Magdalena Andersson resigned as Sweden’s first female prime minister on Wednesday hours after she was appointed because her government’s coalition partner suffered a budget defeat in parliament.
In a dramatic development, Ms Andersson, leader of the Social Democratic Party, said at a press conference: “I have asked the speaker to be relieved of my duties as prime minister.”
“I am ready to be prime minister in a single-party, Social Democrat government,” she added.
Her resignation came after her coalition partner, the Green Party, quit the two-party coalition after the government’s budget bill was rejected.
The Green Party said it could not accept a budget “drafted for the first time with the far-right,” reported BBC.
Ms Andersson’s decision to step down came hours after she said earlier that she would not, in case she lost the budget vote.
“I am of the opinion that [the opposition budget] as a whole is something I can live with,” she had said before the budget vote.
However, after the budget vote Ms Andersson told reporters that the Green Party’s decision had forced her to step down.
“A coalition government should resign if a party chooses to leave the government. Despite the fact that the parliamentary situation is unchanged, it needs to be tried again,” she said.
For the budget vote, Ms Andersson had sought support from two smaller parties, the Centre Party and the Left Party.
The budget was defeated after the Centre Party withdrew support, even though Ms Andersson had struck a last-minute deal with the Left Party to secure support for the budget.
CMC – With Europe seeing record spikes in COVID-19 infections and cases rising by 23 per cent in the Americas over the past week, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Dr Carissa Etienne has advised caution on lifting preventative measures and warned against complacency in tackling the pandemic.
“As end of year celebrations approach, get vaccinated, keep gatherings small and ensure mask-wearing and social distancing, especially indoors,” she urged in a virtual media briefing on Wednesday.
Over the last few weeks, many European countries have reported record numbers of new cases despite high vaccination coverage. The relaxation of public health measures combined with pockets of unvaccinated people has created the perfect environment for the virus to spread, Dr Etienne said.
“Throughout this pandemic, Europe has been a window into the future for the Americas,” the PAHO Director warned. “The future is unfolding before us, and it must be a wake-up call for our region.”
Upward trends are already seen throughout the Americas, including the Caribbean where infection rates are high.
While just over half of people in Latin America and the Caribbean are now fully vaccinated against COVID, 19 countries have yet to reach the WHO target of 40 per cent vaccination coverage by the end of 2021. Despite this, preventative measures are being lifted, including in densely populated areas.
“Every time we lower our guard, the virus gains momentum and threatens our hard-fought gains,” the PAHO Director said.
Last year, the Americas saw a jump in new cases following the holiday season, which took months to decline. With the upcoming holidays and summer vacations in the Southern Hemisphere, Dr Etienne warned that “our individual and collective decisions chart the path of this pandemic”.
She added that it is therefore crucial that individuals get vaccinated as soon as possible to protect against severe disease and prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed, particularly if they plan to travel, she said.
More than 1.3 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the Americas and PAHO said it is working to expand access in places that are falling behind.
Dr Etienne stressed that continued public health measures alongside vaccination are also key to reducing the spread. These include mask-wearing, social distancing and avoiding large gatherings, particularly indoors.
“We’ve already faced the consequences of an uncontrolled pandemic and we don’t want to be in that position again,” she added. “It’s up to all of us to make smart and safe choices this holiday season so we can protect ourselves and each other from this virus.”
HAVANA, Nov 25 (Reuters) – Cuban tourism operators breathed a sigh of relief this week as the first tourists in months returned to sip mojitos and snap selfies in vintage cars in the capital Havana, providing a much-needed shot in the arm to the Caribbean island’s ailing economy.
Communist-run Cuba has vaccinated nearly its entire population with home-grown inoculations, prompting authorities last week to re-open the country’s borders to tourism after a nearly two-year hiatus during the coronavirus pandemic.
New infections have dropped off sharply across the country in recent weeks, according to official statistics.
The Bodeguita del Medio, a restaurant-bar that claims to be the birthplace of the mojito cocktail, was bustling on a sunny November day as bartenders prepared mint-laced drinks for largely European tourists in shorts and t-shirts.
Ernesto Hechevarria, a 55-year old tourism guide, told Reuters outside the bar once frequented by author Ernest Hemingway that foreign visitors would breathe life back into the city.
“Tourism is the engine of Cuba’s economy,” Hechevarria said as he watched tourists come in and out. “Now the economy is beginning to revive.”
Authorities closed schools, entertainment venues and restaurants, and drastically scaled back flights to the island for nearly two years during the pandemic, exacerbating an economic crisis that left residents short of food and medicine.
Dayana Siloche, who sells traditional Cuban handicrafts to tourists in Havana, had seen her livelihood all but wiped out during the pandemic.
“Everything had come to a standstill. We couldn’t make enough to eat. There was nothing,” Siloche told Reuters. “Now, little by little, things are returning to normal.”
Tourists were equally happy as they snapped photos of downtown Havana’s plazas and side streets.
Spaniard Ignacio Pindado strolled through Havana’s central Plaza de la Revolucion, thrilled with the opportunity to travel once again.
“Being able to come here, and to see international borders like those of Cuba once again reopen, is marvelous,” Pindado told Reuters.
Reporting by Reuters TV and Nelson Acosta; Editing by Dave Sherwood and Mark Porter
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry swore in a new Cabinet on Wednesday amid ongoing disorder in the country, with gangs wreaking havoc through abductions and fuel blockages.
As the Miami Herald reported, Henry said at the initiation ceremony that apart from restoring security in Haiti and reinstating the government’s authority, the new Cabinet members will also have to help with adopting a new constitution and electing a new president, parliament and local mayors.
“It is an ambitious and difficult challenge, given the climate of insecurity that some have chosen to reign in various corners of the territory,” Henry said, according to the Herald.
“Our country is experiencing a difficult situation. By saying this I don’t want to panic anyone. But it is up to us to understand the complexity of the situation if we want to make the right decisions together,” he added.
Henry became the new prime minister after former acting Haitian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Claude Joseph agreed to step down in July. Henry had been tapped to be prime minister by Haitian President Jovenel Moïse shortly before he was assassinated in his home earlier that month.
As the Haitian government takes steps to restore order, it must contend with gangs that have abducted U.S. missionaries and attacked neighborhoods. On Sunday, two of 17 hostages who were kidnapped last month were released.
PARIS (Reuters) – Protesters looted shops and set up burning barricades overnight on France’s Caribbean island of Martinique, France Info reported on Thursday, as demonstrations against COVID-19 protocols intensified.
France Info published a video of protesters targeting a shopping centre and running away with goods, as well as videos of demonstrators setting up burning barricades on roads.
France’s Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe have been hit by unrest over the last week due to anger over COVID protocol measures, such as moves to ramp COVID vaccination on the islands.
The situation was serious enough for France to send troops to the islands to help local police keep order.
Compulsory vaccination has touched a nerve in a population that is descended from slaves who worked on French sugar plantations. During the 20th century, many people on Guadeloupe were also systematically exposed to toxic pesticides used in banana plantations.
The Caribbean has been hit in recent weeks by a new wave of coronavirus infections that is causing lockdowns and flight cancellations and overwhelming hospitals, just as tourism was beginning to show signs of recovery.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Michael Perry)
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AUTAZES, Brazil, Nov 24 (Reuters) – Hundreds of dredging rafts operated by illegal miners have gathered in a gold rush on the Madeira River, a major tributary of the Amazon, floating hundreds of miles as state and federal authorities dispute who is responsible for stopping them.
The flotilla of rafts equipped with pumps are moored together in lines that nearly stretch across the vast Madeira, and a Reuters witness spotted plumes of exhaust indicating they are vacuuming the riverbed for gold.
“We counted no less than 300 rafts. They’ve been there at least two weeks and the government has done nothing,” said Greenpeace Brazil activist Danicley Aguiar.
The gold rush, triggered by rumors that someone had found gold there, began as world leaders gathered for a United Nations climate conference in Glasgow, where Brazil vowed it had stepped up protection of the Amazon rainforest. read more
However, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has weakened environmental enforcement since taking office in 2019, turning a blind eye to invasions of protected public and indigenous lands by illegal loggers, cattle ranchers and wildcat gold miners.
The Madeira flows some 2,000 miles (3,300 kilometers) from its source in Bolivia through the rainforest in Brazil and into the Amazon River.
An aerial view shows hundreds of dredging rafts operated by illegal miners who have gathered in a gold rush on the Madeira, a major tributary of the Amazon river, in Autazes, Amazonas state, Brazil November 23, 2021. REUTERS/Bruno Kelly
The dredging rafts have floated downriver from the Humaita area, where there has been a surge in illegal gold mining, and were last seen some 400 miles (650 km) away in Autazes, a municipal district southeast of Manaus.
A spokesperson for Brazil’s environmental protection agency Ibama said the illegal dredging on the Madeira river was the responsibility not of the federal government but of Amazonas state and its environmental agency IPAAM.
The IPAAM said in a statement that the rafts anchored on the river were under federal jurisdiction, so the National Mining Agency (ANM) was responsible for licensing and it was up to the federal police to see if any crimes had been committed. River traffic and pollution was the Navy’s area, IPAAM said.
The ANM said it did not fall under their purview as they only oversaw legal mining, while criminal activity was a matter for the police and courts.
The Federal police said it was looking at the best way to deal with the problem and prevent environmental damage.
“It’s a free-for-all. None of the authorities are doing anything to stop illegal mining, which has become a epidemic in the Amazon,” Aguiar of Greenpeace Brazil said.
Reporting by Bruno Kelly Writing by Anthony Boadle Editing by Brad Haynes and Aurora Ellis
TAPACHULA, Mexico, Nov 23 (Reuters) – Thousands of migrants in southern Mexico have accepted a government offer to quit a U.S.-bound caravan in exchange for Mexican visas, officials said on Tuesday night.
The caravan is one of two large groups of migrants, many from Central America and the Caribbean, that left the southern city of Tapachula in recent weeks to embark on foot on the long journey north toward the U.S. border with families including young children.
The caravan migrants who left Tapachula last week accepted a government proposal to “begin the process that will allow them to regularize their legal status,” according to a joint statement from the interior ministry and national migration institute.
By Tuesday, this group had progressed as far as the town of Mapastepec in the southern state of Chiapas, under the guidance of caravan organizer Luis Garcia Villagran from advocacy group Pueblo Sin Fronteras.
Garcia told Reuters that most of the migrants in the caravan had accepted the offer and officials would eventually bus them out of Chiapas, distributing them across 10 states. The government statement, however, listed nine states.
In exchange for the deal, the organizers agreed not to assemble more caravans in future, a Mexican migration official said later, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Caravan organizer Garcia denied that such a deal had been made, and the statement made no mention of it.
Migrants have repeatedly expressed skepticism about receiving documentation regularizing them in Mexico, and organizers say another caravan is already about to depart from Tapachula, a major migrant massing point close to the border with Guatemala.
Earlier, Garcia said the decision to offer transportation and visas to migrants was positive, after Tapachula had turned into a “prison” for migrants left stranded while waiting for paperwork that would let them freely transit the country.
The Mexican migration official said an earlier group of migrants from Haiti and Honduras were taken to Guanajuato state about 1,000 km (620 miles) away on Tuesday.
Reporting by Jose Torres in Tapachula and Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City; Editing by Sandra Maler & Simon Cameron-Moore
Boris Johnson renews calls for France to agree to joint patrols along its coast, while Emmanuel Macron urges UK not to politicise the flow of migrants
Boris Johnson ‘appalled and deeply saddened’ after 31 people die in Channel – video
Guardian- British and French leaders have traded accusations after at least 27 people died trying to cross the Channel in the deadliest incident since the current migration crisis began.
In a phone call with Boris Johnson on Wednesday night, French president Emmanuel Macron stressed “the shared responsibility” of France and the UK, and told Johnson he expected full cooperation and that the situation would not be used “for political purposes”, the Élysée said.
Thirty-four people were believed to be on the boat when it sank on Wednesday, leading to what the International Organisation for Migration said was the biggest single loss of life in the Channel since it began collecting data in 2014. Two survivors are in intensive care.
The British prime minister renewed calls for France to agree to joint police patrols along the Channel coast, and said Wednesday’s incident highlighted how efforts by French authorities to patrol their beaches “haven’t been enough”.
“We’ve had difficulties persuading some of our partners, particularly the French, to do things in a way that we think the situation deserves,” he said on Wednesday. “I understand the difficulties that all countries face, but what we want now is to do more together – and that’s the offer we are making.”
The French have previously resisted UK offers to send police and Border Force agents to mount joint patrols amid concerns about the implications for national sovereignty.
Macron also called for an emergency meeting of European government ministers and an immediate funding boost for the EU’s border agency, Frontex. France’s government is holding an emergency meeting on Thursday morning to discuss next steps.
Dinghy deaths tragedy brings home our hostility to the world’s desperate
“France will not let the Channel become a cemetery,” Macron said.
The French interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, called for coordination with the UK, saying “the response must also come from Great Britain”.
The House of Commons is set to hold a debate on “the numbers of migrants arriving in the United Kingdom illegally by boat” just before midday on Thursday, according to a recently released parliamentary schedule.
Speaking on Newsnight, immigration compliance minister Tom Pursglove confirmed Johnson had renewed a previous offer for UK police and Border Force officers to take part in joint patrols with the French, and said the last incident showed the two countries needed to deepen their cooperation.
“The prime minister and President Macron have had exactly that discussion this evening. That is something that I am very keen to see happen,” he said. “It is the case that in the past we have offered to host and to help with joint patrols. I think that could be invaluable in helping to address this issue. I really do hope that the French will reconsider that offer.”
A man wheels a gurney into a warehouse in the Port of Calais, France, where it is believed the bodies of migrants are being transported after recovery from a boat which capsized off the French coast Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
A spokesperson for Johnson said the two leaders had agreed to the urgency of stepping up joint efforts to prevent the deadly crossings. They also highlighted the importance of working closely with Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as other countries across the continent.
The mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, said it was the British who were to blame and called on Johnson to “face up to his responsibilities”. “The British government is to blame. I believe that Boris Johnson has, for the past year-and-a-half, cynically chosen to blame France,” she said, according to French media reports.
The Channel is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and currents are strong. Human traffickers typically overload the dinghies, leaving them barely afloat and at the mercy of waves as they try to reach British shores.
Both countries cooperate to stem migration across the Channel but also accuse each other of not doing enough – and the issue is often used by politicians on both sides pushing an anti-migration agenda.
Why Channel tragedy is unlikely to soften Tory approach
Darmanin told a news conference in Calais those who died in Wednesday’s tragedy included five women and a girl. He said the boat that sank had been “very frail”, and compared it to “a pool you blow up in your garden”.
He said 34 people were believed to have been on before it sank and it was not clear what country the victims originally came from.
Four suspected traffickers have been arrested, two of whom later appeared in court, he said.
Refugee charities called on the government to save lives by opening safe routes for asylum seekers to apply to come to the UK without taking to the sea.
Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “How many tragedies like this must we see before the government fundamentally changes its approach by committing to an ambitious expansion of safe routes for those men, women and children in desperate need of protection?
“Every day, people are forced to flee their homes through no fault of their own. Now is the time to end the cruel and ineffective tactic of seeking to punish or push away those who try and find safety in our country.”
An emergency search was sparked at about 2pm on Wednesday when a fishing boat sounded the alarm after spotting several people at sea off the coast of France.
The latest deaths follow others reported but unverified in the Channel in recent weeks, amid a record number of people attempting the crossing. On 11 November, a total of 1,185 people arrived in England by boat, the most in a single day.
More than 25,700 people have made the dangerous journey to the UK in small boats this year – three times the total for the whole of 2020, according to official figures.
It was widely expected that the number of crossings would reduce in the winter. Instead, bigger boats have been used to bring people to the UK in greater numbers.
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Channel deaths: UK calls for smuggler crackdown after 27 people drown
By Dulcie Lee
BBC News
The UK is determined to smash the “evil” business model of people traffickers, an immigration minister has said, after 27 people drowned crossing the Channel on Wednesday.
Kevin Foster said the UK, France and rest of Europe must tackle the problem together, following the biggest single loss of life in the Channel on record.
Five people have been arrested in connection with the fatal crossing.
Five women and a girl were among the dead, France’s interior minister said.
Gerald Darmanin also said two people had been rescued and one was missing.
It was earlier reported 31 people had died, but the total was revised down overnight into Thursday.
Mr Foster told BBC Breakfast ruthless criminals were sending people into the Channel’s dangerous waters on flimsy boats without proper equipment.
“Those who organised that boat yesterday would have just viewed these people… who passed away, as just a profit-making opportunity,” he said.
The alarm was raised on Wednesday after a fishing boat crew spotted several people in the sea off the coast of France.
The International Organization for Migration said it was the worst single loss of life in the Channel since it began collecting data in 2014.
Boris Johnson said he was “appalled” by the tragedy, adding the UK would leave “no stone unturned” to stop human trafficking gangs.
The UK prime minister said on Wednesday that while the UK and France had agreed more needed to be done, there had been “difficulties” persuading the French “to do things in a way that we think the situation deserves”.
Speaking after an emergency government Cobra meeting on Wednesday, Mr Johnson said it was clear French attempts to stop the migrant boats leaving “haven’t been enough”.
He said he hoped the French would find a renewed offer of joint patrols along the French Channel coast “acceptable”.
Meanwhile, French officials said Mr Macron had told Mr Johnson “he was expecting the British to co-operate fully, and that they abstain from instrumentalizing a tragic situation for political purposes”.
The UK has pledged to pay France €62.7m (£54m) during 2021-22 to help increase police patrols along its coastline, boost aerial surveillance and increase security infrastructure at ports.
Analysis
By Simon Jones, BBC News reporter in Dover
Despite yesterday’s deaths in the Channel, the crossings have continued this morning. Around 40 migrants have been brought to Dover by the lifeboat charity the RNLI.
It’s windy on the water and extremely cold – but the determination to get to the UK remains as strong as ever.
The task is now under way to establish the identities of the people who died. That may prove problematic, as many migrants take to the water without any paperwork.
Another key concern is why their boat sank – was it overloaded, was the sea too rough, or could it have been hit by a passing ship?
The French authorities have described the boat as very flimsy.
In previous years, crossings tend to fall dramatically in autumn. That hasn’t happened this year.
That’s because the route has become so lucrative for the people smugglers who charge migrants around £3,000 each to get on a boat.
Mr Macron said France would not let the Channel become a “cemetery”. Since the start of 2021, he said, 1,552 smugglers had been arrested in northern France and 44 smuggler networks dismantled.
Despite this, 47,000 attempted Channel crossings to the UK took place this year and 7,800 migrants rescued, Mr Macron added.
Home Secretary Priti Patel will speak to her French counterpart later to discuss their response to the tragedy.
A number of people are believed to have reached the UK in small boats on Wednesday, with people seen being brought ashore in Dover by immigration officials.
It comes amid record numbers of migrants making the crossing from France to the UK.
The Dover Strait is the busiest shipping lane in the world and has claimed many lives of people trying to cross in inflatable dinghies.
It is thought at least 10 other people had died in the past few weeks while attempting to make it.
When Shaquira Hobbs looked up to the sky on Sunday night, she couldn't believe her eyes.
In a serendipitous moment for the photographer, she saw a detailed formation of a man's face in the clouds from her backyard in the New South Wales suburb of Booragul, in Lake Macquarie.
"I actually called my partner and said 'I'm not tripping or anything?'," Ms Hobbs told 9News.
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