Germany celebrates 30 years since fall of Berlin Wall

Nationwide celebrations have kicked off in Germany to mark 30 years since the Berlin Wall fell. The event shows that "no wall... is so high and so wide that it could not be broken through," said Chancellor Angela Merkel.

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https://www.dw.com/en/germany-celebrates-30-years-since-fall-of-berlin-wall-live-updates/a-51178230

USA: Donald Trump gets "black eye" from his own Republicans in the Senate joining Democrats to vote against Trump Wall

Trump threatens veto after senate rejects national emergency in sharp rebuke

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/14/senate-national-emergency-declaration-vote-trump?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

Spain: Trump suggested Spain build Sahara wall to stem migrants

Spain's foreign minister revealed that US President Donald Trump suggested building a wall along the Sahara desert to stem the arrival of migrants, as he plans to do on the Mexican border.

"Closing ports is not a solution, and neither is building a wall along the Sahara like President Trump suggested to me recently," Josep Borrell told a lunchtime gathering this week, according to a video released by Spanish media.
 
"'Just build a wall that borders the Sahara'," he quoted Trump as telling him.

"'But do you know how big the Sahara is?'," the minister responded.

The reported comments come as EU leaders are locked in talks in Salzburg over how to deal with the number of migrants arriving in Europe.
 
Spain is at the frontline of this issue, having overtaken Italy to become the number one point of entry for migrants coming to Europe by sea or by land from Africa.

Many of these cross the Sahara to Morocco and on to Spain across the Mediterranean or over two high fences into the Spanish overseas territories of Ceuta and Melilla in northern Morocco.

Trump's proposed wall along the US-Mexico border, which spans 3,200 kilometres (2,000 miles), could cost up to $20 billion (17 billion euros) according to some estimates.

The Sahara desert, meanwhile, spans all of northern Africa from the Red Sea in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, or close to 5,000 kilometres.
 
Read more: Trump suggested Spain build Sahara wall to stem migrants - The Local

Mexico-US Relations: Mexican president cancels meeting with Trump (after being insulted) - by David Jackson

President Trump's proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico drove a diplomatic divide between the two countries Thursday, as Mexican counterpart Enrique Peña Nieto canceled a scheduled meeting with the new American president.

Trump, speaking to a congressional Republican retreat in Philadelphia, said he and Peña Nieto "agreed" to the cancellation; the president said he has made it clear to Mexico that it will finance the proposed wall and that the U.S. will seek changes to trade agreement with its southern neighbor.

“Unless Mexico is going to treat the United States fairly, with respect, such a meeting would be fruitless and I want to go a different route," Trump said. "We have no choice.”

Read more: Mexican president cancels meeting with Trump

Vatican -USA: Pope Francis to Donald Trump: Building Mexico Wall Is 'Not Christian' - by Anne Thompson and Corky Siemaszko

Pope Francis has a message for Donald Trump: building a wall on the Mexican border is "not Christian."
The pontiff delivered that message Thursday during a news conference on his flight back to the Vatican from Mexico.

"A person who only thinks about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian," the Buenos Aires-born pontiff said when asked about Trump's now infamous promises to erect a wall aimed at keeping Mexicans out of the U.S.

Francis insisted he was not telling Americans whether or not they should vote for Trump, the Republican presidential candidate who recently lost his lead to rival Sen. Ted Cruz in a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

"I am not going to get into involved in that," said the pope, who had just wrapped up a tour of Mexico. "I would only say that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that."

Read more: Pope Francis to Donald Trump: Building Mexico Wall Is 'Not Christian' - NBC News

Hungary’s prime minister suspects “masterplan” is behind refugee crisis

Speaking to a Swiss newspaper, the Hungarian prime minister acknowledges that “the suspicion has inevitably emerged that there is some kind of masterplan behind all this”.

Mentioning what he describes as “left-wing studies about the future of the EU and a possible European superstate”, Mr Orban subscribes to the view that the nation-state as a concept is being eroded and says the European Left and “radical American Democrats” have come up with a theory for this ˝new world˝ idea.

He has no doubt that this is connected to the issue of migration.

Viktor Orban, whose political party has just launched a campaign for signatures against the European Union’s quota system intended to redistribute migrants, points out that according to all indirect evidence and experience the vast majority of the future migrants who fully integrate will be left-wing voters. “Consequently, future left-wing voters are being imported into Europe” he explains.

Orbán thinks that Germany is the key to the migrant crisis, but Angela Merkel’s hands are tied as she is in a coalition government with the Social Democrats.

Read more: Hungary’s prime minister suspects “masterplan” is behind refugee crisis | euronews, world news