World News

By Ruma Paul

DHAKA (Reuters) -Firefighters worked for a second day on Sunday to extinguish a massive blaze that killed at least 49 people at a container depot in southeast Bangladesh, the latest incident highlighting the country’s poor industrial safety track record.

The fire that also injured more than 200 broke out at the shipping container facility on Saturday night at Sitakunda, 40 km (25 miles) from the port city of Chittagong, triggering a huge blast and multiple container explosions, officials said.

Chemical-filled containers were still exploding on Sunday as firefighters attempted to douse the fire and officials said the army had joined the mission. Drone footage showed thick columns of smoke and rows of burnt-out containers.

Explosions had shaken the neighbourhood and shattered windows in nearby buildings, local residents said.

The death toll could rise as some of the injured are in a critical condition and rescue operations are still continuing, said Chittagong civil surgeon Mohammed Elias Hossain. The injured included firefighters and policemen, he said.

He said all doctors in the district had been called in to help tackle the situation, while social media was flooded with appeals for emergency blood donations.

Five firefighters had died and at least 50 others, including 10 policemen, were injured, he added.

Hundreds of distraught relatives rushed from one hospital to another in a frantic search for their loved ones, witnesses said.

“I lost my brother,” Shakhawat Hossain, cousin of Afzal Hossain, 25, who died in the fire, said. “His father died 10 months ago. He was the youngest but he was the only one who took care of his mother … she has been fainting again and again. Nothing can console her.”

MORE EXPLOSIONS

It was not immediately clear what had caused the blaze. Fire service officials said they suspected it may have originated in a container of hydrogen peroxide and spread quickly to other containers.

Newton Das, a fire service official, said there were still explosions on Sunday afternoon of containers containing hydrogen peroxide and others containing sulphur. “It’s really getting harder as toxic fumes engulfed the area,” he said.

Bangladesh has prospered over recent decades to become the world’s second-biggest exporter of garments, but the infrastructure and institutional focus for industrial safety is still nascent, the International Labour Organization said earlier this year.

Lax regulations and poor enforcement of rules have been blamed for several large fires that have led to hundreds of deaths in recent years.

In 2020, three people were killed after an oil tank exploded at a container depot in Chittagong’s Patenga area, while in July last year, 54 died when an inferno ripped through a food processing factory outside the capital Dhaka.

At least 70 died in a fire that engulfed several buildings in a centuries-old neighbourhood of Dhaka in 2019.

(Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by David Holmes)

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LONDON (Reuters) -Queen Elizabeth said on Sunday she had been “humbled and deeply touched” by the number of people coming out to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee at the conclusion of four days of festivities to mark her 70 years on the British throne.

Tens of thousands of people have attended street parties or cheered on parades through central London, while millions watched a pop concert outside Buckingham Palace which was broadcast on live television.

In her message to the nation, she thanked the public for their good wishes and the role they had played.

“When it comes to how to mark 70 years as your queen, there is no guidebook to follow. It really is a first. But I have been humbled and deeply touched that so many people have taken to the streets to celebrate my Platinum Jubilee,” she said in a statement.

The queen herself has been forced to miss a number of the major events due to mobility problems, but was able to appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to wave to cheering crowds at the finale of celebrations on Sunday.

“While I may not have attended every event in person, my heart has been with you all; and I remain committed to serving you to the best of my ability, supported by my family,” she said.

“I have been inspired by the kindness, joy and kinship that has been so evident in recent days, and I hope this renewed sense of togetherness will be felt for many years to come.”

(Reporting by Michael Holden. Editing by Jane Merriman and Kate Holton)

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(Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian artillery hit an early 17th century Ukrainian Orthodox monastery in war-torn eastern Ukraine on Saturday, engulfing its main church in flames.

Russia’s Defence Ministry denied involvement, accusing Ukrainian troops of setting fire to the All Saints Monastery before pulling back.

The Svyatohirsk Lavra monastery complex belongs to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and lies near Russian positions in eastern Donetsk, one of two regions that the Kremlin is focused on capturing.

Flames could be seen ripping through the timber walls of a church with onion domes in footage posted by Zelenskiy on his official Telegram channel. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the footage.

“Russian artillery struck the Svyatohirsk Lavra in the Donetsk region again today. Destroyed All Saints Monastery. It was consecrated in 1912. It was first destroyed during the Soviet era. Later it was rebuilt to be burned by the Russian army,” the Ukrainian leader wrote.

Zelenskiy called for Russia to be expelled from the United Nations’ cultural agency UNESCO and said there had been no military targets present at the site.

“Every church burned by Russia in Ukraine, every school blown up, every destroyed memorial proves that Russia has no place in UNESCO.”

Two monks and a nun were killed at the site in shelling on June 1.

Russia denies targeting civilians. It describes its actions in Ukraine as a special military operation.

The Svyatohirsk Lavra monastic settlement dates back to 1627. The All Saints Monastery was built from timber in 2009 to replace the one destroyed in 1947.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which remained loyal to Moscow after a 2019 schism, said last month that it would break with Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Tom Balmforth and Ros Russell)

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By Michael Holden and Kate Holton

LONDON (Reuters) -Queen Elizabeth’s son and heir Prince Charles and her grandson Prince William will pay tribute to the record-breaking monarch at a pop concert at Buckingham Palace on the third day of nationwide celebrations for her 70 years on the throne.

The “Party at the Palace”, which will feature the likes of singers Alicia Keys and Diana Ross, is the main Platinum Jubilee event on Saturday, along with the Epsom Derby horse race.

The 96-year-old monarch, a huge horse-racing fan and owner of many thoroughbreds, was herself forced to skip the 243rd running of the Derby because of “episodic mobility problems” that also forced her to miss a thanksgiving service in her honour on Friday.

Her daughter Princess Anne, who competed in the three-day equestrian event in the 1976 Olympics, stood in for her mother, who has rarely missed the race during her record-breaking reign and watched on television from her Windsor Castle home.

Later on Saturday, Charles and his eldest son William, fated to follow his father as king, will make speeches at the palace concert where performers from around the world will entertain some 22,000 people. The queen herself had not been expected to attend.

Also appearing will be rock band Queen + Adam Lambert and singer Rod Stewart, and it will feature a specially recorded performance by Elton John.

Queen guitarist Brian May, who played the national anthem from the roof of the palace at a concert for Elizabeth’s golden jubilee in 2002, hinted at another memorable moment.

“Then there was a moment when I wondered … after Buckingham Palace roof where can you go? Well …, you will see,” he said.

Another participant, veteran U.S. musician and record producer Nile Rodgers, said he had no idea what he would be playing.

“I look at it like this – whatever the queen asked me to do or her representatives or whatever, I will do that,” he told BBC TV.

LILIBET’S BIRTHDAY

Four days of celebrations to mark the monarch’s 70 years on the throne began with a military parade, a Royal Air Force flypast, and the lighting of beacons across Britain and the world, with tens of thousands of people joining the festivities.

During Friday’s National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell used a horse racing analogy in his sermon to pay tribute to the queen.

“Your Majesty, we are sorry that you’re not here with us this morning, but we are so glad that you are still in the saddle,” he said. “And we are glad that there is still more to come. So thank you for staying the course.”

A sideshow to the main celebrations has been Prince Harry and his American wife Meghan making their first public appearance together in Britain since quitting official duties to move to Los Angeles two years ago, during which time their relationship with other royals has become strained.

Notably on Saturday, the official Twitter accounts for the monarch, Charles and William all sent messages almost simultaneously to mark the first birthday of Lilibet, the couple’s daughter who is named after the queen.

Elizabeth had not met her great-granddaughter prior to the trip, and Buckingham Palace has not commented on newspaper reports they had now finally been introduced.

Harry and Meghan have become divisive figures, with supporters regarding them as a breath of fresh air for the tradition-bound monarchy, while critics and many newspapers pour scorn on their behaviour and commercial activities such as striking a deal with global streaming service Netflix.

“So Far Apart”, the Daily Mail newspaper said on its front page about the lack of any obvious interaction between Harry and elder brother William at Friday’s thanksgiving service.

(Reporting by Michael HoldenEditing by Helen Popper and Mark Potter)

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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian security forces on Friday arrested a young man following an assault on a top provincial cleric in the central city of Isfahan, Iranian media reported. The cleric appeared unharmed in a video broadcast after the attack.

According to the semiofficial Fars news agency, the unidentified man accosted prayer leader Yousef Tababaeinejad as he was talking with some worshipers after Friday prayers and attempted to stab him in the neck with a “sharp metal object.”

The report said mosque guards quickly detained the him and added that the case is under investigation.

A video on Iranian media later showed Tababaeinejad speaking to a reporter afterward and saying the assailant seemed to be a young man, in his 20s.

Such attacks are uncommon in Iran though in the early 1980s, clerics were targeted by armed opposition groups, mostly during or after Friday prayers. Over the past months, there have been chants against clerics during protest gatherings in Iran over price hikes and the slashing of subsidies by the government.

In early April, a stabbing attack in the revered Imam Reza shrine in the northeastern city of Mashhad killed three clerics — a rare act of violence at the major pilgrimage site for Shiite Muslims.

Tababaeinejad, a hard-line cleric appointed by the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is known as a vocal opponent of social media and music, saying they are part of the West’s software war against Islamic beliefs.

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By Andrea Shalal and Steve Holland

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. (Reuters) – President Joe Biden publicly acknowledged on Friday that he may travel to Saudi Arabia soon, a trip that multiple sources say is expected and could include talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Biden told reporters that he does not yet have direct plans to make a trip to Saudi Arabia but if he does it would be to try to advance Middle East peace prospects.

Sources familiar with the process say Biden is planning a trip to Saudi Arabia in conjunction with a trip to Europe and Israel in late June.

As recently as Wednesday, the White House said Biden still felt bin Salman was a “pariah” for what U.S. intelligence says was his role in the killing and dismembering of a political opponent, Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in Turkey in 2018.

Khashoggi’s murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul tainted the crown prince’s image as a reformist. The Saudi government has denied any involvement by him.

“Look, I’m not going to change my view on human rights but as president of the United States my job is to bring peace if I can and that’s what I’m going to try to do,” Biden said in explaining his reasoning for why he may make the trip.

The visit would be aimed at bolstering relations with Saudi Arabia at a time when Biden is trying to find ways to lower gasoline prices in the United States.

Biden would participate in a Riyadh summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a regional union whose members are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, sources said.

“There is a possibility that I would be going to meet with both the Israelis and some Arab countries at the time including I expect would be Saudi Arabia would be included in that if I did go. But I have no direct plans at the moment,” he said.

Prospects for a Biden visit improved on Thursday when OPEC + agreed to increase oil output by 200,000 barrels in July and August and a ceasefire in the Yemen war was extended.

The White House took the rare step of recognizing the role played by bin Salman in extending the Yemen ceasefire. [L1N2XP2JC]

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Steve Holland; Editing by Alistair Bell)

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BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military-installed government announced Friday that it will execute a former lawmaker from ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party and a veteran pro-democracy activist convicted of violating the country’s Counter-Terrorism Law, local media reported Friday.

Two online news outlets, Voice of Myanmar and NP News, said two other men convicted of killing a woman they believed was an informer for the military will also be executed, in addition to former lawmaker Phyo Zeya Thaw and activist Kyaw Min Yu, also known as Ko Jimmy.

Government spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun was cited as saying the decision to carry out the hangings was confirmed after legal appeals by the four were rejected.

He was cited as saying the executions will go ahead in accordance with prison procedures. According to the law, executions must be approved by the head of the government. He did not say when the executions would be carried out.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which tracks arrests and state-conducted killings, says Myanmar courts have handed down death sentences to 114 political offenders, including two children, since the army seized power from Suu Kyi’s elected government in February last year.

Last year’s army takeover triggered nationwide popular protests, which turned into a low-level insurgency after nonviolent demonstrations were met with deadly force by the security forces. The Assistance Association estimates that 1,887 civilians have died at the hands of police and the military in crackdowns against opponents of military rule.

Some resistance groups have engaged in assassinations, drive-by shootings and bombings in urban areas. The mainstream opposition organizations generally disavow such activities, while supporting armed resistance in rural areas, which are more often subject to brutal military attacks.

The last judicial execution to be carried out in Myanmar is generally believed to have been of another political offender, student leader Salai Tin Maung Oo, in 1976 under a previous military government led by dictator Ne Win.

In 2014, the sentences of prisoners on death row were commuted to life imprisonment, but several dozen convicts received death sentences between then and last year’s takeover.

Phyo Zeya Thaw, the former lawmaker, also known as Maung Kyaw, and Kyaw Min Yu were given death sentences under the country’s Counterterrorism Law in January this year by a closed military court. They were found guilty of offenses involving explosives, bombings and financing terrorism.

Phyo Zeya Thaw had been a hip-hop musician before becoming as a member of Generation Wave, a political movement formed in 2007.

He was arrested last November on a charge of possessing weapons and ammunition, according to a report in a state-run newspaper at the time. It said he was arrested on the basis of information from people detained a day earlier for shooting security personnel.

Other statements from the military accused him of being a key figure in a network of dozens of people who allegedly carried out what the military described as “terrorist” attacks in Yangon, the country’s biggest city.

He previously was jailed in 2008 under another military government after being accused of illegal association and possession of foreign currency.

Kyaw Min Yu is one of the leaders of the 88 Generation Students Group, veterans of a failed 1988 popular uprising against military rule.

He has been active politically since then, and spent more than a dozen years behind bars. He was arrested in Yangon last October.

The state-run media said Kyaw Min Yu has been accused of “conducting terrorism acts including mine attacks to undermine the state stability” and of heading a group called “Moon Light Operation” to carry out urban guerrilla attacks.

He had been put on a wanted list for social media postings that allegedly incited unrest.

The other two men sentenced to die, Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw, were convicted in April last year of allegedly torturing and killing a woman in Yangon. They targeted her as an alleged military informer and killed her in March 2021, according to an April 2021 statement from the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services.

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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s ruling Morena party looks poised to win at least four of the six races for state governorships Sunday on the back of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, its folksy, charismatic leader, and the absence of a credible opposition, analysts say.

Ironically, at its point of greatest power, Morena may also be about to enter its phase of greatest vulnerability: the young party must take control of an intractably cartel-dominated border state like Tamaulipas, and launch a divisive internal contest to see who will replace López Obrador when he leaves office in 2024.

With Morena’s dominance a seemingly foregone conclusion — the opposition will probably be left with only a half-dozen of Mexico’s 32 states — there has been a stampede by politicians of all stripes to join or ally themselves with the party for political survival, a rush that threatens to erode its already weak internal cohesion and ideology.

Analysts say Morena could be on track to become an omnipresent “government party,” like the old Institutional Revolutionary Party, the PRI, that dominated Mexican politics for 70 years from 1929 to 2000 — but without the PRI’s former reputation for iron internal discipline.

Basically, Morena is now a broad tent made of anyone who López Obrador — a political pragmatist who sometimes woos opposition politicians with ambassadorships — allows in.

It marks a new stage in Mexican politics.

“The fight is not going to be with the opposition, it’s going to be within Morena,” said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, an associate professor at George Mason University. “The movement is going to be muddied by people joining who have little to do with the (political) project.”

Those contradictions are on display in Tamaulipas, which borders Texas, where most ex-governors in the last 20 years have gone to prison for corruption or associating with the drug cartels that dominate the state.

Morena’s candidate for governor in Tamaulipas is a mild-mannered cardiologist, Américo Villarreal, who is a former PRI member and the son of a well-liked former PRI governor who was also a friend of López Obrador. The younger Villarreal has offered little new in the way of policies to take on gangs like the Northeast Cartel, which has grown so bold it attacked the U.S. consulate in the border city of Nuevo Laredo earlier this year.

While López Obrador has disappointed the U.S. government by avoiding confrontation with drug cartels or trying to arrest their leaders, he has cooperated closely with the Americans by detaining migrants seeking to reach the U.S. border.

Correa-Cabrera expects Villarreal to continue those trends, in what she says could be seen as a “narco peace” policy. Still, she noted that drug violence tends to spike after local elections, in part because deals made with outgoing politicians end, and new terms must be negotiated.

“It is going to get a little out of control for him,” Correa-Cabrera said. “The violence is going to get worse, it’s going to be a difficult start for him, how difficult I don’t know.”

Ivonne Acuña Murillo, political science professor at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, says López Obrador’s policies — like doubling the minimum wage in border areas like Tamaulipas and constantly visiting provincial towns and cities — rather than the stature of local candidates, are key to understanding Morena’s potential gubernatorial sweep.

“His work of being constantly there, not ignoring any place, constantly visiting these places every weekend to be close to the people, that is what nourishes him and gives him power,” said Acuña Murillo.

“It is a movement built by him and that follows him, and what we know of as López Obrador doesn’t necessarily coincide with what Morena is, its support base and structure, and so that is a big challenge,” she noted. “I think that it is a party that without this big leader, could be somewhat fragile.”

Morena was founded by López Obrador in 2012 and when he retires the party is likely to become a free-for-all of political division. By law, López Obrador is limited to one term..

Several top figures in his administration have already begun a sharp-elbowed dispute to win Morena’s presidential nomination in the 2024 race.

Morena also appears to be on track to win elections in Quintana Roo, home to resorts like Cancun, Tulum and Playa del Carmen. While the state’s mainstay tourism industry has recovered relatively quickly from the coronavirus pandemic, it faces huge challenges from drug violence and the arrival of foul-smelling sargassum seaweed on its beaches.

López Obrador has spent heavily in Quintana Roo to build his Maya Train tourism project, which will link colonial cities, beach resorts and Mayan archaeological sites, though it has raised hackles among environmentalists as workers cut a swath through the jungle with no environmental impact statement.

“I think Morena will certainly win, and I hope that means we will have more federal government support for tourism as a national priority and resolve the problems we face,” said Sergio Leon, the former head of the state employers’ federation.

Rafael Barajas, a civic activist in Tulum, countered that “obviously Morena is going to win, because the political group of (Tulum Mayor) Marciano Dzul has made an agreement to allow the federal government to do what it wants, so the Maya Train can go ahead without protests.”

Opposition parties still exist, but they have been forced into uncomfortable anti-López Obrador alliances.

In the two states where Morena is trailing — Aguascalientes and Durango — the candidates are running jointly for the PRI and the conservative National Action Party.

Morena is also likely to take the states of Oaxaca and Hidalgo, whose current PRI governors have been oddly close to López Obrador. Again, the challenge to Morena comes less from without, than within.

“In some states like Hidalgo, there are governors who, though they are PRI members, they are more on Morena’s side,” said Acuña Murillo. “It seems that this political culture of a strong president is alive, and the PRI logic is to be on the side that’s winning,”

“If Morena falls, it is going to be for internal reasons,” she said, “because there is no opposition that can compete with it.”

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LONDON (Reuters) – Horse-loving Queen Elizabeth was thanked for being “in the saddle” for 70 years as head of state at a service on Friday to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee, an event she missed due to her “mobility issues”.

Other senior members of the royal family joined a congregation of politicians, charity figures and groups the queen has supported for the National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral in London to pay tribute to the sovereign’s record-breaking reign.

Four days of celebrations began on Thursday when a beaming Elizabeth waved to crowds from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after a military parade and Royal Air Force flypast. She later led the lighting of the Principal Platinum Jubilee Beacon at her Windsor Castle home near London.

The 96-year-old, who has been forced to cancel a series of engagements recently due to an “episodic mobility problem”, reluctantly pulled out of Friday’s service after experiencing “some discomfort” the previous day, the palace said.

Elizabeth, who is a devout Christian and also the titular head of the Church of England, watched the service on television at Windsor Castle.

Her son and heir Prince Charles, 73, represented her, while much attention was focused on her grandson Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, who were making their first public appearance together in Britain since stepping down from royal duties two years ago.

The couple moved to the United States to lead a more independent life, and have since delivered some stinging attacks on Buckingham Palace and the royal family. They were greeted by cheers and a few boos by fans outside, while members of the congregation strained to catch a glimpse as they walked through the cathedral.

ENDURANCE

Noting the queen’s well-known love of horse-racing, Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell said in his sermon that her reign reflected the distance of the Grand National, the famous, gruelling steeplechase, rather than the Epsom Derby sprint.

“But with endurance through times of change and challenge, joy and sorrow, you continue to offer yourself in the service of our country and the Commonwealth,” he said.

“Your Majesty, we are sorry that you’re not here with us this morning, but we are so glad that you are still in the saddle. And we are glad that there is still more to come. So thank you for staying the course.”

Buckingham Palace later confirmed the queen would also miss Saturday’s 243rd Epsom Derby, which she normally attends and which together with a pop concert outside Buckingham Palace will be the focal point of the third day of Jubilee celebrations.

As with the service, she will watch the Derby on television.

Also absent from Friday’s service was her second son, Prince Andrew, 62, who has tested positive for COVID-19.

That spared the royals some awkwardness, with Andrew’s reputation shattered after he settled a U.S. lawsuit in February in which he had been accused of sexually abusing a woman when she was underage, claims he denied.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who delivered a reading, was also met by a mixture of cheers and boos from the crowd outside the cathedral, reflecting recent public anger over his conduct in office.

Yvonne Thomas, who had travelled from east London, said she loved the queen but felt Harry and Meghan had been disrespectful towards the monarch with their criticism of the institution. “I think they should be more supportive towards her,” she said.

Others in the crowd were delighted to see the couple return, along with the rest of the family. “While I am disappointed the queen is not here today, she deserves a day off,” said Akachi Okoro, 45, who had travelled from Scotland.

After the service, the Lord Mayor of the City of London hosted a reception at the medieval Guildhall that was attended by most of the senior royals, Johnson and his ministers.

Thursday marked not only the start of the Jubilee, but also the 69th anniversary of the coronation of Elizabeth, who became queen on the death of her father George VI in February 1952 and is head of state of 14 other countries including Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

She has now been on the throne for longer than any of her predecessors in 1,000 years, and is the third-longest reigning monarch ever of a sovereign state. Opinion polls show she remains hugely popular and respected among British people.

Tributes have poured in from across the globe, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un adding his own congratulations to those from the likes of U.S. President Joe Biden and Pope Francis.

(Editing by Gareth Jones)

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MADRID (Reuters) – Spain plans to relax work permit rules for foreigners, its social security and migration minister said on Friday, to address labour shortages in industries such as tourism and construction that threaten its economic recovery.

The government intends to grant more temporary visas for sectors that need workers, Jose Luis Escriva told reporters.

“We are evaluating different aspects of the migration law and where there is room to improve it … in order to address bottlenecks in Spain’s labour market,” he said.

Labour shortages have been reported in the tourism, agriculture, construction and technology industries.

The government plans to allow around 50,000 non-EU students to combine studies with work.

It will also facilitate access to work permits by allowing those who can show a previous connection to Spain through family, residence or at least two years work, even if it was informal.

A draft of the reforms listed the most pressing job vacancies as being for telemarketers, sales representatives, delivery vehicle drivers and software developers.

Spain’s tourism industry has seen a strong rebound but companies are struggling to find workers willing to wait tables and clean hotel rooms, something the government has characterised as a Europe-wide problem.

Friday’s S&P monthly purchasing managers survey showed that, despite stronger demand in May, businesses were unable to grow as fast as expected because of problems finding workers. The report highlighted potential wage inflation as a result.

There are fears staff shortages could also hamper Spain’s ability to realise pandemic recovery projects funded by the European Union.

Spain’s economy was the hardest hit in the euro zone by the pandemic, shrinking 11% in 2020.

Though unemployment is still high by European standards, at 13.65%, the pandemic encouraged more workers into the formal economy as official contracts were needed to collect furlough payments.

As a result, formal employment has reached a record high.

Spain already has migration programmes with countries such as Morocco, Ecuador and Colombia and is open to extending temporary work visas to other Central America countries. A new pilot programme with Honduras started earlier this year, sources told Reuters.

(Reporting by Belén Carreño; Writing by Christina Thykjaer; Editing by Aislinn Laing, Mark Potter and Christina Fincher)

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