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A8 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 22 November 2018

Merkel rebuffs German nationalists over migration pact

By FRANK JORDANS be solved through interna-
Associated Press tional cooperation.
BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Amid a rise in national-
Angela Merkel on Wednes- ist sentiment around the
day rejected calls from na- world, Merkel has become
tionalist lawmakers for Ger- one of the most vocal de-
many to drop its support for fenders of multilateralism,
a U.N.-backed agreement frequently noting that Ger-
on migration. many owes its revival after
Several countries — includ- World War II to institutions
ing the United States, Hun- such as the European Union
gary, Austria, Israel, Austra- and United Nations.
lia and Poland — have an- Presenting her govern-
nounced they won’t back ment’s 356 billion-euro
the Global Compact for ($407-billion) budget for
Safe, Orderly and Regular 2019, Merkel cited plans
Migration, set to be ap- to invest more in care for
proved next month in Mar- children and the elderly,
rakech, Morocco. improve integration of mi-
Speaking during parlia- grants, raise pension levels
ment’s annual budget de- and boost renewable en-
bate in Berlin, Merkel told From left, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz and German ergy.
lawmakers that the pact Chancellor Angela Merkel attend a meeting of the German federal parliament, Bundestag, at the Alternative for Germany’s
would ensure “reasonable Reichstag building in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. co-leader, Alice Weidel,
conditions” elsewhere that Associated Press earlier accused Merkel’s
already exist in Germany, come mainly from the far- high-profile candidates in At an event in eastern Ger- government of spending
such as the right for mi- right Alternative for Ger- a bid to succeed Merkel many with the other candi- “without thinking about to-
grants to access health many party, but a number as leader of her Christian dates, Merz also advocat- morrow.”
services and get financial of lawmakers from Merkel’s Democratic Union party ed a wider discussion on Weidel used much of her
support. own party have also begun next month. how the right to asylum in speech to defend her par-
“That’s why it’s in our na- to question the agreement. One of the leading con- Germany is defined. ty over its receipt of foreign
tional interest that the con- Health Minister Jens Spahn tenders, Friedrich Merz, Merkel, who has an- donations and accuse ri-
ditions around the world, for called recently for a broad- called Wednesday night nounced she won’t run for vals of having similarly dubi-
refugees on the one hand er debate about the pact for a clarification that the a fifth term in 2021, said the ous sources of income.
and migrants on the other, and, if necessary, for a de- U.N. pact won’t create any migration pact is an ex- Merkel didn’t respond to
are improved,” Merkel said. lay in approving it. Spahn new grounds for asylum ample of the way in which Weidel’s comments about
Opposition to the pact has appears to be trailing other “through the back door.” global problems can only party funding.q

Amnesty to expand probe of US-led campaign in Syria’s Raqqa

By SARAH EL DEEB activists for the month- acknowledge 77 civilian
Associated Press long project, Amnesty said deaths. In total, the coali-
BEIRUT (AP) — Amnesty In- it can save years of work tion has acknowledged
ternational said Wednes- by a small team of re- 104 civilian deaths from the
day it’s enlisting the help searchers processing end- hard-fought campaign.
of thousands of online less amount of data. “The “With bodies still being re-
activists to speed up its in- Strike Tracker asks people covered from the wreck-
vestigation into the U.S.- around the world to join us age and mass graves more
led campaign that drove to analyze one building at than a year later, this is just
Islamic State militants from a time and establish when the tip of the iceberg,” said
their self-styled capital of it was destroyed in a strike,” Marin. Some 2,500 bodies
Raqqa but left the Syrian said Milena Marin, senior have been pulled from the
city in ruins. adviser on Amnesty’s Crisis rubble and uncovered in
The London-based rights Response team. The data mass graves, and searches
group said the new phase would then be corrobo- are still underway. Amnesty
of its investigation enables rated with other evidence, suspects hundreds of civil-
thousands of online activ- In this Thursday, April 5, 2018, file photo, a Syrian man stands such as videos and strike ians died in the campaign.
between buildings destroyed last summer during fighting
ists, using satellite imagery between the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighters and and casualty reports. Amnesty hopes to publish
of the city, to map out the Islamic State militants, in Raqqa, Syria. “We are hoping to build a results of the research early
destruction over the four- Associated Press comprehensive picture of next year.
month campaign, which alition air and artillery strikes to avoid civilian casualties what happened last year Raqqa was the capital of
ended in October 2017. destroyed buildings. in Raqqa. Col. Sean Ryan, and with the evidence to the Islamic State group’s
The U.N estimates that Amnesty hopes to compel a spokesman for the coali- advocate the coalition, to self-styled caliphate, which
more than 10,000 buildings the U.S-led coalition fight- tion, said it is “always willing again, admit responsibil- once encompassed a third
were destroyed— or 80 ing the Islamic State group to review if new evidence ity in their operations,” she of Syria and Iraq. In recent
percent of the city. Am- to take greater responsibil- is reported.” Amnesty said said. In an earlier phase of years the group has been
nesty’s Strike Tracker cam- ity and conduct its own in- the scale of devastation in Amnesty’s investigation in- driven from virtually all the
paign, in partnership with vestigation into the deaths Raqqa is “too large” for its side Raqqa, the group pro- territory it once controlled,
Airwars, would help narrow of hundreds of civilians. teams to do it alone. vided new evidence that and holds just a few small,
down when and where co- The coalition says it worked By enlisting thousands of compelled the coalition to remote pockets in Syria.q