Japan's Abe plots warmer ties with S. Korea ahead of summit

Tokyo (AFP)
March 23, 2014

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indicated Sunday that he wanted Tokyo and Seoul to put wartime enmities behind them ahead of his first meeting with South Korean President Park Geun-Hye.

Relations between the two countries are at their lowest ebb in years, mired in emotive issues linked to Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule and a territorial dispute, as well as Japan's use of "comfort women" in wartime brothels.

Abe left Tokyo's Haneda airport for a three-day visit to the Netherlands to attend a Nuclear Security Summit starting on Monday in The Hague.

On the sidelines of the event he is due to meet with Park and US President Barack Obama after Washington urged the two Asian neighbors to mend strained ties.

"It is going to be my first talk with President Park Geun-Hye and I want to make it the first step to build a future-oriented Japan-South Korea relationship," Abe said before leaving.

The three-way meeting -- designed to discuss North Korean threats -- is considered a diplomatic breakthrough as Abe and Park have never held a formal summit.

Abe also said he wanted to "exchange views frankly on security in East Asia" with the South Korean and US leaders.

The Japanese prime minister will also take part in a meeting of Group of Seven leaders in The Hague to discuss the Crimean crisis.

Japanese media have reported that Abe will announce nearly $1 billion in economic assistance to Ukraine.

South Korea's Park is also expected to hold a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, reportedly to discuss issues including curbing North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Park and Xi will meet Sunday evening on the sidelines of the nuclear meeting, Park's spokesman told reporters.

China is Pyongyang's sole major ally and economic lifeline and is seen as a key player in resolving the nuclear stand-off with the North.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Japans_Abe_plots_warmer_ties_with_S_Korea_ahead_of_summit_999.html.

China to have nuclear missiles on subs soon: US admiral

Washington (AFP)
March 25, 2014

China for the first time will likely have subs equipped with long-range nuclear missiles later this year, part of an increasingly potent submarine fleet, a top US officer said Tuesday,

The head of US Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Locklear, said the latest class of Chinese subs would be armed with a new ballistic missile with an estimated range of 4,000 nautical miles (7,500 kilometers).

"This will give China its first credible sea-based nuclear deterrent, probably before the end of 2014," Locklear told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Locklear was referring to the production of China's JIN-class nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine and the new JL-2 missile on board the vessel.

"China's advance in submarine capabilities is significant. They possess a large and increasingly capable submarine force," the admiral said.

In October, Chinese state media for the first time showed images of the country's nuclear-powered submarines, touting it as a "credible second-strike nuclear capability."

Locklear said China's submarine modernization effort was impressive.

"I think they'll have in the next decade or so a fairly well modernized force of probably 60 to 70 submarines which is a lot of submarines for a regional power," he said.

China now has five nuclear attack submarines, four nuclear ballistic missile submarines, and 53 diesel attack submarines, according to Jess Karotkin of the Office of Naval Intelligence.

China's production of submarines has moved at a quick annual pace. Between 1995 and 2012, Beijing produced 2.9 submarines a year, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Locklear, repeating the Pentagon's view of China's military profile, said Beijing is investing in new weapons and naval power in part "to deny US access to the Western Pacific during a time of crisis or conflict and to provide the means by which China can bolster its broad maritime claims in the region."

He added that Chinese military operations were "expanding in size, complexity, duration and geographic location."

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/China_to_have_nuclear_missiles_on_subs_soon_US_admiral_999.html.

Ukrainian officers join NATO drills in Bulgaria

April 03, 2014

NOVO SELO, Bulgaria (AP) — Lt. Col. Valeria Parada had a challenge.

She and her team were responsible for rescuing people caught up in a dangerous situation around the Black Sea and making sure they received whatever humanitarian assistance they needed. To do that, she first had to learn how to coordinate among the air, navy and army forces available to help — and then map out the best way to achieve their goal.

Parada was one of 16 senior officers that Ukraine dispatched to Bulgaria to join a NATO military exercise Thursday — a very public demonstration of cooperation between the alliance and the crisis-torn former Soviet republic.

Organizers said the drills, dubbed "Saber Guardian," involved over 700 troops from 13 NATO member and partner nations, as well as representatives from NATO. They were held at Bulgaria's Novo Selo training area, 320 kilometers (200 miles) east of Sofia, the capital, and 70 kilometers (44 miles) from the Black Sea.

It's one of four Bulgarian military facilities involved in a U.S. deal signed in 2006 that allows U.S. troops to be deployed there on rotational training tours. Thursday's drill was virtual — involving troops working on computer simulations. Although planned in 2013, the exercises coincided with an East-West standoff over Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. The exercises are being held just few hundred miles away from the contested Black Sea peninsula.

"Our peaceful, humanitarian-focused exercise will help bring stability to this geopolitically significant part of the world," Maj. Gen. Richard Longo, deputy commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, told The Associated Press.

"We are very glad that Ukrainian partners could be here and take part, and they have done a very good job as members of our team," Longo added. Thursday's exercise aimed to test the capabilities of NATO partner nations in assisting one another, as requested, in disasters or potential worldwide emergencies. Reporters were not allowed to question officers like Parada who were busy working on it.

The command center of the highly complex exercise was a huge tent where dozens of officers worked on real-time solutions for the "regional crisis." Under their command were air, navy, marine and army units and their moves were coordinated with similar centers in the capital cities of Bulgaria and Romania, as well as with the U.S. military base in Ramstein, Germany.

At the end of the two weeks of drills "we will have learned to work for a common goal — to stand shoulder to shoulder no matter what kind of crisis we face," Longo said. And the NATO-led teams are planning to get even more practice.

"When we do the exercise in the Ukraine next year, it will be even bigger and more complex," Longo said.

Beaten and demoralized, Ukraine soldiers sign up with Russia

Sevastopol (AFP)
March 28, 2014

His eyes glazed and his step heavy, former Ukrainian soldier Sergei walks out of a naval office in Sevastopol after switching allegiance to the Russian army.

He is one of many making the choice to stay on in Crimea where the Ukrainian army stood by helplessly as Russia seized its military facilities in a matter of days after the peninsula voted to secede.

"I've decided to stay. I have my parents here, my wife's parents and my children," the grizzled soldier says softly.

He describes how he and his colleagues waited in vain for 17 days for orders from Kiev as their bases were surrounded by Russian troops and pro-Russian militia which moved in swiftly after Ukraine's government fell.

But the new leaders who ousted pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych in a street revolt were impotent as Moscow muscled its way into the strategic Black Sea peninsula and backed the March 16 breakaway vote.

The waiting troops stormed the naval headquarters last Wednesday after Crimea voted overwhelmingly in favor of the split.

"We were picked like ripe fruit," Sergei said angrily.

"If the Ukrainian army does nothing, it's not a difficult choice to quit it!"

For him the whole institution was badly managed, with rampant nepotism and "special favors" making it hard to carve out a successful career.

But he said he still loved Ukraine.

"It's my native country," he said, pausing to fiddle with his gold wedding ring before admitting: "I'm a little afraid of the reaction from Ukrainians. Many of them will take a long time to understand what we went through."

Behind him a young soldier in an oversize camouflage uniform is posted at a big metal door, checking the IDs of the steady flow of people going in to renounce their military affiliation with Ukraine.

-'Sticks and stones'-

Clutching his car keys, Oleg, a former mechanic with the Ukrainian army, said signing up to the Russian army was a "very emotional" decision.

"The Ukrainian army no longer exists. So what else would you have me do?" he said.

On leave after the Russian takeover, Oleg is now waiting for an "offer" of employment, which could take a few days.

Despite his sadness at his decision, he feels it is "impossible to leave" like those who have chosen to return to an uncertain future in mainland Ukraine.

"If I leave Crimea, I will be leaving for nothing," he said. His life is in Sevastopol, whatever flag it flies.

Most of the Ukrainian servicemen who have turned up are in their early twenties. They come in groups of three or four in jeans and sneakers, wearing sunglasses against the bright spring sun in the Black Sea peninsula.

"It was my family's choice," Alexander, a bearded 23-year-old driver, says of his decision to defect.

However the circumstances of his unit's takeover did not go down very well with the tattooed young man, who said he feels "betrayed" by Ukraine.

"We were told not to fight and not to provoke them (Russians)," said Alexander.

"When we no longer had weapons, they told us - 'Please go and fight with what you have, sticks, stones, and whatever else'.

"How was it possible to fight the tricolor (Russian flag), against our military friends who serve just on the other side of the border?" he said.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Beaten_and_demoralised_Ukraine_soldiers_sign_up_with_Russia_999.html.

Klitschko backs billionaire for Ukraine president

March 29, 2014

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian ex-world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko announced Saturday he will not run for president and will instead throw his support behind billionaire businessman Petro Poroshenko.

Klitschko told a congress of his UDAR party Saturday that he plans to run for mayor of the capital city, Kiev. His endorsement will prove a valuable boost for Poroshenko, who played a prominent role in the months-long protest movement that led to the toppling of President Viktor Yanukovych in February.

"The only way to win is by nominating a single candidate from the democratic ranks," Klitschko said. "This should be a candidate with the greatest support from the people." The May 25 election is taking place against the backdrop of the annexation of Crimea, Ukraine's dire economic straits and rumblings of discontent in the country's mainly Russian-speaking eastern provinces.

President Barack Obama urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to pull his troops back from the border with Ukraine during an hour-long phone call Friday. The Russian leader, who initiated the call, asserted that Ukraine's government is allowing extremists to intimidate civilians with impunity.

Putin's comments have prompted concerns in Kiev and Washington about a possible Russian invasion in eastern Ukraine. Poroshenko, the owner of a major confectionery company and a former foreign minister, already leads in the polls for the presidential election and is seen as likely to beat ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who declared this week that she will "be the candidate of Ukrainian unity."

The Kiev mayoral election is also scheduled for May 25. Poroshenko announced his candidacy to supporters Friday evening in his childhood hometown of Vinnytsia while holding up a religious icon of the Virgin Mary and child.

Speaking at the same UDAR congress, Poroshenko said Ukraine needed to unify in the face of aggression, a reference to Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula earlier this month. "The principle of 'brother for brother' should be built on and broadened — we should not just have 'brother for brother' but also 'friend for friend,'" said Poroshenko, whose worth is estimated by Forbes magazine at $1.3 billion.

Several political party conferences took place Saturday across Kiev ahead of the Sunday deadline for presidential candidates to submit their bids. A survey conducted in mid-March by the SOCIS polling organization found Poroshenko leading with a wide margin at 36 percent support among likely voters. Klitschko was seen trailing in second place with 13 percent and Tymoshenko, who narrowly lost to Yanukovych in 2010, had about 12 percent.

Ukraine says 100,000 Russian troops near border

Washington (AFP)
March 27, 2014

Nearly 100,000 Russian forces have massed on Ukraine's border, a top Ukrainian defense official told an American audience Thursday, giving a number far higher than US military estimates.

"Almost 100,000 soldiers are stationed on the borders of Ukraine and in the direction ... of Kharkiv, Donetsk," Andriy Parubiy, chairman of Ukraine's national security council, said via a webcast from Kiev.

"Russian troops are not in Crimea only; they are along all Ukrainian borders. They're in the south, they're in the east and in the north," Parubiy said.

After its intervention in the Crimean peninsula, Russia is plotting to foment separatist sentiment elsewhere and Kiev fears a possible incursion in the country's east, he told the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank.

Parubiy said any day "we might see a huge attack on the territory of continental Ukraine and we are getting ready for it."

Although US defense officials have put the number of Russian troops closer to 20,000, a US lawmaker said Thursday that much stronger Russian forces had deployed towards Ukraine's border.

"Over the past week we've seen the buildup of up to 80,000 additional Russian troops," Representative Mike Turner said in a statement.

Turner said the force included large numbers of armored vehicles, battle tanks, artillery, helicopters and planes.

The Republican lawmaker accused the White House of withholding "critical" information about the full scope of Russian troop movements and demanded the administration reveal what it knows to help "vulnerable allies."

Pentagon officials previously have said more than 20,000 Russian troops -- including airborne units and armored vehicles -- have deployed along Ukraine's border, a force big enough to seize control of the eastern region.

But a senior defense official expressed skepticism at Parubiy's estimate of Russian troop strength.

"That sounds too high," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

Russia has assured Washington that the Russian forces were there to carry out a "spring" exercise but the Pentagon on Thursday acknowledged there was no indication of any drill underway.

"We've seen no specific indications that exercises are taking place," spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters.

He declined to discuss US intelligence assessments on the possibility of a Russian attack into eastern Ukraine but said the military presence only served to aggravate tensions.

Kirby said that "regardless of the intent it does nothing to de-escalate the tension in Ukraine.

"It does nothing to improve the stability in that part of the world."

Parubiy said the Ukrainian government supported moves by Western countries to impose punitive sanctions on Russia and appealed for a public display of military partnership to send a signal to Moscow over its actions.

"We are calling on our partners to hold a common military exercise" that would "show that the cooperation and partnership is still there," he said through an interpreter.

He urged "visible support, visible presence of our partners" at this moment of crisis.

The Russian troops that have deployed in Crimea were well-trained special forces, he said.

After Russia's takeover of Crimea, Moscow had launched a new strategy aimed at disrupting Ukraine's upcoming presidential elections in May, according to Parubiy.

Kiev authorities had "arrested" separatist leaders in the east and Moscow's attempts to provoke street demonstrations were faltering with fewer people turning out for the protests, he said.

US President Barack Obama and NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen have both denounced Moscow's incursion into Crimea but have called for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

NATO has bolstered its presence in Eastern Europe since Russia's intervention, deploying radar surveillance aircraft to the area while Washington has sent F-16 fighter jets to Poland.

Obama has ruled out military action in Ukraine, which is not a member of the NATO alliance.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Ukraine_says_100000_Russian_troops_near_border_999.html.

UN chief asks Czechs for Africa peacekeepers

April 04, 2014

PRAGUE (AP) — The Czech defense minister is pledging to offer a quick response to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's appeal for troops to bolster the planned U.N peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic.

Martin Stropnicky says Ban has asked for a field hospital and transport aircraft. Stropnicky promised an answer in a few days. Ban told reporters in Prague on Friday he was "deeply troubled by the appalling atrocities against the civilians," but did not publicly discuss troops.

The U.N. Security Council will vote on a U.N. peacekeeping force in April. Ban has urged council members to act quickly on his recommendation for a 12,000-member peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, which has faced months of sectarian violence.

First female mayor of Paris takes office

April 05, 2014

PARIS (AP) — The first female mayor of Paris has taken office, hailing a "great advance for all women" and saying she feels the weight of responsibility in her new job.

Anne Hidalgo donned the red, white and blue mayoral sash Saturday after at a City Hall vote enshrining her victory in the capital as part of nationwide municipal elections on March 30. Hidalgo noted on France's TF1 television that very few women were mayors of major world cities, but her victory shows "no citadel is impregnable for women" and "parity is on the march."

The unassuming, Spanish-born 54-year-old Hidalgo takes over from ex-Mayor Bernard Delanoe, her longtime mentor and a fellow Socialist for whom she was the top deputy during his 13-year tenure. He didn't seek a new term.

AP Exclusive: EU to set up court for Kosovo crimes

April 04, 2014

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — The European Union plans to set up an international tribunal focusing exclusively on crimes allegedly committed by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian rebels during their war with Serbia, The Associated Press has learned.

Plans for an independent tribunal amount to an admission of failure by the West to hold its ethnic Albanian allies accountable for war crimes. The rebels had the backing of NATO during the war — and the West has staunchly supported Kosovo in its efforts to emerge from the conflict as an independent state. But the ethnic Albanians have also come under increasing pressure from the international community to reckon with their own war crimes, including alleged organ harvesting.

Kosovo declared independence in 2008, and it has been recognized by over 100 nations, although not by Serbia and its ally Russia. The court is expected to start proceedings by next year, a senior EU official told The Associated Press, adding that the rules and reach of the tribunal are still being discussed with Kosovo authorities.

The court is to be symbolically seated in Kosovo, but most key proceedings such as hearing witness testimony would take place in the Netherlands, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has yet to be approved by Kosovo's assembly.

Prosecutions of ethnic Albanian rebels — both in Kosovo and at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in the Hague, Netherlands — have been marred by widespread intimidation of witnesses and their families. Former rebels are considered by many Kosovars as heroes who fought for freedom from Serbia. Some 10,000 people died during the 1998-1999 war and about 1,700 are considered missing.

The court, which will be set up and paid for by the EU, is to consider allegations of organ harvesting by the now-disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army rebels as well as the disappearance of some 400 people — most of them Kosovo Serbs — at the end of the war. A two-year investigation led by a U.S. prosecutor, and set to wrap up by mid-June, is to form the basis of any indictments brought before the court. The United States supports the new tribunal.

"We are asking for a court composed only by internationals and an appeals panel composed only of internationals," said the EU official. "The procedure has to be done and has to be done abroad. It's the only way for it to be credible."

Kosovo has yet to agree to the 170 million euro tribunal but failure to do so would damage its claim to statehood. Some Kosovars noted the dilemma they faced. "This is a tribunal to try ethnic Albanians," said a senior Kosovo official, skeptical about whether lawmakers will support the tribunal when it is discussed in Parliament next week. "However, we are fully aware that any other option is worse."

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the deal. U.S. Ambassador Tracey Jacobson insisted on Friday the judicial body that will be set up will be a Kosovo court and not an international tribunal, a term she said implies an external mechanism created without Kosovo having a say.

"The proposal is for the creation of a Kosovo court implementing Kosovo law, staffed with international judges, and that has an external and internal seat," Jacobson said. But EU member states such as Spain have been reluctant to endorse a court that would recognize Kosovo as a state and implement its laws because they reject Kosovo's secession. Greece, Slovakia, Romania and Cyprus also refuse to recognize Kosovo's secession from Serbia.

A top international official in Kosovo said that once set up, the court will draft its internal procedures but the laws used will include Kosovo law, the penal code of the now defunct Yugoslavia — in use at the time when the crimes were committed — as well as U.N. legal documents promulgated while Kosovo was under U.N. control.

Serbia's Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor Bruno Vekaric told the AP that "setting up of the tribunal would present an encouragement for the victims and their families." "This is important for reaching justice and for reconciliation in the region," Vekaric said.

Kosovo's justice system was set up and originally run by a U.N. administration in control for nearly a decade. An EU mission called EULEX took over judicial responsibilities in Kosovo on the eve of its 2008 independence declaration. Since then, EULEX has often come into conflict with Kosovo's ruling coalition, made up mainly of former rebels unhappy that their fellow fighters were being investigated for war crimes.

Highlighting the difficulties in protecting witnesses, an ethnic-Albanian was found hanging in a German park in an apparent suicide after he was named in local media as a whistleblower in a war crimes case against a senior rebel and former ally of Prime Minister Hashim Thaci.

Fred Abrahams, a special adviser to Human Rights Watch who has investigated human rights violations in Kosovo, said the court is important because it may shed light on the fate of hundreds of missing people.

"The organ trafficking is a distraction from the central issue," said Abrahams. "The central issue is about more than 400 people, mostly Serbs, who went missing after the war." Plans to set up the court have been met with anger by former rebels, many of whom hold senior governing positions in Kosovo.

"It's absurd, it makes no sense," said Muharrem Xhemajli, the head of Kosovo Liberation Army veteran's association. "Our war that was supported by the international community, the United States and all the freedom-loving people is now being put on trial."

Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia contributed to this report

Labor protest sparks clashes in Brussels

April 04, 2014

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian police used water cannon and pepper spray on protesters who had showered them with oranges and cobblestones during a demonstration Friday by labor unions demanding a better deal for Europe's working men and women.

The protest in Brussels, in which thousands took part peacefully, was called by the European Trade Union Confederation to oppose austerity measures implemented across the 28-country European Union. Participants also voiced their opposition to social dumping, whereby businesses import cheaper workers to replace local hires, or export jobs to a low-wage country or area.

As well as paralyzing traffic in the Belgian capital, the demonstration sent the U.S. Embassy into lockdown as the American ambassador to the EU, Anthony L. Gardner, was conducting an unrelated briefing for journalists. Embassy staff said it was the first lockdown they could recall in years.

At one of the protest hot spots, near the European Union headquarters buildings, longshoremen from the Belgian cities of Antwerp and Ghent clashed with riot police. Police said one demonstrator was hurt when a rock he was trying to throw hit him on the head instead. Associated Press reporters saw several people who had been injured, including a policeman apparently struck by a cobblestone.

Organizers had expected 40,000 people to take part in the demonstration, but Brussels police spokeswoman Ilse Van de Keere estimated the turnout at about 25,000.

Venezuelan president agrees to meet opposition

Mon Apr 7, 2014

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has agreed to meet with an opposition delegation, after a fresh round of discussion with top South American diplomats.

Following the meeting with eight South American foreign ministers on Monday, Maduro said, "We had quite a long conversation. They proposed a meeting tomorrow with the opposition delegation, and I agreed."

According to reports, Venezuela's opposition party Democratic Unity Roundtable has agreed to attend the negotiations with the government.

On April 3, Maduro said that the country’s intelligence services obtained documents revealing a plan by an opposition sector to launch a movement for secession in six states.

He also stated that barricades set up by opposition protesters in city streets to block traffic are also part of the secession plan.

“They say in their plan that the consequence of the violent chaos caused by the barricades must be for people to feel obstinate and assent to the separation,” Maduro emphasized.

Venezuela has been the scene of demonstrations between supporters and opponents of the government since February 4. At least 39 people have been killed and hundreds injured in the protests so far.

The opposition has criticized the government for high crime rates and economic hardships, claiming that the policies of the Maduro administration have led to a shortage of essential goods and a high inflation rate.

Caracas says the United States is fanning the flames of the unrest in an effort to topple Maduro.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/04/07/357624/venezuela-pres-agrees-to-meet-opposition/.

Rural Costa Rican Women Plant Trees to Fight Climate Change

By Diego Arguedas Ortiz

PITAL, Costa Rica , Apr 2 2014 (IPS) - Olga Vargas, a breast cancer survivor, is back in the countryside, working in a forestry program in the north of Costa Rica aimed at empowering women while at the same time mitigating the effects of climate change.

Her recent illness and a community dispute over the land the project previously used – granted by the Agrarian Development Institute, where the women had planted 12,000 trees – stalled the reforestation and environmental education project since 2012 in Pital, San Carlos district, in the country’s northern plains.

But the group is getting a fresh start.

“After the cancer I feel that God gave me a second chance, to continue with the project and help my companions,” Vargas, a 57-year-old former accountant, told IPS in the Quebrada Grande forest reserve, which her group helps to maintain.

She is a mother of four and grandmother of six; her two grown daughters also participate in the group, and her husband has always supported her, she says proudly.

Since 2000, the Quebrada Grande de Pital Women’s Association, made up of 14 women and presided over by Vargas, has reforested the land granted to them, organized environmental protection courses, set up breeding tanks for the sustainable fishing of tilapia, and engaged in initiatives in rural tourism and organic agriculture.

But the top priority has been planting trees.

A group of local men who opposed the granting of the land to the women from the start demanded that the installations and business endeavors be taken over by the community.

The women were given another piece of land, smaller than one hectare in size, but which is in the name of the Association, and their previous installations were virtually abandoned.

“I learned about the importance of forest management in a meeting I attended in Guatemala. After that, several of us traveled to Panama, El Salvador and Argentina, to find out about similar initiatives and exchange experiences,” said Vargas, who used to work as an accountant in Pital, 135 km north of San José.

The most the Association has earned in a year was 14,000 dollars. “Maybe 50,000 colones [100 dollars] sounds like very little. But for us, rural women who used to depend on our husband’s income to buy household items or go to the doctor, it’s a lot,” Vargas said.

The Association, whose members range in age from 18 to 67, is not on its own. Over the last decade, groups of Costa Rican women coming up with solutions against deforestation have emerged in rural communities around the country.

These groups took up the challenge and started to plant trees and to set up greenhouses, in response to the local authorities’ failure to take action in the face of deforestation and land use changes.

“Climate change has had a huge effect on agricultural production,” Vargas said. “You should see how hot it’s been, and the rivers are just pitiful. Around three or four years ago the rivers flowed really strong, but now there’s only one-third or one-fourth as much water.”

In San Ramón de Turrialba, 65 km east of San José, six women manage a greenhouse where they produce seedlings to plant 20,000 trees a year.

Since 2007, the six women in the Group of Agribusiness Women of San Ramón have had a contract with Costa Rica’s electric company, ICE, to provide it with acacia, Mexican cedar, and eucalyptus seedlings.

The group’s coordinator, Nuria Céspedes, explained to IPS that the initiative emerged when she asked her husband for a piece of the family farm to set up a greenhouse.

“Seven years ago, I went to a few meetings on biological corridors and I was struck by the problem of deforestation, because they explain climate change has been aggravated by deforestation,” said Céspedes, who added that the group has the active support of her husband, and has managed to expand its list of customers.

Costa Rica, which is famous for its forests, is one of the few countries in the world that has managed to turn around a previously high rate of deforestation.

In 1987, the low point for this Central American country’s jungles, only 21 percent of the national territory was covered by forest, compared to 75 percent in 1940.

That marked the start of an aggressive reforestation program, thanks to which forests covered 52 percent of the territory by 2012.

Costa Rica has set itself the goal of becoming the first country in the world to achieve carbon neutrality by 2021. And in the fight against climate change, it projects that carbon sequestration by its forests will contribute 75 percent of the emissions reduction needed to achieve that goal.

In this country of 4.4 million people, these groups of women have found a niche in forest conservation that also helps them combat sexist cultural norms and the heavy concentration of land in the hands of men.

“One of the strong points [of women’s participation] is having access to education – they have been given the possibility of taking part in workshops and trainings,” Arturo Ureña, the technical head of the Coordinating Association of Indigenous and Community Agroforestry in Central America (ACICAFOC) , told IPS.

That was true for the Pital Association. When they started their project, the women received courses from the Instituto Nacional de Aprendizaje (national training institute), which made it possible for two illiterate members of the group to take their final exams orally.

Added to these community initiatives are government strategies. More and more women are being included in state programs that foment agroforestry production, such as the EcoMercado (ecomarket) of the National Forest Finance Fund (Fonafifo).

EcoMercado is part of the Environmental Services Program of Fonafifo, one of the pillars of carbon sequestration in Costa Rica.

Since Fonafifo was created in the mid-1990s, 770,000 hectares, out of the country’s total of 5.1 million, have been included in the forestry strategy, with initiatives ranging from reforestation to agroforestry projects.

Lucrecia Guillén, who keeps Fonafifo’s statistics and is head of its environmental services management department, confirmed to IPS that the participation of women in reforestation projects is growing.

She stressed that in the case of the EcoMercado, women’s participation increased 185 percent between 2009 and 2013, which translated into a growth in the number of women farmers from 474 to 877. She clarified, however, that land ownership and the agroforestry industry were still dominated by men.

Statistics from Fonafifo indicate that in the EcoMercado project, only 16 percent of the farms are owned by women, while 37 are owned by individual men and 47 percent are in the hands of corporations, which are mainly headed by men.

But Guillén sees no reason to feel discouraged. “Women are better informed now, and that has boosted participation” and will continue to do so, she said.

Source: Inter-Press Service (IPS).
Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/04/rural-costa-rican-women-plant-trees-fight-climate-change/.

Aftershocks rattle Chile as military keeps order

April 04, 2014

IQUIQUE, Chile (AP) — Coastal residents of Chile's far north spent a second sleepless night outside their homes as major aftershocks continued Thursday following a magnitude-8.2 earthquake that damaged several thousand homes and caused six deaths.

No new major damage or casualties were reported, and a heavy police and military presence kept order. The infrastructure in the area is nearly entirely intact, but with aftershocks continuing, life has been anything but normal. Power remains out in many areas, and hospitals were handling only emergencies. Schools were closed, and large supermarkets and gas stations coordinated their reopenings Thursday with police and military to avoid problems with long lines of customers.

After a magnitude-7.6 aftershock struck just before midnight Wednesday, Chile's Emergency Office and navy issued a tsunami alert, and for two hours ordered everyone living in low-lying areas along the country's entire 2,500-mile (4,000-kilometer) Pacific coastline to evacuate.

Among those moved inland was President Michelle Bachelet, who was in the city of Arica assessing damage in the north from Tuesday night's powerful quake. "I was evacuated like all citizens. One can see that the people are prepared," she tweeted early Thursday.

Chile's evacuation order was lifted at around 2 a.m. Thursday. Some 900,000 people also were affected the night before when the entire coast was evacuated for several hours after Tuesday's bigger quake, although the tsunami proved small.

A 6.1-magnitude aftershock 47 miles (76 kms) southwest of Iquique shook the area again late Thursday. The repeated aftershocks have shaken buildings and sent people running into the streets in the port of Iquique, the largest city closest to the epicenter. About 45 minutes before the 7.6 quake, a magnitude-6.5 aftershock also rattled Iquique. The shaking loosened more landslides near Alto Hospicio, a poor area at the entrance to Iquique where about 2,500 homes had been damaged in Tuesday's larger quake.

The Ministry of Education suspended classes again in schools in the north for Thursday, while the region's top prosecutor, Manuel Guerra, said his office is taking action against speculators who sharply raised prices for bread, water, milk and diapers. "They will be detained and charged," Guerra tweeted, calling on the community to denounce "intolerable" abuses.

The largest aftershock was felt across the border in southern Peru, where people in the cities of Tacna and Arequipa fled buildings in fear. Police Lt. Freddy Cuela in Tacna said no damage or injuries were reported. Peru's navy tweeted a tsunami alert for the country's extreme southern coast, which is next to the Chilean region hit by the quakes.

Authorities have reported six deaths, but didn't rule out the possibility others could have been killed in older structures made of adobe in remote communities that weren't immediately accessible. The tsunami after Tuesday night's quake caused the sea to rise only 8 feet (2.5 meters) in Iquique, but that was enough to sink and damage many fishing boats, lifting some onto city streets and piling others up in the harbor.

Still, as Bachelet deployed hundreds of anti-riot police and soldiers to prevent looting and round up escaped prisoners, it was clear the loss of life and property could have been much worse. The mandatory evacuations have been announced through cellphone text messages and Twitter, and reinforced by blaring sirens in neighborhoods where people regularly practice earthquake drills. But many Chileans have not downloaded the smartphone application that can alert them to evacuation orders, and some communities still lack warning sirens.

Chile is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, and tsunamis are a particular danger because the fault zone lies just offshore, where the Nazca tectonic plate plunges beneath the South American plate.

Associated Press writers Eva Vergara in Santiago, Michael Warren in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Frank Bajak in Lima, Peru, and Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Zimbabwe's Positive Children, Negative News

By Busani Bafana

BULAWAYO, Apr 3 2014 (IPS) - Three years ago, Robert Ngwenya and his father got into a heated argument over medication. Ngwenya, then aged 15, refused to continue swallowing the nausea-provoking pills he had been taking since he was 12 years old, and flushed them down the toilet.

During the argument, Ngwenya understood he had been born HIV positive, had been taking antiretrovirals (ARV) and not vitamins and anti-allergenics, and that his father too lived with the virus and the guilt of having infected him.

“This is unfair, what did I do to deserve this?” Ngwenya laments.

Ngwenya lives in the high density suburb of Pumula in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second city, with his father, a car mechanic, and his younger brother, who is HIV negative. His mother died when Nwengya was 10 and his father never remarried.

Ngwenya’s life was all planned: finish high school, get a degree in information technology, find a job and buy a car. Not any more. After the revelation, he is no longer the same outgoing teenager whose company brought smiles to friends and family.

“How do I tell my friends? How do I start a relationship knowing someone will have to carry my burden?” he asks.

Like Ngwenya’s father, other HIV positive parents, weighed down by guilt, find it hard to tell their children they were infected at birth.

How and who tells a child or teenager that they will live with the virus for the rest of their lives?

Hard choices

Thanks to ARV therapy, increasing numbers of HIV infected children are living to adolescence. In 2012, Zimbabwe had 180,000 children aged 0-15 and 1.2 million people aged 15 and above living with HIV, says the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

“As these children grow and surpass the immediate threat of death, the issue of informing them of their HIV status arises,” says a study on teenagers born with the virus in Zimbabwe.

Disclosing to adolescents is different from telling younger children and requires tailored, age-appropriate guidelines, says the study.

Adolescents aged 16-20 interviewed for the study preferred to be told by health care workers at clinics, with the presence of family.

“Disclosure to this age group in a healthcare setting may help overcome some of the barriers associated with caregivers disclosing in the home environment and make the HIV status seem more credible to an adolescent,” reports the study.

Source: Inter-Press Service (IPS).
Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/04/zimbabwe-positive-children-negative-news/.

South Africa doesn't support Egypt's military government

Friday, 04 April 2014

South African's position on the military government of Egypt is unchanged in spite of recent reports which indicate a government delegation met with the military regime in Egypt.

The government reaffirmed its stance in a meeting it held with the African National Congress (ANC) and the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) on Saturday March 29 at the MJC offices in Cape Town.

This follows reports in the Egyptian media, in late February, which indicated that a South African government delegation led by Minister of State Security, Siyabonga Cwele, met with the military regime in Egypt.

South African Muslims were alarmed at reports which implied that coup leader, General Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, received approval from Minister Cwele for a number of requests.

These included a call to outlaw the Muslim Brotherhood by denying its members any opportunity to operate in South Africa.

The assurances given included, among other points, that Egypt's suspension from the African Union will remain, that South Africa does not subscribe to undemocratic changes to elected governments and that the rule of law and democracy must be restored in Egypt.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/africa/10707-south-africa-doesnt-support-egypts-military-government.

Israel says it won't release Palestinian prisoners

April 03, 2014

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on Thursday abruptly called off a release of Palestinian prisoners, sending U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's troubled Mideast peace efforts further into a tailspin.

The Israeli announcement, made in reaction to a renewed Palestinian push for membership in United Nations agencies, deepened the crisis in U.S.-led peace talks and made Kerry's goal of extending negotiations past a late-April dateline a more distant possibility.

Israel's chief negotiator, Tzipi Livni, said the Palestinians' decision to seek accession to 15 international conventions through the U.N. violated the terms of the promised prisoner release, which would have been the fourth since talks resumed last summer. The Palestinians submitted their applications after Israel failed to carry out the release, as promised, by the end of March. Israel carried out the first three prisoner releases, but balked at the final one without assurances that the Palestinians would extend negotiations.

"New conditions were established and Israel cannot release the fourth batch of prisoners," Livni said in a statement. In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the Israeli move "creates problems" but that U.S.-mediated efforts to bring the sides together were continuing. "Neither side has indicated that they want to walk away from the talks," Carney said.

"Despite the fact that there has been some progress, there is still a gap, and the Israelis and Palestinians must decide whether they will take the necessary steps to close that gap," he added. "The United States cannot impose an agreement on either side."

Earlier Thursday, a frustrated Kerry exhorted leaders on both sides to "lead" and to do so now to prevent the negotiations from collapsing. Kerry called it a "critical moment" for the peace process and vowed to continue his efforts "no matter what." But he added there are limits to what the Obama administration can do to push the parties together and said it would be a "tragedy" if the talks failed.

"You can facilitate, you can push, you can nudge, but the parties themselves have to make fundamental decisions and compromises," he said, speaking in Algeria, where he was participating in strategic security talks. "The leaders have to lead and they have to be able to see a moment when it's there."

Under heavy pressure from Kerry, Israel and the Palestinians resumed peace talks last July, agreeing to a nine-month negotiating period with the aim of reaching a final peace deal. With little to show for his efforts, Kerry is now trying to broker a more modest "framework" agreement, in hopes of extending talks past the April 29 deadline through the end of the year to complete a deal.

Under the original negotiating formula, Israel promised to release 104 long-serving Palestinian prisoners in four groups, while the Palestinians put on hold their campaign for joining U.N. agencies. After the Palestinians won acceptance as a nonmember state at the U.N. General Assembly in 2012, they now qualify for membership in dozens of international agencies. Israel says that joining these bodies is an attempt to bypass negotiations. It also fears the Palestinians will use their newfound status to push an anti-Israel agenda.

The Palestinians say the final release was already promised and should not be connected to any other issue. U.S. officials have also said that Israel was expected to carry out the release. The prisoner issue is emotional on both sides after decades of conflict. Palestinians view the roughly 5,000 people held by Israel as heroes in their struggle regardless of the reason for their imprisonment — even when their crimes involved grisly killings. In Israel, they are widely seen as terrorists. The prisoners involved in the latest releases were convicted of bloody attacks on Israeli civilians, and the scenes of them returning home to jubilant celebrations have angered the Israeli public.

Naftali Bennett, a hard-line Israeli Cabinet minister, said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas "has blown up the peace talks." "If he wants to go to the U.N., I will buy him the ticket and there he will face a personal lawsuit for war crimes for daily supporting the killers of women and children," he told Channel 2 TV.

The Palestinians condemned the Israeli announcement. "Israel didn't fulfill the agreement sponsored by the U.S. concerning the release ... of prisoners in return for the Palestinian Authority not going to the U.N," said Issa Qaraqe, the minister for prisoner affairs.

At the same time, Palestinian officials say they will not formally break off the negotiations before April 29, the U.S. target date for a framework agreement, because they don't want to be blamed for derailing Kerry's mission.

The Palestinian decision to apply to 15 international conventions this week prompted Kerry to cancel a planned return to the region. It remains unclear if or when he will come back on his current overseas trip. U.S. officials have been in touch with the sides to find a formula to extend the talks that could include an additional prisoner release and a freeze to some Israeli settlement construction on lands the Palestinians want for a state. The U.S. has dangled the possibility of freeing Jonathan Pollard, a convicted American spy, as an incentive to Israel.

In his first public comments since cancelling a trip to the West Bank, Kerry made his impatience clear, but acknowledged he could not force the sides to continue the talks, let alone resolve their decades-old conflict.

He recalled the old adage that you can lead a horse to water but can't make it drink. "Now is the time to drink," Kerry said. "The leaders need to know that."

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Algiers, Algeria, and Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.

ESA successfully launches new monitoring satellite

April 04, 2014

BERLIN (AP) — The European Space Agency said Friday it has successfully launched the first in a series of satellites that will form the nucleus of its new Copernicus monitoring system, which is aimed at providing better and quicker information about natural disasters and other catastrophes.

The Sentinel-1A satellite, which lifted off on a Russian Soyuz rocket launched from French Guiana late Thursday night, unfolded its antennae and locked them into place early Friday morning and has been accurately placed into orbit, the agency said.

It and five other satellites, which will be launched in the coming years, will collect data and share it with ground stations for immediate distribution where it's needed, such as government ministries or even local rescue workers.

They will carry out a broad range of tasks, including monitoring oil spills at sea, assisting in ship routing, and providing information on disasters like forest fires, landslides, floods and volcanic eruptions.

The Sentinel-1A will initially communicate directly with ground stations based in Europe. Next year, however, ESA is due to put into place a stationary space-based hub through which the satellite can relay information using a new ultra-fast laser data transfer. That means that even when the satellite is out of sight of a ground station when orbiting on the other side of the world, it will be able to provide data quickly through the hub, which can then be relayed back almost immediately to Earth.

Francois Auque, head of space systems for Airbus Defense and Space, which developed Sentinel-1A's radar, called the launch the beginning of a "new era in Earth observation." "With the satellite's powerful radar instrument — the heart of the mission — and its all-weather and round-the-clock capabilities, Airbus Defense and Space is making a decisive contribution to even more effective operational Earth observation that will benefit humans and nature more than ever," Auque said. "The instrument will also deliver unprecedented data to scientists."

NASA suspends Russia ties, except on space station

Washington (AFP)
April 02, 2014

NASA has cut all contacts with Russia except for cooperation aboard the International Space Station, according to an internal memo obtained by the online news site The Verge on Wednesday.

NASA did not immediately return calls for comment.

However, a copy of the memo posted online described a halt to travel to Russia by NASA employees and to visits by Russians to NASA facilities, and a freeze on exchange of email, teleconferences and video conferences.

"Given Russia's ongoing violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, until further notice, the US government has determined that all NASA contacts with Russian government representatives are suspended, unless the activity has been specifically excepted," it said.

The new policy does not apply to "operational International Space Station activities" or "multilateral meetings held outside of Russia that may include Russian participation," added the memo.

Russia's Soyuz spacecraft are the sole means of transport to the ISS for the world's astronauts. The United States pays Russia an average of $70.7 million per seat.

The direction applied to "all NASA centers" and was ordered by Michael O'Brien, NASA's associate administrator for International and Interagency Relations.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told lawmakers on March 27 that he was aware of no threat that would jeopardize the Russian-US partnership at the space station.

Earlier Wednesday, NATO warned that Russia's military presence on the flashpoint border -- estimated at about 40,000 troops -- with Ukraine was of "grave concern."

NATO on Tuesday announced the alliance was suspending all practical cooperation with Russia, military and civilian, and that there was no confirmation that Russian troops were pulling back from the border.

Source: Space-Travel.
Link: http://www.space-travel.com/reports/NASA_suspends_Russia_ties_except_on_space_station_report_999.html.

Health risks of Mars mission would exceed NASA limits

Washington (AFP)
April 02, 2014

Efforts to send humans to Mars would likely expose them to health risks beyond the limits of what NASA currently allows, an independent panel of medical experts said Wednesday.

Therefore, any long-term or deep space missions -- which are still decades off -- need a special level of ethical scrutiny, said the report by the Institute of Medicine.

"These types of missions will likely expose crews to levels of known risk that are beyond those allowed by current health standards, as well as to a range of risks that are poorly characterized, uncertain, and perhaps unforeseeable," said the IOM report.

Currently, astronauts are launched into low-Earth orbit, where they spend three to six months at a time aboard the International Space Station.

But journeys to Mars could take up to 18 months. NASA has said it aims to send people to the Red Planet by the 2030s, and is working on building a heavy duty launcher and spacecraft for this purpose.

Health risks from short-term missions in space can include nausea, weakness, blurred vision, while long-term risks include radiation-induced cancer and the loss of bone mass.

Given the uncertain risks of exploring further into space than ever before, NASA asked the IOM to develop an ethics framework to guide decisions in the future of human spaceflight.

"The committee finds relaxing (or liberalizing) current health standards to allow for specific long duration and exploration missions to be ethically unacceptable," the report said.

Members also ruled out creating a separate set of safety standards for Mars missions.

Instead the group concluded that the only option was to grant an exception to existing health standards.

But the IOM cautioned, NASA still needs to determine whether such a loophole would be ethically acceptable.

"Any exceptions should be rare and occur only in extenuating circumstances," the IOM said.

Key considerations should include avoiding harm and exercising caution, allowing astronauts to make their own decisions about whether to participate, choosing missions that provide benefits to society and seeking a favorable balance of the risk of harm and benefit.

NASA should also ensure equal opportunity during crew selection, and provide lifetime health care and protection for astronauts.

"From its inception, space exploration has pushed the boundaries and risked the lives and health of astronauts," said chair of the committee Jeffrey Kahn, a professor of bioethics and public policy at Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, Baltimore.

"Determining where those boundaries lie and when to push the limits is complex."

Source: Mars Daily.
Link: http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Health_risks_of_Mars_mission_would_exceed_NASA_limits_999.html.

Feline fans flock to London's first cat cafe

April 04, 2014

LONDON (AP) — Would you like some kitten with your coffee?

Feline company is exactly what one of London's newest cafes is offering — and stressed-out city-dwellers are lapping it up. "People do want to have pets and in tiny flats, you can't," said cafe owner Lauren Pears, who opened Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium last month in an area east of the city's financial district.

"There's not many places in London you can just curl up with a book and chill out with a cat or two on your lap," she said Friday. "I think that's what our success is down to." Cat cafes first took off 10 years ago in Japanese cities, where many people live alone in cramped high-rise apartment blocks that don't allow pets. Making feline friends became popular therapy for lonely or anxious workers.

"I can see how this would be good for someone lacking company," said customer Sara Lewis, as she stroked a cat sitting on her lap. "It's the best idea ever." The cozy English tea room, named after Alice's cat in "Alice in Wonderland," charges customers 5 pounds ($8.29) for two hours of kitty company. Coffee and afternoon tea — sandwiches, cakes and scones — are on the menu at an additional cost.

Lady Dinah's opened March 1, and is fully booked until the end of June. Pears raised more than 109,000 pounds ($181,000) through a crowd-funding campaign to get the cafe up and running. Despite more than a year of planning permission delays and figuring out how to maintain health and safety standards, she says the hard work has been worth it.

The 11 resident kitties were donated by people leaving the country who could no longer look after them. Kitty welfare is paramount: the cats get regular breaks away from people, and staff have been trained by animal behaviorists to care for them.

Lisa Vann brought her 8-year old daughter, who has learning difficulties, to Lady Dinah's for a playdate. "She's delighted to be here," she said. The animal cafe craze shows no signs of slowing, with establishments now open in London, Vienna and Paris. A dog cafe, House of Hounds, is scheduled to open in London later this year.

And American animal-lovers won't be missing out for much longer. Two cat cafes are due to open in the San Francisco Bay area by the end of 2014.

NATO has 'grave concern' over Russia troop buildup

Brussels (AFP)
April 02, 2014

NATO warned on Wednesday that Russia's military presence on the flashpoint border with Ukraine was of "grave concern" and that Moscow's forces could reach military objectives in just days.

Russian troops are poised to attack within 12 hours and could invade vast portions of Ukrainian territory in three to five days, General Philip Breedlove, NATO's top commander, told two American newspapers.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he shared that assessment and warned of a "very massive Russian military buildup along the Ukrainian border" which NATO estimates at about 40,000 troops.

"This is really a matter of grave concern," Rasmussen said, at the close of a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels.

Breedlove told The Wall Street Journal potential targets for Russia included a land corridor linking Crimea and mainland Russia, the taking of the strategic Odessa port or an occupation of the breakaway Russian-speaking region of Transdniestr in Moldova.

"They are absolutely able to bring great force to a position of readiness," he told The New York Times.

"That is something that we have to think about: what does that mean geostrategically that we now have a nation that can produce this ready force and now has demonstrated that it will use that ready force to go across a sovereign boundary?"

He said the Russian troop deployments may be meant as a "coercive force" in talks with the West over the Ukraine crisis and ahead of a Ukrainian presidential election next month.

Rasmussen warned that if Russia were to intervene further in Ukraine, he "would not hesitate to call it an historic mistake".

"It would be a miscalculation with huge strategic implications," he said.

The warning came the day after NATO announced the alliance was suspending all practical cooperation with Russia, military and civilian, and that there was no confirmation that Russian troops were pulling back from the border.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/NATO_has_grave_concern_over_Russia_troop_buildup_999.html.