From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David Byrd reporting. U.S. President Barack Obama will head to Germany to drum up support for a trade pact.
Mr. Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will discuss the global economy, terrorism, transatlantic security and many other issues during his two-day visit to Germany. The two also hope to build support for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP. The free-trade pact is being negotiated by the U.S. and the European Union. During a town home meeting with British young people Saturday, Mr. Obama said that each country has barriers that have to be overcome for trade deals to work. "Getting trade deals done is tough, because each country has its own parochial interests and factions. And in order to get a trade deal done, each country has to give something up. So it's a time-consuming process." Mr. Obama is also expected to express support for a deal between the European Union and Turkey to manage the flow of migrants and refugees from Syria and other countries. The leaders and their counterparts from Britain, France and Italy will also hold talks ahead of the NATO summit set for July in Warsaw. Meanwhile, in Hanover Saturday, tens of thousands of protesters gathered to demonstrate against the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Trade unionists, nationalists and greens groups say the deal will drive down wages, erode consumer protection and damage the environment. Mr. Obama and other proponents of the pact say that lowering tariffs and harmonizing rules will give a boost to businesses at a time of world economic uncertainty. For visit our website. This is VOA news. Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu says his country's efforts to deter Syrians from entering Greece by sea have drastically cut daily migrant voyages from 6,000 in November to as few as 130 this month. Davutoğlu spoke Saturday from the Turkish city of Gaziantep near the Syrian border alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Council President Donald Tusk. Tusk described Turkey as "the best example for the whole world" of how refugees should be treated. "Today Turkey is the best example for the whole world (for) how we should treat refugees. No one has a right to lecture Turkey (on) what it should do. I'm really proud that you are my partner and I'm absolutely sure that we will succeed." On Friday, Amnesty International urged the European delegation not to "close their eyes to the catalog of human rights abuses faced by refugees" in Turkey. Amnesty's comments followed a recent European Parliament report that criticized Turkey's record on human rights and media freedom in 2015. That report urged the country to improve its human rights record, and said Ankara's bid to join the EU will succeed or fail based on how it meets those demands. In the race for the White House, front-runners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton campaigned in Connecticut Saturday ahead of Tuesday's primary. Trump told a rally that he is not toning it down one day after his chief adviser assured Republican officials the GOP front-runner will show more restraint. "Get out and vote, get out and vote. And I wanna thank the people of Connecticut to be out here on a Saturday morning is incredible. I love you folks. Get out and vote. Make America great again. Thank you." Clinton spoke at a small round table event in New Haven, Connecticut, meeting with working families and local officials to discuss equal pay. Democrat Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, held a rally in Baltimore, Maryland, where he told a cheering crowd that he and Secretary Clinton differ on foreign policy. "I believe that force sometimes has to be used. But force should be the last response to our foreign policy, not the first." Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island hold primaries on Tuesday. One hundred eighteen delegates are at stake for the Republicans. The Democrats have 383 delegates up for grabs. And, mourners continued to gather outside the Paisley Park home of entertainer Prince, who died Thursday at age 57. For more, visit our website. I'm David Byrd in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA. |