EU's Juncker calls empty European Parliament 'ridiculous'

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has launched a bitter attack on members of the European Parliament for failing to show up.

Standing up in almost empty chamber in Strasbourg, he denounced the body as "ridiculous, totally ridiculous".

Estimating the number of MEPs at around 30, he said it proved that the parliament was "not serious".

Parliament President Antonio Tajani reacted furiously, accusing him of a lack of respect.

"You can criticise the parliament, but it's not the commission's job to control the parliament, it's the parliament that has to control the commission," he said.

But the clash continued. Mr Juncker, who is in charge of the EU's executive body, angrily rebuked MEPs for failing to attend the session reviewing the six-month presidency of Malta, the bloc's smallest member state.

It was one of the most acrimonious public rows between top EU officials in recent years.

Rows of empty seats - Adam Fleming in Strasbourg writes:

It is rare for the head of one EU institution to take such a public swipe at the legitimacy of another.

But it is true that Strasbourg feels very empty for the final session of the European Parliament before the summer holidays. I counted fewer than 100 people in the chamber this morning - and that included the officials accompanying Mr Juncker and the Maltese prime minister.

"People can't be bothered to turn up," a British MEP told me. "Some have started their seven weeks of paid holiday already," he added.

Or perhaps it is the fact that some debates in this session have been cancelled so that politicians can attend the funeral of Simone Veil - a former president of the parliament - which will be held in France tomorrow?

The parliamentary authorities will be unhappy to have been criticised so publicly by such a high-profile figure as Mr Juncker.

---

Malta's Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat, looked on with a broad grin as the argument unfolded. The debate was due to focus primarily on the EU's struggle to relocate 160,000 refugees from Italy and Greece.

"There are only a few members in the plenary to control the commission. You are ridiculous," Mr Juncker repeated. In total, the parliament has 751 deputies.

• English losing importance in EU - Juncker
• 'I don't own a smartphone' - EU's Juncker
• EU needs stronger defence arm - Juncker

Ignoring a further objection by the parliament president to his choice of language, Mr Juncker told the few MEPs in the chamber: "I will never again attend a meeting of this kind".

Mr Juncker complained that if Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel or French President Emmanuel Macron had been in the chamber, it would have been full.

The spat overshadowed Mr Muscat's own assessment of the EU's response to the migrant crisis.

Describing the situation as a "fiasco", the Maltese leader called for an honest debate on Europe's values.

The vast majority of the 101,000 migrants entering Europe in 2017 so far have crossed the Mediterranean towards Italy. According to latest figures, 2,247 people have died or are missing at sea.

BBC NEWS

Italy-Austria tension over border troops at Brenner Pass

Italy has summoned Austria's ambassador after the government in Vienna announced it was ready to deploy border troops to block any migrant influx.

Austrian Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil told Kronen Zeitung daily that troops could go to the Brenner Pass.

He said four Pandur armoured personnel carriers had been sent to the Tyrol region and 750 troops were on standby.

Austria has border checks with Hungary and Slovenia. But elsewhere it adheres to the EU open borders system.

Mr Doskozil said a military deployment at the busy Alpine pass, on the Italian border, would be "indispensable if the influx into Italy [across the Mediterranean] does not diminish".

Later Italy's foreign ministry said it had summoned Austrian Ambassador Rene Pollitzer "following the Austrian government's statement about deploying troops to the Brenner (pass)".

People-smuggling gangs have been exploiting the violence and chaos in Libya. The shortest crossing from Libya to Italy is only about 460km (290 miles).

• Italy and Austria row over migrant crossing
• Austria tightens controls amid Italian criticism

Italy has warned that the current scale of migrant arrivals is unsustainable and that it could even close its ports and impound aid agencies' rescue ships.

The EU's Schengen system - free movement across most European borders - was overwhelmed by an influx of migrants and refugees in 2015.

They reached Central Europe via the Balkans - and most sought asylum in Germany. Since then, tighter border controls in the Balkans have reduced the numbers heading north from Greece.

Most of the influx to Austria was via Hungary. Many of those who came by train or on foot were refugees from Syria, Iraq and other conflict zones.

The Brenner Pass is now seen as a potential migration hotspot, as the influx to Italy so far this year is higher than last year.

Nearly 85,000 migrants and refugees arrived in Italy in the first half of this year, across the Mediterranean. The UN refugee agency UNHCR says that is about 20% more than in the first half of 2016.

So far 101,000 migrants have entered Europe in 2017 via the Mediterranean and according to the latest figures, 2,247 people have died or are missing at sea.

A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.

BBC NEWS

North Korea hails 'ICBM test' success

North Korea says it has successfully tested its first "intercontinental ballistic missile" (ICBM).

A state television announcement said the missile, which landed in the Sea of Japan on Tuesday, could hit targets anywhere in the world.

But the US and Russia said the missile had a medium range and presented no threat to either country.

North Korea has increased the frequency of its missile tests, in defiance of a ban by the UN Security Council.

China and Russia called on Pyongyang to freeze its missile and nuclear activities.

The announcement on North Korea state television said the Hwasong-14 missile test was overseen by leader Kim Jong-un.

It said the projectile had reached an altitude of 2,802km (1,731 miles) and flew 933km for 39 minutes before hitting a target in the sea.

• Have North Korea's missile tests paid off?
• What can the outside world do?
• How advanced is North Korea's nuclear programme?
• North Korea's missile programme

North Korea, it said, was now "a full-fledged nuclear power that has been possessed of the most powerful inter-continental ballistic rocket capable of hitting any part of the world".

It would enable the country to "put an end to the US nuclear war threat and blackmail" and defend the Korean peninsula, it said.

While Pyongyang appears to have made progress, experts believe North Korea does not have the capability to accurately hit a target with an ICBM, or miniaturise a nuclear warhead that can fit onto such a missile.

Other nuclear powers have also cast doubt on North Korea's assessment, with Russia saying the missile only reached an altitude of 535km and flew about 510km.

What is an ICBM?

• A long-range missile usually designed to carry a nuclear warhead
• The minimum range is 5,500km (3,400 miles), although most fly about 10,000km or more
• Pyongyang has previously displayed two types of ICBMs: the KN-08, with a range of 11,500km, and the KN-14, with a range of 10,000km, but before 4 July had not claimed to have flight tested an ICBM. It is not clear what differentiates the Hwasong-14

How far could this missile travel?

The big question is what range it has, says the BBC's Steven Evans in Seoul. Could it hit the United States?

David Wright, a physicist with the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists, says that if the reports are correct, this missile could "reach a maximum range of roughly 6,700km on a standard trajectory".

That range would allow it to reach Alaska, but not the large islands of Hawaii or the other 48 US states, he says.

It is not just a missile that North Korea would need, our correspondent adds. It must also have the ability to protect a warhead as it re-enters the atmosphere, and it is not clear if North Korea can do that.

What does this test tell us? By defence expert Melissa Hanham

Once again North Korea has defied the odds and thumbed its nose at the world in a single missile launch. With the test of the Hwasong-14, it has shown that it can likely reach intercontinental ballistic missile ranges including putting Alaska at risk.

Kim Jong-un has long expressed his desire for such a test, and to have it on the 4 July holiday in the US is just the icing on his very large cake.

Despite this technical achievement, however, it is likely many outside North Korea will continue to be sceptical of North Korea's missile. They will ask for proof of working guidance, re-entry vehicle, and even a nuclear warhead.

From a technical perspective, though, their engines have demonstrated ICBM ranges, and this would be the first of several paths North Korea has to an ICBM with even greater range.

Are neighbours and nuclear powers concerned?

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in has called on the UN Security Council to take steps against North Korea.

Japan described "repeated provocations like this are absolutely unacceptable" and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his country would "unite strongly" with the US and South Korea to put pressure on Pyongyang.

Russia and China said the launch was "unacceptable".

Chinese President Xi Jinping is in Moscow, where he held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The two leaders urged Pyongyang to suspend all its tests. They also asked the US and South Korea to not hold joint military exercises.

US President Donald Trump also responded swiftly on Tuesday.

On his Twitter account he made apparent reference to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, saying: "Does this guy have anything better to do with his life?"

"Hard to believe that South Korea and Japan will put up with this much longer. Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense onc

President Trump has repeatedly called on China, Pyongyang's closest economic ally, to pressure North Korea to end its nuclear and missile programmes.

On the prospect of North Korea being able to strike the US, he tweeted in January: "It won't happen". However experts say it might - within five years or less.

Beijing called for "restraint" following the latest test on Tuesday.

Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China was opposed to North Korea going against clear UN Security Council resolutions on its missile launches.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said the UK "stood alongside the US and our allies to confront the threat North Korea poses to international security".

BBC NEWS

Five ways Trump can help solve Chicago gun crime

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly vowed to intervene in Chicago, where local law enforcement have struggled with the city's intractable problem with violence.

"Crime and killings in Chicago have reached such epidemic proportions that I am sending in Federal help," he tweeted on Friday.

More than 760 people were killed in Chicago in 2016, a 58% increase from the previous year and more than the number of New York and Los Angeles murders combined. The city also saw more than 4,300 people shot.

This year Chicago police have pointed to some progress in the first half of 2017 - a 14% drop in shootings. But the murder rate remains largely unchanged.

So what can the president do to help?

Stop the flow of illegal guns

City officials on Friday announced the creation of the Chicago Gun Strike Force, comprised of city police officers, Illinois state troopers, federal agents and intelligence research specialists.

The Trump administration sent an additional 20 permanent agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), "reallocating federal prosecutors and prioritising prosecutions to reduce gun violence", according to a Department of Justice statement.

An estimated 40 ATF agents have already been working with local and state police on reducing gun violence in Chicago.

Police also announced the bureau would lend the city a mobile ballistics lab during the summer months, when shootings and murders tend to spike.

The specialised team will work to curb the flow of illegal guns as well as with state and federal prosecutors to target repeat gun offenders, who authorities say are responsible for the city's violence problem.

The Chicago Police Department estimates 60% of guns recovered at crime scenes in the city between 2009 and 2013 were first purchased outside of Illinois, according to a 2014 report. Nearly 20% came from Indiana, where gun laws have made it relatively easy to obtain illegal weapons.

According to Indiana law, federally licensed gun dealers are required to perform standard background checks, but vendors are not when it comes to private sales or selling at gun shows.

The city has recovered an illegal handgun for every hour of 2016 - more than 6,000 - Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson has previously said.

• Gun crime tech 'failed to save lives' in Chicago
• Violence in Chicago - in five shocking stats

Overhaul housing

A lot of the violence is driven by the social disadvantages that have scarred many of the low-income minority neighbourhoods in the past, said Robert J Sampson, a Harvard professor and the author of Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect.

It is these distressed communities, he added, where the spike in homicides mostly occurs.

One of the biggest contributing factors to crime is Chicago's housing crisis in these concentrated areas, said Lance Williams, the associate director of the Jacob H Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies at Northeastern Illinois University.

The Trump administration could require developers who receive government subsidies to incorporate low-income housing in some of the new building cropping up in the South and West Loop neighbourhoods, or provide vouchers to displaced families, Mr Williams suggested.

To reduce the stress, federal officials could also work with the city to create rent caps for low-income families as more young, white affluent resident move to those parts of the city, he added.

Invest in after-school programmes

"Whenever there is unstable housing, you're going to find kids unable to perform in school," Mr Williams said.

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is entangled in a state budget battle that resulted in it borrowing more than $300m (£231m) to pay the teacher's pension fund and to keep the doors open through the end of the school year.

While CPS faces cuts and more financial turmoil, the federal government could assist by providing more resources for afterschool programmes that focus on violence intervention, improving social responses and job training to help make young people more competitive in the job market.

In fact, the University of Chicago Crime Lab found a 43% reduction in violent crime arrests for youths who obtained eight-week, part-time employment through its One Summer Chicago Plus jobs programme, compared with young people who did not participate.

"Even prior to creating jobs, you're going to need some social skills training and basic support for these kids to make them employable," Mr Williams added.

Federal assistance for jobs

Joblessness is dire among the city's youth, especially for African Americans males in Chicago's racially segregated neighbourhoods that also have high rates of poverty and crime.

According to recent report published by the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago, 47% of 20- to 24-year-old black men in Chicago were out of school and unemployed in 2014 compared with 20% of Hispanic men and 10% of white men in the same age group.

The report looked at the lost tax revenue that resulted in urban youth unemployment and found that the federal and state governments lose nearly $9.5bn in potential taxes.

John Hagedorn, a criminology professor at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), told the BBC the Trump administration could help by addressing the desperation the city's youth are facing.

Part of the president's trillion-dollar infrastructure plan could include targeting Chicago's areas of concentrated crime.

The government could hire local residents as part of a large-scale public works project to rebuild the housing and infrastructure in these areas, similar to what the US did after the Great Depression, he added.

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin and congresswoman Robin Kelly have introduced a measure that would offer tax breaks to businesses who hire at-risk youth and provide grants to local communities to promote job opportunities for the youth.

More police resources

Putting more police on the ground will not stop the bloodshed, said Mr Williams.

Instead, the city should be focusing on improving community relations and restoring public trust after fallout over a video released showing the police shooting of Laquan McDonald in 2014.

The Trump administration could assist by funding better police training and supporting programmes that bolster police-community relations.

Along with targeting more gun traffickers, the justice department could focus on police accountability and prosecuting officers in cases of unlawful use of deadly force, Mr Hagedorn added.

"If you want cooperation you have to demonstrate some good faith, and there hasn't been much from Chicago police," he added.

"More than bringing in a task force and saying it's guns or drugs, we need a little bit more of an understanding of what's actually going on."

Laquan McDonald: How a Chicago teenager was shot dead by police

BBC NEWS

Boston airport crash: Taxi mows down pedestrians injuring 10

Ten people have been taken to hospital with injuries of "varying severity" after a taxi drove into people at Boston's Logan airport, police say.

The driver jumped the kerb and struck fellow cab drivers who were sitting awaiting their next fares, police said.

According to US media, the driver told police he mistakenly stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake.

The incident, on the eve of the Independence Day holiday in the US, was not believed to be terrorism-related.

Major Frank McGinn of Massachusetts State Police said one of the victims remains in serious condition, three had significant injuries and six others suffered less serious injuries.

All the victims appeared to be cab drivers, he added.

The driver, who is reported to be a 56-year-old man from Cambridge, Massachusetts, stayed at the scene to co-operate with police.

Maj McGinn told reporters the crash appeared to be "just a tragic accident".

He said the unidentified driver is known to be a "very nice gentlemen from his peers" and was thought to have been alone in the vehicle at the time.

Police have seized the cab and the cause of the crash remains under investigation, state police said in a statement.

"At this preliminary point in the investigation, there is no information that suggests the crash was intentional," the statement said.

BBC NEWS

Pakistan fuel tanker inferno death toll tops 200

The death toll from a lorry fire in Pakistan last week has risen sharply, with more than 200 people killed.

The tanker carrying fuel burst into flames near Ahmedpur East on 25 June.

Villagers had gathered, reportedly to collect fuel leaking from the crashed tanker, when it caught fire. Dozens are being treated in hospital.

The death toll in the hours after the fire hit 150, but local officials now say it is at least 206, after more victims died in hospital.

The fire was sparked by a passer-by lighting a cigarette, a rescue services spokesman told the BBC.

Some of the victims may only be identified by DNA sampling, as the bodies were so badly burned in the incident, reports said.

A mass funeral for 125 of the victims was held last week.

Police sources told Pakistani news agency APP that the tanker had been transporting 25,000 litres (5,500 gallons) of fuel from Karachi to Lahore. It appears the tanker blew a tyre while rounding a sharp bend in the road.

Police sources said that people in nearby villages had rushed to the scene to collect fuel in pots, and also made phone calls to their relatives in other villages to come to collect fuel.

Traffic police had tried in vain to keep the crowds away from the tanker as local people, including women and children, continued collecting fuel, the sources said.

A huge fire then erupted, engulfing all the people standing around the vehicle, they said.

Emergency services struggled to find burns units to treat the injured, APP reported.

Motorway police spokesman Imran Shah told the AFP news agency that a government inquiry had concluded five police officials were guilty of concealing information after the fire.

BBC NEWS