World Briefs DROWNINGS SPARK NEW PROTESTS
alexandroupoli, greece » Aday after 46 migrants drowned in a choppy Aegean Sea, protesters demonstrated Saturday at a Greek border town to demand that Greece ease transit restrictions at its heavily militarized border with Turkey.
Most of the 124-mileland border between Greece and Turkey is separated by the Evros River— known as the Meric River in Turkey. But a nearly 8-mile stretch of land separating the two countries was previously lined with minefields and is now separated by a fence.
Wearing life vests and foil blankets, the demonstrators chanted “This fence means refugees drown!” as they kicked off two days of protests in the area. toll suffered in the latest West African country targeted by Islamic extremists.
Three burial services were held Friday and more were expected over the weekend, as Burkina Faso remains fearful of further violence.
For many inOuagadougou, the attack— the first of its kind in Burkina Faso— points to the need for more stringent security measures to help the country rebound from a period of unrest, including the toppling of longtime President Blaise Compaore in 2014 and a brief, failed coup last September.
harare, zimbabwe » Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe arrived home from a weeks-long vacation looking sprightly, quashing rumors that he had a heart attack.
The 91-year-old president arrived late Friday, joking with Cabinet ministers, military leaders and senior members of the ruling ZANU-PF party who welcomed him at Harare International Airport, according to a video published by the state-owned Herald newspaper.
Mugabe held talks with visiting Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang on Saturday. The presidents, two of Africa’s longest-ruling leaders, are meeting before an African Union summit on Jan. 30-31, a government statement said.
rome thousands of people are demonstrating in nearly 100 cities across Italy to urge the government to grant gay and lesbian couples civil unions and recognize their families.
Mirco Pierro, 39, rallied Saturday in Rome with his partner and twin infants, saying he wanted “to defend the rights of our children, not just our rights.” Pierro and his partner were married in Los Angeles, but their union is not recognized in Italy.
The government has pledged to pass legislation on civil unions for homosexual couples, along with measures allowing both parents, not just the biological parent, custody in a homosexual union.
Italy lags behind many of its European neighbors in conferring such rights due to strong opposition in this predominantly Roman Catholic nation.