World

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico — A fire started by migrants believed to be protesting against their expected deportation killed at least 39 people at a Mexican immigration detention center near the US border, authorities said Tuesday.

The blaze broke out shortly before midnight at the National Migration Institute (INM) facility in Ciudad Juarez, prompting the mobilisation of firefighters and dozens of ambulances.

An AFP journalist saw forensic personnel remove a dozen bodies from the INM's parking lot, where several other bodies were laid and covered with blankets. 

The migrants started the blaze themselves as a demonstration, apparently after learning that they would be deported, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.

"They put mats at the door of the shelter and set them on fire as a protest, and did not imagine that it would cause this terrible tragedy," he told reporters.

A heavy military and national guard presence blanketed the site early on Tuesday.

A Venezuelan woman who gave her name as Viangly stood outside the immigration centre, desperate for information about her 27-year-old husband who had been detained there.

“He was taken away in an ambulance,” she told AFP, adding that her husband had documents allowing him to remain in Mexico. 

“They [immigration officials] don’t tell you anything. A family member can die and they don’t tell you he’s dead,” Viangly said, her voice cracking.

At least 39 immigrants were killed and 29 were injured, according to the INM, which said the centre housed 68 adult males from Central and South America.

The dead and injured identified so far included 28 Guatemalans, 13 Hondurans, 12 Venezuelans, 12 Salvadorans, one Colombian and one Ecuadorian, Mexican authorities said.

Guatemalan Foreign Minister Mario Bucaro told reporters that 28 citizens of his country were killed.

Tougher border restrictions 

Ciudad Juarez, which neighbours El Paso, Texas, is one of the border towns where numerous undocumented migrants seeking refuge in the United States remain stranded. 

“Deteriorating conditions in migrant facilities along the border mean vulnerable asylum seekers are in unnecessary danger,” the International Rescue Committee humanitarian organisation said in response to the fire.

“Stronger systems along Mexico’s migration corridors are critical to provide asylum seekers with the protection they need,” it added.

Fed up with waiting at the border, hundreds of the migrants attempted to storm an international bridge on March 13 but were blocked by US agents.

Numerous migrants had been detained in recent days at the detention centre that caught fire, after local authorities rounded up street vendors, some of whom were foreigners.

Speaking to reporters, Ciudad Juarez Mayor Cruz Perez Cuellar insisted that “what happened in the streets has no relation to what happened” in the centre.

US President Joe Biden’s administration has been hoping to stem the record tide of migrants and asylum seekers undertaking often dangerous journeys organised by human smugglers to get to the United States.

Biden proposed new restrictions on asylum seekers in February, hoping to stifle the rush of migrants to the southern border when COVID-related controls are lifted. 

The new rules say migrants who arrive at the border and simply cross into the United States will no longer be eligible for asylum.

Instead, they must first apply for asylum in one of the countries they pass through to get to the US border or apply online via a US government app.

About 200,000 people try to cross the border from Mexico into the United States each month.

Most are from Central and South America and cite poverty and violence back home when requesting asylum.

According to the International Organisation for Migration, more than 7,600 migrants have died or disappeared in transit in the Americas since 2014.

Of those, around 4,400 people perished or went missing on the US-Mexican border crossing route, according to the United Nations agency.

EDINBURGH — Scotland's parliament on Tuesday confirmed Humza Yousaf will replace Nicola Sturgeon as first minister, the devolved nation's youngest and the first Muslim leader of a government in western Europe.

Yousaf, 37, narrowly won a Scottish National Party (SNP) leadership battle on Monday to clinch the top job, vowing to rejuvenate the stalled pursuit of independence for Scotland.

He then secured the nominations of a majority of lawmakers in a vote on Tuesday to become the new first minister and will be formally sworn in on Wednesday.

Ahead of the confirmatory vote, Yousaf acknowledged he had "some very big shoes to fill" succeeding Sturgeon but vowed to "continue to ensure that Scotland is a positive, progressive voice on the world stage".

"I will also argue vigorously for independence," he added afterwards, pledging in the meantime "to make the best possible use of this parliament's existing powers".

Yousaf promised Monday to be "the generation that delivers independence for Scotland", and said he would ask London promptly to allow another vote.

But the UK government's Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said he hoped the new SNP leader would "put his obsession with independence aside".

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak congratulated Yousaf later Tuesday in their first conversation since the latter's win.

'Welcoming' 

"I'm looking forward to working with him to deliver on the priorities that matter most to people across Scotland," Sunak tweeted.

Yousaf called the discussion "constructive" but in a thinly veiled reference to holding another referendum, said he "also made clear that I expect the democratic wishes of Scotland's people and Parliament to be respected".

Earlier, Sturgeon sent her formal letter of resignation to King Charles III, and left the first minister's official residence in Edinburgh for the last time.

She later tweeted that she wishes longtime ally Yousaf "every success and will be willing him on every step of the way".

He will be sworn into the role Wednesday following formal approval from the king, whom he wants to dislodge in favour of an elected head of state for Scotland.

SNP leaders took pride in Scotland becoming the first democracy in western Europe to appoint a Muslim as leader.

"I think what it says about the UK is that we are a welcoming group of nations, and Scotland in particular," Stephen Flynn, the party's leader in the UK parliament, told AFP.

Criticism 

He contrasted that with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government seeking “to outlaw asylum seekers” through new legislation to tackle boatloads of migrants crossing the Channel.

The seismic shift in Scottish politics follows Sturgeon’s surprise resignation announcement last month after more than eight years at the helm.

It came after a stormy period for her government, during which support for independence has slipped.

Recent surveys show around 45 per cent of Scots back Scotland leaving the United Kingdom, the same tally recorded in a 2014 referendum which London insists settled the matter for a generation. 

Yousaf, who was health minister in Sturgeon’s last Cabinet, narrowly topped the SNP contest with 52 per cent of members’ preferentially ranked votes.

He attracted criticism over his record in several roles in government.

Divisions 

He now faces a bigger challenge to win over the wider Scottish electorate, with a UK general election expected within the next 18 months.

An Ipsos poll conducted shortly before he was announced as SNP leader showed that half of Scots feel that the country is heading in the wrong direction, while just a quarter feel it is heading in the right direction.

Despite winning a succession of elections under Sturgeon, the SNP also faces bitter divisions following the three-way leadership battle.

Sturgeon’s last months in power were overshadowed by the backlash against a new Scottish law allowing anyone over 16 to change their gender without a medical diagnosis. 

As debate raged, the UK government used an unprecedented veto to block the legislation.

The UK Supreme Court last year also ruled that Sturgeon’s government could not hold a new referendum on Scottish independence without London’s approval. 

The twin setbacks prompted somewhat rare criticism of her leadership and tactics.

PARIS — New clashes erupted in France on Tuesday between protesters and police as tens of thousands took to the streets to show their anger against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform which has sparked the biggest domestic crisis of his second mandate.

The day of action is the tenth since protests began in mid-January against the law, which includes raising the retirement age from 62 to 64.

The movement has become a major challenge to Macron who won a second term in elections last year.

Last Thursday saw the most violent clashes yet between protesters and security forces, as tensions erupted into pitched battles on the streets of Paris.

The police have also been accused of using excessive force, both by protesters and rights bodies including the Council of Europe, and this has further fuelled the anger of demonstrators.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said 13,000 members of the security forces were being deployed on Tuesday, 5,500 of them in Paris alone. The number, a record, was justified by "a major risk to public order".

In the western city of Nantes, protesters threw projectiles at security forces who responded with tear gas, an AFP reporter said. A bank branch was set on fire as were rubbish bins around the city court.

Police in Lyon in southeastern France used water cannon and employed tear gas in the northern city of Lille after protesters caused damage including smashing the glass of a bus stop.

In Paris, police fired tear gas and launched a charge after some people at the head of the protest, dressed in black with their faces covered, raided a grocery store and then sparked a fire as the march closed in on Place de la Nation in the east of the city.

At least 22 people were arrested in the capital by the afternoon, Paris police said.

Protesters delayed trains at Gare de Lyon station in Paris, walking on the rails and lighting flares in what they described as a show of solidarity for a railway staffer who lost an eye in a previous protest.

‘No discussions on law’ 

Rubbish collectors in the capital are from Wednesday suspending a three-week strike that has seen thousands of tonnes of garbage accumulate in the French capital, the CGT union said.

But it said this move was to allow coordination with workers “so we can go on strike again even more strongly” as fewer workers were now striking.

Nearly two weeks after Macron forced the new pensions law through parliament using a special provision, unions have vowed no let-up in mass protests to get the government to back down.

A state visit to France by Britain’s King Charles III, which had been due to begin on Sunday, was postponed because of the unrest.

Macron on Monday met Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, other cabinet ministers and senior lawmakers for crisis talks at the Elysee Palace.

“We need to continue to hold out a hand to the unions,” a participant in the meeting quoted Macron as saying, although the president rejected any revision of the pensions law.

Borne has scheduled talks over three weeks with members of parliament, political parties and local authorities, while still hoping to meet union leaders.

Laurent Berger, the head of the moderate CFDT union, called for the appointment of a mediator between unions and the government as “a gesture in favour of cooling off, and finding a way out”.

Hard-left CGT union leader Philippe Martinez said: “The aim is the withdrawal” of the pensions law.

But government spokesman Olivier Veran said the law was no longer up for discussion.

“It’s in the past now,” he said.

The CGT union said that 450,000 people had taken part in Tuesday’s protests in Paris, almost half of the number who it said took part in the capital in a giant protest last Thursday.

‘Nothing is changing’ 

Young people were prominent in Tuesday’s protests, with many blockading universities and high schools.

Jo Zeguelli, 19, a student at the Sorbonne university in Paris said: “Nothing is changing. Macron does not seem like he is listening to us.”

Yasmine Mounib, another 19-year-old student in the northern city of Lille, said she agreed with the protesters.

“But they should keep some trains running for students. This is costing me my education,” she said, adding she was going to miss her 8:00am (0600 GMT) class despite getting up at four.

Mass transit in Paris was heavily affected, with traffic both on metros and suburban trains disrupted.

The Louvre in Paris, the world’s most visited museum, was closed on Monday after workers blocked entry. As on previous strike days, the Eiffel Tower in Paris was also shut on Tuesday.

PARIS — President Emmanuel Macron summoned government ministers for a crisis meeting on Monday, as tensions ran high a day before another major day of strikes and protests against his pension reforms.

Nearly two weeks after Macron rammed the new law through parliament using a special provision sidestepping any vote, unions have vowed no let-up in mass protests to get the government to back down.

They have called for another big day of action on Tuesday, the 10th such mobilisation since protests started in mid-January against the controversial law, which includes raising the retirement age to 64 from 62.

Macron, whose approvement ratings in opinion polls are at a low point, said last week he accepted the "unpopularity" that came with the reform.

His prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, meanwhile said that while there was no plan to drop the legislation, she was ready for fresh dialogue with unions.

"We have to find the right path... We need to calm down," she told AFP in an interview on Sunday.

Starting on Monday, Borne has scheduled talks over three weeks, including with members of parliament, political parties, local authorities and unions.

A state visit to France by Britain's King Charles III, which had been due to begin on Sunday, was postponed because of the current unrest.

'Very big move' 

Instead of hosting the UK monarch for a day of pomp and ceremony, Macron was instead due to meet Borne, other cabinet ministers and senior lawmakers for the crisis talks at the Elysee from 1:15 pm (11:15 GMT), the presidency said.

Borne was to present the plan for consultations to the president at Monday's meeting, and then take it to Macron's allies and Cabinet members, presidential sources said.

If unions accept her offer for talks, Borne is expected to put new measures on the table designed to ease the impact of the pensions law targeting physically demanding jobs, conditions for older workers and retraining.

But early reactions were not promising for the prime minister.

Laurent Berger, the head of the moderate CFDT union, who has taken an unexpectedly hard line against the pension reform, said he would accept the offer of talks but only if the reform was first “put to one side”.

Berger called on the government to come up with a “very big move on pensions”.

Left-wing firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon said on Sunday that there was “a very simple way” to return to peaceful relations, and that was “to withdraw the law”.

The protest movement against the pension reform has turned into the biggest domestic crisis of Macron’s second mandate, with police and protesters clashing regularly in Paris and other cities since the reform was forced through.

‘Highly disrupted’ 

Last Thursday, the previous major protest day, police reported 457 arrests across France and injuries to 441 police officers.

Government spokesman Olivier Veran called Melenchon and his party “profiteers of anger”, while Green party lawmaker Sandrine Rousseau accused Macron and Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin of stoking the unrest.

According to Paris mass transit operator RATP, metros and suburban trains will be “highly disrupted” on Tuesday.

Rubbish collectors in the capital are continuing their strike, with close to 8,000 tonnes of garbage piled up in the streets as of Sunday.

France’s civil aviation authority has told airlines at Orly airport in Paris, as well as the Marseille, Bordeaux and Toulouse airports, to cancel 20 per cent of flights for Tuesday and Wednesday.

French police have meanwhile come under severe criticism for heavy-handed tactics during recent demonstrations.

The Council of Europe said on Friday that peaceful protesters and journalists had to be protected from police violence and arbitrary arrest.

On Sunday the IGPN, the internal affairs unit of the French police, said it had launched 17 investigations into incidents since the protests began.

ROLLING FORK, United States — Storm-ravaged Mississippi on Sunday struggled with the aftermath of a huge tornado that tore across the southern US state and killed at least 25 people, with devastated communities bracing for a fresh bout of extreme weather.

Shocked rescue workers surveyed the damage with homes shredded, buildings flattened, and cars smashed together amid piles of debris in Rolling Fork, a small town all but wiped out by nature's wrath.

Amid grieving and search-and-rescue operations, and after President Joe Biden declared an emergency which freed up disaster aid, Mississippians were girding for more storms Sunday which the National Weather Service warned could bring "strong" tornadoes, damaging winds and hail the size of tennis balls.

The earlier weather system, mixed with thunderstorms and driving rain, left a trail of havoc more than 160 kilometres long across the state late Friday, slamming several towns. Dozens of people have been injured, and officials say the death toll could rise.

The NWS gave the tornado a rating of four out of five on the Enhanced Fujita scale, cutting a path up to three-quarters of a mile wide, with ferocious wind gusts up to 321 kilometres per hour.

Under warm spring sunshine and cloudless blue skies, stunned residents were seen walking among obliterated homes, sifting through debris and comforting one another as crews fought fires and cleared emergency routes.

The American Red Cross moved into a National Guard building in Rolling Fork hours after the storm razed much of the town, which is home to fewer than 2,000 people.

An area was set up as an infirmary and boxes full of cereal bars and baby diapers were shuttled in to provide food and medical support for storm victims who had lost everything, said John Brown, a Red Cross official for Alabama and Mississippi.

Anna Krisuta, 43, and her 16-year-old son Alvaro Llecha took shelter at the site, saying their house was in pieces.

Twenty-five people were killed and dozens more injured, according to Mississippi's emergency management agency.

The severe weather also left a man dead in neighbouring Alabama when he was trapped under an overturned trailer, the sheriff's office in Morgan County said.

Officials including US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas gathered in Rolling Fork Sunday afternoon, praising rescue efforts and pledging support "for the long haul".

"It is heartbreaking to hear of the loss of life, to see the devastation firsthand," Mayorkas told a press conference held with Governor Tate Reeves and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) head Deanne Criswell.

He warned that the country is seeing "extreme weather events increasing... in gravity, severity and frequency and we have to build our communities to be best prepared for them".

Earlier on Sunday, Criswell said on ABC the tornado zone was "still very much in life-saving, life-sustaining mode".

She praised first responders, saying some "may have lost their homes themselves", and that FEMA had sent teams, with more on their way, to "help plan for and start the recovery process".

Biden's order to support Mississippi recovery efforts will provide grants for temporary housing, home repairs and low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, the White House said on Sunday in a statement.

Emergency supplies 

Reeves thanked Biden on Twitter "for recognising the scale of the damage in Mississippi and quickly approving our disaster declaration — a critical step in disaster response".

Electricity repairs were underway to restore service to the nearly 6,000 customers still without power in Mississippi, along with more than 7,000 in Alabama, monitor poweroutage.us reported.

Volunteers poured in from surrounding towns, including Lauren Hoda, who travelled 112 kilometres from Vicksburg to help.

"When I woke up this morning, I wanted to cry for the people of this town because I don't think they had much time before [the tornado] came," she said.

She spent Saturday night in Rolling Fork bringing donations of water, food, canned goods, diapers, wipes, medicine and toothpaste from collection points.

Mississippi was girding for more turbulent weather Sunday, with the emergency management agency raising the threat to level 4 on a 1-5 scale and warning that "damaging winds and tornadoes, some potentially strong, are possible".

Tornadoes, a weather phenomenon notoriously difficult to predict, are relatively common in the United States, especially in the central and southern parts of the country.

In January, a series of damaging twisters, all on the same day, left several people dead in Alabama and Georgia.