SAN LUIS TALPA, El Salvador - Days after she lost her small daughter and husband to the treacherous currents of the Rio Grande, Tania Vanessa Avalos, 23, arrived back in El Salvador to await her family’s return — in coffins.
Oscar Martinez, 25, and, Angie Valeria, just shy of 2 years old, died on June 23 as they were attempting to cross the river between Mexico and the United States.
A photo of the two drowned migrants caught them face-down in the reeds of the river’s trash-strewn shore. The little girl, in red tights swollen by a water-logged diaper, is entwined in her father’s T-shirt, a small arm stretched across his neck as if in a final embrace.
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Martinez had apparently pulled his T-shirt over his daughter to improvise a baby carrier.
The lacerating image spread virally, and became a lightning rod in the charged U.S. political discussion of President Donald Trump’s hard-line policies against asylum seekers and other migrants.
Democratic Party candidates for president brought it up in their first debate on Wednesday.
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Avalos, who escaped the strong current that dragged her family down, returned home to bury them. The bodies are due to arrive on Sunday after repatriation by land from Mexico, the Salvadoran government said.
Avalos declined to speak to the media after arriving in El Salvador, accompanied by Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Mauricio Cabrera.
Cabrera urged Salvadorans not to undertake the perilous trip to the United States without documents.
“Do not jeopardize your lives and those of your children,” Cabrera said. “Do not trust people traffickers who only seek their own profit and who often fail to fulfill the promises they make.”
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The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, compared the photo to that of a three-year-old Syrian boy, Aylan Kurdi, who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea and whose body washed ashore on a beach in Turkey in 2015.
That image also sparked a public outcry about the desperate plight of asylum-seekers and the political challenges of welcoming them to safer shores.
HONG KONG - Millions of people have taken to the streets in the past three weeks to protest against a proposed extradition bill that has plunged Hong Kong into political crisis and triggered calls for embattled leader Carrie Lam to step down.
Helicopters fly the national flags of Hong Kong and China above riot police and protesters during the anniversary of Hong Kong's handover to China in Hong Kong, China July 1, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
Amendments to the Fugitives Offenders Ordinance bill would have allowed individuals, including foreigners, to be sent to mainland China to face trial in courts controlled by the Communist Party. The changes were seen by many as a threat to the rule of law in the former British colony.
Lam suspended the bill after some of the largest and most violent protests in decades but has stopped short of protesters’ demands to scrap it.
Following is a timeline of the key dates around the extradition bill and the protests it triggered.
February 2019 – Hong Kong’s Security Bureau submits a paper to the city’s legislature proposing amendments to extradition laws that would provide for case-by-case extraditions to countries, including mainland China, beyond the 20 states with which Hong Kong already has treaties.
March 2019 - Thousands take to the streets of Hong Kong to protest against the proposed extradition bill. The American Chamber of Commerce expresses serious reservations in a submission to Hong Kong’s Secretary for Security, John Lee. It says the bill will “undermine perceptions of Hong Kong as a safe and secure haven for international business operations”.
April 3, 2019 – Carrie Lam’s government introduces amendments to Hong Kong’s extradition laws that would allow criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial. Opponents say the changes would put them at the mercy of Chinese courts, controlled by the Communist Party, with a record of arbitrary detentions, torture and other human rights violations.
April 28, 2019 – Tens of thousands of people march on Hong Kong’s parliament to demand the scrapping of the proposed extradition laws.
May 8, 2019 – A U.S. congressional commission says the proposed extradition bill could extend China’s “coercive reach” into the financial hub and create serious risks for U.S. national security and economic interests in the city.
May 11, 2019 – Scuffles break out in Hong Kong’s legislature between pro-democracy lawmakers and those loyal to Beijing over the extradition bill.
May 14, 2019 – Hong Kong legislators clash over the proposed law, with some democrats shouting “Scrap the evil law”.
May 21, 2019 – Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says her administration is determined to push through the bill despite mounting opposition locally and internationally. Authorities say they will bypass normal legislative procedures to expedite the bill.
May 24, 2019 - The European Union issues a formal diplomatic “demarche” protest note to Hong Kong’s leader over the extradition bill during a meeting of nearly a dozen diplomats from various EU nations, including the United Kingdom.
May 30, 2019 – Hong Kong introduces concessions to the extradition bill, including limiting the scope of extraditable offences, but critics say they are not enough. Canada and Britain say it is vital that extradition arrangements fully respect the city’s high degree of autonomy from China.
June 4, 2019 – More than 120,000 students, alumni, staff and parents from 185 secondary schools sign a petition against the extradition law.
June 6, 2019 – More than 3,000 Hong Kong lawyers take to the streets dressed in black in a rare protest march against the extradition law. Hong Kong’s last British governor, Chris Patten, says the bill is a “terrible blow” to the rule of law.
June 9, 2019 – Protest organizers say around a million people rally against the extradition bill in a march to government headquarters. Violent skirmishes break out late at night between activists and police. Police put the protest numbers at 240,000.
June 10, 2019 – Hong Kong vows to press ahead with the extradition bill despite the mass protest. The United States says it is gravely concerned about the proposed amendments.
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June 11, 2019 – Lam remains defiant as she again vows to push ahead with extradition bill.
June 12, 2019 – Police fire rubber bullets and 150 canisters of tear gas as the extradition bill triggers the city’s largest and most violent protests in decades.
June 13, 2019 – Hong Kong authorities shut government offices after a day of violence. China’s foreign ministry condemns the behavior of protesters and voices support for the government.
June 14, 2019 – Lam indefinitely delays the proposed extradition law in a dramatic retreat after violent street protests.
June 16, 2019 – Lam issues a written apology to the public after the second massive protest in a week that organizers said drew around 2 million people.
June 18, 2019 – Lam signals the end of the controversial bill but refuses to step down or say the bill is withdrawn. She apologizes in person.
June 21, 2019 - Thousands of demonstrators blockade police headquarters as the city braced itself for a third weekend of mass protests.
June 24, 2019 - Beijing says it will not allow leaders at the G20 meeting in Japan to discuss the Hong Kong issue.
June 25, 2019 - Britain bans sales of tear gas to Hong Kong.
June 26, 2019 - Hong Kong activists call on G20 leaders to help “liberate” the city.
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June 27, 2019 - Fresh protests hit Hong Kong as activists seek a voice at the G20.
June 28, 2019 - Anti-extradition protesters rally again near government headquarters.
July 1, 2019 - Fresh protests erupt as Hong Kong marks the 22nd anniversary of the handover from British to Chinese rule.
BY FAR the biggest question going into the second, more high-powered, instalment of this week’s Democratic primary debate on June 27th concerned Joe Biden. The 76-old former vice-president took a big lead in the race the moment he entered it—despite two lamentable previous presidential runs and rumours that he might lack the requisite energy for a third. His campaign’s subsequent efforts to shield him from reporters increased that suspicion. The debate in Miami, in which Mr Biden appeared alongside nine other candidates, was his first big opportunity to allay it. He failed that test so resoundingly that his performance was at times painful to watch.
Mr Biden’s campaign pledge is to take America back to how things were under Barack Obama, whose enduring popularity on the left, especially among non-white voters, is by far his biggest advantage. That and a feeling that his centre-leftishness would be a safer bet against Donald Trump than the fiery leftishness of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who are currently in second and third place respectively, explains his lead in the polls. His potential disadvantages are that, as many Democrats moved to the left, those moderate Obama-era positions, on immigration, foreign policy, health care and so forth, are no longer all that popular among Democratic primary voters. The hard-left hates them. And Mr Biden may not be up to dealing with the brickbats this guarantees him. His lifelong prolixity has not improved with age. Where once he sounded unfocused, he now sometimes sounds befuddled. He can also sound strikingly incurious about the many ways America is changing—which in turn makes his status-quo-ante solutions appear complacent and out-of-touch.
Those weaknesses were apparent in Miami from the start. He delivered semi-prepared answers on health care and foreign policy that were rambling and at times hard to follow. When the candidates were periodically asked to raise their hands if they agreed with one assertion or another—that crossing into America illegally should not be a crime, for example—he kept raising his halfway, as if he was unsure what he thought of the issue, or what the rules were , or maybe he was just frail. A couple of his answers suggested he had not correctly heard the question. What would you do on your first day in the Oval Office, he was asked? “I would defeat Donald Trump!” he replied.
These difficulties made Mr Biden’s frequent recourse to trumpeting his connection to Mr Obama sound evasive at best. The debate also showed how vulnerable he is, as a result of his decades-long career and frequent gaffes, to attacks on his record. Senator Kamala Harris, one of his main rivals for all-important African-American voters, eviscerated him over his long-ago opposition to integrating schools by “bussing” in black pupils—and for his recent fond reflections on what it was like to work alongside old-style Democratic segregationists. Adding insult to injury, she contrasted Mr Biden’s apparent carelessness towards minority sensibilities with a memory of the racism she had faced as a mixed-race child in California.
The performances of Ms Harris and Pete Buttigieg, Mr Biden’s two closest rivals on the stage after Mr Sanders, were indeed more bad news for the former vice-president. Both were impressive, with the debate format playing to Ms Harris’s strengths especially. A former prosecutor, she has courtroom presence (she knows how to grab attention by slowing down her speech where others speed up). And—as she showed in her exchange with Mr Biden—she thrives on the cut and thrust.
She has been less impressive on the trail; she seems overly cautious and unable to give a clear sense of her politics. That is a failing she appeared to repeat, rather ludicrously, during the debate. When the candidates were asked who among them would abolish private health-care insurance, she joined Mr Sanders in raising her hand. This was a hard-left position she had previously claimed to support in a television interview, but then rowed back from. The fact that she was now readopting it looked like the biggest policy news of the night. Immediately after the debate, however, Ms Harris said she had again made a mistake. That would again be a sensible course correction: the policy looks like a general-election loser. More broadly, however, Ms Harris’s strong showing confirms an impression that she may be the candidate most likely to gain if Mr Biden slides.
Mr Buttigieg could also gain. His performance showed what a rare talent the upstart mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is. Unlike Mr Biden, he is able to make pragmatism sound interesting. More important than any candidate’s health-care policy is how they intend to achieve it, he said. He also dealt skilfully with a potentially damaging controversy he is mired in back in South Bend—a police killing that has turned members of the city’s black community against him. “It’s a mess, and we’re hurting,” he acknowledged. Asked why the city’s police force remains overwhelmingly white, despite his efforts to introduce more diversity, he grimaced and said, it was “because I couldn’t get it done.” Besides being appealing, Mr Buttigieg’s modesty is tactically useful. It makes him hard to attack.
Mr Sanders put in a quieter performance. Apparently far more vigorous than Mr Biden—whom he is older than by a year—the democratic socialist remains an effective debater of his own left-wing economic policy ideas. And he has a clear message—on the inequities of the system and the need for massive spending schemes to fix them— that a sizeable minority of Democrats want to hear. But there are not enough of them to win the primary. Mr Sanders’s success in 2016 (not that he ever seriously threatened to beat Hillary Clinton) was based on attracting voters who were chiefly repelled by his establishment rival, and they have a greater array of alternatives this time around. He has been sliding in the polls, most conspicuously to the benefit of Mrs Warren and Mr Buttigieg. He probably cannot win without broadening his message and appeal: his debate performance showed how unlikely that is.
The next big question concerns whether Mr Biden will actually suffer for his poor performance. It is hard to imagine he will not. The former vice-president simply does not look like the safe bet many Democratic voters appear to want. Then again, he never really has. Perhaps he will maintain his lead. Whether he does or not, however, it is hard to be relaxed about the Democrats’ chances of beating Donald Trump in 2020.
Short of a major economic downturn, centre-left moderation still looks like the likeliest means to winning a general election next year. And Mr Biden is a poor proponent of it. None of the other avowedly moderate candidates looks competitive—including, on the stage in Miami, Senator Michael Bennet, who offered further evidence that he is smart and sensible; just not charismatic. Meanwhile, Mr Biden’s closest rivals—Mr Sanders, Ms Warren and Ms Harris—have all, to varying degrees, rejected moderation altogether. That may turn out to be the most important takeaway from this week’s opening debates. Unless, that is, Ms Harris really didn’t mean the hard-left shift on health-care policy that she appeared to signal. Hopefully she didn’t.
France has hit its highest recorded temperature - 45.9C (114.6F) - amid a heatwave in Europe that has claimed several lives.
The new record was measured in the southern village of Gallargues-le-Montueux. Before this year the previous record was 44.1C during a heatwave in 2003 that killed thousands.
Health Minister Agnès Buzyn warned that "everyone is at risk".
France's weather service has issued an unprecedented red alert for four areas.
Those are all in the south, but most of the country remains on orange alert, the second-highest level.
Meteorologists say hot air drawn in from northern Africa is responsible, caused by high pressure over central Europe and a storm stalling over the Atlantic.
In Gallargues-le-Montueux, Mayor Freddy Cerda said the record was something the village had to "put up with".
"We have to put up with this climate, and that's what the future holds for us, don't forget. The south of France is going to become tropical," he said.
Hundreds of schools were closed on Friday and water restrictions were in place.
Meteorologist Etienne Kapikian tweeted a map showing temperatures had risen above 40C for much of southern France.
Chaleur historique ! 45.9°C à Gallargues-le-Montueux (Gard) ce 28 juin 2019, nouveau record national absolu en France, tous mois confondus. 13 stations ont dépassé l'ancien record (44.1°C le 12 août 2003) dont 3 franchissant les 45°C, du jamais vu ! #canicule2019#heatwave
The French weather service said temperatures of between 37C and 41C were expected across most of France on Saturday.
Swaths of the continent are experiencing extreme heat. Germany, France, Poland and the Czech Republic have all recorded their highest-ever June temperatures.
Image copyrightAFPImage captionThe southern town of Carpentras saw temperatures exceed 44C
In Spain firefighters have been battling Catalonia's worst wildfires in 20 years. Eight provinces are on red alert while temperatures are expected to rise above 42C in many areas.
The Italian ministry of health has reported emergency levels of heat in 16 cities.
Loss of life
Several people are believed to have lost their lives as a result of the extreme temperatures, including two who died from suspected heatstroke in Spain.
One, a 17-year-old farm worker in Córdoba, went into convulsions after cooling down in the farm swimming pool, while an 80-year-old man died on a street in the northern city of Valladolid.
In France, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said a drowning was taking place every day and warned that the heat was making people "take risks".
On Thursday a 33-year-old roofer died after being taken ill as he worked on a building site in the western city of Rennes, where the temperature was 35C in the shade.
A six-year-old Syrian child was also in a serious condition after being thrown into the air by the force of a water jet from a fire hydrant that had been opened by residents in Saint Denis, north of Paris.
Media captionWMO: European heatwave "consistent with climate change"
Linking a single event to global warming is complicated.
While extreme weather events like heatwaves occur naturally, experts say these will happen more often because of climate change.
Records going back to the late 19th Century show that the average temperature of the Earth's surface has increased by about one degree since industrialisation.
A climatology institute in Potsdam, Germany, says Europe's five hottest summers since 1500 have all been in the 21st Century.
Scientists are concerned that rapid warming linked to use of fossil fuels has serious implications for the stability of the planet's climate.
Media captionA coati eating iced fruit in a Rome zoo
Have you been affected by the heatwave in Europe? Share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
Chaleur historique ! 45.9°C à Gallargues-le-Montueux (Gard) ce 28 juin 2019, nouveau record national absolu en France, tous mois confondus.
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