombers on Monday.

Ross said the intercept was “safe and professional.”

North American Aerospace Defense Command monitors air approaches to North America and defends the airspace.

Fox News said Tuesday that the Russian planes flew within 100 miles (160 kilometers) of Alaska’s Kodiak Island.

It said the American jets escorted the Russian bombers for 12 minutes. The bombers then flew back to eastern Russia.
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Warm weather and calm seas usually spur smugglers to send migrants across the Mediterranean come spring. But aid groups say another timetable might be behind a weekend spike: the looming start of beefed-up Libyan coast guard patrols designed to prevent migrants from reaching Europe.

Over Easter weekend, rescue ships plucked some 8,360 people from 55 different rubber dinghies and wooden boats off Libya’s coast, Italy’s coast guard said. Thirteen bodies were also recovered.

While such numbers are not unheard-of for this time of year, they come as Italy is preparing to deliver patrol boats to Libya as part of a new European Union-blessed migration deal.

Italy and Libya inked a deal in February calling for Italy to train Libyan coast guard officers and to provide them with a dozen ships to patrol the country’s lawless coasts. EU leaders hailed the accord as a new commitment to save lives and stem the flow of migrants to Europe, where the refugee influx has become a pressing political issue.

Aid groups, however, have criticized it as hypocritical and cruel, arguing that migrants who have already endured grave human rights abuses in Libya will face renewed violence, torture, sexual assault and other injustices if they are returned by the Libyan coast guard. Doctors Without Borders called it “delusional” while even the Vatican’s own Caritas charity said it was worrisome.

International Organization of Migration spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo said improved weather conditions certainly are fueling renewed flows in recent days. But he said smugglers are also telling their customers, “`You have to hurry up and leave the country right now because otherwise in a couple of months you will be rescued by the Libyan coast guard and you will be sent back,’ which is the last things that migrants would like to do.”

The United Nations refugee agency also cited the pending arrival of Italian patrol boats as a possible cause for the weekend’s high numbers, although spokeswoman Barbara Molinario said it was too early in the season to identify trends.

“For now it’s premature, even if 8,300 in 55 operations is a high number,” Molinario said.

Overall, Some 35,700 people have been rescued in the central Mediterranean route in 2017, up from 24,974 in 2016, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said. Molinario noted that the numbers are constantly in flux and a week or two of poor weather could alter the year-on comparison. The IOM reports some 900 people are known to have died so far this year.

Some 800 people rescued over the weekend arrived in Sardinia on Tuesday, where officials struggled to find accommodation for them after some 900 were brought to the island by rescue boats last month. They hailed from Syria, Egypt and Libya, as well as more than a dozen other African countries.

The entry into force of the new Libyan patrols could heighten tensions that have already flared between the European Union and humanitarian organizations, which have assumed increasing role in rescuing migrants as their vessels tend to patrol closer to Libya’s territorial waters, and their numbers have skyrocketed in the last two years.

The European border agency Frontex has said these humanitarian aid ships in 2016 were responsible for 40 percent of all rescues, up from 5 percent a year earlier. Frontex has essentially accused them of encouraging smugglers to set migrants off in increasing numbers and on increasingly flimsy vessels, since rescue is so close at hand.

“While there is no question that saving lives is an obligation of whoever operates at sea … it seems the Libyan smugglers are taking full advantage of this fact, and they do so with impunity,” Frontex spokeswoman Izabella Cooper said.

The aid groups have denied being in cahoots with smugglers, but Catania’s chief prosecutor, Carmelo Zuccaro, testified to parliament last month about the phenomenon, in particular the funding behind the aid groups’ operations.

Cooper says there are both “push and pull” factors at play in the Libyan migration saga, with wars, poverty and famine pushing the migrants to Libya and the relative ease with which they then can reach Europe pulling them to make the risky crossing.

But behind it all is money: Europol reported that smugglers made some 5-6 billion euros in 2015, a peak year for arrivals in the EU, making it one of the most profitable activities for organized criminals in Europe. On the Libyan end, an EU military task force reported in December that Libyan coastal communities earned around 270-325 million euros a year from smuggling operations.

 Trisha Thomas in Rome contributed to this report.
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Retired Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his 90th birthday on Monday with a mug of beer and a small gathering with family and friends.

Footage by Vatican TV showed Benedict sitting with guests on a sunny day outside his home on Vatican grounds where he has lived since he resigned as pontiff in 2013. 

He was joined by his elder brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, as well with other visitors from his native Bavaria in Germany.

Pope Benedict turned 90 on Sunday, but since his birthday coincided with Easter this year, he celebrated the occasion Monday.

On Thursday, Benedict’s successor, Pope Francis, visited the former pontiff at his home to wish him a happy birthday.

Benedict’s personal secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, said in an interview last week with Italy’s la Repubblica daily that the former pope was still “very lucid, but his physical strength is lessening. His legs are tired.”

Benedict stepped down as pope in 2013 citing his increased frailty, stunning the Catholic Church and becoming the first pontiff to resign in 600 years. Since his resignation, Benedict has kept a low profile and has rarely been since in public.

Pope Benedict was born Joseph Ratzinger on April 16, 1927, in southern Germany. He trained as a theologian and was a long-time Vatican official in charge of ensuring doctrinal orthodoxy when he was elected pope in 2005. His papacy was often hounded by the Catholic Church’s child abuse scandals.
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Turkey’s status as a bridge between East and West was clear and shaky after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan carved out a narrow victory in a referendum that raises questions about democracy’s future in the country.

Erdogan’s steady path toward authoritarian rule was bolstered by the Sunday election that drew 80 percent of eligible voters. It was decided by support from the rural countryside and Turks living abroad, while the country’s three largest cities voted against the package that will get rid of parliament and give most of its powers to the presidency.

The result left Turkey increasingly estranged from Europe, where leaders walked a fine line between diplomacy and criticism, and embraced by the Arab world.

The key question now is whether Erdogan, who has moved decisively since a military coup attempt last July to jail and otherwise marginalize his opponents, will make any moves toward reconciliation or will continue to foster animosity among the Kurdish community and other minorities.

Analysts said a further tendency toward animosity appeared likely and raised the possibility of a further crackdown — and a possible backlash.

“The Turkish public seems to have given Erdogan and the [ruling] AKP license to reorganize the Turkish state, and in the process raze the values on which it was built,” Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations wrote in Foreign Policy.

“Even if they are demoralized in their defeat, Erdogan’s project will arouse significant resistance among the various ‘No’ camps. The predictable result will be the continuation of the purge that has been going on since … last July’s failed coup, including more arrests and the additional delegitimization of Erdogan’s parliamentary opposition.”

Legal challenge

Erdogan already faces a legal challenge on the election itself, which European monitors said took place on an “uneven playing field” amid a crackdown on the media and opponents being labeled as terrorists. It also was criticized for boiling down 18 complex issues into a single “yes” or “no” ballot.

The result was 51.4 percent in favor of the changes and 48.6 percent opposed, far from the 60 percent clear mandate that Erdogan had hoped for.

“While the parliament is required to have two-thirds majority to amend the constitution, [it is strange] to have absolute majority of the people to change the governing style of the Republic of Turkey,” one Ankara resident told VOA. “But it is now in the past. If the people approved it that way, everyone has to respect it. Let’s wish for the best.”

European leaders said they respected the decision of the Turkish people, while hoping that Erdogan will pause before implementing the changes.

“The [German] government expects that the Turkish government will now seek respectful dialogue with all political and social forces in the country, after this tough election campaign,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a joint statement with Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel. “The tight referendum result shows how deeply divided Turkish society is, and that means a big responsibility for the Turkish leadership and for President Erdogan personally.”

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen added on Twitter: “Strange to see democracy restrict democracy.”

Defiant to Europe

But Erdogan was defiant to Europe, which he had accused of meddling in the vote.

“The crusader mentality on the West and its servants at home have attacked us,” he said. “We have put up a fight against the powerful nations of the world. We did not succumb. As a nation we stood strong.”

And he appeared ready to put the final nail in the coffin of the country’s pursuit of European Union membership by suggesting legalization of the death penalty — a chilling prospect given that about 40,000 people have been jailed since the coup attempt, including the co-leaders and nine other legislators from the second-largest opposition party in parliament on allegation of links with Kurdish terrorists.

The president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, said a death penalty referendum would be a “red line” for the European Union.

Instead, European officials were talking about cobbling together some kind of “new partnership” with Turkey and offering whatever support they can provide in the country’s ongoing transition.

Several countries in the Arab world, including Pakistan, welcomed Erdogan’s victory as a successful “democratic” experience, reflecting his shift away from the country’s history as a secular state.

The result also seemed to reflect a recent global move toward strong leaders after the elections of President Donald Trump, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and others, with France’s election looming Sunday and Germany’s scheduled for September.
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International monitors have questioned the fairness of Sunday’s referendum in Turkey, saying it was contested on an uneven playing field. The referendum, which would create a powerful executive presidency from the current parliamentary system, only narrowly passed and opponents are seeking a revote.

At a news conference in Ankara, monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the “No” campaign faced numerous obstacles including a lack of freedom of expression and access to the media, and intimidation. The OSCE also alleged misuse of administrative resources by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The controversial decision to allow the use of ballots that did not have an official stamp was also criticized. “The Supreme Election Board issued instructions late in the day that significantly changed the validity criteria, undermining an important safeguard and contradicting the law,” observed Cezar Florin Preda of the monitoring group at the Ankara press conference.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry released a statement saying it was “saddened” by the OSCE’s finding that the referendum fell short of international standards. The ministry called it “unacceptable” and accused the OSCE of political bias.

Under Turkey’s 2010 electoral law, all ballots require an official stamp as a measure aimed at preventing vote stuffing. The main opposition CHP alleges that as many as one-and-a-half million unstamped ballots could have been used, more than the winning margin in the referendum.

The CHP is now demanding the referendum be held again. “The only decision that will end debate about the legitimacy and ease the people’s legal concerns is the annulment of this election,” declared Bulent Tezcan CHP deputy head, speaking at press conference Monday.

Protests were held in several locations across Istanbul and in the capital, Ankara, over the handling of the vote; similar demonstrations were reported in other cities.

The only legal redress the CHP has to overturn the vote is with the Supreme Election Board, which made the decision to use the unstamped ballots.

In defense of the ballots

The head of the board, Sadi Guven, strongly defended his decision to allow the controversial ballots, citing high demand for ballots and saying similar procedures had been followed in the past.

“This is not some move we’ve done for the first time,” said Guven, speaking to reporters Monday in Ankara. “Before our administration took over, there had been many decisions approving the validity of unstamped ballots.”

Critics point out the previous use of unstamped ballots was before the introduction of the electoral law banning the practice. Guven said he did not know how many of the ballots were used, and admitted he made the decision after consulting with the ruling AK Party.

Many of the ballots are suspected of being used in the predominantly Kurdish southeast where strict security measures are in force due to an ongoing fight against Kurdish insurgent group the PKK. “No” campaigners in the region said its observers were prevented from monitoring many ballot stations. The OSCE also said its monitors faced restrictions.

While the OSCE refused to be drawn in on whether the shortcomings and difficulties it highlighted were enough to affect the outcome of the vote, its assessment will likely embolden the opposition and add to growing international concern.

“The European politician will refer to the OSCE; even Americans have said it was going to wait for the OSCE report [before commenting on the referendum result],” warned political columnist Semih Idiz of Al Monitor website. “It’s a complication for Erdogan, but he will try and turn it to his advantage by saying the West is up to its old tricks again.”

Throughout the campaign, Erdogan played the nationalist card, accusing Western countries of conspiring against him and Turkey. Erdogan described the referendum as a victory against the crusaders.

Europe has so far avoided directly addressing the controversy, choosing to look beyond the result with calls on Erdogan to reach out to his opponents to ease the political polarization. The U.S. State Department called on Turkey to protect basic rights and freedoms as authorities work to resolve the contested results.
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Easter dawned in Jerusalem with a sunrise service at the Garden Tomb, where the faithful sang hymns of the resurrection. This holy site seeks to recreate the setting of the burial place of Jesus according to biblical accounts: “Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid” (John 19:41).

Facing an empty tomb carved into a rock in antiquity, the congregation proclaimed that “The Lord is risen!”

A short time later, bells rang out in the narrow cobblestone alleyways of Jerusalem’s Old City, summoning worshippers to Easter Mass at the 4th century Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

The atmosphere in the cavernous church was mystical. Priests in festive robes chanted the Easter liturgy, as a fragrant cloud of incense rose into a golden rotunda, symbolizing the glory of the resurrection.

Pilgrims from all over the world gathered around the historic stone tomb believed to be the very place where Jesus rose from the dead. The ancient sepulcher has a fresh look: It was renovated for the first time in 200 years after the feuding denominations that control the site decided to bury their differences and allow the repairs in the name of Christian unity.

Pilgrims came from all over the world to experience Resurrection Day in the city where, according to the New Testament, the events took place.

“Being here where Christ was caused me to strengthen my faith,” Travis Cullimore, an American from San Francisco, California, told VOA. “It really provides a good perspective on who Christ is and what other people believe about Christ, and also it causes me to reflect on what I truly believe about Christ.”

There were also groups of Arab Christians in town, including Israeli citizens from Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth and members of the Coptic Orthodox Church from Egypt.

“It’s a holy place and we are blessed to be here,” said Sam Nicola, a Coptic Orthodox Christian from Cairo. “We are very fortunate to be here.”

A week ago on Palm Sunday, ISIS militants blew up two churches in Egypt killing more than 40 people. The bombings, which were not the first, raised further questions about the safety and future of the dwindling Christian community in Egypt.

“I’m not worried, no,” Nicola sighed, taking a fatalistic approach. “Whatever happens is happening, so whatever is meant to be is meant to be. [Terrorist] incidents happen everywhere, not only in Egypt; it happens everywhere.”

Nor was he perturbed by the Israeli police and soldiers who were patrolling the streets armed with pistols and assault rifles. “We have normal relations with Israel and there is no problem for us to come here,” he said. “We feel very safe.”

It was a big turnout this year because the Eastern Orthodox and Western churches, which use different calendars, celebrated Easter on the same day. The holiday was a multicultural experience, and not only because of the different Christian traditions.

The Old City was packed with Jewish pilgrims celebrating the weeklong holiday of Passover, one of three biblical Feasts of Pilgrimage; and the Christians and Jews mingled with the Palestinian Muslim shopkeepers in the Old City bazaar.

“I think all the people have the right to believe in God in their own way,” said Michael Price, an Israeli who came up to Jerusalem for Passover with his family. “The main thing is to coexist and live together in peace.”
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Millions of Orthodox Christians around the world have celebrated Easter in overnight services and with “holy fire” from Jerusalem, commemorating the day followers believe that Jesus was resurrected nearly 2,000 years ago.

This year the Orthodox churches celebrate Easter on the same Sunday that Roman Catholics and Protestants mark the holy festival. The Western Christian church follows the Gregorian calendar, while the Eastern Orthodox uses the older Julian calendar and the two Easters are often weeks apart.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, who is the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christian faithful, delivered a message of peace during the midnight service at the Patriarchate in Istanbul.

“Our faith is alive, because it is based on the event of the resurrection of Christ,” Bartholomew said.

In his official Easter message issued earlier in the week, Bartholomew urged strong faith in the face of the world’s tribulations.

“This message — of the victory of life over death, of the triumph of the joyful light of the [Easter] candle over the darkness of disorder and dissolution — is announced to the whole world from the Ecumenical Patriarchate with the invitation to experience the unwaning light of the resurrection,” his message said.  

In predominantly Orthodox Romania, Patriarch Daniel urged Christians to bring joy to “orphans, the sick, the elderly the poor … and the lonely.”

Late Saturday, Orthodox clerics transported the holy flame from Jerusalem by plane and it was then flown to other churches around the country. According to tradition the flame appears each year at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and is taken to other Orthodox countries.

In Russia, where Orthodox Christianity is the dominant religion, President Vladimir Putin along with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his wife Svetlana attended midnight Mass at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral.

The cathedral is a potent symbol of the revival of observant Christianity in Russia after the fall of the officially atheist Soviet Union. It is a reconstruction of the cathedral that was destroyed by explosion under dictator Josef Stalin.

In Serbia, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Irinej, held a liturgy in Belgrade’s St. Sava Temple which outgoing president Tomislav Nikolic attended.

Irinej said in his Easter message that “with great sadness and pain in our hearts, we must note that today’s world is not following the path of resurrection but the road of death and hopelessness.”  He also lamented the falling birth rate in Serbia as “a reason to cry and weep, but also an alarm.”

Irinej evoked Kosovo, Serbia’s former province which declared independence in 2008. Hundreds of medieval Orthodox churches and monasteries are located there.

Orthodoxy is also predominant in Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova.
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Pope Francis, leading the world’s Roman Catholics into Easter, urged them Saturday not to ignore the plight of immigrants, the poor and other vulnerable people.

In his homily at an Easter vigil Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, Francis recounted the biblical account of Jesus Christ’s mother, Mary, and Mary Magdalene, filled with grief, as they went to visit his tomb following the crucifixion.

Their grief, he said during the solemn ceremony, could be seen in the faces of many women today.

“In their faces we can see reflected all those who, walking the streets of our cities, feel the pain of dire poverty, the sorrow born of exploitation and human trafficking,” he said.

“We can also see the faces of those who are greeted with contempt because they are immigrants, deprived of country, house and family. We see faces whose eyes bespeak loneliness and abandonment, because their hands are creased with wrinkles.”

Serving the needy

Francis has used the period leading up to Easter to stress his vision of service to the neediest. On Good Friday, he lamented that many people had become inured to daily scenes of bombed cities and drowning migrants.

During Saturday’s service, he baptized 11 people, most of them adult converts to Catholicism, from Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, the United States, Albania, Malta, Malaysia and China.

On Easter Sunday, the most important day in the Christian liturgical calendar, he will read his twice-annual “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the City and the World”) message in St. Peter’s Square.

Security has been tight for all of the pope’s Holy Week activities following recent truck attacks against pedestrians in London and Stockholm.
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Responding to threats by the Islamic State group to disrupt Turkey’s constitutional referendum on Sunday, Turkish authorities have detained scores of people nationwide suspected of links to the outlawed terror group.

IS called on its followers to attack polling places during the referendum, in which voters will make a yes-or-no choice on whether Turkey should shift from its current parliamentary system of government to an executive presidency. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s administration has been campaigning hard and marshaling media resources to press for a “yes” vote, which would greatly expand the president’s powers.

In a directive to its followers, IS said, “Choosing a lawmaker other than God is a curse.” The admonition was published in the latest issue of Rumiyah, an online magazine the extremists use for propaganda and recruitment.

IS issued a similar call earlier this month in its Arabic newsletter El-Naba, asking its supporters in Turkey — including “lone wolves,” those who are not part of any organized cell or group of fighters — to sabotage the referendum in any way possible. The goal is to prevent Turks from voting, Islamic State said, adding: “Use whatever means you have at hand to create ultimate chaos.”

All who take part in the referendum, whatever their political sympathies, are heretics and infidels, IS said in a rallying call to its sympathizers: “We are asking all our brothers to target all polling places. Strike those places, burn them, destroy and demolish them. Kill all those heretics and polytheists who go to vote.”

Since the IS threats were issued, Turkish police and security forces have begun operations in provinces throughout the country, rounding up those suspected of ties to IS.

Security forces detained five people in Istanbul. Turkish media reports detailed more than 20 arrests linked to Islamic State in the provinces of Istanbul, Adana, Gaziantep, Kirikkale and Mersin.

There were no official reports on the total number of those detained nationwide, but it was believed that scores of suspects were arrested. The government-funded Anatolian news agency reported that those in custody were preparing “sensational attacks” in connection with the referendum.

Prosecutors in Mersin province, on the Mediterranean coast in southern Turkey, said they had received intelligence reports warning of possible attacks on Sunday. and that a number of suspects with links to IS had been arrested. A prosecutors’ statement added: “Turkish police are still looking for three more suspects. During searches at the suspects’ homes, police also found various printed IS publications, digital materials, a hunting rifle and some ammunition.”

Since Turkey took on a larger role in the coalition campaign against Islamic State in neighboring Syria and Iraq in mid-2015, the country has been targeted by IS militants several times.

Turkey recently concluded its Operation Euphrates Shield, an eight-month campaign in Syrian border areas aimed at crushing IS operations there.
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On Sunday, Turks will vote in a referendum on turning Turkey into an ‘executive presidency’ from the current parliamentary system. If approved, the 18 article constitutional reform package will greatly enhance presidential powers, creating one of the most powerful elected presidencies in the world. Supporters argue it is essential to meet what they call unprecedented threats facing the country. Detractors warn the measures will turn Turkey into an autocracy.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been at the forefront of the yes campaign, argues the reforms will ensure political stability and efficiency following July’s failed coup and continuing threats by both the so-called Islamic State and the Kurdish insurgent group, the PKK.  The wide ranging reforms propose giving the president the powers to appoint ministers, set the budget, issue laws by decrees on a wide range of issues, dissolve parliament and declare a state of emergency. The prime minister and cabinet will also be abolished.

Although Erdogan’s voting coalition of his ruling AK Party and nationalist MHP has accounted for well over 60% of the vote in past elections, most opinion polls indicate only a small lead for yes which is within the polls’ margin of error.

The no campaign

“AKP has massive monetary and propaganda advantage,” notes political consultant Atilla Yesilada,”But my gut feelings is AKP does not have the same confidence it has had in past polls that it will win.” A broad coalition has emerged, drawing normally antagonistic groups under the same banner. Both Kurdish and Turkish nationalists, secular and pious voters are supporting the no campaign, united by worries they believe the reforms would usher in an autocratic regime.

On the last day of campaign, Erdogan is making four speeches in Istanbul. All of the speaking venues are in traditional stronghold’s of his AKP party, leading observers to suggest that the president is trying to shore up his own support.

While opinion polls indicate that AKP supporters strongly backs the constitutional changes, a number of prominent political figures including the former president Abdullah Gul, have not campaigned in support of the reforms.

The proposals also have drawn strong international condemnation,  “A dangerous step backwards in the constitutional democratic tradition of Turkey,” wrote the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, adding, “The Venice Commission wishes to stress the dangers of degeneration of the proposed system toward an authoritarian and personal regime.”

Erdogan has dismissed such criticism, claiming it’s part of the international conspiracy against Turkey. In the last few campaign rallies, the Turkish president claims the conspiracy is led by the Pope.

“Turkey is increasingly like the La La land. The entire country lives in fiction,” warns consultant Yesilada, “but unfortunately this is what a lot of people believe. That we are under siege, by the Christian crusaders and Erdogan is the only man who is standing between captivity or colonialism.”

Much of the campaign was dominated by diplomatic spats with Germany and the Netherlands over restrictions on Turkish ministers being allowed to campaign among the large diaspora voters. A controversy that is widely believed to have helped the yes campaign.

Concern over the fairness of the campaign is increasingly being voiced. The OSCE which is monitoring the referendum in an interim report ahead of the vote, claimed that “No” campaigners faced bans, police interventions, and violent attacks at their events. The OSCE received a swift rebuke from Erdogan, who bellowed, “Know your place,” at a rally in the provincial city of Konya, he declared the report “null and void”

90% of TV coverage has been devoted to the yes campaign. That followed Erdogan issuing a legal decree under emergency powers that have been in force since July’s coup, abolishing the legal requirement for fair coverage by media companies.

There is growing scrutiny over the vote itself. According to the OSCE, at least 140 representatives nominated by opposition parties to monitor voting have been rejected by Turkish authorities. While several civic organizations that usually monitor polls are among the over 1500 shut down under emergency powers.

With the referendum considered too close to call, scrutiny over the vote is expected to be intense both nationally and internationally. “I’d just say we’re obviously following this issue very closely.,” said U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner. “We hope the referendum is carried out in such a way that guarantees and strengthens democracy in Turkey.”
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In the face of growing international concern about reported detentions and killings of gay men in Chechnya, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman says the Kremlin does not have confirmed information on the targeted violence.

The respected Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported this month that police in the predominantly Muslim republic rounded up more than 100 men suspected of homosexuality and that at least three of them have been killed.

Chechen authorities have denied the reports. But the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights and prominent international organizations have urged the Russian government to investigate the reported abuse.

But Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Friday: “We do not have any reliable information about any problems in this area.”

Novaya Gazeta said in a statement on Friday that it fears for the safety of its journalists after exposing the persecution of gay men in Chechnya, a Muslim-majority republic of Russia.

Novaya Gazeta referred to a large gathering in Chechnya’s main mosque earlier this week which threatened those reporting the story with “reprisals.” The paper’s editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, called on authorities to investigate the threats.

The Russian office of Amnesty International on Friday echoed the concern about the gathering of Chechen elders and clergymen. It reportedly took place several days after the newspaper article and threatened retaliation against those who “insulted the centuries-old foundations of Chechen society and the dignity of Chechen men.”

Amnesty International says it “considers this resolution as a threat of violence against journalists.”

In Washington, former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden issued a statement Friday, condemning the persecution and abuse of gay men in Chechnya.

“The human rights abuses perpetrated by Chechen authorities and the culture of impunity that surrounds them means that these hate crimes are unlikely to ever be properly investigated or that the perpetrators will see justice,” Biden said.

The former vice president also called on the current U.S. administration to live up to its promises “to advance human rights for everyone by raising this issue directly with Russia’s leaders.”
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Russia’s leading state broadcaster has announced plans to boycott the Eurovision 2017 song contest after the host country, Ukraine, barred Russia’s contestant, wheelchair-bound singer Yulia Samoylova, from entering the country.

Kyiv’s decision in late March to ban the 28-year-old Russian paraplegic vocalist stemmed from her June 2015 performance in Crimea, where she appeared without the approval of Ukrainian authorities after Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula.

Announcing the boycott Friday, Channel One, the state broadcaster that transmits the competition to large Russian audiences, said event organizers had offered the option of sending a different contestant or having Samoylova perform via video link from Moscow.

“In our view this represents discrimination against the Russian entry, and of course our team will not under any circumstances agree to such terms,” said Yuri Aksyuta, the station’s chief producer for musical and entertainment programs.

The contest organizers also condemned the Ukrainian decision but said the event will go ahead.

In March, a Ukrainian security services official told VOA that the ban on Samoylova was “based solely on the norms of Ukrainian law and national security interests.”

The Kremlin called it political pettiness.

“Practically everyone has been to Crimea; there are hardly any people who haven’t been to Crimea,” said Dmitry Peskov, spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Peskov also challenged criticism that Samoylova’s nomination was a deliberately provocative act by Kremlin officials — an attempt to make Kyiv appear cruel for restricting participation of a disabled artist.

“We don’t see anything provocative in this,” Peskov said, explaining that Channel One producers had nominated Samoylova independently.

Despite the high-blown kerfuffle, Ukrainian political analyst Mikhail Bassarab told VOA that Ukraine’s law can’t allow for exceptions.

“On the basis of Ukraine and international law, the Russian contestant violated the law,” he told VOA’s Russian service. “Naturally, anybody, including this particular Russian citizen, should be barred entry into Ukraine. There is nothing personal in this position. We can’t make exceptions … [just because] they were nominated for an international contest or have a disability.”

Politics or entertainment?

Ukrainian political analyst Yaroslav Makitra says Kyiv’s ban touches on a broader range of questions.

“It’s critical to decide what matters to us more, politics or entertainment,” he said. “If it’s politics, then we should have said ‘no’ to hosting Eurovision. … But if we want to promote the Ukraine across the globe, then we need to seek legislative and legal opportunities that would allow the Russian contestants to come to Ukraine.”

Otherwise, he said, Kyiv risks turning Eurovision into a competition of political finger-pointing.

Samoylova, a 2013 runner-up in the Russian version of The X Factor, who also performed at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Paralympics, says that if she were permitted to perform, political tensions would be far from her mind.

“I’m simply not thinking about that. It is all out of the mix and it’s not very important,” she said. “I sing and my goal is to sing well, to represent Russia and not to embarrass myself.”

Frank Dieter Freiling, chairman of Eurovision’s steering committee, issued a statement Friday condemning Kyiv’s decision to ban Samoylova on the ground that it violates Eurovision’s ethos as a nonpolitical event.

“However, preparations continue apace for the Eurovision Song Contest in the host city, Kyiv. Our top priority remains to produce a spectacular Eurovision Song Contest.”

Dima Bilan was the last Russian to win Eurovision in 2008. The 62nd international song contest will be held in May in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.

Svetlana Cunningham translated from Russian. This report was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Russian service. Some information is from Reuters.
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The U.S. Air Force will this weekend deploy a small number of F-35A fighter jets to Europe for several weeks of training with other U.S. and NATO military aircraft, the Pentagon said Friday.

In a statement, the Pentagon said that the deployment would allow the U.S. Air Force to “further demonstrate the operational capabilities” of the stealth jet. It did not say where the aircraft would be sent.

The F-35, which is the Pentagon’s costliest arms program, has been dogged by problems. The Pentagon’s chief arms buyer once described as “acquisition malpractice” the decision to produce jets before completing development.

During last year’s presidential election campaign, Donald Trump criticized Lockheed Martin Corp. for the F-35’s cost overruns. Days after taking office in January, Trump announced his administration had been able to cut $600 million from the latest U.S. deal to buy about 90 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.

The United States is expected to spend $391 billion over 15 years to buy about 2,443 of the F-35 aircraft.

F-35s are in use by the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, and by Australia, Britain, Norway, Italy, the Netherlands and Israel. Japan took delivery of its first jet in December.
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International organizations are demanding Russia investigate the abduction, detention and killing of gay and bisexual men in the country’s southern republic of Chechnya.

United Nations human rights experts on Thursday called on Russian authorities to “put an end to the persecution of people perceived to be gay or bisexual in the Chechen Republic who are living in a climate of fear fueled by homophobic speeches by local authorities.”

“It is crucial that reports of abductions, unlawful detentions, torture, beatings and killings of men perceived to be gay or bisexual are investigated thoroughly,” they added.

The appeals follow reports in the respected Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta that police in the predominantly Muslim republic of Chechnya have rounded up more than 100 men suspected of homosexuality and that at least three of them have been killed.

Chechen authorities have denied the reports, while a spokesman for leader Ramzan Kadyrov insisted there were no gay people in Chechnya.

“Nobody can detain or harass anyone who is simply not present in the republic,” Alvi Karimov told the Interfax news agency. “If such people existed in Chechnya, law enforcement would not have to worry about them since their own relatives would have sent them to where they could never return.”

Separately, the director of the human rights office at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Michael Georg Link, said Thursday that Moscow must “urgently investigate the alleged disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment” of gay men in Chechnya.

Novaya Gazeta also reported this month that Chechen authorities are running secret prisons, branded “concentration camps,” in the town of Argun where men suspected of being gay are kept and tortured.

After two separatist wars in the 1990s, predominantly Muslim Chechnya became increasingly conservative under late President Akhmat Kadyrov and then his son Ramzan.
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There are only two options on the ballot – “yes” or “no” – but tens of millions of Turks will cast their votes in a referendum on Sunday with a myriad of motives.

The referendum could bring about the biggest change to Turkey’s system of governance since the founding of the modern republic almost a century ago, replacing its parliamentary system with an executive presidency.

The question on the ballot paper may be about the constitution, but looming large is the figure of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who could win sweeping powers and stay in office until 2029 if the changes are approved.

Polls show a close race, with a slight lead for “yes.” But the vote may yield surprises.

‘I want a democracy’

“I’m a patriot,” said Cengiz Topcu, 57, a fisherman in Rize on the Black Sea coast, Erdogan’s ancestral home town where his supporters are among the most fervent.

But Topcu is voting “no.”

“In the past, Erdogan was a good man but then he changed for the worse. I want a democracy: not the rule of one man,” he told Reuters in his boat.

The proposed changes, Erdogan and his supporters say, will make Turkey stronger at a time when the country faces security threats from both Islamist and Kurdish militants.

Violence has flared in the largely Kurdish southeast since the collapse of a cease-fire between the state and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in 2015, and parts of the region have long been strongholds of opposition to Erdogan.

But Hikmet Gunduz, 52, a street vendor in the main regional city of Diyarbakir, hopes his “yes” vote will help bring peace.

“I like President Erdogan’s character. He is a bit angry and a bit authoritarian but his heart is full of love.”

Freedoms

Erdogan, arguably modern Turkey’s most popular but divisive politician, has long cast himself as the champion of ordinary, pious Turks exploited by a secular elite.

Although a majority Muslim country, Turkey is officially secular and the headscarf was long banned in the civil service and in universities until Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AK Party overturned that restriction.

Aynur Sullu, a 49-year-old hotel owner in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, a bastion of the secularist opposition, said she planned to vote “yes,” dismissing suggestions that Erdogan’s Islamist ideals were encroaching on people’s private lives.

“Anyone can drink raki or swim with a bikini freely,” she said, referring to the alcoholic drink favored by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern secular republic. “Also, now women with headscarves have freedom.”

Businesswoman Dilsat Gulsevim Arinc, however, said Erdogan was acting like a sultan and hoped her “no” vote would help teach him a “useful lesson”.

“He is too authoritarian,” said the 68-year-old cafe owner in Cesme, an Aegean resort town. “If things go on like this, I think Turkey will be finished in the next 10 years.”
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Hungary denied Wednesday that a new education law was aimed at shutting down a university founded by U.S. financier George Soros, and suggested a possible compromise in a dispute that has drawn protests at home and criticism from Washington.

Central European University (CEU) found itself in the eye of a political storm after Hungary’s parliament passed the law last week setting tougher conditions for the awarding of licenses to foreign-based universities.

Critics said the new terms would hurt academic freedoms and were especially aimed at CEU, founded by the Hungarian-born Soros after the collapse of Communism and considered a bastion of independent scholarship in the region.

In an apparent change of tack, Education Secretary Laszlo Palkovics said CEU could continue to operate if it delivered its teaching and issued its degrees through its existing Hungarian sister school.

“We never wanted to close down CEU,” Palkovics told news website HVG.hu. “The question is whether CEU insists on having a license in Hungary or having courses in Hungary honored with a CEU degree … [CEU’s own] license has little significance.”

Despite this, thousands of Hungarians protested in central Budapest against what they said was a crackdown on free thought and education.

They filled the capital’s Heroes’ Square and formed a heart shape and the word “CIVIL.” It was the fourth major street demonstration in the last two weeks as the government faces growing resistance a year before elections are due.

“They have pressed ahead since 2010 with new moves every day that hurt democracy in some way,” Robert Ferenczi, a 55 year-old protester from Budapest, told Reuters.

Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said the government would not suspend the disputed law, but added: “We are going to have talks with everyone; if the Soros university is driven by good intentions, it will be able to solve the problem.”

CEU itself was taken by surprise at Palkovics’ comments, according to an emailed statement.

“The solution evoked by State Secretary Palkovics in the press does not appear to be legally and operationally coherent and certain,” it said. “CEU has not been approached directly by Secretary Palkovics with this information.”

“Exchanges in the press are no substitute for sustained direct contact on a confidential basis. We look to the Hungarian government to initiate negotiations with CEU so that we can resolve this and go back to work, with our academic freedom secured, without limits or duration.”

The dispute over the university has come to symbolize rival visions of Hungary’s future. Soros, whose ideal of an “open society” is squarely at odds with Orban’s “illiberal democracy, ” has often been vilified by the prime minister.

Domestic protest, foreign concern

The law stipulated that the CEU must open a branch in its home state of New York alongside its campus in Budapest and secure a bilateral agreement of support from the U.S. government.

Both of those conditions would have been prohibitive by a deadline of January 2018, and CEU rejected them from the start.

The United States asked Hungary to suspend the implementation of the law, and the European Union on Wednesday threatened Orban with legal action for moves that it saw as undemocratic.

“Taken cumulatively, the overall situation in Hungary is a cause of concern,” European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans said.

Analyst Zoltan Novak at the Centre for Fair Political Analysis said the government now appeared to have performed a U-turn.

“Calling it ‘Soros University’ for weeks was a clear way for the government to designate an enemy and attack,” Novak said. “Now they made the education secretary bring up a policy argument to back out, containing the political fallout.”

Novak said Orban, who faces elections in April 2018, may have miscalculated the resistance the CEU law could provoke, especially from Washington.
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Four surveillance rooms believed to date back to communist-era Yugoslavia and filled with dust-covered listening equipment have been discovered behind a Slovenian hotel situated next to one of the world’s largest limestone caves.

The wiretapping rooms were found behind a solid steel door during renovation work at the back of the Hotel Jama and lead directly to the Postojna Cave’s interior.

The spy rooms were likely built around 1969 when the hotel was under construction, according to Marjan Batagelj who heads the company managing the hotel and cave, a major tourist attraction in the former Balkan state.

The absence of humidity in the rooms made them ideal locations to store sensitive equipment, Batagelj said, while the thick layers of dust suggest the rooms have laid undisturbed for years.

“Those centers were part of a wider wiretapping system operated by UDBA, the secret political police,” said researcher Igor Omerza, who has published books on Slovenian history.

“They used this for surveillance of people they believed were their political opponents.”

Omerza said Yugoslavia’s former communist leader Josip Broz Tito used to stay at the hotel, as did foreign and local dignitaries. Cables running from the surveillance rooms to the hotel indicate some hotel rooms had also been tapped, he said.

“I don’t think Tito himself was wiretapped, they probably wouldn’t dare to do that, but anything is possible. I think they primarily wiretapped guests who met with him there, foreigners,” he said.

Batagelj said he might open up the rooms to tourists.

Slovenia, an Alpine state of two million people, was part of communist Yugoslavia until 1991 when it declared independence, an event followed by a brief 10-day war.
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The Hungarian government should engage in “serious, urgent and good-faith talks” with Central European University about legal changes seen to be targeting the school founded by billionaire George Soros, a U.S. diplomat said Tuesday.

A bill signed Monday by President Janos Ader sets new conditions for foreign universities in Hungary, some of which seem aimed specifically at CEU. The law requires universities in Hungary also to have a campus in their home countries. While CEU is accredited in Hungary and in New York state, it does not have a U.S. campus.

“We’re very concerned about the legislation,” Hoyt Yee, U.S. deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, told The Associated Press. “The legislation targets Central European University and threatens the ability of the university, an important American-Hungarian institution, to continue operating in Hungary.”

The law also calls for bilateral agreements between Hungary and the home countries of universities from outside the European Union on how to manage the institutions.

Yee said “the United States does not engage in such agreements about … how universities are going to be run in foreign countries. This is a matter for the government of Hungary and CEU to work out.”

“We hope that the government of Hungary is going to engage in serious, urgent and good-faith talks with Central European University, as well as other affected institutions,” Yee said Tuesday during a visit to Budapest.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the issue had wider implications.

“The legislation, we believe, can also similarly threaten operations of other American universities with degree programs in Hungary,” Toner told reporters. “We’re urging the government of Hungary to suspend implementation of the law. We want to see a review, a discussion, in order to address any concerns through dialogue with the university itself and other affected institutions.”

Germany’s deputy foreign minister, Michael Roth, said he expressed “incomprehension” about the foreign universities bill and its targeting of CEU at a meeting Tuesday with Hungary’s ambassador in Berlin, Peter Imre Gyorkos.

“A lot that is happening in Hungary at the moment fills us with genuine concern,” Roth said in a statement. “We are seeing that Hungary is taking an ever-stronger course of confrontation with the EU and its institutions.”

Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who briefly studied at Oxford University in 1989 thanks to a Soros scholarship, is an avowed ideological foe of the Hungarian-born investor and philanthropist’s “open society” ideal, which contrasts with Orban’s plan to turn Hungary into what he calls an “illiberal state.”

Orban says Soros, through his support for nongovernmental organizations like the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a rights advocacy group, is trying to influence Hungarian politics and opposes Hungarian interests by supporting refugees and migrants.

“The final debate is about the migration question,” Lajos Kosa, parliamentary leader of Orban’s Fidesz party, said on broadcaster TV2. “This is why the Hungarian government and the empire directed by Soros are straining against each other.”
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Italy’s parliament approved on Tuesday measures to accelerate asylum procedures, cutting the number of possible appeals and speeding up deportations of rejected migrants.

Since 2014 the number of migrants reaching Italy’s shores has surged, with half a million arriving in the country, and under European Union law Italy has to set up so-called “hotspots” where migrants with the right of asylum are set apart from those without.

As a result, Italy’s asylum applications have jumped, burdening the national civil courts and with procedures further delayed by appeals that can take years.

Under the new rules the asylum ruling can be appealed only once, instead of twice, and the request has to be submitted within a month.

The law, named after Interior Minister Marco Minniti and Justice Minister Andrea Orlando, also creates 26 new sections in courts across the country, specialized in immigration.

It enables the Interior ministry to employ up to 250 people in the next two years to work in specialized state-run committees dealing with the asylum request.

Rights group Amnesty International said on Tuesday it was worried for the “significant reduction in the procedural guarantees for the asylum seekers” claiming that the new procedures could be unconstitutional and discriminatory.

“Faster decision are in the interest of those requesting asylum but they must not lead to a limitation of [the migrants’] rights,” the head of Amnesty International in Italy Antonio Marchesi said in a statement.

The new rules had already been adopted by Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni’s government at the beginning of February with an emergency decree on the grounds that the court backlog was stacking up quickly and asylum-seeker shelters were filling up.

Under Italian law, emergency decrees have to be converted into law by parliament within 60 days.

Italy has estimated that it will spend about 3.9 billion euros ($4.1 billion) this year on managing immigration, almost three times as much as in 2013. The annual bill could rise to 4.3 billion euros if arrivals increase, the equivalent to a quarter of the country’s annual spending on defense.

($1 = 0.9428 euros)
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