FASCIST FRIENDS OF A FEATHER

Austria's president tasks far right to form govt in historic first

POST BEER HALL PUTSCH

Kiyoko METZLER
Mon, January 6, 2025 

Austria's president met with far-right leader Herbert Kickl after coalition talks to form a centrist government failed (Joe Klamar) (Joe Klamar/AFP/AFP)

Austria's president tasked far-right leader Herbert Kickl with trying to form a government Monday, in a historic move after coalition talks that excluded the Freedom party (FPOe) collapsed.

While the far-right party has been part of Austria's government several times, it is the first time that it will lead coalition talks.

The FPOe topped the poll in September's national election for the first time ever, winning almost 29 percent of the vote but until now had been unable to find partners to govern.

After a one-hour-meeting, President Alexander Van der Bellen said he had tasked Kickl with trying to form a government with the conservatives given the "new situation".

Talks between the conservative People's Party (OeVP), the Social Democrats and liberals fell apart last week.

"Mr Kickl believes he can find viable solutions... and he wants this responsibility," Van der Bellen said.

"I have therefore tasked him to enter into talks with the OeVP with a view to forming a federal government," he said, adding it was "not an easy" decision.

While a coalition led by the far right with the conservatives was now "highly likely", expert Peter Hajek told AFP that the negotiations will be a "litmus test for both", considering that Kickl was "extremely unpredictable".

- 'Nazis out' -

Hundreds of people protested against the far right outside the presidency at Vienna's Hofburg palace, shouting "Nazis out" and holding up signs reading "Unite against the far right".

Van der Bellen had initially asked the long-ruling OeVP, who came second in the September vote, with forming a stable government that respects the "foundations of our liberal democracy".

But on Sunday he said a "new situation" had emerged, as "voices within the People's Party that rule out working with.... Kickl have become significantly quieter".

In the past, the president has voiced reservations about Kickl.

Kickl, 56, who took over a scandal-tainted FPOe in 2021 and led its recovery, is known for his virulent rhetoric, including slamming Van der Bellen as a "senile mummy".

But the sharp-tongued former interior minister has skillfully tapped into voter anxieties over migration, the war in Ukraine and the Covid pandemic.

He has also frequently employed terms reminiscent of the troubled past of the party, founded by former Nazis in the 1950s, including calling himself the future "Volkskanzler" -- the people's chancellor -- as Adolf Hitler was termed.

- 'New edition of dreadful coalition' -

In the wake of the collapse of the talks, conservative Karl Nehammer said he would step down as chancellor and party chairman to enable an "orderly transition". He has held both posts since late 2021 and is expected to resign on Friday.

In a U-turn, the conservatives on Sunday under their new interim party leader Christian Stocker said they would enter into coalition talks with the far right if invited to do so.

"This country needs a stable government now," Stocker said.

Kickl, however, branded the parties involved in the failed coalition negotiations "losers", adding three months had been "wasted".

The far right and the conservatives together have a comfortable majority of 108 of the 183 seats in the lower house.

The International Auschwitz Committee on Monday said Kickl being tasked to form a government was "another dark highlight on the road to European oblivion", according to the Austrian press agency APA.

The Greens accused the conservatives of "voter deception", while the Social Democrats warned of "a new edition of a dreadful FPOe-OeVP coalition" that will "smash our welfare state, dismantle democracy and divide our society".

The OeVP gained 26 percent of the vote in the September elections, with the centre-left Social Democrats taking 21 percent.

The FPOe has never governed the EU country of nine million. It already leads one regional government in Austria and is part of government in four other provinces.

kym/phz

Austrian far right demands conservatives be 'honest' in coalition talks

Francois Murphy
Updated Tue, January 7, 2025 

Freedom Party (FPOe) leader Herbert Kickl addresses the media in Vienna

VIENNA (Reuters) -Austrian far-right Freedom Party (FPO) leader Herbert Kickl called on the conservative People's Party (OVP) to be "honest" in their imminent coalition talks or face the prospect of a snap election, with his support still rising and the OVP's falling.

The eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO, an ally of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz, won the last parliamentary election in September with around 29% of the vote but was initially sidelined as centrist parties attempted to form a coalition without it.

Those efforts collapsed at the weekend, prompting President Alexander van der Bellen to task Kickl with forming a government, giving Kickl a chance to become Austria's first FPO chancellor since his party was founded in the 1950s under a leader who had been a senior SS officer and Nazi lawmaker.

"Honest government must be preceded by honest negotiations," Kickl said, adding: "No little games, no tricks, no sabotage."

He also called on new, interim OVP leader Christian Stocker to ensure his party is stable and united, a reference to divisions that appear to have helped collapse the centrist coalition talks.

"If that is not the case, then ... there will be snap election. We are prepared," Kickl said, a clear threat given that opinion polls show FPO support has only risen since September while the OVP's has fallen, with the gap growing to more than 10 percentage points.

Kickl's statement, his first since Van der Bellen announced that he had tasked him with forming a government, was short on policy details.

He said he wanted a "massive political firefighting operation" to bring the Alpine republic's finances under control but did not give specifics.

How to bring the budget deficit back within the European Union's limit of 3% of economic output was the main sticking point in the centrist coalition talks.

It is unclear how the FPO and OVP would achieve that - they both prefer to trim government spending to raising taxes, but are wary of cutting big-ticket items like pensions.

Kickl said he would extend the invitation to talks to the OVP, his only potential coalition partner, after his party's leadership signs off on the move on Tuesday evening, and that once the talks begin they should quickly establish whether a coalition is possible.

(Reporting by Francois Murphy; editing by Alison Williams and Mark Heinrich)

Austrian far right leader Kickl calls for 'honest politics' in talks

DPA
Tue, January 7, 2025 

Freedom Party of Austria (FPOe) leader, Herbert Kickl, speaks during a press conference on the upcoming government coalition negotiations with the Austrian People's Party (OeVP) in Vienna. Helmut Fohringer/APA/dpa


Austrian far right leader Herbert Kickl outlined key conditions for coalition negotiations with the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) on Tuesday, stating that the ÖVP must share his commitment to "honest politics."

At his first press conference since being tasked with forming a government, Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) leader Kickl warned against "games, tricks, sabotage and obstructionism," emphasising the importance of restoring public trust in politics.

He said he believes that diligence, honesty and courage can foster a spirit of optimism in the country.

Kickl openly threatened new elections if the ÖVP does not meet his criteria, stating, "We are prepared for that."

He said recent polls show the far-right populists have significantly increased their lead over the ÖVP and the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) compared to the parliamentary elections 100 days ago.

The FPÖ was tasked with forming a government after the failure of coalition talks between the ÖVP, SPÖ and liberal NEOS, and the cancellation of subsequent talks between the ÖVP and SPÖ.

President Alexander Van der Bellen, a former leader of the Greens, acknowledged the difficulty of his decision to give the FPÖ a chance to form a government.

Kickl would be the first FPÖ chancellor in Austria but said it was not a lifelong dream to lead the country. "Anyone who says that has no idea about me," he added.

However, he said he is now letting the voters hold him to account.

He accused the previous ÖVP-led government of mismanaging the country and leaving a huge budget deficit.

Kickl did not specify how he intends to address this central issue in Austrian politics, avoiding comments on specific projects and not welcoming questions at his press appearance.

The FPÖ, which topped the September election, has been in government before but as a junior partner to the ÖVP not the other way around.

Freedom Party of Austria (FPOe) leader, Herbert Kickl, speaks during a press conference on the upcoming government coalition negotiations with the Austrian People's Party (OeVP) in Vienna. Helmut Fohringer/APA/dpa

Austria's polarising far-right leader bids to become chancellor

Francois Murphy
Mon, January 6, 2025 

Austrian President Van der Bellen meets far-right FPO leader Kickl, in Vienna

VIENNA (Reuters) - He is so abrasive that he has one of Austria's lowest personal approval ratings, but far-right chief Herbert Kickl's strategic cunning helped his party to its first ever national election win and he now has a chance to become its first chancellor.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen on Monday tasked Kickl, head of the eurosceptic, Russia-friendly Freedom Party (FPO), with forming a coalition government after a centrist bid to assemble one without the FPO collapsed over the weekend.

"Kickl here, Kickl there, Kickl everywhere," Kickl joked at a typically rowdy, beer-fuelled rally before last year's election, goading his main rival then, conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer, for spending so much time talking about him.

Nehammer framed the September election - which saw the FPO emerge as the largest party with 29% of the vote - as a choice "between him and me", prompting Kickl to remark: "I don't know if I should feel more honoured or stalked!"

Such barbs often punctuate Kickl's withering tirades against other parties. Even vehement opponents are entertained by his speeches in parliament, though many also find his criticism of immigrants or gender politics deeply offensive.

Thanks in no small part to that pugnacious style, Kickl regularly lands at the bottom of an OGM survey for news agency APA of leading politicians' popularity.

'FOCUSED STRATEGIST'

At the same time, the former speechwriter for onetime FPO firebrand Joerg Haider can carefully calibrate his messaging, moderating his tone before the election to win over more middle-of-the-road voters.
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He then railed against a centrist attempt to form what he called a "coalition of losers" that sidelined the FPO. That collapsed at the weekend, leading Nehammer - who had described Kickl as a conspiracy theorist and security threat - to resign.

The new leadership of Nehammer's centre-right People's Party (OVP) has signalled it will now enter coalition talks with the FPO, though there is no guarantee they will be able to form a coalition government and another election remains a possibility.

While Kickl can shift his tone, his positioning on key issues and his refusal to bow to pressure to step aside at another party's behest so they could govern together, as Dutch nationalist Geert Wilders did last year, suggest a rare strategic intelligence, some analysts said.

"He is a very, very clear and very focused strategist," political analyst Thomas Hofer said.

The OVP and FPO, which overlap on issues including immigration policy and cutting taxes, governed together in a short-lived coalition that collapsed in 2019 when the far-right party's then leader was ensnared in a video-sting scandal.

While the fact Austria's economy has shrunk for a second year running helped the FPO capitalise on voters' concerns, it remains to be seen if Kickl can find a way with the OVP to reduce the budget deficit.

They also disagree over the war in Ukraine. Kickl and the FPO, allies of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party, oppose sanctions on Russia, saying they violate Austria's neutrality.

VOLKSKANZLER

Kickl, 56, cuts a more serious figure than his more gregarious predecessors like Haider. He shuns parties and has competed in Ironman-style ultra-triathlons.

He has cast himself as the future "Volkskanzler", or people's chancellor - a term the Nazis used for Adolf Hitler, though others have also used it.

"Never again Volkskanzler" read one placard as hundreds of protesters, including Jewish students, jeered Kickl outside Van der Bellen's office on Monday.

In 2010, Kickl said he opposed branding Hitler's Waffen-SS as "collectively guilty" for war crimes. The FPO's first leader in 1955 had been a senior SS officer and a Nazi minister.

Kickl has embraced conspiracy theories, claiming the de-worming agent ivermectin is effective against COVID-19, as did Donald Trump, who is now poised to return to the White House.

Yet Kickl's campaign against coronavirus restrictions like lockdowns and vaccine mandates helped revive his party's fortunes after it crashed out of government in 2019. Austria had the highest rate of vaccine holdouts in the EU.

When Kickl was interior minister in 2018 police raided the domestic intelligence agency's offices in what his opponents say was an attempt orchestrated by Kickl to purge it of OVP loyalists. Kickl denies that accusation.

Van der Bellen has said the raid led foreign intelligence agencies to reduce cooperation with Austria.

As that coalition collapsed, then-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz had Van Der Bellen sack Kickl.

Those may be among the reasons that Van der Bellen, a former leader of the left-wing Greens, said on Monday as he announced he had asked Kickl to form a government: "I did not take this step lightly."

(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Gareth Jones)

A far-right leader could soon take the helm in EU member country Austria. Here's why it matters

PHILIPP JENNE and JAMEY KEATEN
Updated Mon, January 6, 2025 





Austria's President Alexander Van der Bellen addresses the media during a news conference at the presidential office, in Vienna, Austria, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader)

VIENNA, Austria (AP) — A party that advocates an end to economic sanctions against Russia and has called for the “re-migration of uninvited foreigners” could soon give Austria its first government led by the far right since World War II, with a leader who has a provocative style at its helm.

Attempts to form a government without the far-right Freedom Party collapsed in recent days, more than three months after it won a parliamentary election. President Alexander Van der Bellen on Monday tasked its leader, Herbert Kickl, with trying to put together a coalition in the coming weeks or months.

The Freedom Party was founded in 1956 by former Nazis and, over the decades, has become an established political force in Austria. It has led provincial governments and served as a junior partner in national governments — but never led a national administration until now.

Here’s a look at the stakes if Kickl succeeds in forming a new government:

What brought Austria to this point?

The Freedom Party has come back strongly since its last stint in government ended in a scandal in 2019, benefiting from rising voter anger about immigration and inflation.

In September's legislative elections, the party won 28.8% of the vote, a nearly 13-point gain from four years earlier. The governing conservative Austrian People's Party came in second with 26.3% and the Social Democrats third with 21.1%.

It's usual for Austrian elections to result in coalitions, but this result was particularly complicated because none of the other party leaders at the time were prepared to go into government with the Freedom Party under Kickl.

The president asked outgoing Chancellor Karl Nehammer to try to set up a new government, but talks on potential coalitions without the far right stumbled over how to get Austria's budget in shape and revive the economy. On Saturday, Nehammer said he would resign.

Van der Bellen then called in Kickl – a sharp-tongued provocateur who last year mocked the now 80-year-old president as “a mummy” and “senile” – for talks that led to Monday’s offer for the Freedom Party to try to form a new government.

Who is Kickl?

The 56-year-old is known for overstepping accepted boundaries and shocking the political establishment.

A former speechwriter for late former far-right leader Jörg Haider and a longtime campaign strategist who coined catchy and provocative anti-immigration slogans, Kickl was interior minister from 2017 to 2019 when the Freedom Party was a junior partner in a coalition government under conservative then-Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. He became the Freedom Party leader in June 2021.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kickl joined some other critics of the World Health Organization in advocating use of ivermectin, a medicine for treatment of parasitic worms in animals, to treat the disease.
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The Freedom Party over the years has attracted a neo-Nazi fringe, but it has publicly disassociated itself from decades of covert antisemitism. In 2015, a party lawmaker was expelled for backing an antisemitic comment on social media and Kickl, the party's general secretary at the time, said she had “crossed a red line.”

While interior minister in 2018, Kickl denied any intention of being provocative when he said asylum-seekers in Austria might be held “in a concentrated way in one place” as authorities assessed their applications.

The European Union is rattled again

Years after financial crisis drove a wedge in the European bloc, and nearly five years after Brexit, the European Union is facing a new sign of internal discord: The 27-member bloc has been a stalwart supporter of Ukraine, but unity is fraying.

Austria, which has a longstanding policy of military neutrality, has not provided weapons to Ukraine.
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Far-right movements have been on the rise in the EU in recent years. The U.S presidential election victory of Donald Trump – who shares many of their values and policy positions – in November has further emboldened them.

But concern lingers about the rise of hard-right movements in Europe.

Alon Ischay of the Austrian Union of Jewish Students said the turn to Kickl was “important" and expressed concerns about how the Freedom Party leader has used the term “Volkskanzler” — the people’s chancellor — which was used by the Nazis to describe Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. Kickl has rejected the comparison.

“That this person might get the mandate to form a government is unacceptable to us,” said Ischay, who was among hundreds of protesters outside the presidential palace on Monday.

The Freedom Party is pro-Russian and skeptical about EU mandates, calling for a “Fortress Austria” that can wrest decision-making power from Brussels. The party’s rise has coincided with rising voter anger about immigration and inflation.

The Freedom Party is part of a right-wing populist alliance in the European Parliament, Patriots for Europe.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, seen by many as the most pro-Russia leader of any EU country, hailed “an historic victory” for the Freedom Party after Austria's elections in September. Dutch right-wing leader Geert Wilders said his movement was “winning” in Europe.

___

Keaten contributed from Geneva.

Far-right Freedom Party of Austria tasked with forming government

DPA
Mon, January 6, 2025 

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen meets with Freedom Party of Austria (FPOE )Federal Party Chairman Herbert Kickl (R) at the Presidency Chancellery in Vienna. Tobias Steinmaurer/APA/dpa

Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen has officially tasked the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) with forming a government.

Van der Bellen made the announcement at a press conference in Vienna on Monday after a meeting with FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl.

The way was cleared for the FPÖ potentially to lead an Austrian government for the first time after Christian Stocker, the newly designated leader of the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), said on Sunday that his party is prepared to engage in negotiations with Kickl.

Stocker was appointed by his party after Chancellor Karl Nehammer announced his resignation on Saturday following the collapse of previous coalition negotiations with centrist parties.

During the conversation, Kickl assured him that he was confident of being able to fulfil the role of chancellor, van der Bellen said.

"Respect for the electorate's vote requires that the president respect the majority," even if he himself might have other wishes and ideas, van der Bellen said.

"I did not take this step lightly," he said.

Van der Bellen and Kickl's hour-long meeting was accompanied by protests. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in front of the presidential office to voice their opposition to the far-right taking power.

Auschwitz Committee horrified

The International Auschwitz Committee reacted with dismay to the mandate received by the FPÖ to form a government in Vienna.

This mandate was given to a party that is "more involved in right-wing extremist and neo-Nazi thinking and activities than almost any other," the organization's Executive Vice President Christoph Heubner said on Monday.

This was "particularly difficult to bear for Holocaust survivors," he said. "For Holocaust survivors, this day marks another dark climax on the road to European oblivion."

It was painful that more and more voters are entrusting their votes to far-right parties and backing ideologies that plunged Europe into the abyss in the past, according to Heubner.

The International Auschwitz Committee was founded by survivors of the German Nazi extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

FPÖ has the upper hand

The FPÖ won the parliamentary elections in September with just under 29% of the vote. While initially no one wanted to govern with the party, the dynamic changed as Nehammer struggled to form a coalition with parties in Austria's political mainstream.

Should the FPÖ and the ÖVP fail to agree on a government programme, the right-wing populists would have few issues facing a fresh election.

According to recent opinion polls, their share of the vote has once again increased significantly to at least 35% since the parliamentary elections three months ago.

In addition, the FPÖ's coffers are well stocked, unlike those of other parties.

For the ÖVP, the role of the smaller alliance partner would be quite problematic. "You don't win anything as a junior partner," political analyst Thomas Hofer explained.

It remains to be seen how long the new ÖVP party leader Christian Stocker will remain in office. He also noted that a comeback by the once popular former chancellor and ÖVP leader Sebastian Kurz is not beyond the realm of possibility.

Kurz has ruled out returning to the role, sources close to the former chancellor said on Sunday.

Bridging differences

The conservative ÖVP and the far-right FPÖ had already formed coalitions in the 2000s and between 2017 and 2019 – albeit with the ÖVP always holding the top role of chancellor.

There are still hurdles to Kickl becoming chancellor, however, namely the need for the two parties to agree on a government programme.

On issues such as migration and taxes, the two parties appear to largely agree. But there are stark differences between the Moscow-friendly and eurosceptic far- right and the ÖVP over foreign and security policy.

Budget woes

Another potential point of contention is how to overcome Austria's budget crisis.

"There is also no common plan for overcoming the deep budget crisis," Christoph Badelt, president of the Austrian Fiscal Advisory Council, said on ORF radio.

It is questionable whether a new chancellor from the FPÖ would want to start with unpopular austerity measures or tax increases, Badelt continued.

"We all don't know what the FPÖ would actually be willing to do when it comes to budget consolidation," he said.

Austria needs to restructure its budget to avoid EU deficit proceedings. The EU's budget rules stipulate that the annual budget deficit in EU states must not exceed 3% of gross domestic product (GDP). In addition, the debt level should not exceed 60% of GDP.

The European Commission expects Austria to have a budget deficit of around 3.6% in both 2025 and 2026.

Freedom Party of Austria (FPOE )Federal Party Chairman Herbert Kickl (2-L) arrives at the Presidency Chancellery in Vienna to meet with President Alexander Van der Bellen. Tobias Steinmaurer/APA/dpa

Far-right Freedom Party gets chance to form government in Austria

Mathias Hammer
Mon, January 6, 2025 



The News

Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) has been given the task of forming Vienna’s next government, after talks between mainstream parties collapsed last week.

Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen on Monday met with Herbert Kickl, the FPÖ’s leader, to give him the chance to attempt to form a government with the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP).

“I did not take this step lightly,” Van der Bellen said. “I may have certain wishes, but respect for the voters dictates that I accept this majority.”

The Austrian Freedom Party became the biggest party in parliament when it won 28.8% of the vote in elections in September last year.

SIGNALS
Coalition talks could take months, but are expected to succeedSources: The New York Times, Die Presse, Kronen Zeitung, Financial Times

Negotiations between the FPÖ and ÖVP could take months, but analysts told the New York Times that the talks could go more smoothly than previous efforts to form a new government. The two parties largely agree on deregulation, not introducing new taxes, and migration, a columnist wrote in Austrian newspaper Die Presse. Adding pressure on the ÖVP to reach an agreement is the fact that the Freedom Party could poll as high as 37% in a snap election, even as the center-right party would be expected to slump in the polls. If talks fail, a snap election is likely, and the ÖVP’s leadership is skeptical that it could turn things around in a new round of voting, the Financial Times reported.
Far-right government in Austria could complicate EU’s Ukraine policySource: Financial Times

If the FPÖ succeeds in forming a coalition, it could complicate the European Union’s policy on combating the war in Ukraine. The party opposes sanctions against Russia and has pushed for Austria to stop contributing to the EU’s support for Ukraine. It has also forged closer ties with Hungary’s strongman leader Viktor Orbán, forming a new alliance in the European Parliament to push for peace talks with Russia. The far-right party has long been accused of close ties to the Kremlin, and signed a cooperation agreement with Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party in 2016, a deal that expired in 2021. The Freedom Party maintains it is the only party taking Austria’s tradition of neutrality, which is enshrined in its constitution, seriously.

Austria heads towards coalition talks led by far right after centrists fail

Francois Murphy
Updated Sun, January 5, 2025 


Austria heads towards coalition talks led by far right after centrists fail
 Austria's People's Party (OEVP) presents election campaign posters in Vienna

VIENNA (Reuters) -Austria headed on Sunday towards coalition talks led by the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) after efforts to form a centrist government without the FPO fell apart and prompted Chancellor Karl Nehammer to resign.

Nehammer, who announced he was quitting late on Saturday, had led three- and then two-party talks aimed at forging a centrist coalition that could serve as a bulwark against the eurosceptic, Russia-friendly FPO, which came first in September's parliamentary election with around 29% of the vote.

Nehammer's conservative People's Party (OVP) appointed Secretary-General Christian Stocker on Sunday as its new leader in an interim capacity. Stocker has long repeated Nehammer's position that the OVP would not govern with FPO leader Herbert Kickl, but said on Sunday things had now changed.

"I expect that the leader of the party with the most votes will be tasked with forming a future government. If we are invited to these (coalition) talks, we will accept this invitation," Stocker told reporters.

"It is therefore not about Herbert Kickl or me, but about the fact that this country needs a stable government right now."

The OVP is the only parliamentary party not to have ruled out a coalition with the FPO outright, and together they would have a majority in parliament. Nehammer focused his fire on Kickl, arguing he was a conspiracy theorist. Kickl insisted he would be chancellor in any FPO-led government.

President Alexander Van der Bellen, a former leader of the left-wing Greens who has voiced reservations about Kickl becoming chancellor, infuriated the FPO by not asking it to form a government soon after the election on the grounds that no other party was willing to join it in a coalition.

While saying the situation had now changed, Van der Bellen stopped short of tasking Kickl with forming a government. He is due to meet Kickl at 11 a.m. (1000 GMT) on Monday.

"Voices within the People's Party that rule out cooperation with an FPO under Herbert Kickl have become much quieter. This in turn means that a new path may be opening up that did not exist before," Van der Bellen said in an address to the nation.

GROWING SUPPORT FOR FPO

The FPO has been a junior partner in coalition governments before, most recently with the OVP from 2017 to 2019, but it has never led one since it was formed in the 1950s under a leader who had been an SS officer and Nazi lawmaker.

The failure of Nehammer's coalition talks highlights the growing difficulty for centrist parties in many European countries in forming stable governments without a far right that is gaining ground.

Opinion polls suggest FPO support has continued to grow, extending its lead over the OVP and Social Democrats to more than 10 percentage points while their support has shrunk.

The OVP and FPO overlap on various issues, particularly taking a tough line on immigration.

The thorniest issue in the centrists' talks however was how to shrink the budget deficit, which is forecast to exceed the EU's limit of 3% of economic output in 2024 and 2025.

While both parties call for tax cuts, the FPO has pledged to take a knife to some of the OVP's vested interests, such as the powerful Chamber of Commerce. They clash over the FPO's opposition to aid for Ukraine in its war against Russia, and current plans for a missile defence system.

The FPO, which is allied with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party, says it is defending Austria's neutrality.

Kickl issued a short statement on Facebook denouncing the failed talks.

"We are not responsible for the lost time, chaotic conditions and enormous damage to trust that has been caused," he said.

(Reporting by Francois Murphy; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Helen Popper and Jan Harvey)

China COVID protest filmmaker sentenced to prison, former lawyer says

Tue, January 7, 2025 
By Laurie Chen

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese director who made a film about the 2022 "white paper" demonstrations against China's COVID restrictions was sentenced to three and a half years in prison by a Shanghai court this week, his former lawyer said.

In the protests, people held up blank, white sheets of paper as a symbol of defiance against government efforts to censor criticism of the zero-COVID policy.

The nationwide protests were the largest since the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations and unprecedented since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012.

A judge sentenced Chen Pinlin, 33, to jail for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" in a closed-door trial on Monday, Daniel Fang, who handled Chen's case before leaving China last year, told Reuters. He cited people familiar with the case.
Chen, who had pleaded guilty, plans to appeal against the sentence, Fang cited the people as saying.

The Shanghai Baoshan District People's Court did not respond to a request seeking comment.

"Picking quarrels and provoking trouble" is a charge commonly used by the Chinese government against dissidents and human rights activists. It carries a maximum prison term of five years.

"Documentary filmmaker Chen Pinlin was only serving the public interest by documenting an historic episode of protest against censorship," said Aleksandra Bielakowska, advocacy managers at Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

"We call on the international community to increase pressure on the regime to secure the release of Chen Pinlin, along with the 123 other journalists and press freedom defenders currently detained in the country."

FILM

Chen's 77-minute film, titled "Urumqi Road", was uploaded to YouTube in late 2023 under his pseudonym "Plato".

It consists of footage filmed by Chen in Shanghai as well as video clips posted by internet users which were quickly scrubbed from Chinese social media.

He was detained by Shanghai police in late November 2023 and formally arrested in January last year, according to Amnesty International.

While the protests were quickly suppressed by police, they helped hasten the end of three years of some of the world's strictest pandemic curbs.

Throughout the pandemic China had said its strict COVID measures were necessary to save lives and ensure people's health, before abruptly ending them in late 2022.

The protests were mostly focused on the COVID restrictions, but some protesters in Beijing also demanded freedom of speech and democracy.

Those who took part in the white paper protests say that following China's re-opening from COVID, the Chinese government has continued to suppress public efforts to mourn pandemic victims and to commemorate the demonstrations.

At the time, police interrogated and briefly detained dozens of participants, while a handful of women were detained for four months in Beijing, according to rights' groups, protesters and friends of those affected.

Chen's film continues to be screened outside China by rights activists and Chinese communities.

(Reporting by Laurie Chen; Editing by Neil Fullick)

China sentences filmmaker to over 3 years in jail for Covid lockdown protests documentary

Shweta Sharma
Tue, January 7, 2025 at 12:27 a.m. MST·4 min read




A Chinese documentary filmmaker has been sentenced to over three years in prison for producing a documentary on China’s crackdown on nationwide protests against the Covid lockdown in 2023, according to Chinese human rights news websites.

Chen Pinlin, who is known by his stage name “Plato”, was first detained on 29 November 2023 and was formally arrested on 5 January 2024 by the Shanghai police for releasing his documentary Urumqi Middle Road on the one-year anniversary of the White Paper Movement.

The White Paper Movement or Blank Paper Revolution was a series of protests that emerged in China in late 2022 during which thousands of demonstrators displayed blank sheets of paper – a symbol of censorship - to express their frustration against the country’s strict "zero-Covid" policy.

The protests were sparked by the outrage over a deadly apartment fire in Urumqi, Xinjiang, in November 2022. The incident reportedly led to deaths that many blamed on Covid lockdown measures that hindered escape and rescue efforts.

Pinlin was held in Baoshan Detention Centre in Shanghai on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” – a charge criticised as vague and elastic that authorities use to suppress dissent and maintain social control.

The Chinese human rights news website Weiquanwang said it was learned that he was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison.

“Chen Pinlin, who has been arrested for more than a year, has been treated extremely inhumanely in the detention centre,” it said on Tuesday.

File Chinese policemen pin down a protester and covered his mouth during a protest on a street in Shanghai, China on 27 Nov 2022

The sentencing was first reported by CNN which cited sources familiar with the case. It said that his sentencing came following a three-hour trial behind closed doors.

Another human rights news website Minsheng Guancha reported that the first trial of the case was heard in the Baoshan District Court of Shanghai on Monday.

Pinlin released the documentary, named Not the Foreign Force in English on YouTube and X, formerly Twitter, which were not available in China in late November 2023. The documentary showed the original videos shot on his mobile phone of the protest against the stringent lockdown.

The footage showed people chanting slogans demanding that president Xi Jinping step down.

Protesters hold up blank pieces of paper and chant slogans as they march to protest strict anti-virus measures in Beijing (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Releasing the documentary he said: “I hope to explore why, whenever internal conflicts arise in China, foreign forces are always made the scapegoat. The answer is clear to everyone: the more the government misleads, forgets, and censors, the more we must speak up, remind others, and remember.”

“Only by remembering the ugliness can we strive toward the light. I also hope that China will one day embrace its own light and future.”

The protests were a brief flare of defiance, the most direct challenge to the Communist Party’s authority in decades.

Videos of the protest spread online and gained momentum among those unhappy with the state’s control. In the following days, thousands gathered in Shanghai and over a dozen other cities across China, holding up sheets of paper, shouting slogans and jostling with officers.

The protests were a result of frustration and anger over Mr Xi’s tough new approach to governance that included strict, large-scale lockdowns, mass testing, quarantine measures, and heavy restrictions as the virus spread globally. The lockdown was itself blamed for the number of deaths and accidents in the country.

In 2021, a bus carrying people to a Guizhou quarantine centre crashed, killing 27 in a province where Covid-related deaths since the pandemic began had been just two.

A month later, thousands of workers in an Apple iPhone factory in Zhengzhou clashed with riot police and tore down Covid barricades. There were further outbreaks of violence after reports of more deaths due to the lockdown, including a three-year-old child and a baby.

And the anger reached its peak after 10 residents in Urumqi died in a fire in an apartment building that had been under lockdown for 100 days. Officials appeared to blame residents for not doing enough to control the blaze.

Middle East latest: Israel's military launches wave of raids across the occupied West Bank

The Associated Press
Tue, January 7, 2025

The Israeli military launched a wave of raids across the occupied West Bank overnight and into Tuesday, killing at least three Palestinians it said were militants a day after a deadly shooting attack.

The army said it killed two militants in an airstrike after they fired at troops in the area of Tamun in the northern West Bank. It said another militant was killed in “close-quarters combat” in the nearby village of Taluza and an Israeli soldier was severely wounded. The military said it arrested more than 20 suspected militants.

Hamas said in a statement that one of its veteran commanders, Jaafar Dababsah, was killed by Israeli forces in the area of the two deadly raids.

It said the overnight operations were not related to Monday's shooting in which gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Israelis in the West Bank, killing two women in their 70s and a 35-year-old policeman before fleeing

Palestinians have carried out scores of shooting, stabbing and car-ramming attacks against Israelis, especially during the past 15 months of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Israel has launched near-nightly military raids across the West Bank that frequently trigger gun battles with militants and have also killed civilians.

Occupied West Bank rocked by day of violence as gunmen kill three Israeli settlers and reprisal attacks reported

Max Saltman, Mike Schwartz and Irene Nasser, CNN
Tue, January 7, 2025 

Israeli soldiers, police officers and rescue teams inspect the scene following a shooting on January 6, 2025, in the Palestinian village of Al-Funduq, in the occupied West Bank.


Multiple Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians have been reported in parts of the occupied West Bank after gunmen killed three settlers and injured eight others earlier on Monday in the latest explosion of violence there.

While tensions have been rising in the West Bank for years, the October 7 attacks by Hamas and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza has ushered in a volatile new chapter in the occupied territory.

Attacks on Palestinian communities by Israeli settlers, emboldened by their country’s offensive in Gaza and support from Israel’s right-wing government, have increased – while there have also been attacks against the settlers.

Earlier on Monday, Israeli vehicles were targeted on Route 55 in Al-Funduq, a Palestinian village in the West Bank, according to Israeli authorities. The road, which snakes through the northern West Bank, passes through the Jewish settlement of Kedumim.

Two women in one car were shot dead and a man in a second car 160 yards away died of gunshot wounds, Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency service said.

A further eight people were injured in the attack, including the bus driver, who was shot in his limbs and abdomen, according to the MDA.

The deadly shooting sent tensions soaring and within hours the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported multiple attacks on Palestinians.

In the northern West Bank, Israeli settlers set fire to a vehicle in the town of Hajja, and carried out attacks in Far’ata and Amatin villages, according to WAFA, where Israeli settlers reportedly threw stones at people’s homes and destroyed crops. Citing locals, WAFA reported that Israeli forces fired at men of the village of Amatin as they tried to confront the violence by settlers. CNN has reached out to the Israeli military about this claim.

On the incident in Hajja, the Israeli military said they received several reports on Monday evening of “Israeli civilians who entered the village” and had “caused damage to property” and Israeli came to the scene.

WAFA also reported an increase of Israeli military reinforcements in the area, with additional checkpoints, road closure and incursions into towns. CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment on the claim.

Two more incidents were reported southeast of Ramallah where Israeli settlers set fire to an agricultural room in the town of Turmus Ayya on Monday evening, according to security sources who told WAFA. Meanwhile Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles with stones near Bethlehem, according to WAFA.
‘Settle accounts’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed retaliation following the attack by gunmen earlier in the day. In a statement on X, he pledged to “find the abhorrent murderers and settle accounts with them and with all those who aided them. No one will get away.”

Netanyahu is expected to hold a cabinet meeting on Tuesday and discuss the West Bank.

While there has been no claim of responsibility yet for the shooting, it has been praised by the Palestinian militant group Hamas and been labelled a “terrorist attack” by Israel.

Speaking at the scene, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) chief Herzi Halevi said the “clock is ticking” for the attackers, and vowed to track down those responsible, make the route safer, and intensify Israel’s “intense and wide-ranging” operations “against terrorism” in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli authorities later identified the two women as Aliza Reiss and Rachel Cohen – two civilian residents of Kedumim, both in their 70s – and the man as Yaakov Winkelstein, a police investigator from Ariel, a settlement south of the site of the attack.

Rephaela Segal, assistant mayor of Kedumim, described the women as “young in nature” and said Cohen had been volunteering as a special education teacher in her retirement. Reiss was a counselor at a high school in a nearby settlement, Karnei Shomron, and both were traveling to Karnei Shomron at the time of the attack, Segal said.

This isn’t the first time in recent months that violence has broken out in this part of the West Bank. In August 2024, a group of 30 armed Israeli settlers attacked Jit, a Palestinian town just 10 minutes from Kedumim. They fired bullets, tear gas and set homes and cars on fire, according to residents who witnessed the attack.
Volatile new chapter

Recent international focus on the region has been largely on Israel’s military operations in Gaza. But another major escalation of violence has been playing out around 60 miles away in the Israeli-occupied West Bank where 3.3 million Palestinians are living under Israeli military occupation surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers. Such Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law and by much of the international community.

According to the UN, more than 500 Palestinian civilians were killed in the West Bank during 2024, with children bearing much of the violence. The UN said in December that 2024 had been a deadlier year for Palestinian children in the West Bank than the prior seven years combined. Since the October 7 attacks in 2023, at least 169 children have been killed by Israeli forces and Jewish settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, according to the UN.

Meanwhile, 2024 was the third-deadliest year for Israelis in the West Bank since data collection began in 2008, according to the UN, which recorded the deaths of 34 Israelis – 15 soldiers and 19 civilians. Of those civilians, seven were settlers.

In August, the US announced sanctions against an Israeli organization, Hashomer Yosh, allegedly responsible for supporting settler violence in the West Bank against Palestinians, according to a State Department spokesperson.

Attacks have also come as the Israeli government ramped up approvals of Israeli settler housing. In July, Israel’s government approved a large land seizure in the occupied West Bank – the biggest since the 1993 Oslo Accords set out a path for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, according to the Israeli rights group Peace Now. The area was converted to state land, according to a document from the body, but the official notice wasn’t posted until days after, Peace Now said.

On Wednesday, the Israeli government is due to hold a construction planning meeting to discuss Israeli settlements housing approvals, the sixth consecutive week of Settlement Contruction Planning Meetings, according to Peace Now.

“The shift to weekly planning meetings represents both a normalization and intensification of settlement construction,” Peace Now said, adding that if the coming plans are approved, “the six-week total will reach 2,377 housing units. At this rate, 2025 could set new records, with projections exceeding 1,500 units per month,” Peace Now said, adding that it’s as a result of “policy changes” that have been introduced by Netanyahu and the current government.

This article has been updated. CNN’s Eugenia Yosef contributed to this report.

 

A woman protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for the release of hostages, held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025.

 (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Exclusive-UAE in talks with US, Israel about provisional government for post-war Gaza

IMPERIALISTS DIVIDING UP THE SPOILS

Alexander Cornwell
Tue, January 7, 2025 

A general view shows destroyed buildings in Northern Gaza amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas

DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates has discussed with Israel and the United States participating in a provisional administration of post-war Gaza until a reformed Palestinian Authority is able to take charge, according to people familiar with the talks.

The behind-the-scenes discussions, reported by Reuters for the first time, included the possibility of the UAE and the United States, along with other nations, temporarily overseeing the governance, security and reconstruction of Gaza after the Israeli military withdraws and until a Palestinian administration is able to take over, a dozen foreign diplomats and Western officials told Reuters.

The UAE is a close security partner of the U.S. and, unlike most Arab governments, has diplomatic ties with Israel. The diplomats and officials said this provides the Gulf state with some leverage over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.

After more than a year of war, Israel remains reluctant to outline its own vision for Gaza and the international community has struggled to formulate a viable plan, said the sources, who asked not to be identified because the conversations were private.

The diplomats and officials stressed the ideas that had emerged from the UAE talks lacked detail and had not been distilled into a formal, written plan nor adopted by any government.

In the behind-the-scenes talks, Abu Dhabi is advocating for a reformed Palestinian Authority (PA) to govern Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem under an independent Palestinian state, the sources said - something that Israel has publicly opposed.

"The UAE will not participate in any plan that fails to include significant reform of the Palestinian Authority, its empowerment, and the establishment of a credible roadmap toward a Palestinian state," a UAE official told Reuters, in response to questions about the discussions.

"These elements - which are currently lacking - are essential for the success of any post-Gaza plan."

The PA was established three decades ago under the 1993-1995 Oslo Accords, signed by Israel and Palestinians, and given limited authority over the West Bank and Gaza. It still exercises some governance in the Israeli-occupied West Bank but was run out of Gaza in 2007 by Hamas after a brief civil war.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Reuters there had been talks with several partners, including the UAE, on options for governance, security and reconstruction, and that various draft proposals, plans and ideas had been put forward by partners.

"These have been deliberative discussions that continue, as we seek the best way forward," the spokesperson said, declining to comment further on "private diplomatic conversations".

The Israeli prime minister's office declined comment for this story. The Palestinian Authority did not respond to Reuters' questions.

In addition to reforming the PA, four of the diplomats and Western officials said that Emirati officials had suggested the use of private military contractors as part of a post-war peacekeeping force in Gaza. The other sources confirmed they were briefed on what they described as Emirati post-war proposals, which included the possible use of such forces.

The diplomats and Western officials said any deployment of such contractors would spark concerns among Western nations. Private military contractors, hired by the United States and other governments, have faced accusations of torture, human rights abuses, and use of excessive force, among other allegations, including in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The UAE official did not respond to questions about the use of military contractors.

RECONSTRUCTION WILL TAKE YEARS

Rebuilding Gaza, including its political institutions, is expected to take years and cost tens of billions of dollars, requiring substantial international support, following 15 months of Israel's devastating military campaign.

While the UAE has criticised the conduct of Israel's military and Netanyahu himself, Israel still wants the oil-rich nation involved in post-war Gaza, according to two former Israeli officials, who declined to be identified.

Like Israel, the Gulf state opposes Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group that led the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war.

Abu Dhabi views Hamas and other Islamist groups as destabilizing forces. UAE officials have also expressed concern publicly over the war's impact on stability in the Middle East and on efforts towards greater regional integration and economic development.

Asked whether Hamas was aware of proposals discussed by the UAE, Basem Naim, one of the organization's senior officials, told Reuters that after the war, Gaza must be "distinctly Palestinian" and without "foreign interventions".

Washington is pushing, alongside mediators Egypt and Qatar, for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Israel and Hamas traded blame in late December for delays in reaching a ceasefire – which both sides had said appeared to be close last month. On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington wanted to see a ceasefire deal concluded in the next two weeks.

When asked about the future of Gaza, Brian Hughes, a spokesman for Donald Trump's transition team, said the U.S. president-elect - who is due to take office on Jan. 20 - would work in close coordination with Arab and Israeli partners "to ensure that Gaza can one day prosper".

REFORM OF PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY

The Gulf state has said it would only send troops to a post-war multinational mission at the invitation of the Palestinian Authority and with the involvement of the U.S.

Netanyahu, however, has said he is against the Palestinian Authority in its current form governing Gaza, citing his long-standing grievances over the PA's school syllabus, which he says fuels hatred of Israel, and its policy of giving salaries to families of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

The UAE has called for a new prime minister to lead the Palestinian Authority, which Emirati officials frequently criticized as corrupt and inept during the closed-door talks, the diplomats and officials said, without providing specifics.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, who took office in March, has pledged to implement reforms within the Palestinian Authority whose finances have been in disarray for years as donor states have cut back funding until corruption and waste are tackled.

Emirati officials have mentioned former prime minister Salam Fayyad, a U.S.-educated former World Bank official, as the type of person who would be credible to lead a revamped Palestinian Authority, according to the diplomats and officials.

Fayyad served as prime minister from 2007 until resigning in 2013 after falling out with President Mahmoud Abbas, who remains in office. Reuters was unable to reach Fayyad for comment.

(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell, additional reporting by Nidal Al Mughrabi in Cairo, Ali Sawafta in Ramallah & James Mackenzie in Jerusalem; Editing by Daniel Flynn)

Border shelters relieved the pressure during migrant surges. Under Trump, they could become a target

THERE IS NO BORDER CRISIS!

SOUTH OR NORTH!

VALERIE GONZALEZ
Sun, January 5, 2025 

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — When Roselins Sequera's family of seven finally reached the U.S. from Venezuela, they spent weeks at a migrant shelter on the Texas border that gave them a place to sleep, meals and tips for finding work.

“We had a plan to go to Iowa" to join friends, said Sequera, who arrived at the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley in October. “But we didn’t know how.”

Dozens of shelters run by aid groups on the U.S. border with Mexico have welcomed large numbers of migrants, providing lifelines of support and relief to overwhelmed cities. They work closely with the Border Patrol to care for migrants released with notices to appear in immigration court, many of whom don't know where they are or how to find the nearest airport or bus station.

But Republican scrutiny of the shelters is intensifying, and President-elect Donald Trump's allies consider them a magnet for illegal immigration. Many are nonprofits that rely on federal funding, including $650 million under one program last year alone.

The incoming Trump administration has pledged to carry out an ambitious immigration agenda, including a campaign promise of mass deportations. The new White House's potential playbook includes using the National Guard to arrest migrants and installing buoy barriers on the waters between the U.S. and Mexico.

As part of that agenda, Trump's incoming border czar, Tom Homan, has vowed to review the role of nongovernmental organizations and whether they helped open “the doors to this humanitarian crisis.” Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who along with Elon Musk was tapped by Trump to find ways to cut federal spending, has signaled that the groups are in his sights and called them “a waste of taxpayer dollars.”

“Americans deserve transparency on opaque foreign aid & nonprofit groups abetting our own border crisis,” Ramaswamy said last month in a post on X.

The Trump administration did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The developments have alarmed immigration advocates and some officials in border communities, including Republicans, who say those communities can collapse without shelter space or a budget to pay for humanitarian costs.

Aid groups deny that they are aiding illegal immigration. They say they are responding to emergencies foisted on border towns and performing humanitarian work.

“The groundwork is being laid here in Texas for a larger assault on nonprofits that are just trying to protect people’s civil rights,” said Rochelle Garza, president of the Texas Civil Rights Project, an advocacy group.

For the past year, Texas has launched investigations into six organizations that provide shelter, food and travel advice to migrants. Courts have so far largely rebuffed the state's efforts, including rejecting a lawsuit to shut down El Paso's Annunciation House, but several cases remain on appeal.

The Texas Civil Rights Project, which represents two organizations being probed by the state, says it has trained more than 100 migrant aid organizations in the weeks since Trump’s reelection on how to respond if investigators come knocking.

The Texas investigations began after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott alleged in 2022, without evidence, that border nonprofits were encouraging illegal crossings and transporting migrants.

Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, which operates a shelter in McAllen with capacity for 1,200 people, was notified by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in March that authorities wanted to interview the executive director, Sister Norma Pimentel, to investigate whether there were “practices for facilitating alien crossings over the Texas-Mexico border.”

Pimentel declined to comment to The Associated Press, citing the ongoing case, but attorneys representing her organization responded to the accusations in court calling them a "fishing expedition into a pond where no one has ever seen a fish.”

In downtown McAllen, a large lobby serves as a welcome center where families receive travel information while their children play with volunteers. This year, nearly 50,000 migrants have passed through the shelter. Personal belongings and sleeping mats are in a separate section sandwiched between the lobby and the kitchen.

The Sequeras, who stayed two weeks, fell into a regimen of waking at 6 a.m., clearing sleeping mats off the floor and having breakfast by 7 a.m. They performed other chores such as cleaning or doing laundry to keep the large shelter running.

Volunteer attorneys help migrants apply for work authorization. Without that help, Sequera said, the process would have taken longer to learn and cost them thousands of dollars before they would have been able to continue their journey north.

McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos is at odds with Paxton, a fellow Republican, over the Catholic Charities investigation. His city found room for about 140 migrants a day in 2024 — a dramatic drop from 2021, when a surge in crossings across the southern U.S. border that year put the shelter over maximum capacity and forced it to close for several days.

"They have served the purpose because the feds have not acted in what they have to do,” Villalobos said. “In McAllen, we would have been lost without them.”

Former McAllen Mayor Jim Darling still recalls the night he received a call from the city manager in 2014 explaining that the bus station was closing, but 25 migrants were still waiting for a bus. He asked Pimentel at Catholic Charities for help.

Hidalgo County authorities turned to Pimentel in 2021 when migrants were being released without testing for COVID-19. Catholic Charities conducted testing and quarantined those who tested positive.

The shelters have received help from U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat who since 2019 has steered federal funding to them through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He beat back Republican opposition last year.

“Will they attack it again and try to eliminate it?" Cuellar said. "Yes.”


Migrant arrests at US-Mexico border lower than when Trump left office

Ted Hesson
Tue, January 7, 2025 

 Migrants anticipate challenges near US border as caravan treks through southern Mexico

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of migrants arrested illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in December was lower than when President-elect Donald Trump ended his first term in 2020, according to preliminary figures shared with Reuters, a relative calm that Trump could upend with sweeping changes.

U.S. Border Patrol apprehended about 47,000 migrants illegally crossing the southwest border in December, a senior U.S. border official told Reuters. That figure is similar to November's, and well below the Biden administration peak of 250,000 recorded in December 2023. It is also below the 71,000 migrant arrests made in December 2020 as Trump concluded his 2017-2021 presidency.

The number of migrants caught at the northern border with Canada fell to about 500 in December, down from 700 in November, the official said.

Trump, a Republican, returns to the White House on Jan. 20 promising to crack down on illegal immigration and deport immigrants in the U.S. illegally. Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, said on Sunday that Trump will need $100 billion for the effort, more than the entire budget of many federal agencies.

The number of migrants caught illegally crossing the border with Mexico rose to record highs during outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden's time in office, but fell dramatically after he toughened his approach last year and as Mexico and Panama stepped up enforcement in the region.

Biden asylum restrictions in June blocked most migrants crossing illegally from claiming asylum and instead encouraged them to use new legal entry programs. The programs include an app known as CBP One that allows migrants in Mexico to schedule an appointment to claim asylum at a legal border crossing and another for certain migrants abroad with U.S. sponsors.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement that tougher border policies, international cooperation and new legal pathways contributed to "sustained success."

Republicans argue that Biden's legal entry programs overstepped his executive authority. Trump plans to end the programs when he takes office, Reuters reported in November, cutting off pathways that Biden officials say encouraged would-be migrants to enter in an orderly fashion.

Doris Meissner, a senior fellow with the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute, said Biden is poised to hand Trump the most "quiet and stable border" in years, a situation that could change if Trump blows it up without an effective replacement.

"If they simply shut down all of those policies and don't have some other regime to put in place, it could backfire and numbers could go up, because there are a lot of people that are waiting in Mexico," Meissner said.

Trump's transition team spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt criticized high levels of illegal immigration during Biden's presidency and said in a statement that Trump "will use every level of executive and legislative power to secure the border, mass deport illegal criminals, and put American citizens first."

About 280,000 prospective migrants in Mexico have been logging onto the CBP One app daily to try to secure an appointment, a figure that has stayed consistent, according to the senior U.S. border official. The tally includes Mexicans who may be using the app from their homes, the official said.

In both November and December, more migrants were processed through legal border crossings than were caught crossing illegally, according to public and internal U.S. government figures.

Mexico greatly increased its own migration enforcement in the past year amid pressure from the Biden administration.

Trump has taken a combative approach to relations with Mexico and Canada, promising 25% tariffs on all imports until the countries clamp down further on illegal immigration and fentanyl trafficking.

The number of migrant arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border fell sharply in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic but then rose later that year, partly due to repeat crossers.

Pope Francis Trolls Trump With D.C. Archbishop Appointment

WOKE DEI ARCHBISHOP

Josh Fiallo
Mon, January 6, 2025 

TONY GENTILE / REUTERS

Pope Francis, 88, still has some tricks up his sleeve.

The pontiff has appointed a sharp critic of Donald Trump to be the next archbishop of the nation’s capital—just in time for the president-elect’s return to office.

That cardinal, Robert McElroy, has been a vocal defender of migrants and was publicly critical of Trump during his first term. He famously urged parishioners in 2017 to be disruptors of Trump’s anti-migrant agenda.

“We must disrupt those who would seek to send troops into our streets to deport the undocumented, to rip mothers and fathers from their families,” he said. “We must disrupt those who portray refugees as enemies rather than our brothers and sisters in terrible need.”

Robert McElroy poses for photographers in 2022. / REMO CASILLI / REUTERS

McElroy, 70, will soon have the opportunity to deliver similar directives just steps from the Oval Office. McElroy, a native of San Francisco, spent the last decade in San Diego.

Francis’ decision to choose a Trump critic is not coincidental, a church historian from Villanova University told CNN. The pope has opposed Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric over the years, with the most recent instance coming in September when he remarked that he could not endorse Trump or Kamala Harris in good conscience.

“Both are against life, be it the one who kicks out migrants, or be it the one who kills babies,″ Francis said at a news conference. “You must choose the lesser evil. Who is the lesser evil? That lady, or that gentleman? I don’t know. Everyone, in conscience, [has to] think and do this.”

Donald Trump and Pope Francis met at the Vatican in 2017. / POOL / REUTERS

Francis, an Argentine, made harsher comments against Trump in 2016. That’s when he told reporters the then-presidential candidate was not a real Christian.

“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” he said.

Trump has hit back at Pope Francis. He announced on Dec. 20 that his pick to be the U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican was Brian Burch, an outspoken critic of the pope.

Francis had a much cozier relationship with Joe Biden, a devout Catholic who had a relationship with the pope even before he was elected president in 2020. The pope is set to have a farewell meeting with Biden on Friday before he bows out of the White House later this month

Pope appoints Trump critic to be archbishop of Washington, DC, and appoints first female leader of a Vatican department

Christopher Lamb, CNN
Tue, January 7, 2025 

Cardinal McElroy is a strong supporter of Francis’ priorities on refugees, the environment and welcoming LGBTQ Catholics.


Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Robert McElroy, a vocal defender of migrants and critic of Donald Trump’s first administration, as the next archbishop of Washington, DC.

Cardinal McElroy, 70, is a strong supporter of Francis’ priorities on refugees, the environment and welcoming LGBTQ Catholics. He will succeed Cardinal Wilton Gregory, 77, who was the first African-American Archbishop of Washington, DC.

Francis also appointed on Monday the first female leader of a Vatican department. Sister Simona Brambilla will become prefect of the Holy See’s religious life office, which has responsibility for nuns, monks and friars.

Early in Trump’s first term, then-Bishop McElroy gave a speech in Modesto, California, specifically referencing Trump and urging Catholics to become “disruptors” of the anti-immigrant agenda.

“We must disrupt those who would seek to send troops into our streets to deport the undocumented, to rip mothers and fathers from their families. We must disrupt those who portray refugees as enemies rather than our brothers and sisters in terrible need,” he said.

And after Trump’s first election victory in 2016, McElroy lamented “a profound sickness in the soul in American political life” and that it would be “unthinkable” for Catholics to “stand by while more than ten percent of our flock is ripped from our midst and deported.”

The appointment of McElroy sends a signal about how Pope Francis and the Vatican plan to navigate a second Trump administration and follows Trump’s decision to nominate a critic of Francis as his Vatican ambassador. The pope also is due to have a farewell meeting with President Joe Biden, a devout Catholic who had a warm rapport with Francis, on Friday.

Massimo Faggioli, a church historian who teaches at Villanova University in Pennsylvania and follows the Francis papacy closely, told CNN the appointment is a “bold move” by the pope and that announcing it on the anniversary of the January 6 US Capitol attack and two weeks before Trump’s inauguration is the “statement in the [announcement] statement.”

McElroy, who holds a doctorate in political science from Stanford University along with a doctorate in theology from a Roman university, can be relied on by the pope to articulate Catholic teaching on matters such as migration and protection of the most vulnerable in society.

More female leaders

Brambilla, who is from Monza, northern Italy, qualified as a nurse before entering her religious community, has a doctorate in psychology and has worked as a missionary in Mozambique. She has until now been serving as the number two at the Vatican office that she will now lead. The pope also appointed a cardinal, Ángel Fernández Artime, as “pro-prefect” of the department, who will work with Brambilla.

During his pontificate, Francis has sought to appoint more female leaders inside the church’s central administration, although there have been calls for him to go further with the role of women in the church becoming an urgent topic of discussion.

According to the Vatican, from 2013 to 2023 the percentage of women working for the Holy See and Vatican City State rose from 19.2% to 23.4%.

Pope Francis names Trump critic McElroy as Washington's new archbishop

Joshua McElwee
Mon, January 6, 2025




Pope Francis names Trump critic McElroy as Washington's new archbishop

Pope Francis installs 20 new cardinals


VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Monday named a Catholic cardinal who has criticized Donald Trump's political agenda as the new leader for the Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., days before Trump is set to be inaugurated as U.S. president.

Cardinal Robert McElroy, 70, has been the bishop of San Diego since 2015. He will replace Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who has led the archdiocese of Washington since 2019 and is retiring.

McElroy sharply criticized Trump's plan during his first administration to launch a mass deportation campaign targeting millions of immigrants living in the United States.
He called on Americans to "disrupt" those plans in a 2017 speech and later told a Catholic magazine that Catholics "simply can't stand by and watch [immigrants] get deported".

"It's a bold move," Massimo Faggioli, an Italian academic who has followed the Francis papacy closely, said of McElroy's appointment.

Faggioli, a professor at Villanova University in Philadelphia, noted the announcement came on the fourth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by rioters who hoped to overturn Trump's 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.

He called it "a statement to the halls of power in D.C. and boardrooms in America".

McElroy is also an outspoken ally of Francis among the U.S. Catholic bishops, who are largely divided over the pope's pastoral agenda.

He has taken progressive positions on issues such as being more welcoming toward LGBTQ Catholics and has called for the ordination of women as deacons -- ordained ministers who, unlike priests, cannot celebrate the Mass.

McElroy, who was made a cardinal by Francis in 2022, is originally from San Francisco.

The cardinal has a doctorate in theology from Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University, as is usual for Catholic prelates. He also earned a doctorate in politics from Stanford University, where his dissertation focused on American foreign policy.

Gregory, aged 77, was the first African American leader of the Catholic Church in Washington, and the first Black U.S. cardinal.

He was known for a low-key approach and rebuffed calls from some conservative Catholics to deny communion to Catholic politicians who support abortion rights, such as Biden and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

McElroy has also rebuffed such calls.

(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Ros Russell)


Trump critic named new Washington archbishop

Alex Gangitano
Mon, January 6, 2025 

THE HILL


Trump critic named new Washington archbishop


Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, a critic of President-elect Trump, was named the new archbishop of Washington on Monday.

Pope Francis named McElroy, who is the bishop of San Diego, to replace Cardinal Wilton Gregory in Washington, D.C., Catholic Standard reported. McElroy, a San Francisco native, is known as a progressive in the Catholic Church and his diocese of San Diego includes California’s border with Mexico.

The pope’s move to put McElroy, a vocal supporter of migrants, at the top post in Washington comes just weeks before Trump is sworn in for a second term Jan. 20. Meanwhile, President Biden is set to travel to Rome later this week to meet with the pope.

McElroy opposed Trump’s immigration agenda during his first four years in the White House, saying at the time that Catholics “simply can’t stand by and watch” while immigrants get deported, according to Reuters. McElroy joined other California bishops last month to issue a statement supporting migrants after Trump was elected on a platform focused on cracking down on immigration.

He has also been welcoming towards LGBTQ Catholics and supportive of women as deacons in the church.

Gregory, who has a close relationship with Biden while serving as archbishop, was required by Church law to submit his resignation after he turned 75 in 2022.

Gregory supported Biden, the second Catholic president in U.S. history, while conservative Catholic bishops mulled whether they should prevent him from receiving communion over his pro-reproductive rights stance.

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