Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Thousands of migrants stranded at Greece-Macedonia border

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Thousands of migrants stranded at Greece-Macedonia border

A girl plays in the mud in a tent camp near the village of Idomeni, on 1 March, 2016 as migrants and refugees walk to cross the Greece-Macedonia border.Image copyrightAFP
Image captionHealth workers say they are increasingly concerned about the situation at the Idomeni camp
About 8,500 migrants are stuck in worsening conditions on the Greece-Macedonia border at a camp designed to support just 1,500 people.
The Idomeni crossing has been closed for nearly 24 hours following protests by migrants desperate to continue their journey to Western European countries.
Some migrants have been stranded at the overburdened camp for more than a week.
The site was beset by heavy rain overnight, posing serious health risks to a minority with no shelter.
BBC reporters saw hundreds more migrants heading across fields towards Idomeni on Tuesday.
Hundreds of small tents have been erected in the fields around the official camp, which can take no more people. Families of 10 are sharing four-man tents, Caroline Haga, an emergency co-ordinator for the International Red Cross (ICRC), told the BBC.
Ms Haga, who left the camp on Monday night but is due to return on Tuesday, said the medical charity had serious concerns for the health of the migrants as the weather deteriorated.
"Many people here are soaking wet and cold from having to sleep out in the open, it still dips below 10 here during the night," she said.
"We are already seeing a lot of flu cases, especially among children, so imagine if they have to sleep outside in the wet again. It could turn into a very serious health problem."
Migrants sit near a fire in a tent camp on 1 March, 2016 near the village of Idomeni as migrants and refugees walk to cross the Greece-Macedonia border.Image copyrightAFP
Image captionMore than 7,000 people are stranded at the Idomeni camp, which was designed for 1,500
A medical station set up by the ICRC and Hungarian Red Cross was struggling to provide care for the large number of unwell and the pregnant, Ms Haga said, including people suffering from respiratory illnesses including bronchitis.
To make matters worse, a significant number of people were refusing to be taken away from the site for emergency care for fear of losing their place in the queue.
On Monday, a man suffering an epileptic fit refused to be moved, Ms Haga said.
Hassan Rasheed, 27, from Iraq, told the Associated Press: "I've been at Idomeni for 10 days, and it's the fourth day I've been waiting to cross over.
Media captionGrowing numbers of refugees and migrants are arriving on the Greek side of the border with Macedonia
"Conditions are very bad. There are many ill children who are coughing, and we spent the night in this tent under heavy rain."
Ahmed Majid, a 26-year-old Iraqi travelling with his wife and two children, said: "We have been walking for three kilometres. Police stopped our taxi on the national road, which is why we are going through the fields."
Migrants and refugees walk to cross the Greece-Macedonia border near the village of Idomeni, on 1 March, 2016.Image copyrightAFP
Image captionThousands of migrants are en route to Idomeni, despite the border closure
Macedonia was sporadically allowing few hundred people through the crossing, mostly Syrians and Iraqis, which was relieving pressure on the camp.
But last week it began refusing entry to Afghan migrants and imposing stricter document controls on Syrians and Iraqis, slowing the passage to a trickle.
Then on Monday Macedonia firmly closed the wire-mesh gate that separates it from the camp, citing the closure by Serbia of its northern border. A similar domino effect has been seen repeatedly over the past few months as Eastern European countries attempt to reduce the number of migrants within their borders.
Frustration at the closure boiled over on Monday and scores of migrants clashed with security guards. Some attempted to smash through a fence, prompting the guards to fire tear gas and rubber bullets.
Thousands of migrants and refugees are en route to Idomeni, despite the border closure. With the camp overwhelmed, many have been forced to wait on buses and at petrol stations along the route from Athens.
The Greek military has established three other border camps nearby to Idomeni, Ms Haga says, but all are already full, with about 2,000 people at each.
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US election 2016: Super Tuesday to test candidates

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US election 2016: Super Tuesday to test candidates

Media captionAt a dirt-track race in Georgia, there was unanimous and uncompromising support for Donald Trump.
Candidates bidding for their party's nomination in the US presidential election face their biggest test yet in the "Super Tuesday" primary polls.
Eleven states cast votes for candidates from either the Republican or Democratic parties or both in a contest seen as make-or-break for the hopefuls.
Contests stretch from Vermont in the east to Texas and Georgia in the south.
Donald Trump leads the Republican field and Hillary Clinton is ahead in the Democratic race.
There have been earlier votes in four states.
The first Super Tuesday polls opened in Virginia at 06:00 local time (11:00 GMT).
Senator Ted Cruz cannot afford to lose to Mr Trump in Texas, Mr Cruz's home state, while a reverse for Mr Trump in Massachusetts, with its moderate voters, could break the property tycoon's nationwide momentum.
Mrs Clinton is hoping to build on her weekend victory in South Carolina, where she polled heavily among African-Americans, to restore her political fortunes after a bruising defeat in New Hampshire to Bernie Sanders, her self-styled democratic socialist rival.
On 8 November, America is due to elect a successor to Barack Obama, a Democratic president standing down after two terms in office which have seen the Republicans take control of both houses of Congress.

Super Tuesday map

Opinion polls give Mr Trump a lead in almost all of the 11 states holding Republican contests on Tuesday: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Alaska and Minnesota.
The colourful campaign of the billionaire, who won three of the four early voting states, has divided Republicans.
On the eve of the polls, Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse became the highest-ranked elected party member to come out and say he would not back him for president.
He said he was "frustrated and saddened" and would look for a third option if Mr Trump won the Republican nomination.
Marco Rubio, the third-placed Republican contender after Mr Trump and Mr Cruz, is hoping to stay competitive, gambling on a win in his home state of Florida on 15 March.
Donald Trump signs the hand of a voter in Valdosta, Georgia, 29 FebruaryImage copyrightReuters
Image captionDonald Trump autographs the back of a supporter's hand in Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday
Ted Cruz speaks during a campaign appearance in San Antonio, Texas, on MondayImage copyrightAP
Image captionTed Cruz speaks during a campaign appearance in San Antonio, Texas, on Monday
Marco Rubio speaks at a campaign rally in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on MondayImage copyrightReuters
Image captionMarco Rubio speaks at a campaign rally in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on Monday
Mr Trump's commitment to several controversial immigration pledges, including the wholesale deportation of illegal immigrants and construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border, was called into question on Monday after reports describing an off-the-record conversation with the New York Times editorial board.
Mr Cruz, Mr Rubio and former Republican candidate Mitt Romney have called on Mr Trump to authorise the release of the transcript, in which Mr Trump reportedly says his hardline immigration policies would be flexible if he were elected.
Mr Cruz said: "Apparently there is a secret tape that the New York Times editorial board has of Donald Trump saying that he doesn't believe what he's saying on immigration... I call on Donald: ask the New York Times to release the tape and do so today before the Super Tuesday primary."
Andrew Rosenthal, the editor of the Times editorial page, told Buzzfeed News he would not comment on an off-the-record conversation without Mr Trump's permission.
"If [Trump] wants to call up and ask us to release this transcript, he's free to do that and then we can decide what we would do," Mr Rosenthal said.
Media captionWhat's so super about Super Tuesday? Katty Kay explains
Mr Trump has faced heavy criticism ahead of the Super Tuesday primaries over his failure to disavow David Duke, a leader of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan, who has endorsed the Republican candidate.
Protesters, including some from the Black Lives Matter movement, repeatedly disrupted a Trump rally in Radford, Virginia, on Monday after his refusal to condemn Mr Duke.
On Tuesday, Mr Trump said he had on several occasions in the past disavowed Mr Duke.
Mr Trump told ABC: "There's nobody who's done so much for equality as I have."

Democratic race

Democrats are voting in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Minnesota, as well as in the US territory of American Samoa.
Democrats abroad will also submit their votes. There is also a caucus in Colorado, but the vote then goes to a state convention.
Mrs Clinton is eyeing black voters in places like Alabama, Georgia and Virginia aftertaking eight out of 10 black votes in South Carolina.
Bernie Sanders voted early in his home state of Vermont.
He told reporters that if turnout was high "we are going to do well. If not, we're probably going to be struggling".
But he pledged: "This is a campaign that is going to the Philadelphia convention in July."
Bernie Sanders in Vermont, 1 MarchImage copyrightAP
Image captionBernie Sanders voted early on Tuesday in his home state of Vermont
Hillary Clinton with supporters at Lake Taylor Senior High School in Norfolk, Virginia, on MondayImage copyrightReuters
Image captionHillary Clinton with supporters at Lake Taylor Senior High School in Norfolk, Virginia, on Monday
Follow the primaries race with the delegate tracker, provided by the Associated Press (AP)
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Myanmar brings forward presidential vote

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Myanmar brings forward presidential vote

     
  • From the sectionAsia

Aung San Suu Kyi (29 Feb 2016)Image copyrightEPA
Image captionAung San Suu Kyi has been in negotiations about possible changes to the constitution

The vote to appoint a new president in Myanmar has been brought forward by a week, to 10 March.
The move likely means an end to negotiations on whether the constitution could be amended so Aung San Suu Kyi could take the top job.
Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a general election landslide victory in November and will take office at the end of March.
But she is barred by the constitution from being the president.
Clause 59F, widely seen as having been included to target her, means anyone who has foreign children cannot take the post.
She has consistently said she will effectively lead the country anyway.

Military representatives of the parliament attend the union parliament session in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, 29 February 2016Image copyrightEPA
Image captionArmy representatives still wield considerable clout in parliament

The original date for the nominations had been 17 March, which was seen as giving time for the NLD to negotiate with the military.

Analysis: Jonah Fisher, BBC News, Yangon

Aung San Suu Kyi may actually be stronger outside the presidency. Over several rounds of negotiation with the army it became clear that any deal would involve uncomfortable compromise.
Little was said officially, but it was suggested that the army might trade suspending Clause 59F for more power.
That was rumoured to include the positions of chief minister in sensitive states like Rakhine and Kachin and almost certainly included promises that the military's political clout and financial muscle be left untouched.
It would have been a fudge and Ms Suu Kyi would have been accused of putting personal ambition over principle.
Now she must choose someone else to be president, and her main criteria is likely to be loyalty.
With an obedient puppet in place, she knows that all the president's decision-making power will still ultimately rest with her.
These talks represented a chance for the Burmese army to show that it was moving with the times. It could have acknowledged that the people of Myanmar overwhelmingly voted in November for Ms Suu Kyi to lead.
Instead the message is "the army still knows best" with the military insisting on following the constitution it drafted to the letter.
With a huge majority in parliament and the ability to legislate as she wishes, Ms Suu Kyi may now decide she's not in the mood to compromise either.

The new president will be elected by the upper and lower house from a list of three candidates put forward by MPs.
The NLD dominates both houses after taking 80% of contested seats in the election. But the military, which ran Myanmar for decades, still has an automatic 25% of all seats.
NLD official Win Htein told the BBC the party would now focus on trying to change the constitution from within.
"Aung San Suu Kyi will still become president anyhow. It's only the matter of sooner or later," he said.
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