Caucasus insurgents trouble Russia for decades

December 30, 2013

MOSCOW (AP) — Although there has been no claim of responsibility for the two bombings in Volgograd that killed at least 31 people in less than 24 hours, suspicion quickly fell on Caucasus rebels who have tormented Russia with terrorist attacks for nearly two decades.

The insurgency has its roots in wars fought between separatist Chechen rebels and Russian forces, but it has spread throughout the North Caucasus region, which includes several mostly Muslim republics.

Most assaults have been within the Caucasus, but attackers have occasionally reached far outside the region, including Moscow. Volgograd, which borders the North Caucasus region to the north, was earlier hit by an insurgent suicide bombing that killed six people in October.

A look at the insurgency: THE START A full-scale war in Chechnya with Russian forces began in late 1994. Although the Russians inflicted enormous damage, the separatist rebels fought them to a standstill. In the fall of 1996, the army withdrew.

The violence of the first war was largely confined to that small republic, but rebels ventured into other parts of Russia. In 1995, militants seized hostages at a hospital in the city of Budyonnovsk. At least 129 civilians were killed, many of them as Russian forces seized control of the hospital.

When Russian forces pulled out, Chechnya became de facto independent and fell into lawlessness and near anarchy, becoming a breeding ground for fighters who increasingly took on a specifically Islamist ideology.

In 1999, fighters invaded neighboring Dagestan with the goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate. They were repelled, but the invasion touched off the second war between Russian forces and rebels in Chechnya. Terrorist attacks spread well beyond the region, including the 2002 seizure of a theater in Moscow while a musical was being performed. All 40 rebels and about 130 hostages died after Russian forces pumped narcotic gas into the theater to end the siege.

In 2004, insurgents seized a school in the town of Beslan. Some 380 people died in explosions and shooting as Russian forces tried to take control. A suicide bomber killed 37 people in January 2011 at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, the country's busiest.

STRUCTURE As the insurgency expanded its operations, concentrating on Dagestan as the second Chechen war subsided, it became known as the Caucasus Emirate movement. Since 2007, its leader has been Doku Umarov, formerly the president of the self-proclaimed separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.

The command structure is unclear. With adherents scattered across a large area, much of its activity may be directed by local warlords whose influence is limited to a particular district, some analysts say.

After the Domodedovo bombing, Umarov declared an end to attacks on civilians, but reversed that order in July, urging his men to "do their utmost to derail" the Sochi Olympics, which he described as "satanic dances on the bones of our ancestors."

EFFORTS TO QUELL Under Kremlin-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya has quietened. A huge infusion of federal funds has turned parts of ruined Grozny, the capital, into a shiny display of new buildings. But Kadyrov is widely denounced for human rights abuses, including allegations of killing opponents. He has also imposed some Islamic restrictions on the region, including mandatory public headscarves for women.

Dagestan has become the epicenter of the violence, appearing to be effectively out of the central government's control. Bombings and attacks on police there are near daily occurrence, as are police operations that corner suspected insurgents and almost always end in the rebels' death.

Attacks also occur less frequently in the republics of Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkariya and Karachayev-Cherkessiya. In 2010, as concern about the rebellion grew in the run-up to the Sochi Olympics, Russia created a new administrative district encompassing the Caucasus republics to try to coordinate efforts to wipe out the insurgency. The district's center is the city of Pyatigorsk, where a car bombing near a police station killed three people on Friday.

Reformists split from Sudan's ruling party

26 Oct 2013

Reformers from National Congress Party to form new party over government's handling of September fuel-price protests.

Three leading reformers faced with expulsion from Sudan's ruling party have decided to form a new party following a deadly crackdown on protests last month, one of them has said.

"We decided to establish a new party carrying the hopes of the Sudanese people," Fadlallah Ahmed Abdallah, an MP with the governing National Congress Party (NCP), told the AFP news agency. "We have already put in motion a plan to establish this party."

The name and structure of the new organization will be revealed within one week, Abdallah added.

The announcement comes after an internal NCP investigative committee ruled that Abdallah, former sports minister Hassan Osman Riziq, and ex-presidential adviser Ghazi Salahuddin Atabani should be ousted for signing a memorandum criticizing the regime's crackdown on protests.

Atabani was the lead signatory, but 30 other prominent reformers also signed the memorandum, which was sent to President Omar al-Bashir and released to the public.

They said the government's response to the demonstrations betrayed the regime's Islamic foundations.

Signatories resign

Abdallah, a former engineering commissioner in West Darfur state, said all the signatories planned to join the new party.

He said retired military officers will also join the new group, including retired brigadier Mohammed Ibrahim, who was sentenced to five years in prison in April for allegedly leading a coup plot against the regime last year.

Bashir later granted amnesty to him and others involved.

In their memorandum, the reformers made a series of recommendations, calling for an independent probe of the shootings of civilians and a reversal of the price increases that prompted the protests.

Instead, they found themselves under investigation by the party.

Ahmed Ibrahim al-Tahir, who led the internal probe, said on Thursday that the NCP membership of Abdallah, Riziq and Atabani would be revoked if a 400-member party council gives final approval.

He said six others who endorsed the memorandum had been suspended from party activities for one year. They violated party rules by setting up a "parallel organization" and by communicating with other political parties without NCP approval, Tahir said.

'This was not a time'

He added that the memorandum came at an inappropriate time, on September 27, when security forces were struggling against "criminals" and party unity was required.

"This was not a time to raise such a memorandum," said Tahir, who is speaker of parliament.

Thousands of people, mostly poor residents of the Khartoum area, took to the streets when the government cut fuel subsidies, forcing retail prices up by more than 60 percent. Dozens were killed.

Bashir said the protests were part of an effort to end his 24-year rule, using "agents, thieves and hijackers."

The reformers said the government's economic measures were not presented to parliament, and that citizens had no chance to give input peacefully.

They called for "professionals" to take over economic policy assisted by members of other political parties.

Source: al-Jazeera.
Link: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/10/reformists-split-from-sudan-ruling-party-2013102616654477391.html.

Sudan 'on verge of collapse' amid rifts within ruling party

2013-10-22

By Ian Timberlake - KHARTOUM

Sudan is on the verge of collapse, a leading reformer in the ruling party said on Monday after his party membership was suspended following criticism of a deadly protest crackdown.

Despite the disciplinary action against him, former presidential adviser Ghazi Salahuddin Atabani said the reformers would not back down.

Atabani was the lead signatory on a letter by 31 prominent National Congress Party (NCP) reformers to President Omar al-Bashir.

They said the government's response to the late-September demonstrations over fuel price hikes betrayed the regime's Islamic foundations.

The reformers made a series of recommendations, including for an independent probe of the shooting of civilians during the protests, but they instead found themselves under investigation by a party committee.

Asked whether his party membership had been suspended, Atabani said: "I did receive a letter this morning from the committee to that effect."

But he said the committee's decisions are "null and void" because it was not formally established by the NCP.

"It is more significant though to note the huge importance the NCP leadership is attaching to this minor internal issue at a time when the country is on the verge of collapse," Atabani said.

Thousands of people, many of them Khartoum-area poor, took to the streets after September 23 when the government cut fuel subsidies, forcing retail prices up by more than 60 percent.

The protests and their Arab Spring-inspired calls for the downfall of the regime were the worst urban unrest of Bashir's 24-year rule.

Amnesty International said security forces are believed to have killed more than 200 protesters, many of whom were shot in the head or chest.

Authorities report 60-70 deaths, and say they had to intervene when crowds turned violent, attacking petrol stations and police.

Bashir said slashing the subsidies aimed to prevent the "collapse" of an economy beset by inflation and an unstable currency since the separation of South Sudan.

Khartoum lost billions of dollars in export earnings when the South became independent in 2011, taking with it most of Sudan's oil production.

Sudanese have endured two years of rising prices, a sinking currency and an unemployment rate estimated to exceed 30 percent.

The country ranks near the bottom of international indexes of corruption, human development and press freedom.

Atabani, a member of parliament, said the reformers "will pay little attention to the committee, and instead produce more political initiatives addressing the current political situation."

In their memorandum to Bashir, the reformers said the government's economic measures were not presented to parliament and citizens had no chance to give input peacefully.

They called for a reversal of the price hikes and for "professionals" to take over economic policy assisted by members of other political parties.

The reformers also sought compensation for those wounded and killed in the protests, an end to press censorship, and respect for constitutional freedoms including peaceful assembly.

Another reformer, Osama Taufiq, said he had also received a letter "that said my activity in NCP has been frozen."

He said the NCP's investigative committee is "not neutral".

Party officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Taufiq is a leader of Al-Saihun ("Tourists for the sake of God"), an elite group of volunteer mujahedeen fighters from the 1983-2005 civil war with now-independent South Sudan.

Analysts said Al-Saihun was close to a group of military men detained late last year for an alleged coup plot against the Khartoum government.

Retired armed forces Brigadier Mohammed Ibrahim, who was among the 31 who signed the reformers' memorandum, was sentenced to five years in prison in April for allegedly leading the plot.

Bashir later granted amnesty to him and others involved.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://middle-east-online.com/english/?id=62083.

Thousands protest as Sudan officials promise cash

September 29, 2013

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — Thousands of Sudanese protesters took to the streets of the capital Khartoum late Sunday, chanting "freedom" and renewing calls for their longtime autocratic president to resign after dozens of protesters were killed in a week of demonstrations sparked by austerity measures.

The government, which has imposed a media blackout, moved to appease the rancor with cash, saying it would distribute cash to half a million families to offset higher fuel and food prices in a country where nearly half the population lives below the poverty line.

The street demonstrations, which began after subsides were lifted last week, have been the most widespread in Sudan since Omar al-Bashir seized power 24 years ago. Waving pictures of slain protesters, thousands held a Sunday-night memorial for Salah al-Sanhouri, a demonstrator shot Friday during an earlier protest in Burri, an old Khartoum district.

Women called for the "downfall of the regime" and chanted "freedom, peace and justice, revolution is the choice of people." Residents cheered on the marchers from rooftops while nearby security forces were stationed in pick-up trucks carrying mounted machine guns near the spot where al-Sanhouri was shot.

"The protests will continue and will reach a general strike. This is our aim," said Ghazi al-Sanhouri, a nephew of the slain protester. "We will keep uncovering the regime's brutal tactics in suppressing the protests by killings and atrocities."

Al-Sanhouri's father, Moudthir al-Reih, told The Associated Press: "this regime will come to an end ... God willing it will be over." Public discontent had been growing over failed economic and political policies that led South Sudan to break off and became an independent state in 2011, taking approximately three quarters of Sudan's oil production with it. Critics also blamed al-Bashir for draining the country's coffers by battling armed rebel movements in three different fronts inside the country.

The unrest began in the city of Wad Madani south of Khartoum but quickly spread to at least nine districts in Khartoum and seven cities across the country. The crackdown on thousands of protesters has been violent, leaving at least 50 dead according to international rights groups. Doctors and activists put the death toll higher, telling The Associated Press it stands at more than 100. The government has acknowledged some 33 killed, including policemen.

In a latest blow to freedom of the press, Sudanese authorities also forced the country's largest daily newspaper, Al-Intibaha, to stop printing, according to the paper's website. The paper, the country's largest in terms of circulation, is owned and run by an uncle of al-Bashir, al-Tayab Mustafa. Mustafa could not be immediately reached.

Several dailies came under pressure to depict demonstrators as "saboteurs." The government also closed the offices of Gulf-based satellite networks Al-Arabiya and Sky News Arabia. Several newspapers were ordered to stop publication while others stopped voluntarily to avoid government pressure.

In an interview with Al-Arabiya Sunday, Sudan's Foreign Minister defended the move, saying "media make revolutions." "If the revolution is created by media, we have to be serious in dealing with it," he said from New York, where he was attending the United Nations General Assembly.

Diaa Eddin Belal, editor-in-chief of al-Sudani newspaper, told the AP that editions of his paper were confiscated and they were ordered to stop printing three times since Wednesday. Back to work on Sunday, Belal said that in one incident on Friday the papers had been on their way to distribution centers when he received a phone call from police telling him that there would be no papers that day.

"The government feels that it is own existence is endangered and the press is playing a role in influencing public opinion ... they want papers to turn into official gazettes that reflect only (the government's) point of view with no criticism or negative feedback," he said.

In a move aimed at pacifying a frustrated public, the government said Sunday it would distribute one-off payments to families in need, raise the minimum wage and boost public sector salaries. The official SUNA news agency reported that Minister of Social Solidarity Mashair al-Dawlab ordered a half million families to be given 150-Sudanese-pound ($21 by local exchange rate) aid packages in early October. It also quoted the deputy finance minister as saying the public sector salary increases would start at the same time.

Meanwhile, Sudan's main labor union said a hike in minimum wages promised since January would be implemented in the coming two days. Still worried of lingering protests however, the Education Ministry said on Sunday that schools will remain closed until Oct. 20. Schools were closed since Wednesday after high school students led protests in different districts in the capital chanting against al-Bashir.

Bosnia's failed privatizations key cause of unrest

February 12, 2014

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — In the worst unrest since Bosnia's terrible civil war two decades ago, buildings have been set ablaze and the presidency has been put under siege. But the trouble this time is economic — not ethnic.

When Bosnia abandoned communism about two decades ago, officials devised a plan to privatize state-owned companies in a way they hoped would avoid mass layoffs for state workers. It was supposed to be a smooth transition after the 1992-1995 war that left 100,000 dead and devastated the country's infrastructure.

But it has been a disaster for people like Munevera Drugovac, a 58-year-old widow, who works for a company that was bought by a businessman in 2004. She hasn't been paid in 19 months. "Back then, I didn't have electricity and heating because of the war," she said. "Now, I don't have it because of unpaid bills."

More than 80 percent of privatizations have failed. Many well-connected tycoons have swept into these companies, stripping them of their assets, declaring bankruptcy and leaving thousands without jobs or with minimal pay.

Protests erupted Feb. 4 in the northern city of Tuzla, where thousands of factory workers burned government buildings and clashed with police over the sell-off of four state-owned companies that left them without jobs and earned salaries.

The violence spread to other cities, including the capital, Sarajevo, with grievances growing to include a 40-percent unemployment rate, widespread corruption and a widening gap between rich and poor.

After the breakup of socialist Yugoslavia, Bosnians knew little about capitalism and relied on Westerners for advice. "We entered the process of privatization with people who had no idea what a market economy was and without rule of law," economist Svetlana Cenic said. "That's a recipe for disaster."

The idea behind Bosnia's privatization program was for the new owners to invest money into state-owned companies, modernize them and maintain the workforce. Bosnia's privatizations are overseen by a government agency. If the new owner doesn't fulfill contractual obligations, the agency can sue him and a court decision can annul the deal. But court proceedings can take years, during which time many owners sell off the companies' assets and declare bankruptcy.

For years, Bosnian workers affected by failed privatizations have relied on this slow-moving court system for justice. Drugovac is one of them. She said she has worked for Sarajevo-based Feroelektro, the third-biggest trading company in the former Yugoslavia, since 1984 when it was state-owned. A tycoon, Goran Stanic, bought 60 percent of the company a decade ago for 1 million euros.

Drugovac, who has taken part in the protests, said he immediately cut salaries and put the company's 167 workers on minimum wages. For the past 19 months, Drugovac said she hasn't been paid her 130-euro ($180) monthly salary, but she keeps going to work while a court case is pending.

"My husband was killed during the war," Drugovac said. "I was killed by Goran Stanic in peace — without a bullet." The agreement Stanic signed with the government stipulated he would invest 11 million euros. Stanic told The Associated Press that six months into the deal he had invested 850,000 euros and was planning to fulfill his obligations when the government withdrew from the deal because another company had challenged the tender.

Stanic and the government ended up in court and the trial is still ongoing. "I had good intentions," Stanic said. "In return I got lies, lawsuits and humiliation." The company's manager, Djoko Okuka, said the privatizations agency notified Stanic he wasn't obliged to keep investing until a judgment is passed, but that he has to keep all the workers. He said it was true the employees hadn't received 19 months of salaries, but that beforehand they were paid salaries even though they didn't earn them.

"They couldn't earn them," he said. "The company made no profit and its accounts are blocked until the judgment is passed." Stanic moved his other private companies into the Feroelektro facilities without making them pay rent, but requiring Feroelectrio to pay the utility costs, Feroelektro union worker chief Senad Smajic said.

Stanic took out a 2.4 million-euro loan and offered Feroelekro's most valuable building in downtown Sarajevo as collateral. With the money, he built a private lime factory while making Feroelektro pay his loan back, Smajic explained.

"He treated our company like a parasite that sucks your soul out," Smajic said. The head of the government privatization agency, Suhret Fazlic, said before he took the post two years ago, everything at the agency was done according to a "mafia pattern that includes people in high positions and people in the judiciary."

Analysts and international officials blame Bosnia's political setup for the situation, saying the country must reform its constitution in order to start functioning properly. The 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement ended the vicious war between Bosnia's three ethnic groups — Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs. It divided the country into two autonomous regions, one for Serbs and the other shared by Bosniaks and Croats. The regions are linked by a weak central government, parliament and presidency.

The Bosniak-Croat Federation is further divided in 10 cantons, each with a similar set of institutions, meaning that nearly 4 million people are governed by more than 150 ministries on four different levels of government - an expensive and ineffective system that scares off foreign investors and is preventing the country from joining the European Union.

The monthly salaries of parliamentarians are the highest in the region — up to 3,500 euros ($4,750.55) — while average salaries don't exceed 350 euros. Corruption is widespread and high taxes for the country's bloated public sector eat away at residents' paychecks. Privatizations have decimated the middle class and sent the working class into poverty.

Some observers believe widespread corruption has been allowed to flourish, benefiting an elite group with political connections. "They have penetrated the state, turning the government itself into a facade," said Denisa Kostovicova, an associate professor of global politics at the London School of Economics. "What now appears as a dysfunctional state is in actual fact a very functional system that distributes the privileges, but only to the networked."

Afghanistan to release 65 'dangerous' Taliban prisoners

Kabul (AFP)
Feb 11, 2014

Afghanistan on Tuesday said it would press ahead with the release of scores of alleged Taliban fighters from jail despite US objections that the men were a threat to NATO and Afghan forces.

Kabul announced on January 9 that a total of 72 detainees held at Bagram jail near the capital would be freed due to lack of evidence, sparking strong condemnation from the United States.

Afghan authorities "concluded that the there is no evidence against 72 out of 88 prisoners. We reviewed their cases again after objections by the US forces, and for now we will release 65 prisoners," Abdul Shukur Dadras from the Afghan government body reviewing detainees at Bagram said on Tuesday.

"These 65 inmates... will be released as soon as early next week," he told AFP.

The issue threatens to further strain US-Afghan relations amid pressure for the two countries to sign a long-delayed security deal allowing some American soldiers to stay in the country after 2014.

In a statement, US forces in Afghanistan said the prisoners were a "legitimate force protection concern" for both Afghan and international forces fighting a bloody Taliban-led insurgency since late 2001.

"The release of these detainees is a major step backward for the rule of law in Afghanistan," the statement said.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said American troops would be ready to kill or capture the freed detainees if they posed a danger.

"It is the US position that these are threats to US forces and should they take up arms against us, we would take immediate action," Colonel Steven Warren told reporters.

Asked to elaborate, Warren said that "of course, we would try to kill and capture them as the battlefield situation presents."

Bagram was the main detention center housing Taliban and other insurgents captured by the Western military forces until it was transferred to Afghan control last year.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Afghanistan_to_release_65_dangerous_Taliban_prisoners_999.html.

Bahrain: Blasts hit police 3 years after uprising

February 14, 2014

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Explosions targeted police in Bahrain on Friday as clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters on the third anniversary of the Gulf nation's uprising left dozens wounded, authorities and activists said.

Efforts to restart on-and-off reconciliation talks between the Shiite-dominated opposition and the Sunni monarchy and its allies have so far failed to bring an end to simmering unrest in the country, an American ally that hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

Activists frequently clash with police in mainly Shiite villages just beyond the modern skyscrapers and shopping malls of the capital, Manama. Tensions intensified as the anniversary of the Arab Spring-inspired uprising approached, with government forces tightening security and activists blocking roads to Shiite communities with oil slicks and smoldering debris.

Mohammed al-Maskati, the president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, said his group recorded 38 protesters injured in clashes since Thursday evening. The injuries were caused by birdshot fire, tear gas and beatings, he said.

Government forces also reported casualties. An explosion struck a minibus carrying police Friday evening in Dih, the Ministry of Interior said on its official Twitter feed. Dih is a mainly Shiite village just west of the capital, Manama.

Photos released on the ministry's Twitter feed showed the side panels of the white bus torn from the chassis and twisted upward near the wheel wells. A ministry official near the scene of the blast told reporters that three police officers were injured in the explosion. He insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

Another explosion injured two police officers in Dair, near the country's main airport, according to the Interior Ministry. Anti-government factions have been increasingly using bombs targeting government forces, though they typically do not have the force of explosives used by insurgents in places such as Iraq or Syria. Authorities in late December announced the seizure of large amounts of explosives, automatic rifles and ammunition.

Earlier in the day, protesters were turned back by tear gas and stun grenades as they tried to make their way to the former site of Manama's Pearl Square, the focal point for the protest movement that started on February 14, 2011. The square was cleared by police raids and later razed in the early weeks of the unrest and is now sealed off by security forces.

Some of the youths marching Friday were seen carrying Bahraini flags, while others were masked and held unlit Molotov cocktails or metal rods. Police used tear gas to prevent them from approaching the former protest grounds.

Opposition groups dominated by the country's majority Shiites began protesting in 2011 to seek greater political rights from the country's rulers. More than 65 people have died in the unrest, but rights groups and others place the death toll higher.

Neighboring Sunni-ruled Gulf countries, led by Saudi Arabia, sent troops to Bahrain to help quell the uprising. Many activists remain frustrated that too little has been done to meet their demands. "After three years the government did not achieve anything, only besieging Pearl Square," said Wajiha Ali, a 23-year-old mother of two. "I really want to live in a country that respects me and gives me my full rights. ... The government is not looking for long-term solutions, just security measures."

On Thursday, the eve of the anniversary, 29 were arrested over "rioting and vandalism" in villages outside Manama, the Interior Ministry said. Roads were blocked, a car was burned by protesters and a school bus carrying children was attacked by "Molotov-throwing thugs," the ministry alleged.

Repeated rounds of political talks have failed to significantly close the rifts between the two sides and the opposition is demanding amnesty for what they claim are more than 3,000 political prisoners held in Bahraini prisons.

Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa met with top opposition leaders last month to once again revive the talks. "The government is serious about dialogue and hope all others are also serious," government spokeswoman Sameera Rajab told The Associated Press.

The main Shiite bloc al-Wefaq and other opposition groups see the negotiations as a positive step but have said their success depends on steps toward greater power sharing in the kingdom. But many activists in the streets have taken a harder line, calling for the toppling of the government and at times clashing violently with police.

"We have nothing to lose. They treat us like animals," said protester Ali Jaber, 19, next to a makeshift roadblock set up using a downed lamp post in Dih earlier this week. Al-Wefaq head Ali Salman and other opposition leaders have urged followers to rally to an anti-government demonstration scheduled to be held Saturday east of the capital.

The United Nations expressed concern at Bahrain's persistent violence, urging both sides to exercise restraint and authorities to act in strict accordance with their international human rights obligations.

"All Bahrainis should work toward creating a conducive atmosphere for a genuine dialogue in the interest of peace, stability, reform and prosperity for all Bahrainis," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said through a spokesman.

Associated Press writer Adam Schreck in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Edith Lederer in New York contributed reporting.

Koreas agree to hold family reunions as planned

February 14, 2014

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North and South Korea agreed in a rare high-level meeting Friday to stop insulting each other and to go ahead with planned reunions of Korean War-divided families next week despite a dispute over upcoming U.S.-South Korean military drills.

Highly emotional reunions of long-separated families haven't been held in three years. The agreements reflect recent attempts by the rival Koreas to ease animosity. Analysts, however, say ties could quickly sour again because the countries may disagree over how to implement the arrangement. Authoritarian North Korea, for instance, is demanding that the South Korean government control media reports critical of the North's leadership, something democratic Seoul has said it cannot do.

A year after repeatedly threatening nuclear war and vowing to bolster its atomic capability, North Korea has recently pushed for better ties with Seoul, agreeing to arrange reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. Analysts say the impoverished North needs good relations with Seoul to win outside investment and aid.

But the country is still sending mixed signals. It earlier threatened to stop the family reunions set for Feb. 20-25 in protest of U.S.-South Korean military drills scheduled to start later this month. A U.S. research institute said Thursday that North Korea has accelerated work at a site used for three previous underground nuclear test explosions, though a new test doesn't appear imminent.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warmly welcomed the agreement, calling it "a step in the right direction," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said. "The secretary-general encourages both sides to keep up the momentum by continuing high-level engagement and taking further steps to build confidence and trust," Nesirky said. "Tension between the two Koreas has been high and inter-Korean relations have remained strained for far too long."

Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, was "particularly encouraged" that the agreement followed his appeal to Kim Yong Nam, North Korea's ceremonial head of state, at the Olympics in Sochi, Russia "to show flexibility and to decouple humanitarian matters, such as family reunions, from political and security matters," Nesirky said.

The meeting of senior officials from the Koreas at a border village on Friday was the second this week. A meeting on Wednesday — the countries' highest-level talks in years — achieved little progress because of North Korea's demand that South Korea delay the drills' start until the reunions end, according to South Korean officials. North Korea calls the exercises a rehearsal for invasion, while South Korea and the U.S. say they are defensive in nature.

The countries' negotiators both made concessions to achieve the agreements. Chief South Korean delegate Kim Kyou-hyun told reporters in Seoul that North Korea withdrew its insistence that the reunions be delayed because of the drills. A joint statement released by the South Korean government and North Korea's state media also showed that South Korea agreed to a North Korean proposal that the sides stop vilifying each other, which North Korea has demanded over the past weeks in protest of South Korean media reports critical of its leader, Kim Jong Un.

"It's still ambiguous how they can stop mutual insults, but the fact that South Korea agreed to it is meaningful," said Lim Eul Chul, a North Korea expert at South Korea's Kyungnam University. He said top South Korean officials are expected to stop making comments that could provoke North Korea.

Chang Yong Seok of the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University said North Korea may still disrupt the family reunions if South Korea's conservative newspapers publish reports critical of the North's leadership — something they routinely do — before the reunions start. "North Korea won't put up with that," he said.

North Korea has a track record of launching surprise provocations and scrapping cooperation projects with South Korea when it fails to win concessions. It canceled family reunions at the last minute in September when it accused Seoul of preparing war drills and other hostile acts.

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his South Korean counterpart Yun Byung-se warned North Korea against any possible aggression, saying it should not use the military exercises as an excuse to stay away from talks or to delay attempts to improve ties.

Associated Press Writer Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report from the United Nations.

Seoul: Rival Koreas hold senior-level meeting

February 12, 2014

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Senior officials from the rival Koreas met Wednesday at a border village, their highest-level talks in years and a potential signal that Pyongyang wants better ties and the resumption of lucrative cooperative projects.

Seoul officials said the meeting was requested by North Korea, which has launched a recent charm offensive after raising tensions last spring with repeated threats to fire nuclear-tipped missiles against Seoul and Washington. Later this month, the two Koreas are to hold reunions of families separated since the 1950-53 Korean War. It would be the first such reunions in more than three years.

Wednesday's meeting began with no fixed agenda, but South Korea wants to discuss ways to make the reunions run smoothly and whether to pursue them regularly, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry, which is responsible for ties with North Korea. The details of Wednesday's closed-door meetings weren't immediately available.

North Korea canceled planned reunions at the last minute in September, and has recently threatened to scrap this month's reunions because of upcoming U.S.-South Korean military drills, which it says are preparations for an invasion. But outside analysts say it's unlikely that North Korea will halt the reunions this time because it needs improved ties with South Korea to help attract foreign investment and aid.

South Korea has so far dismissed North Korea's recent proposals for a series of measures that Pyongyang says are needed to ease tensions, saying the North must first take nuclear disarmament steps and show how sincere it is about its stated desire to improve ties.

Wariness in Seoul is still high because of a weeks-long barrage of threats and provocations last spring from Pyongyang after international condemnation of its third nuclear test. Pyongyang, which has repeatedly vowed to expand its nuclear arsenal, is trying to build nuclear-armed missiles that can reach the continental U.S., but most experts say the country has yet to master the technology needed to mount an atomic bomb on a missile.

Last month, the top U.S. intelligence official said that North Korea has expanded the size of its uranium enrichment facility at its main nuclear complex and restarted a reactor that was used for plutonium production before it was shut down in 2007.

The chief South Korean delegate at the meeting, Kim Kyou-hyun, is a vice-ministerial-level national security official with the presidential Blue House. The North Korean delegation is headed by senior ruling Workers' Party official Won Tong Yon, a veteran official specializing in ties with Seoul. North Korea demanded South Korea send a senior Blue House official to the meeting, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry.

The meeting is the highest between the Koreas in years. They held a series of high-level meetings in 2007, including a second summit of their leaders, according to the Unification Ministry. Nuclear envoys met in 2011 on the sidelines of a regional security forum in Indonesia. Since then, ties have become increasingly bad. Last June, plans to hold a high-level meeting fell apart because of a protocol dispute over who would represent each side.

North Korea is expected to demand on Wednesday that South Korea agree to restart a lucrative joint tourism project in North Korea, increase humanitarian aid and downsize the upcoming military drills with the U.S., said Yoo Ho-yeol, a professor at Korea University in South Korea.

Yoo said the fact that North Korea proposed the meeting and is sending an important official specializing in inter-Korean ties is a sign it wants to showcase its desire for better ties in a "more explicit manner."

The Korean Peninsula technically remains in a state of war because the Korean War ended with a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.

China anger over Spanish arrest warrant for Jiang Zemin

Beijing (AFP)
Feb 11, 2014

Beijing expressed anger on Tuesday after a Spanish judge sought arrest warrants for former Chinese president Jiang Zemin and four other senior officials as part of a probe into alleged genocide in Tibet.

"China is strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposed to the erroneous acts taken by the Spanish agencies in disregard of China's position," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing.

Hua's comments came after Spanish High Court Judge Ismael Moreno on Monday ordered Interpol to issue arrest warrants for the five for genocide, torture and crimes against humanity, in a case brought against them by human rights groups.

"Jiang exercised supervisory authority over the people who directly committed abuses, which makes him responsible for acts of torture and other major abuses of human rights perpetrated by his subordinates against the people of Tibet," Moreno wrote in his ruling.

"He promoted and actively implemented policies whose objective was to populate the Autonomous Region of Tibet with a majority from the Han ethnic group, detain thousands of Tibetans during lengthy periods, torture the detained and submit them to other illegal abuses."

In addition to Jiang, the judge ordered the arrest of former premier Li Peng and three others.

The High Court in November said it had accepted arguments from Spanish pro-Tibet human rights groups that the five men may have had a role in human rights abuses and should be questioned.

The case was brought by the rights groups under Spain's recognition of "universal jurisdiction", a doctrine that allows judges to hear certain cases of human rights abuses committed in other countries.

The theory allowed Spain's former judge Baltasar Garzon to try to arrest and put on trial the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

Jiang is unlikely ever to appear in a Spanish dock, but Hua blasted what she referred to as overseas groups pursuing Tibetan independence and called for the Spanish government to "see through the Dalai group's attempt to split the country", referring to exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

Still, she emphasized that as China does not interfere in other countries' affairs it had no comment on how "domestic forces in Spain deal with" the issue.

"But I believe this incident concerns the sound development of bilateral relations, so we hope that the Spanish government can properly deal with this matter and tell right from wrong," she added.

While very few probes opened under "universal jurisdiction" have seen the accused brought to trial in Spain, investigations have irritated some countries.

Last month, lawmakers from Spain's ruling Popular Party tabled a bill to limit courts' use of the doctrine.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/China_anger_over_Spanish_arrest_warrant_for_Jiang_Zemin_999.html.

Italian premier quitting after losing key support

February 13, 2014

ROME (AP) — Abandoned by an ambitious party rival, Italian Premier Enrico Letta announced Thursday he is resigning after losing essential support for his battered, 10-month-old coalition government.

Hours earlier, Matteo Renzi, the 39-year-old leader of Letta's Democratic Party, rallied party executives to an overwhelming vote for a change of command in the premier's office. The Florence mayor is a fast-rising star in Italy's political firmament and has been maneuvering for months to become an unusually young premier.

Renzi said it was time for "radical change" in order to pull economically stagnant and politically unstable Italy out of its "quagmire," insisting that Italy needs more decisive leadership than Letta has offered.

Milan's market barely reacted to the development, and was down by barely 0.17 percent. Even in a country known for its political tumult, the last several years have been bumpy. Renzi would be the fourth premier since late 2011, as the country scrambled to regain the confidence of skeptical markets with tough austerity measures.

Making no comment on his bitter defeat, Letta said he would formally hand in his resignation on Friday. He has defended his short tenure, insisting in a last-ditch pitch to fellow Democrats on Wednesday that Italy's economy has just started growing again, even if slowly.

President Giorgio Napolitano, who has staunchly opposed calling for new elections, could conceivably ask Letta to try to win a vote of renewed confidence in Parliament to make the legislature, and not the Democratic Party, the arbiter of the premier's fate. But without most of his Democrats, the largest party in Parliament, Letta's chances of commanding a legislative majority appeared doomed.

Napolitano would likely ask Renzi to try to form a coalition solid enough to command a working majority in Parliament that could quickly enact pressing electoral reform and measures to create jobs, especially with youth unemployment hovering around 40 percent.

Those consultations will bring Silvio Berlusconi, the scandal-tainted former premier, back onto center-stage. Berlusconi's center-right Forza Italia party is Italy's second-largest party after the Democrats, and his lawmakers' backing will be crucial to Parliament's effectiveness.

Forza Italia said Berlusconi will lead his party's delegation to the presidential palace to confer with Napolitano. Only last month, he made a deal with Renzi to back electoral reform. Both Renzi and Berlusconi are betting that overhauling the voting system so that the ballot box will yield clear winners, instead of the frequently fragmented coalitions it has so far.

Whether Renzi's power grab might alienate potential voters is a big unknown. Renzi told his party's executives he realizes there is a "risk he could be burned." One of the Democratic leaders who opposed Renzi's gambit, Pippo Civati, said after the showdown: "I might be in the minority" but the party should "give the word back to the citizens" at the ballot box to determine who governs them.

Civati also worried that Berlusconi could do an about-face on the reform deal, robbing Renzi of his main potential achievement. "Let's hope Berlusconi doesn't want to change is mind," Civati said. In response to critics who see him shamelessly going after power, Renzi insisted pulling the plug on the government wasn't about "the oversized ambition of Renzi." Just a week ago, Renzi has said he wasn't interested in taking Letta's place through a power play.

Italian voters could be irked that they aren't picking their government's leader at the ballot box. Letta didn't run for office, but was asked by Napolitano to try to end weeks of political stalemate that resulted from inconclusive elections exactly one year ago.

The last candidate for premier to be elected was Berlusconi in 2008. But the 2011 financial market crisis forced him to resign, and Napolitano then tapped economist Mario Monti to lead a non-elected government of technocrats. A year later, Monti's government collapsed after Berlusconi quit supporting him.

Renzi also might be handicapped by his experience in Parliament — zero. Before serving as Florence mayor, he was president of Florence province, a relatively minor post. London-based analyst Wolfango Piccoli said "markets are likely to react positively to Renzi" becoming premier, because they figure "the pro-reform and straight-talking politician will re-ignite reforms."

A Berlusconi protege, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, who stuck with Letta's government even after Berlusconi defected, took a wait-and-see attitude toward a potential Renzi government. "Either you do the big things or if you are going to do the little things, it's better to have elections," Alfano told reporters. "We're not in love with Parliament lasting until 2018," when elections are formally due, Alfano said.

He called it "Kafkaesque" that on Friday, the national statistics bureau was set to unveil figures backing up Letta's contention that during his embattled tenure Italy's economy had returned to growth after years of dismal performance. Still, Alfano likened the battered Letta government to "a ship caught between the waves of a tempest."

Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this report.

Rival Cyprus leaders resume peace talks

February 12, 2014

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The leaders of Cyprus' rival Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities embarked Tuesday on a new round of talks aimed at achieving the long-elusive goal of reunifying the ethnically split island nation.

Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots, Dervis Eroglu met inside the U.N.-controlled buffer zone that slices through the capital, Nicosia, to herald the restart of talks after a 20-month stalemate.

Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded after a coup aiming for union with Greece. Only the internationally recognized, Greek Cypriot-dominated south enjoys the benefits of the island's 2004 European Union entry.

Talks resumed after the two leaders agreed on a document outlining key provisions of an envisioned federation. It's a different approach from previous talks, one that Anastasiades insisted was necessary to prevent talks from dragging on without results like so many earlier rounds of negotiations over the last four decades.

"Today's joint statement outlines the basic principles for a solution... (it) is not the final accord but the beginning of an arduous effort in order to reach the desired goals," Anastasiades told reporters.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the U.N. Security Council welcomed the joint communique and the relaunch of negotiations. The council expressed hope "that the leaders will take advantage of this opportunity to reach a comprehensive settlement" and said it "looks forward to substantive progress in the negotiations as soon as possible." It underlined "the benefits that reunification will bring to the island."

Ban said the United Nations will continue to support the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots "in their efforts to reunify the island and move on from decades of separation." The White House hailed the leaders' "courage and vision" on forging the declaration and echoed top EU officials who said it laid "a solid foundation" for achieving peace. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pledged the world body's "resolute commitment" to the talks.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country's troubled EU membership bid is further hobbled by the Cyprus dispute, expressed hope the talks take "no backward steps." Bailed-out Cyprus would stand to benefit from a peace agreement. The allure of new-found offshore gas deposits could also spur talks.

However, Anastasiades faces strong domestic pressure from critics who say the document contains the seeds of possible Turkish Cypriot statehood, which could unravel any peace accord.

Venezuela opposition fears crackdown after protest

February 14, 2014

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Members of Venezuela's opposition warned of a coming government crackdown after authorities tried to search the offices of a political party and blamed a hard-line leader for inciting violence that led to three deaths during anti-government protests.

A day after more than 10,000 people marched against President Nicolas Maduro's 10-month-old government, a swirl of rumors hung over much of Caracas on Thursday. A group of about 200 students occupied the city's main highway for two hours before re-joining a larger, peaceful protest in the city's wealthy eastern district to demand justice for a 24-year-old anti-government demonstrator who was killed Wednesday by a bullet. Demonstrations also took place in several cities around the country.

Meanwhile, local newspaper El Universal published what it said was a leaked copy of an arrest order for Leopoldo Lopez, the Harvard-trained former mayor who has been spearheading the wave of protests around the nation in recent weeks, on charges including conspiracy, murder and terrorism.

Chief federal prosecutor Luisa Ortega didn't mention an arrest order for Lopez in two statements to the press Thursday. But several Cabinet officials denounced him as the mastermind of what they called a "fascist" U.S.-backed strategy to replicate the unrest that preceded the 2002 coup that briefly removed President Hugo Chavez from power.

Lopez himself hasn't been heard from since a Wednesday night press conference in which he vowed to remain in the streets to channel rising popular frustration with 56 percent inflation, rampant crime and an assault on political freedoms.

Allies denied that Lopez was backing down in the face of what they warned is an expected government crackdown, saying that he's consulting with aides to determine whether his arrest is being sought. Lawyers for his Popular Will party turned back a group of armed military intelligence officers who tried to search their headquarters without a warrant. Pro-government lawmakers also vowed to strip congresswoman Maria Corina Machado, another fiery government critic, of her parliamentary immunity from prosecution.

Human rights groups warned the government is abusing its authority and trying to intimidate opponents while blocking local and international media from reporting. In Washington, a State Department official urged Maduro's government live up to its international obligations to protect freedoms of expression and Venezuelans' right to peaceful assembly.

"What Venezuela urgently needs is for these killings to be investigated and the killers brought to justice, no matter their political affiliation," Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director for Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. "What Venezuela does not need is authorities scapegoating political opponents or shutting down news outlets whose coverage they don't like."

The international criticism showed no sign of deterring Maduro, who warned he'd severely punish anyone found conspiring against his socialist government. He also lashed out at the international media, saying that France's AFP news agency was at the front of a campaign of "manipulation" that also included Colombia's NTN24, which the government pulled from the airwaves during its live transmission of the unrest.

"Nobody is going to come from abroad to pressure or disturb us," he said during a televised address Thursday night, during which residents could be heard banging on pots of pans in protest in several parts of the city.

Nationwide, authorities said 66 people had been seriously wounded during the past two days, including 17 members of security forces, and another 69 detained. Lopez's allies blamed the violence on the government, charging that security forces acting on the president's orders stood by Wednesday while pro-government militia members roared up on motorcycles and attacked the small group of student protesters that lingered downtown after the biggest-ever rally against Maduro disbanded peacefully.

Lopez is the leader of a splinter faction of the opposition alliance challenging what it considers the meek leadership of two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles. "We chose this path which could be long but it's safe," Capriles said in comments Thursday in which he condemned the government's strong-armed tactics but also distanced himself from those within his own camp trying to stir violence.

Analysts also questioned whether Lopez's strategy, known as "The Exit," for the hashtag used on social media to mobilize the more than 10,000 people who turned out for Wednesday's protest, could end up strengthening Maduro's hand and undermine two years of hard-fought electoral gains by the opposition.

While Venezuela's economy is sinking deeper every day, the moment hasn't arrived for a Ukraine-like standoff on the streets, said Carlos Romero, a political analyst at the Central University of Venezuela.

Maduro has done a skillful job ensuring the loyalty of the military, traditionally the arbiter of political disputes in Venezuela, and foreign governments are hesitant to exert too much pressure on the president, Romero said.

At the same time, after a string of exhausting elections following Chavez's death last March, most Venezuelans are focused on the more immediate task of putting food on the table amid record shortages, 56 percent inflation and a weakening currency.

"The Venezuelan people want peace and stability right now, not political war," said Romero, who is an adviser to the opposition alliance. "The middle class that took to the streets are the same ones who've always supported the opposition. They aren't the ones who will deliver regime change."

Associated Press writers Andrew Rosati, Fabiola Sanchez, Ricardo Nunes and Jorge Rueda contributed to this report. Luis Alonso Lugo contributed from Washington.

3 killed as Venezuelan protests turn violent

February 13, 2014

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Armed vigilantes on motorcycles attacked anti-government demonstrators in Venezuela on Wednesday, setting off a stampede by firing into crowds as the biggest protest against President Nicolas Maduro's year-old administration turned violent. Three people were killed.

Chaos erupted in downtown Caracas when the gang roared up and began shooting at more than 100 protesters who had been sparring with security forces at the tail end of heated but otherwise peaceful protests organized by hard-line members of the opposition. Most of the roughly 10,000 participants in the demonstrations had already gone home.

As people fled in panic, one demonstrator fell to the ground with a bullet wound in his head. Onlookers screamed "assassins" as they rushed the 24-year-old marketing student to a police vehicle. He was later identified by family members as Bassil Da Costa.

Also killed was the leader of a pro-government 23rd of January collective, as militant supporters of Venezuela's socialist administration call themselves. National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello said the "revolutionary" known by his nickname Juancho was "vilely assassinated by the fascists" but he didn't provide details.

The troubles moved eastward to the wealthier neighborhood of Chacao after nightfall, leaving another unidentified demonstrator dead from a bullet wound, district Mayor Ramon Muchacho said via Twitter. Calm returned as midnight approached, leaving smoldering trash cans strewn along several blocks where demonstrators threw rocks at government buildings.

The unrest comes on the heels of a wave of increasingly violent, student-led protests that have spread across Venezuela the past two weeks. Their anger is being fueled by frustration with Maduro's handling of the inflation-plagued economy, worsening crime and human rights concerns.

Maduro expressed regret for the fatalities, which be blamed squarely on "fascist" groups that he said are conspiring to overthrow him. He said he ordered security forces to protect major cities and block any actions to destabilize the country.

"Whoever goes out to provoke violence without a permit to demonstrate will be detained," Maduro said in a nationally televised address to commemorate the 200th anniversary of a key battle in Venezuela's war of independence.

The threats show no signs of deterring hard-liner opposition leaders, who in a late-night news conference vowed to remain on the streets. They blamed the violence on government supporters who infiltrated the big protest march as it was concluding, citing as evidence the police's refusal to use force to contain a small group throwing rocks.

More than 30 anti-government protesters were arrested and are being investigated for inciting violence, Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres said. About two dozen people were believed injured during the clashes and were being treated at hospitals, although the government did not provide a tally of casualties, said Inti Rodriguez, a member of the human rights group Provea.

Pro-government supporters countered with a march of their own Wednesday to express support for Maduro, who has accused opponents of trying to violently oust him from power just two months after his party's candidates prevailed by a landslide in mayoral elections.

While anti-government demonstrators vented frustration over a range of issues they were united in their resolve to force Maduro out of office by constitutional means. "All of these problems — shortages, inflation, insecurity, the lack of opportunities — have a single culprit: the government," Leopoldo Lopez, a Harvard University-trained former mayor, told crowds gathered earlier in the day at Plaza Venezuela in Caracas.

Lopez, who leads a faction of the opposition that has challenged what it considers the meek leadership of two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, called the protests "a moral and patriotic duty."

"If we don't do it now, then when? And if it's not us, who will?" he said. The crowd then marched to the federal prosecutor's office to demand the release of 13 demonstrators who human rights groups say were illegally arrested during the past two weeks of protests.

A smaller group of mostly students lingered after most demonstrators went home, setting fire to trash and ripping apart concrete sidewalks and steel grating to throw at police and national guardsmen, who responded by firing rubber bullets into the air.

Almost none of the scenes of violence were broadcast on local television, which is dominated by state-run channels and private networks reluctant to criticize the government, leaving Venezuelans to turn to social media to stay informed.

International media outlets also faced obstacles. Colombia's NTN24 was providing live coverage but it was pulled from pay TV without explanation. Correspondents for The Associated Press and other media organizations were roughed up by police who smashed or seized their cameras.

Associated Press writers Fabiola Sanchez, Ricardo Nunez and Jorge Rueda contributed to this report.

Venezuelan leader ties the knot

Jul. 16, 2013

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his longtime companion, former Attorney General Cilia Flores, have married in a civil ceremony.

Maduro made the announcement Tuesday on state TV during a meeting with allied governors.

The two wed in a ceremony presided over by the ruling socialists' Caracas mayor, Jorge Rodriguez. Maduro tweeted photos.

Maduro and Flores have been a couple for two decades, ever since the failed 1992 coup led by the late President Hugo Chavez. Chavez's longtime foreign minister and chosen successor, the 50-year-old Maduro was elected president on April 14.

Flores has three children, Maduro one, both from previous unions.

Source: Associated Press (AP).
Link: http://www.apnewsarchive.com/2013/Venezuelan_leader_ties_the_knot/id-4bf12d8fd5e74038a8bc2530225c5890.

Street named after Hugo Chavez appears in Moscow

03.07.2013

A street in Moscow was named after famous leader of the Bolivarian Revolution, Hugo Chavez, who died on March 5th, 2013. Hugo Chavez Street appeared in Moscow on Tuesday in the Khoroshovsky district in the north of Moscow, ITAR-TASS reported.

"Right now I feel that the memory of Chavez is alive. He visited Moscow ten times and never felt like a stranger here. With his infinite love for justice and equality, he crossed the borders of the land where he was born. In the XXI century, he saw the new Russia. Chavez always remembered that Moscow became the line that broke the claims of those who wanted to conquer the world during the 1940s.

The ceremony was attended by representatives of the city government, numerous Russian guests and members of diplomatic missions. After the hymns of the two countries, Venezuelans, holding carnations in their hands, started chanting "Chavez Forever!" and "Viva Maduro!"

According to the map, there are no residential buildings on Hugo Chavez Street, so no one will have to change their passports. The street is 170 meters long; it connects Mikoyan Street and Leningrad Avenue. The new street is a small park that leads to a hotel.

The decision to rename ten streets of Moscow, including the one to be named after Hugo Chavez, was taken at a cabinet meeting about a week ago. An official with the Public Relations Committee of the Moscow government said that the decision to name the street after the late Venezuelan leader was initiated by President Vladimir Putin.

Hugo Chavez became president of Venezuela in 1999. He won four consecutive presidential elections, his last victory took place in October 2012, with a mandate to govern the country until 2019. Hugo Chavez died at age 58 in a military hospital in Caracas. He had been struggling with cancer for  nearly two years.

Source: Pravda.Ru.
Link: http://english.pravda.ru/news/russia/03-07-2013/125019-hugo_chavez_street-0/.

First US missile shield destroyer arrives in Europe

Moscow (Voice of Russia)
Feb 12, 2014

The first of four US Navy destroyers, the USS Donald Cook, set to be a cornerstone of NATO's European missile defense shield has arrived at the Spanish naval port of Rota, its new home. Russia says the system is a direct threat to its security.

The USS Donald Cook will be joined by three more Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, which all are fitted with the Aegis weapon system. Over the next two years the USS Ross, USS Porter and USS Carney will all be based at Rota in southern Spain.

"For the first time, a ship of the United States Navy equipped with the Aegis ballistic missile-defense system is permanently based in Europe," said Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO Secretary General. "The arrival of the USS Donald Cook marks a step forward for NATO, for European security, and for transatlantic cooperation."

The deployment of the four destroyers, known as the European Phased Adaptive Approach, is a centerpiece of the European missile defense shield, which will also include interceptor batteries in Poland and Romania, radar in Turkey and a command center at Ramstein in Germany, a US Air Force base.

US military interest in the Mediterranean has increased in recent years because of conflict and instability across the Middle East and North Africa.

"Permanently forward deploying four ships in Rota will enable us to be in the right place, not just at the right time, but all the time," US Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in a Defense Department statement when USS Cook left its home port in the US in January.

The four destroyers will also take part in other maritime security operations, NATO deployments and training exercises, the Defense Department said.

According to a NATO statement, the system is designed to "protect all NATO European populations and territory."Its advocates say it is necessary to protect Europe from the threat of Iranian missiles, as well as other so-called rogue states, such as North Korea.

Russia says the system is major threat to its own security and has threatened to beef up its own nuclear arsenal in response.

The issue has become a major sticking point in relations between the two countries. Washington insists that Russia's fears are groundless.

When news first broke of the USS Cook's deployment to Spain, Russia reacted by saying that it may be forced to quit the START nuclear treaty.

The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, was signed by the US and Russia in April 2010 and is planned to last until at least 2021. The treaty is designed to limit and gradually reduce the nuclear arsenals of both countries.

"We are concerned that the US is continuing to build up missile defense capability without considering the interests and concerns of Russia. Such a policy can undermine strategic stability and lead to a situation where Russia will be forced to exercise [its] right of withdrawal from the [START] treaty,"said Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian Foreign Ministry's top disarmament official.

Ulyanov added that the legal basis for Moscow to withdraw from START is legislated for within the text of the agreement. The treaty explicitly describes the buildup of missile defense systems as "exceptional circumstances" that threaten "the potential of the Russian Federation's strategic nuclear forces."

Aleksey Pushkov, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Russian State Duma, the lower house of parliament, has said that Russia's stance on the missile defense shield will only change if it is accepted into the program as an equal partner.

Russia is demanding legally binding obligations that the missile defense will not target its forces and therefore result in a shift in the strategic balance of forces. In response, Russian authorities have already ordered the deployment of short-range missiles to the country's western Kaliningrad enclave, which is situated between Poland and Lithuania, both NATO members.

Russia will not allow any nation to dominate it in military terms, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, said in a December speech to the country's Federal Assembly.

"We realize clearly that the AMD system is only called defensive, while in fact it is a significant part of the strategic offensive potential," he said.

Putin also announced that Russia is pouring resources into new strategic missiles as well as their launch systems, including new nuclear-powered submarines and strategic bombers as well as a space-based system for reconnaissance and targeting.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/First_US_missile_shield_destroyer_arrives_in_Europe_999.html.

Internet sites join July 4 protest against U.S. surveillance

Thu Jul 4, 2013

(Reuters) - The online community rallied on Thursday in support of live protests against the U.S. government's surveillance of internet activity, a practice recently exposed by a former contractor for the National Security Agency.

Websites such as Reddit and Mozilla supported a campaign in cities across the United States to "Restore the Fourth" - a reference to the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens against unlawful search and seizure.

The home page of the website Boing Boing, for example, displayed the following message to the NSA: "Happy 4th of July! Immediately stop your unconstitutional spying on the world's internet users -- The People."

The protest comes as the United States celebrates its Independence Day holiday.

By early afternoon, crowds of more than 400 had gathered in New York City and Washington, D.C., the organizers said. They estimate the total turnout will be more than 10,000 nationwide.

The NSA, on its own website, said: "NSA does not object to any lawful, peaceful protest. NSA and its employees work diligently and lawfully every day, around the clock, to protect the nation and its people."

Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden has been charged with espionage after disclosing the agency's surveillance programs. He has spent more than a week in a Moscow airport seeking a country that would grant him asylum.

The online protest was launched by the Internet Defense League, a network of more than 30,000 websites and internet users whose goal is to protest attempts to curtail the freedom of the Web.

Evan Greer, a spokesman for the IDL, said nearly 13,500 Twitter users had taken part in a so-called thunderclap, in which they all tweeted the same or similar message at the same time to their more than 9 million followers.

(Reporting by Toni Clarke in Washington; Editing by Eric Beech)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/04/usa-security-internet-protest-idUSL2N0FA0Q120130704.

Nicaragua, Venezuela offer asylum to Snowden

Washington, Jul 6, 2013

In defiance of the United States, two Latin American countries - Venezuela and Nicaragua - today offered asylum to Edward Snowden, leaker of the US secretive surveillance program.

Currently, stranded at the Moscow airport for more than a week now, CIA whistleblower Snowden had sought asylum in more than two dozen countries, including India.

The US had warned countries not to give asylum to Snowden arguing that he is wanted on charges of espionage and leaking classified information.

India and majority of the countries where Snowden had sought asylum had refused his application.

But simultaneous announcements by presidents of Nicaragua and Venezuela offering asylum could be seen as a big disappointment for the US, which had been asking countries not to grant Snowden an asylum and he be returned to the country.

"The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (has) decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young American Edward Snowden so that he can live (without) persecution from the empire," President Nicolas Maduro told a military parade marking Venezuela's independence day.

Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega also made a similar offer, but did not elaborate further. "It's clear that if the circumstances permit it we will gladly receive Snowden and will grant him asylum here in Nicaragua," he said.

"We have the sovereign right to help a person who felt remorse after finding out how the United States was using technology to spy on the whole world, and especially its European allies," Ortega said.

Refusing to comment on the asylum offers by Nicaragua and Venezuela, the White House referred it to the Department of Justice, which handles all issues related to asylum.

"He (Snowden) has been accused of leaking classified information, he's been charged with three felony counts and should be returned to the United States," State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki had told reporters early this week.

Such defiance by Venezuela and Nicaragua, The New York Times reported, appeared to be linked to outrage in Latin America over the treatment last week of Bolivian President Evo Morales, whose plane was denied permission to fly over several European countries because of what Bolivian officials said were unfounded suspicions that Snowden was aboard.

Morales was on his way home from a meeting in Moscow. Earlier, Wikileaks said on Twitter, the micro blogging site, that 30-year-old former National Security Agency contractor Snowden has sought asylum from six more countries.

It said all these asylum requests have been submitted at the embassies of these countries in Moscow. It refused to reveal the name of six new countries where Snowden had applied to for asylum, due to "attempted US interference".

Snowden reached Moscow from Hong Kong where he had fled from the US after leaking the secretive American surveillance program, which has caused outrage in many parts of the world including key American allies and partners in Europe.

Since his passport has been cancelled, Snowden can't buy a plane ticket to fly to his destination. As a result of which he has been desperately seeking asylum requests.

Source: Deccan Herald.
Link: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/343073/nicaragua-venezuela-offer-asylum-snowden.html.

Ottawa opens door to 1,300 Syrian refugees

Wed Jul 03 2013
By: Nicholas Keung

Ottawa will resettle 1,300 Syrian refugees to Canada from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey over two years to address the deepening humanitarian crisis there, says Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.

The announcement on Wednesday came a month after the Syrian Canadian community made a public appeal urging the federal government to establish a special program for displaced refugees caught up in the two-year-old civil war between Syrian President Bashar Assad and the opposition.

The latest United Nations data shows more than 4.25 million Syrians are internally displaced and more than 1.6 million have fled to neighboring countries.

“Our focus . . . is finding a long-term political solution to the crisis there,” Kenney told a news conference in Edmonton. “Our country is making an important effort to ensure the most vulnerable Syrian refugees are provided protection.”

A coalition representing Canada’s 100,000-strong Syrian community welcomed the announcement, but worry about the lengthy screening and processing involved in the resettlement program.

“It is a step in the right direction. They finally recognized the crisis in Syria, which is the largest refugee crisis in the world today,” said Faisal Alazem of the Syrian Canadian Council in Montreal, one of seven groups involved in the coalition that met with Kenney in June.

Two hundreds of the 1,300 Syrian refugees will be resettled with financial support by the Canadian government, while the rest will be assisted by community and faith groups that have sponsorship agreements with Ottawa.

Last month, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced an extra $115 million in assistance to help Syrian refugees in Syria and neighboring countries.

Alazem said the community was hoping Ottawa would offer speedy relief to help Syrian Canadians bring their loved ones to Canada by issuing temporary visas.

“This is not ideal. The (resettlement) process can take up to two years,” said Alazem. “It is going to be a long road. Time is crucial to alleviate the refugees’ suffering.”

Kenney said Ottawa cannot open its doors to all Syrian refugees but will provide $1 million to fund five staff members to directly assist with the resettlement of displaced Syrians in Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon.

Source: The Star.
Link: http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2013/07/03/ottawa_opens_door_to_1300_syrian_refugees.html.

Thousands of Muslims try to flee CAR capital

February 14, 2014

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Thousands of Muslims who tried to flee the violence in Central African Republic's capital were turned back by peacekeepers Friday, as crowds of angry Christians shouted "we're going to kill you all."

The convoy was turned back as France announced it would send 400 more soldiers to its former colony mired in unprecedented sectarian fighting. The U.N. chief, meanwhile, warned Friday that in Central African Republic "the very fabric of society, woven over generations, is being ripped apart."

"We must live up to the promises made around this table to act swiftly and robustly in the face of such bloodshed," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council on Friday. "We cannot claim to care about mass atrocity crimes and then shrink from what it means to actually prevent them."

In Bangui, some cars carried as many as 10 people as the convoy made its way through the capital, the second such mass exodus in a week. Christians gathered alongside the road to taunt the Muslims, many of whom have been targeted by murderous mobs in recent weeks.

But the convoy, which stretched as far as the eye could see, was turned back because peacekeepers feared it would be attacked when going through some volatile parts of Bangui. The procession of vehicles was halted in the Miskine neighborhood, where one vehicle tumbled into a ditch on the side of the road. On the orders of a Burundian captain, African peacekeepers went vehicle-to-vehicle instructing everyone to return to a local mosque, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene.

Peacekeepers stopped the group before it passed through neighborhoods where fresh fighting had erupted Friday. At least one person was killed there in a grenade attack by Christian militiamen, according to witnesses at a nearby mosque.

French peacekeepers had to evacuate two other severely wounded people from an angry crowd that set tires on fire and was shouting anti-Muslim and anti-French slogans. Tens of thousands of Muslims have fled for their lives as Christian militiamen and crowds of angry civilians have stepped up their attacks in recent weeks. Muslims have been killed by mobs almost every day and their bodies have been mutilated and dragged through the capital's streets, despite the presence of peacekeepers.

Victims have been accused of supporting the Muslim Seleka government forced from power last month. The Seleka rebels cited economic and political grievances, not religious ideology, in overthrowing the president of a decade. However, they became deeply despised and their armed fighters are accused of scores of human rights abuses against the country's Christian majority during their 10-month rule.

The violence against Muslims and their current exodus from Central African Republic is tantamount to "ethnic cleansing," according to warnings issued earlier this week by a top U.N. official and Amnesty International.

The head of the French mission in Central African Republic has called the Christian militiamen an "enemies of the peace," even though they started out as a way to protect Christians against the attacks by Muslim rebels.

Before the crisis, Muslims made up about 15 percent of Central African Republic's 4.6 million people. Most of the displaced Muslims have headed to Chad, a neighboring country that is predominantly Muslim and whose military has provided armed guards for departing convoys.

Outside the capital, an untold number of other Muslims have been slain. Amnesty International on Friday said its researchers found an 11-year-old girl alive among scores of bodies in a remote village west of the capital. Her parents were among the 20 people slain in an attack there that took place several days ago, the rights group said.

"The girl was crouching in a corner in an abandoned, ransacked house," said Donatella Rovera, senior crisis response Adviser at Amnesty International. "She was terrified and could barely speak. She had been hiding there since the massacre, four days before."

Other Muslims remain in hiding in other communities under the control of Christian militiamen, some seeking refuge inside churches offering protection. Nearly 1,000 people — mostly Muslims — are under threat in the southwestern town of Carnot, said Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders.

"Armed men have announced that they intend to track down and kill all the city's Muslims," the organization warned Thursday. "Anyone who hides Muslims is also at risk." The organization said Christian militiamen had invaded hospitals in search of Muslims who had sought treatment and refuge. In another attack, the Christian fighters seized control of the town's airstrip, blocking outgoing flights of wounded patients, MSF said.

France strengthened its presence in its former colony to 1,600 troops in early December, who are joined by nearly 6,000 African peacekeepers. On Friday, France announced that it is increasing the number of its troops on the ground in Central African Republic by 400 for a total of 2,000.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that the bloc has commitments for more than the 500 troops it initially expected to send to Central African Republic and "is looking at double that number."

The EU contingent is expected to be based at the airport in Bangui, where 100,000 people have taken refuge. "The EU remains concerned about the heavy civilian casualties, massive displacements of people, serious human rights violations and a worsening of the humanitarian situation in the Central African Republic," Ashton said. "It is imperative for the international community to act to enable a lasting solution to the chaos."

The U.N. secretary-general has dispatched an envoy to the country to consult with the African Union about possibly transforming the African force there into a U.N. peacekeeping force, though such a mission could take up to six months to become operational on the ground.

Larson reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the U.N., Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Hippolyte Marboua in Bangui, Central African Republic, contributed to this report.

China's Jade Rabbit rover comes 'back to life': Xinhua

Beijing (AFP)
Feb 13, 2014

China's troubled Jade Rabbit lunar rover has survived a bitterly cold 14-day lunar night, officials said Thursday, prompting hopes it can be repaired after suffering a malfunction last month.

The problem was a setback for Beijing's ambitious military-run space program, which includes plans for a permanent orbiting station by 2020 and eventually sending a human to the moon.

"The rover stands a chance of being saved as it is still alive," Pei Zhaoyu, spokesman for China's lunar probe program told the official news agency Xinhua.

An earlier report by the semi-official China News Service said an attempt to restore the vehicle to full functionality on Monday had been unsuccessful.

The rover, named Yutu or Jade Rabbit after the pet of Chang'e, the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology, experienced a "mechanical control abnormality" as the lunar night fell on January 25, provoking an outpouring of sympathy from Chinese Internet users.

But Pei said: "Yutu has come back to life!", adding that the rover "went into sleep under an abnormal status".

Scientists had been concerned it might not be able to survive the extremely low temperatures of the lunar night, when it was supposed to remain dormant, but it was now receiving signals normally, Xinhua cited him as saying.

But experts were still working to establish the causes of its mechanical control abnormality, the agency reported, without giving details.

Australia-based independent space expert Morris Jones told AFP that the problem involved a solar panel on the rover failing to close.

"This allowed heat to escape from the rover in the cold lunar night. The cold has probably damaged some parts of the rover permanently, but it seems that some parts are still working," he said.

Beijing sees the space program as a symbol of China's rising global stature and technological advancement, as well as the Communist Party's success in reversing the fortunes of the once-impoverished nation.

The Jade Rabbit was deployed on the moon's surface on December 15, several hours after the Chang'e-3 probe landed.

The landing -- the third such soft-landing in history, and the first of its kind since the Soviet Union's mission nearly four decades ago -- was a huge source of pride in China, where millions across the country charted the rover's accomplishments.

An unverified Weibo user "Jade Rabbit Lunar Rover", which has posted first-person accounts in the voice of the probe, on Thursday made its first update since January.

"Hi, anybody there?" it said, prompting thousands of comments within minutes.

Xinhua has said the account is "believed to belong to space enthusiasts who have been following Yutu's journey to the moon".

In a previous online posting following the "abnormality", it said: "The sun here has fallen, and the temperature is dropping fast. I've said a lot today, but I still feel it's not enough.

"I'll tell everyone a little secret. I'm actually not that sad. I'm just in my own adventure story, and like any protagonist, I encountered a bit of a problem. Goodnight, Earth. Goodnight, humans."

More than 6,000 Internet users wrote messages in response, many of them expressing hope that the rover has not seen its last day.

"We'll always remember that you're watching us on the moon," wrote one Web user. "One day, we'll bring you home."

China first sent an astronaut into space a decade ago and is the third country to carry out a lunar rover mission after the United States and the former Soviet Union.

The central government has said the latest mission was "a milestone in the development of China's aerospace industry under the leadership of... Comrade Xi Jinping".

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Chinas_Jade_Rabbit_rover_comes_back_to_life_Xinhua_999.html.

Farewell to Yutu

Sydney, Australia (SPX)
Feb 12, 2014

By now, it seems almost certain that China's Yutu Moon rover has died a premature death in the cold lunar night. The rover has been exposed to sunlight for a few days, and there has been no word of it waking up.

Yutu was carried to the Moon aboard China's Chang'e-3 Moon lander, a boxy structure reminiscent of the base of an Apollo lunar lander from the 1960s. Chang'e-3 made history by becoming China's first mission to land on the Moon, and the first object to softly land there in more than three decades.

Yutu's problems began roughly three weeks ago when a solar panel failed to fold inwards over the rover's body, just before night fell at the rover's landing site. The folding panel was designed to protect the rover's interior during the two-week lunar night, by trapping heat from a radioisotope source. Without this protection, the rover's electronics have apparently frozen.

China had originally expected Yutu to function for roughly three months. The failure of Yutu after less than a month of nominal surface operations is a disappointment.

Apart from mourning its loss, the major priority for China's space program will be conducting a post-mortem for Yutu. It is vital to know how it malfunctioned. Fortunately, there seems to be a lot of data that was obtained before night fell.

We know that the solar panel did not close. We can easily deduce how this affected the thermal protection for the rover. Much work will need to be performed to work out exactly why this mechanical failure occurred in the first place.

Moving parts are always tricky for spacecraft. Getting them to work on the Moon is even more difficult. Apart from the vicious cycles of heat and cold, there is the ever present problem of dust. We do not know if the hinges were jammed by dust, or if there was a failure of the motors or mechanisms designed to close the panel for some other reason. Lubricant could have been worn away from some part, causing friction or even a "cold welding" of metal surfaces in a vacuum. China will probably be conducting simulations to determine the most likely cause.

With Yutu's case file certain to close in the near future, it will be time to consider the fate of China's next Moon mission. China has already built a back-up lander, dubbed Chang'e-4, which it planned to launch in a few years. This is a typical strategy of China's lunar exploration program: Two identical spacecraft are built in case one fails.

China's first lunar mission, Chang'e-1, was launched to orbit the Moon in 2007. The mission was a complete success. Thus, China decided that its back-up spacecraft, Chang'e-2, would not precisely repeat its predecessor's mission. It was launched in 2010 with a more powerful rocket that helped the spacecraft to save its fuel reserves. Chang'e-2 was sent on a shorter mission to the Moon and then flown into deep space to fly past the asteroid Toutatis.

This time, China will probably need to use the back-up lander to repeat the tasks that Chang'e-3 failed to complete. There will probably be an overview of the design of some of its most critical components, to strengthen them against failure.

This analyst expects that China will want to land a second rover with this mission, but we can expect that it will be thoroughly overhauled. China will want to ensure that the solar panel will not fail again, and will probably look for other potential problems. The next rover will probably look the same as Yutu but it will be improved.

Exactly when Chang'e-4 will launch is unclear. The problems experienced by this latest mission suggest that China will want to take a fair amount of time for troubleshooting, redesign and testing. Any previous speculation on the approximate launch time is probably no longer reliable.

We will need to wait for China to advertise a new launch timetable. In turn, this could affect the fate of the two lunar landers that are expected to come after Chang'e-4. These missions, dubbed Chang'e-5 and 6, are sample-return missions. It could take longer to launch them, and their design could be revised in the wake of the Yutu investigations.

Whatever China does with its second rover, one change should be suggested. The rover needs a new name. China should remember that saying "Yutu 2" in English sounds stranger than it does in Chinese!

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Farewell_to_Yutu_999.html.

Canada unveils new space policy

Ottawa, Canada (SPX)
Feb 11, 2014

Canadian Industry Minister James Moore has unveiled a new plan to develop the country's space industry in a bid to safeguard Canada's "sovereignty, security and prosperity".

Moore said Friday that Canada's Space Policy Framework will serve as a guideline for the country's strategic space activities and ensure the commercial competitiveness of its space industry in the future, Xinhua reported.

The plan framework noted that "space has become a new frontier not only for science but for commerce," as the global satellite industry revenues exceeded C$190 billion Canadian (US $172 billion) annually.

"Every G20 nation now has its own satellite system in space and the emerging economies have made substantial investments in their national space programs," the plan framework said, adding that this would bring greater competition for the Canadian space industry as it courted new markets and customers.

"Canada's space industry asked for a change and we recognize the essential role that our space industry plays in keeping Canada's economy on the right track and in maintaining our position as a global leader in space," said Moore.

The official also confirmed support for the James Webb Telescope project, a result of international cooperation involving Canada that is set to be launched in 2018 and will be the most powerful space telescope in the world.

The new plan framework emphasized the role of the private sector and international collaboration to develop the space industry.

But Montreal Liberal Member of Parliament and former astronaut Marc Garneau said the plan framework "resembles" what he proposed a decade ago, criticizing the federal Conservative government for cutting the space program's budget by C$30 million Canadian dollars (US $27 million) last year.

Garneau, however, admitted that it is "a good framework" but the real question lies in implementation.

Canada is known for the Canadarms, robot arms attached to the international space station, and famous astronauts including the first ever Canadian commander of the station, Chris Hadfield.

According to the Canadian Space Agency, the country's space sector generated total revenues of C$3.327 billion (US $3 billion) in 2012.

Source: Space Mart.
Link: http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Canada_unveils_new_space_policy_999.html.