Iraqi officials: Militants take city of Tikrit

June 11, 2014

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi security officials say al-Qaida-inspired militants have seized the northern city of Tikrit.

The two officials in Baghdad told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Saddam Hussein's hometown was under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, whose fighters this week took control of Mosul, the country's second largest city.

The officials say the provincial governor based in the city is missing. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information.

Militants overrun most of major Iraqi city

June 10, 2014

BAGHDAD (AP) — In a stunning assault that exposed Iraq's eroding central authority, al-Qaida-inspired militants overran much of Mosul on Tuesday, seizing government buildings, pushing out security forces and capturing military vehicles as thousands of residents fled the second-largest city.

The rampage by the black banner-waving insurgents was a heavy defeat for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as he tries to hold onto power, and highlighted the growing strength of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The group has been advancing in both Iraq and neighboring Syria, capturing territory in a campaign to set up a militant enclave straddling the border.

There were no immediate estimates on how many people were killed in the assault, a stark reminder of the reversals in Iraq since U.S. forces left in late 2011. Earlier this year, Islamic State fighters took control of Fallujah, and government forces have been unable to take it back.

Mosul is a much bigger, more strategic prize. The city and surrounding Ninevah province, which is on the doorstep of Iraq's relatively prosperous Kurdish region, are a major export route for Iraqi oil and a gateway to Syria.

"This isn't Fallujah. This isn't a place you can just cordon off and forget about," said Michael Knights, a regional security analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "It's essential to Iraq."

Al-Maliki pressed parliament to declare a state of emergency that would grant him greater powers, saying the public and government must unite "to confront this vicious attack, which will spare no Iraqi." Legal experts said these powers could include imposing curfews, restricting public movements and censoring the media.

State TV said lawmakers would convene Thursday. Parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni from Mosul, called the rout "a disaster by any standard." Regaining Mosul poses a daunting challenge for the Shiite prime minister. The city of about 1.4 milliion has a Sunni Muslim majority and many in the community are already deeply embittered against his Shiite-led government. During the nearly nine-year American presence in the country, Mosul was a major stronghold for al-Qaida. U.S. and Iraqi forces carried out repeated offensives there, regaining a semblance of control but never routing the insurgents entirely.

"It's going to be difficult to reconstitute the forces to clear and hold the city," Knights said. "There aren't a lot of spare forces around Iraq." White House spokesman Josh Earnest deplored what he called the "despicable" acts of violence against civilians in Mosul. He said Washington is committed to its partnership with Baghdad but is urging the government to take steps to be more inclusive of all Iraqis.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attacks across Iraq in recent days "that have killed and wounded scores of civilians." He urged all political leaders "to show national unity against the threats facing Iraq, which can only be addressed on the basis of the constitution and within the democratic political process," according to U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Insurgents and Iraqi troops have been fighting for days in Mosul, but the security forces' hold appeared to collapse late Monday night and early Tuesday. Gunmen overran the Ninevah provincial government building — a key symbol of state control — Monday evening, and the governor fled the city. The fighters stormed police stations, bases and prisons, capturing weapons and freeing inmates. Security forces melted away, abandoning many of their posts, and militants seized large caches of weapons.

They took control of the city's airport and captured helicopters, as well as an airbase 60 kilometers (40 miles) south of the city, the parliament speaker said. Later Tuesday, Islamic State fighters took over the large town of Hawija, 125 kilometers (75 miles) south of Mosul, according to officials there.

On Tuesday, the militants appeared to hold much of the eastern half of Mosul, which is bisected by the Tigris River. Residents said fighters were raising the black banners that are the emblem of the Islamic State.

Video taken from a car driving through the streets of Mosul and posted online showed burning vehicles in the streets, black-masked gunmen in pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns, and residents walking with suitcases.

ISIL supporters posted photos on social media showing fighters next to Humvees and other U.S.-made military vehicles captured from Iraqi forces. The video and photos appeared authentic and matched Associated Press reporting of the events.

A government employee who lives about a mile from the provincial headquarters, Umm Karam, said she left with her family Tuesday morning. "The situation is chaotic inside the city and there is nobody to help us," she said "We are afraid. ... There is no police or army in Mosul." She spoke on condition she be identified only by her nickname for fear of her safety.

An estimated 500,000 people have fled Mosul, according to a U.N. spokesman in New York, citing the International Organization for Migration. The spokesman said aid organizations hope to reach those in need with food, water, sanitation and other essential supplies as soon as the volatile security situation permits.

The Islamic State has ramped up its insurgency over the past two years, presenting itself as the Sunni community's champion against al-Maliki's government The group was once al-Qaida's branch in Iraq, but under its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi it has escalated its ambitions, sending fighters into Syria to join the rebellion against President Bashar Assad. Its jihadists became notorious as some of the most ruthless fighters in the rebellion — and other rebels turned against it, accusing it of trying to hijack the movement. Al-Qaida's central command, angered over its intervention in Syria, threw the group out of the terrorist network.

But it has been making gains on both sides of the border. In Syria, it took control of an eastern provincial capital of Raqqa, and in the past month it has launched an offensive working its way toward the Iraqi border.

Islamic State fighters in eastern Syria crossed into Iraq to help their brethren in the Mosul area, activists on the Syrian side said. They tried to take the border crossing itself, but Kurdish fighters on either side fended them off. The militants were able to seize the nearest Iraqi town to the border, Rabeea, the activists said.

The group earlier this year took over Fallujah and parts of Sunni-dominated Anbar province, and has stepped up its long-running campaign of bombings and other violence in Baghdad and elsewhere. The Mosul crisis comes as al-Maliki is working to assemble a coalition after elections in late April, relying even more on Shiite parties. Sunnis and Kurds have grown increasingly disillusioned with al-Maliki, accusing him of dominating power.

The autonomous Kurdish region in the north has its own armed forces — the peshmerga — and on Tuesday, the region's prime minister suggested his willingness to intervene beyond the formal borders of the self-ruled enclave. That could be politically explosive, since the Mosul region lies on Kurdistan's doorstep, has a significant Kurdish population, and the Kurds claim parts of the area.

Militant gains in territories the Kurds consider theirs could push them "to send in their own troops to protect communities they consider as part of their jurisdiction," said Jordan Perry, an analyst at risk analysis firm Maplecroft.

Kurdistan's prime minister, Nechirvan Barzani, sharply criticized Baghdad's handling of the Mosul crisis, saying the Kurds had tried unsuccessfully to work with Iraqi security forces to protect the city.

"Tragically, Baghdad adopted a position which has prevented the establishment of this cooperation," he said in a statement. Barzani urged the Kurds to aid those displaced from Mosul and called on the U.N. refugee agency to help with the relief effort. He said the peshmerga are prepared to handle security in areas outside the regional government's jurisdiction — presumably referring to parts around Mosul inhabited by Kurds that are disputed with the central government.

Kurdish official Razgar Khoushnaw said about 10,000 Mosul residents took refuge Tuesday in the Kurdish province of Irbil, while security officials in neighboring Dahuk province said 5,000 displaced people were let in there.

Far larger numbers of people are believed to have fled Mosul for other communities in the Ninevah countryside.

Schreck reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Diaa Hadid and Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Iraqis vote in an election without foreign troops

April 30, 2014

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq voted Wednesday in its first nationwide election since U.S. troops withdrew in 2011, with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki confident of victory and even offering an olive branch to his critics by inviting them to join him in a governing coalition.

But his optimism will do little to conceal the turmoil and violence that still stalk Iraq in the eight years he has held office, with the looming threat of the country sliding deeper into sectarian bloodshed and risking a breakup.

"Our victory is certain, but we are talking about how big is that certain success," he said after voting in Baghdad. "Here we are today, successfully holding the ... election while no foreign troops exist on Iraqi soil. I call upon all the other groups to leave the past behind and start a new phase of good brotherly relations," said al-Maliki, who faces growing criticism over government corruption and persistent bloodshed as sectarian tensions threaten to push Iraq back toward the brink of civil war.

The election was held amid a massive security operation, with hundreds of thousands of troops and police deployed across the country to protect polling centers and voters. The streets of Baghdad, a city of 7 million, looked deserted. Police and soldiers manned checkpoints roughly 500 meters (yards) apart and pickup trucks mounted with machine guns roamed the streets that were otherwise devoid of the usual traffic jams.

Scattered attacks took place north and west of Baghdad, killing at least five people and wounding 16. Roadside bombs killed two women and two election workers in the northern town of Dibis. Al-Maliki's upbeat comments sharply contrasted with voters' sentiments, which ranged from despair to a gritty resolve to participate despite the threat of violence.

"I see this election as the last chance, my last bet on Iraq. If things continue to be the same, I will leave, and this time for good," said Saad Sadiq Mustafa, a 55-year-old retired army officer who fled with his family to neighboring Syria to escape the worst Sunni-Shiite violence of 2006 and 2007 and came home in 2008. A Sunni Arab and a father of four from Baghdad, Mustafa voted for Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite who became Iraq's first post-Saddam Hussein prime minister in 2004.

"We are living in a diverse country in which only seculars can maintain a balance between all ethnic and religious groups," he said. Al-Maliki's State of Law bloc was widely expected to win the most seats in the 328-member parliament but fall short of a majority, according to analysts. That would allow al-Maliki to keep his post only if he can cobble together a coalition — a task that took nine months after the last election in 2010.

Even some of his onetime Shiite backers accuse him of trying to amass power for himself, but many in the majority sect see no alternative to the 63-year-old al-Maliki or are looking for a successor who would follow in his footsteps and jealously guard Shiite political domination.

However, al-Maliki enjoys the crucial support of neighboring powerhouse Iran, which aides have said will use the vast influence it enjoys in Iraq to push discontented Shiite factions into backing him for another term.

Salam Ibrahim, a 25-year-old engineer and father of one, is a Shiite who places the sect's interests above all else. "I believe the main mission of the leader I am looking for is to continue fighting for the survival of the Shiite community and force those who oppose it to acknowledge its right to govern as the majority," he said as he headed to vote in central Baghdad.

Al-Maliki said he would have no objection to an alliance with any other bloc, provided it denounced sectarianism and worked for Iraq's unity. But the Kurds had already suggested they will not be part of a coalition he leads, while some of his onetime Shiite allies may want to join with the Sunnis and Kurds to push al-Maliki out of contention.

"We have decided that joining an alliance with the prime minister is a red line for us," parliament's Sunni speaker Osama al-Nujaifi said as he voted. Last year, he called on al-Maliki to step down, accusing him of consolidating power in his hands.

Another thorny issue likely to dominate the post-election political scene is who gets to be the next president. The incumbent, ailing elderly statesman Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, has served the maximum two terms. His departure will revive calls by Iraqi Arabs, Shiite and Sunnis alike, for an Arab president. That, in turn, will strain relations between Baghdad and the self-ruled Kurdish region in the north, which are already tense over Baghdad's perceived meddling in Kurdish affairs.

In a statement, the U.N. Security Council welcomed the election and urged "Iraq's leaders to engage, as quickly as possible, to form a Government that represents the will and sovereignty of the Iraqi people."

For the election, stores were closed and many had long walks to the polls after authorities banned civilian vehicles to prevent car bombs. Voters were searched multiple times before being allowed inside polling centers, and surrounding streets were blocked by police trucks and barbed wire.

Hamid al-Hemiri and his wife, Haifaa Ahmed, walked five kilometers (three miles) to vote in Baghdad's Mansour district. "We were determined to take part in the election to save our country and so that future generations don't curse us," he said. His wife added: "I am voting to stop the bloodshed in my country. Enough sorrow and pain."

Turnout of Iraq's 22 million eligible voters was estimated at about 60 percent, according to Muqdad al-Shuraifi, a senior election commission member. The figure, he explained, excluded "restive areas."

They chose from more than 9,000 candidates. Authorities did not offer a timetable for releasing results, but they were expected to start trickling in to election officials in the coming days. In 2010, results weren't announced for about two weeks.

"I decided to go and vote early while it's safe. Crowds attract attacks," said Azhar Mohammed, a mother of four who voted with her husband shortly after 7 a.m. in Baghdad's mainly Shiite Karradah district. The 37-year-old woman said her brother — a soldier — was killed last week in the northern city of Mosul.

"There has been a big failure in the way the country has been run and I think it is time to elect new people," she said, shrouded in black. Not far away, 72-year-old Essam Shukr wept as he remembered a son killed in a suicide bombing in Karradah last month. "I hope this election takes us to the shores of safety," he said. "We want a better life for our sons and grandchildren who cannot even go to playgrounds or amusement parks because of the bad security situation."

In Baghdad's mostly Shiite Sadr City district, for years a frequent target of bombings blamed on Sunni insurgents, elite counterterrorism forces were deployed and helicopters hovered. Double-decker buses took voters to the polls.

"We want to see real change in this country and real security. We are not happy with the performance of the current government and parliament," said 18-year-old Zulfikar Majid, a first-time voter in Baghdad's mainly Shiite Habibiya neighborhood.

Another first-time voter, Umm Jaafar of the southern city of Basra, said she had boycotted past elections because of the U.S. troops in Iraq. "We hope that today's election would lead to change the current government, which has let us down despite all the money it has," she said as she and two of her children, also first-time voters, came out of a polling center in the mainly Shiite city.

Al-Maliki rose from relative obscurity to office in 2006, when sectarian violence began to spiral out of control, with Sunni militants and Shiite militias butchering each other. The bloodshed ebbed by 2008 after U.S.-backed Sunni tribesmen rose up to fight al-Qaida-linked militants and Shiite militias declared a cease-fire.

But attacks have surged in the past year, fueled in part by al-Maliki's moves last year to crush protests by Sunnis complaining of discrimination. Militants took over the city of Fallujah in Sunni-dominated Anbar province and parts of the provincial capital of Ramadi.

Army and police forces battling them for months have been unable to take most areas back, and voting was not held in parts of the vast province bordering Jordan and Syria. The insurgents also have been emboldened by the civil war in Syria, where rebels are fighting to oust the regime of President Bashar Assad, a follower of a Shiite offshoot sect. The rebels are dominated by Islamists and members of al-Qaida-linked or inspired groups, including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Shiite militiamen from Iraq fight on the side of Assad's forces.

Last year, the death toll in Iraq climbed to its highest levels since the worst of the sectarian strife in 2006 and 2007. The U.N. says 8,868 people were killed in 2013, and about 2,000 people were killed in the first three months of this year.

Retired army officer Abu Abdullah, a native of Amiriyat Fallujah in Anbar who would not give his full name, boycotted the vote over what he said was the failure of Sunni Arab politicians to protect their community.

"I am not ready to take a risk or even be killed for the sake of corrupt people who might be in the next parliament or government because I am sure they will make a deal with al-Maliki and forget about us."

Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub and Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.

Iraq's al-Maliki facing discontent in election

April 29, 2014

BAGHDAD (AP) — If Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki wins a third four-year term in parliamentary elections Wednesday, he is likely to rely on a narrow sectarian Shiite base, only fueling divisions as Iraq slides deeper into bloody Shiite-Sunni hatreds.

After eight years in power, al-Maliki is facing sharper criticism from all sides. The Sunni minority views him as a diehard champion of Shiite power. His former Kurdish allies now shun him, accusing him of trying to impose Baghdad's power over their autonomous region in the north. And even some of al-Maliki's Shiite backers denounce him as a would-be dictator, amassing power for himself.

The 63-year-old al-Maliki is still seen as likely to keep his post. Many in the Shiite majority see no alternative, and he holds a trump card — the support of neighboring powerhouse Iran, which al-Maliki's own aides say will use its weight to push discontented Shiite factions into backing him for another term.

That, however, could mean a victory on an even narrower base than in his re-election four years ago, when he barely managed to cobble together enough Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni backers to form a government.

The Shiite al-Maliki rose from relative obscurity to office in 2006, when Iraq's sectarian bloodletting began to spiral out of control, with Sunni militants and Shiite militias butchering each other's communities. He quickly became known for a tough hand, working in alliance with American forces in the country since the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Over the years that followed, Sunni tribes backed by the Americans rose up to fight al-Qaida-linked militants, while al-Maliki showed a readiness to rein in Shiite militiamen — and by 2008, the violence had eased.

Since the withdrawal of American forces in late 2011, however, it has swelled again, stoked in part by al-Maliki. His moves last year to crush protests by Sunnis complaining of discrimination under his Shiite-led government sparked a new wave of violence by militants, who took over the city of Fallujah in the western, Sunni-dominated province of Anbar and parts of the provincial capital Ramadi. Iraqi army and police forces battling them for months have been unable to take most areas back.

At the same time, many Iraqis increasingly complain of government corruption and the failure to rebuild the economy. "Al-Maliki has had enough chance to prove himself, but he failed," said Hassan Karim, a university graduate from Baghdad's Shiite Sadr City district. "Iraqis lack security, services and housing. The only two things available in the country right now are corruption and checkpoints."

The normally aloof al-Maliki has struck a populist tone in his campaign, aiming to show he is tackling problems like corruption and poverty that cross sectarian boundaries. He has distributed plots of land to poor Iraqis in ceremonies carried live on state television. He made heavily televised visits to government departments that provide vital services, like car registration and ID and passport offices, comforting Iraqis standing in line. During one visit, he berated an employee for being insensitive to the hardships endured by Iraqis seeking services.

In a slick campaign video, he speaks of growing up in a village south of Baghdad in a family of clan chiefs and fondly recalls playing football and swimming in a local river. He affectionately remembers a grandfather who used his poetry to criticize British colonial rule and talks of his own love for Iraq.

"I believe the election will not produce a prime minister better than al-Maliki. He is the lesser of many evils," said hotel employee Mohammed Hadi, a Shiite from eastern Baghdad. "Al-Maliki has good experience ... Any other prime minister will be starting from scratch."

Al-Maliki's political bloc, State of Law, is widely expected to win the most seats in Wednesday's election for a new, 328-seat parliament. But cobbling together a majority in the chamber so he can be the next prime minister will be the tough part. It took months of tortuous negotiations after the 2010 elections to put together a coalition to ensure al-Maliki's re-election.

This time the discontent among his allies is even stronger, with complaints that al-Maliki has monopolized power and put his trust in a handful of close aides and relatives. Prominent Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, recently issued a fatwa, or religious decree, saying his Sadrist group, a one-time backer of al-Maliki, will no longer support him.

"I offer brother al-Maliki a piece of advice: Forget about a third term," said al-Sadr, a fiercely anti-American cleric whose movement holds about 40 seats in the outgoing parliament. The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, a major Shiite party that was part of every ruling coalition since Saddam's ouster, has been less than enthusiastic about a third term for al-Maliki and forged a tactical alliance with the Sadrists.

Also, one of Iraq's top Shiite clerics, Grand Ayatollah Bashir al-Najafi, issued a startling statement calling on voters not to elect al-Maliki, though he avoided mentioning him by name. The Pakistani-born al-Najafi has the smallest following from among Iraq's top four grand ayatollahs, based in the holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad. But his thinly veiled denunciation of al-Maliki was unprecedented.

"We had hoped after Saddam that we will have freedom and the Iraqis will live in peace ... Four years after four years, and the dead and wounded are in the hundreds," he said. "Where does all the money go?"

An aide to al-Maliki, Sheik Halim al-Zuheiri, said al-Najafi's comments were "regrettable" and violated what he called the traditional neutrality on political matters by Najaf's Shiite religious establishment.

Iraq's powerful Kurdish minority, which has had its own self-ruled region in the north since 1991, has also fallen out with al-Maliki. In a strongly worded statement this week, the Kurdish zone's government described al-Maliki's eight years in power as among the worst in Iraq's history, something traditionally reserved for Saddam's rule.

"There is not a single Kurdish party that is prepared to commit political suicide by entering an alliance with a man who does not believe in the rights of Kurdish people and stands against them," said the statement.

Al-Maliki's Shiite and Kurdish rivals could try to forge an alliance with Sunnis to push al-Maliki out. The Supreme Council has hinted at possible alternatives, such as former interior and finance minister Bayan Jabr. But he and other possibilities are seen as unlikely to be able to rally enough support.

A top al-Maliki aide predicted Iran would push rival Shiite groups to close ranks behind al-Maliki to retain political dominance, as it did in 2010. "Iran will be looking for someone to protect its interests ... There have not been any problems between al-Maliki and Iran during his time in power," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the backroom politics.

The Sunnis are deep in a predicament of their own. Fighting in Anbar will make voting impossible in some areas, reducing their voice. "Iraq's Sunni Arab component stands to lose a great deal in this election because they are under siege," Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq, a Sunni, told The Associated Press.

"They have reached such a deep state of despair and fear that they see no reason to go and vote. Today, many Sunnis see secession as a possible solution."

Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report from Baghdad.

North Korea to send special envoy to Russia

November 14, 2014

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will send a special envoy to Russia next week, both countries announced Friday, in a trip expected to focus on how to boost ties at a time when his country faces deepening diplomatic isolation.

The North's official Korean Central News Agency said Choe Ryong Hae will visit Russia soon, but didn't specify the dates or the exact purpose of the trip. Russia's Foreign Ministry later said Choe would visit Nov. 17-24.

The ministry said in a statement that Russia hopes to discuss trade and economic ties, the situation on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, and other international issues. It said Choe will visit Moscow as well as Khabarovsk and Vladivostok in Russia's Far East.

Choe, a senior Workers' Party official, is considered as one of Kim's close associates. He visited Beijing last year as a special envoy and told Chinese President Xi Jinping that North Korea would take steps to rejoin stalled nuclear disarmament talks.

Russia and North Korea maintain cordial ties, but are not as close as they were during Soviet times, when Moscow provided significant aid and support to Pyongyang. For North Korea, better ties with Russia could provide a much-needed economic boost because its ties with China — its longtime ally and main aid provider — are not as strong as they once were. China was angered when North Korea ramped up tensions last year with its third nuclear test and threats of nuclear strikes against Seoul and Washington. China has supported a tightening of U.N. sanctions and cracked down on North Korean banking activities.

Russia, for its part, has been seeking to bolster ties with North Korea amid a longtime effort to strengthen its role in Asia. "Russia could be looking to increase its influence in the Far East as its relations with Western nations have taken a turn for the worse due to the situation in Ukraine," said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University.

Choe's trip also appears aimed at easing North Korea's diplomatic isolation, said analyst Cheong Seong-chang at the private Sejong Institute. He noted this week's announcement of a free-trade agreement between rival South Korea and China.

The U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee is expected to vote next week on a resolution on North Korea's rights record drafted by the European Union and Japan. North Korea has been pursuing improved ties with South Korea and the U.S. in what analysts say is an attempt to attract aid, but Seoul and Washington have said the North must first take steps toward nuclear disarmament.

North Korea released two American detainees last weekend, but President Barack Obama squelched speculation that might pave the way for a new round of nuclear talks, saying the U.S. needs more than "small gestures" before reopening any high-level dialogue.

Choe was also a member of a high-profile North Korean delegation that visited South Korea in early October and agreed to resume senior-level talks. The talks, however, haven't moved forward because of tension over propaganda leaflets that South Korean activists send by balloon across the border into North Korea.

Associated Press writers Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul and Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this report.

Hong Kong activists denied permit to go to Beijing

November 15, 2014

HONG KONG (AP) — Three Hong Kong students who have led protests for greater democracy in the former British colony were denied in their attempt Saturday to go to Beijing to meet with top Chinese officials.

Alex Chow, Nathan Law and Eason Chung — members of a student group that played a main role in organizing massive street protests that started nearly two months ago — arrived at the Hong Kong airport greeted by dozens of well-wishers. But they were denied boarding passes for a Cathay Pacific flight when they were told their documents that would allow them to travel to Beijing were invalid.

"The Cathay Pacific has confirmed ... that the (students) got their return-home cards cancelled by the mainland authority, so they cannot get the required certificates to get onto the plane," said Yvonne Leung, general secretary of Hong Kong Federation of Students.

In a news conference hours later, the student leaders said annulling their travel documents is an unreasonable move that deprives them of their rights to enter the country's territory. "It symbolizes that Hong Kong people's right to determine their destiny will be taken away in the future," Chow said.

Carrie Lam, chief secretary for the Hong Kong administration, said that it was unnecessary for the students to petition Beijing and that the central leadership of the ruling Communist Party "is fully aware of the different appeals."

Pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong are routinely denied entry to the mainland, and Beijing in the past has confiscated or refused to renew the travel permits commonly known as return-home cards for a number of Hong Kong activists.

Chow and his deputies had planned to go to China's legislature upon arrival to seek talks with Premier Li Keqiang and others. The protesters oppose Beijing's decision that a panel will screen candidates for the inaugural 2017 election for Hong Kong's top official. Since late September, the protesters have occupied streets in three business and shopping districts in Hong Kong to express their objection to the Beijing decision and to demand genuine universal suffrage, but the Chinese authorities have declared the gatherings illegal and showed no sign of backing down.

An editorial in the Saturday edition of the party-run Global Times said the students would not get their meeting and their travel plans were merely a show for sympathy. "These activists may be too naive," the editorial reads. "Do they really know who they are and whom they can represent? How can they meet whomever they want in Beijing?"

Chow, Law and Chung arrived at the Hong Kong International Airport amid a large crowd of supporters, prompting security officers to set up barriers to control the crowd so as not to disrupt the flow of travelers through the facility.

The crowd sang songs and chanted slogans, and about 80 of them held up yellow umbrellas, which have become a symbol for the pro-democracy movement. Jeffrey Tsang, a former member of the student group, tried to board the same flight separately when he discovered that his travel permit was no longer valid.

When the flight took off, three seats that were vacant for unknown reasons had printed signs that read: "SEAT INOP, DO NOT OCCUPY."

AP writers Didi Tang in Beijing and Kelvin K. Chan in Hong Kong contributed to the report.

Far-right leader praises Serbia's ties with Russia

November 15, 2014

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Three days after being temporarily released from a U.N. war crimes court for health reasons, Serbia far-right leader Vojislav Seselj told about 10,000 supporters on Saturday that his Balkan country must scrap EU integration and turn entirely to Russia.

The Serbian firebrand, accused of recruiting notorious paramilitary forces during the Balkan wars, also said he wants to regroup his ultranationalist party to force an early election next year and "wipe away the pro-Europeans."

"We want integration with Russia. We do not want the European Union. That is where our enemies are," Seselj told his supporters, some of whom carried posters of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Serbia has sought to balance its bid to become a member of the European Union and to maintain its close relations with Russia, its traditional Slavic ally. In a sign of close ties with Moscow, Serbia last month gave the visiting Putin a hero's welcome, organizing a military parade to his honor. On Friday the nation's two armies held a joint military exercise in north Serbia.

Seselj said "Serbia must set a clear path and decide between east and west," adding: "We must show sincerely we are for Russia." He returned home on Wednesday after the tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands, released him for medical treatment. Serbian doctors who visited the 60-year-old say he is suffering from colon cancer that has spread to his liver.

Seselj has been in custody since 2003, charged as part of a criminal plot to drive out non-Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia during the conflict. Judges have delayed passing a verdict several times because of different legal obstacles.

Russian troops hold drills in Serbia

November 15, 2014

NIKINCI, Serbia (AP) — Camouflage-clad Russian soldiers parachute from the sky, armored vehicles fire live rounds on an open field after being dropped from military transport jets and helicopters fire missiles against enemy positions.

Although the flat terrain resembles the Ukrainian war zones, this is not an armed Russian intervention against its neighbor. It's the first-ever joint Serb-Russian military exercise in Serbia, the Balkan country that has been performing a delicate balancing act in between its Slavic ally Russia and Western Europe, with which Belgrade wants to integrate.

The "anti-terrorist' drill on Friday — the first such by the Russians outside the former Soviet Union — of elite Russian troops in northern Serbia, not far from NATO-member Croatia, has stirred controversy both here and abroad.

"Serbia's government wants to try and keep everyone happy," said prominent Balkan political analyst Tim Judah. "So, the U.S. helps finance and modernize Serbia's army while now Serbian soldiers train with Russians. In normal times there would be little to say about this, but post-Crimea, these are not normal times anymore."

Although Serbian officials say they respect Ukraine's territorial integrity and do not support Russia's annexation of Crimea, they have refused to impose sanctions against Russia like the EU and the U.S. have. Russia and Serbia have traditionally close historic and cultural ties, and Moscow has backed Belgrade's bid to maintain its claim over Kosovo — a former Serbian province that declared independence in 2008 with the support of Washington and its allies.

The show of Russian military might in a country seeking to join the European Union comes as Russia, blamed by the West for fomenting the Ukraine crisis, tries to increase the Kremlin's presence in the Balkans.

"During our short stay in Serbia, we established the basis for expanding of our military relations," said Russian Gen. Vladimir Shamatov. Russian President Vladimir Putin was in Belgrade last month where he received a hero's welcome that included a Soviet-style military parade. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, arrived in Belgrade on Friday.

"Serbia says it supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine, yet it welcomes Putin with a military parade and its soldiers are training with the army that annexed Crimea and is fighting in Ukraine," Judah said. "As the (Ukrainian) war goes on this is an increasingly untenable position and Serbia's government will just annoy both Russia and its Western friends rather than being on good terms with all."

Serbian Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic said he believes Serbian "neutrality" is tenable and defended holding the drill with the Russians. "There are no secrets about this exercise," he said after the drills that included a mock live-ammunition attack against a terrorist base with armored vehicles and about 200 troops, some deployed by Ilyushin IL-76 transport aircraft.

"We are militarily neutral and we would like to maintain good relations with everyone, including Russia, the European Union, the United States and China," Gasic said, adding that Serbia — which has never been part of any Russian or Western military alliance — will also hold military drills with the Americans next month in Serbia.

In Washington, State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki called the military exercise regrettable. "Although it is our understanding that this Russian-Serbian joint military drill had been planned for some time, we regret that Serbia decided to proceed. In light of Russia's actions in Ukraine and its disregard of international law and norms, this is no time for 'business as usual' with Russia," Psaki told The Associated Press.

Associated Press Writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report from Washington.

Battered, Greece faces years to recoup recession

November 15, 2014

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — In a tiny, windowless storeroom, elderly women sort through items normally destined for the trash.

It's an unlikely place to be saving lives. The women volunteer at a charity clinic that recycles drugs sent by relatives of dead cancer patients, recovering stroke victims, or new mothers who overstocked on baby formula.

The half-filled boxes of medicine are stacked to the ceiling, waiting to be mailed to growing numbers of unemployed Greeks who have been denied hospital treatment since the economic crisis started. Greece's recession — the economy shrank every year since 2008 — was declared over on Friday.

"I promise that growth will continue at an even faster pace," Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said. "No Greek will miss out ... Hope is back, Greece is back." That's bold talk, as the recession has left Greek society looking battered: One in every five households has no working member, and a staggering 3 million of Greece's 10.7 million people have lost state health insurance because the long-term unemployed and their dependents lose benefits.

Cardiologist George Vichas set up the Metropolitan Community Clinic three years ago to continue treating his patients who lost health insurance. Now he oversees a network of 250 volunteers who recycle medicine, provide checkups using donated medical equipment, and set up appointments at clinics and hospitals that offer charity slots.

"I had never imagined we'd be working on this scale," he said. "People who come to us have a sense of shame, anger and deep sadness ... Our aim is to replace that with hope." The consequences of the recession, including the austerity cuts imposed by successive Greek governments, have been felt far and wide, laying waste to many of the country's public services and traditions.

"The timeframe of the crisis does not overlap with the social consequences of the crisis," said Alexander Kentikelenis, a sociologist at the University of Cambridge. "The economic recession may have lasted six years, but the social crisis may end up taking longer."

Here are some of the social impacts — by no means all — of the recession. THOUSAND A DAY — As many as a thousand people were losing their jobs every day at the height of the depression, which saw the economy contract by a quarter and a million jobs shredded.

One of them belonged to Yiannis Bouchelis, a 60-year-old graphic artist who hasn't worked for four years. "It's really bad. It's not just the money but our morale," he said. "We want to feed our families and live in dignity — that's the main thing."

Unemployment rocketed from around 7 percent in mid-2008 to nearly 28 percent in late 2013, as more than 250,000 businesses went to the wall. Youth joblessness spiked above 60 percent. At just a little over 50 percent now, a whole generation is being denied the skills and experience needed to secure a future. There are indications that the rise in unemployment has led to an increase in alcoholism, drug use, poverty and a fall in the birth rate, among other things.

Those without work receive unemployment benefits only for up to a year — most getting the basic rate of 360 euros ($445) per month. More than 80 percent of people out of work currently get no financial assistance.

Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, president of the Levy Economics Institute, a public policy think tank based near New York City, argued that hope for a recovery based on strong exports was not realistic. Growth could only be spurred by a major development program funded, at least partly, by the European Union, he said.

Without a major shift in policy — and budgets are likely to remain tight for years — Papadimitriou said it would take over a decade to get employment back to pre-crisis levels. "A jobless recovery is not a recovery at all."

HOUSEHOLDS WITHOUT HOPE — During the recession, Greek governments enacted wave after wave of austerity in return for the financial bailouts that prevented bankruptcy and a possible exit from the euro currency. The spending and wage cuts, combined with emergency tax hikes, have worsened the recession and strained the finances of Greeks.

According to Unicef, child poverty rates have risen alarmingly. The U.N. body recently found that of 41 developed countries it assessed, Greece had the highest child poverty rate of 40.5 percent in 2012, up from 23 percent in 2008.

It found that since 2008 the percentage of households with children that are unable to afford meat, chicken or fish every second day has more than doubled. And in Greece, the share of respondents saying they "experienced stress today" jumped from 49 percent in 2006 to 74 percent in 2013.

The repercussions of the recession are likely to last. According to UNICEF, many of the children affected by the recession "will suffer the consequences for life." For Oxford University's Professor David Stuckler, co-author of the book "The Body Economic: Why Austerity Kills," the Greek austerity program "undermined the ultimate source of its strength — its people."

TIME BOMB — As Greece slashed spending on welfare, public health problems mounted. In the first years of recession, HIV/Aids infection rates surged, something many attributed to cuts to the budget for a needle-exchange program. Amid international attention to the issue, a joined-up strategy involving many was forged — HIV infections have since fallen back.

Other health issues, however, are likely to prove more difficult to deal with. Ominously, Greece's mortality rate, adjusted for its aging population, stopped dropping in 2011. Health clinic founder Vichas offers one explanation — the high cost of treating chronic illnesses, particularly for the unemployed.

Boxes of cancer drugs in his store room cost up to 2,000 euros ($2,500) for a month's course. In all, Vichas said, a cancer patient would need between 20,000 euros and 30,000 euros to pay for drugs. He warned that long-term effects of the crisis are just beginning to appear.

"We'll be seeing the consequences for another 5-10 years: The children who missed their immunizations, and all the consequences of illnesses that were not treated early," he said. "And treatment is much more expensive that prevention. It's a time bomb."

Pylas reported from London. AP Television producer Theodora Tongas in Athens contributed.

France, Greece help lift eurozone growth

November 14, 2014

LONDON (AP) — Fears that the 18-country eurozone could be heading back into recession eased Friday with the news that it grew faster than expected in the third quarter, thanks to a better performance by France and confirmation Greece has come out of one of the developed world's deepest recessions in living memory.

The Eurostat statistics agency said the eurozone grew 0.2 percent in the July to September period from the previous quarter, which is equivalent to an annualized rate of around 0.8 percent. The growth is relatively weak, but stronger than the 0.1 percent tick recorded in the second quarter, which most in the markets had expected to be repeated.

The overall figures did little to suggest the eurozone might reach U.S.-levels of growth anytime soon. In the third quarter of this year, the U.S. economy grew by a quarterly rate of 0.9 percent, according to Eurostat.

"After a false dawn when the eurozone exited recession just over a year ago the fundamentals and overall economic picture have failed to see a substantial improvement," said Danae Kyriakopoulou, an economist at the Centre for Economic and Business Research.

The eurozone recovery has faced headwinds for years, notably the debt problems afflicting many of the countries that use the euro. The European Central Bank is under pressure to help out more, especially as inflation is low — at only 0.4 percent in the year to October, it is far below the 2 percent rate the ECB looks for.

If prices start falling on a sustained basis — so-called deflation — growth may be choked further as consumers delay purchases in the hope of cheaper bargains down the line and businesses fail to innovate and invest.

"Growth is still nowhere near strong enough to eat into the vast amount of spare capacity in the region and hence diminish the risks of deflation," said Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at Capital Economics. "As such, the numbers do nothing to ease the pressure on the ECB and governments to provide more policy stimulus."

A more detailed look at Friday's figures shows much of the growth was due to France expanding 0.3 percent during the quarter. Many had feared Europe's second-biggest economy could sink back into recession. France's outperformance helped to make up for a muted 0.1 percent gain in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, and a 0.1 percent contraction in Italy.

In perhaps the most momentous development, the figures showed Greece is out of recession for the first time in six years. Greece posted annual growth of 0.4 percent in the second quarter, followed by 1.4 percent in the third. According to Eurostat, Greece slipped into recession in the summer of 2008.

Greece is now among the fastest-growing economies in the eurozone, having expanded in each period this year. In the third quarter, its output swelled by 0.7 percent quarter-on-quarter. However, it's going to take years for Greece to recoup the economic ground lost during the recession. Its economy is now around a quarter smaller than when the recession started.

No economy in the world was immune from the fallout of the global financial crisis of 2008-9, but few were in as bad a state to deal with it as Greece. Years of profligate government spending had combined with a super-charged credit boom to give the illusion that Greece had won its place among the developed world elite.

The collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 and the ensuing global recession — the deepest since World War II — tore that impression asunder. The Greek economic miracle that had allowed it to join the first wave of countries in the European Union to use euro notes and coins at the start of 2002 was exposed for what it was — a mirage.

Over the next few years, the Greek economy would hurtle from one crisis to another. Its international bailouts and the associated austerity prescribed by its creditors from Europe and the International Monetary Fund garnered global attention as investors bet on whether it would drop out of the euro bloc.

Brazil execs arrested as Petrobras scandal grows

November 15, 2014

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Federal police on Friday sharply expanded what is becoming Brazil's biggest political kickback scandal, arresting top construction company executives and detaining another former director of the state-run energy company.

Authorities allege top officials from oil company Petrobras operated a kickback scheme on contracts involving several billion dollars, with the money eventually being fed back to the governing Workers Party and other top parties for political campaigns.

On Friday, police arrested Renato Duque, the former director of services of Petrobras, for his alleged role in the scheme. Petrobras is Brazil's biggest company and is in charge of tapping big offshore oil fields and creating wealth that leaders hope will propel the country to developed world status. But the debt-plagued firm hasn't met development goals, and the riches remain buried deep under the sea.

Authorities also struck at the heart of some of Brazil's biggest private construction companies, enterprises that are consistently among the top donors to political campaigns via legal contributions. Now, police are directly targeting them for allegedly making illegal kickbacks worth exponentially more than the legal campaign contributions. The case fuels widespread belief among Brazilians that their political system is rife with corruption, especially when it comes to big infrastructure works and state-controlled companies.

Last year, millions of Brazilians took to the streets in anti-government protests calling for the end of graft, which many blame for siphoning off funds needed to improve woeful public services that also angered demonstrators.

Police arrested top executives during raids on the offices of builders OAS and Queiroz Galvao, the industrial engineering firm UTC and Iesa Oil and Gas. An arrest warrant also was issued for the top executive of builder Camargo Correa. Authorities hauled away boxes of documents and the personal bank accounts of the executives were frozen.

Police also searched and confiscated documents in the offices of Brazil's biggest builder, Odebrecht, and the Mendes Junior and Engevix firms. For months police have been investigating the alleged Petrobras kickback scheme in an effort they named "Operation Car Wash."

Many of the allegations center on what police have heard from Alberto Youssef, a convicted black-market money dealer who said that he laundered hundreds of millions in the scheme and that the governing party benefited from it.

Youssef, who is talking to police in exchange for a lighter sentence, claims recently re-elected President Dilma Rousseff and former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva knew about the kickbacks. He has offered no proof, and both leaders deny the allegation.

In March, police arrested Paulo Roberto Costa, a former director of downstream operations at Petrobras, for his purported involvement in the money-laundering scheme that police have said amounted to close to $4 billion. Costa, who is under house arrest in a plea bargain deal, has told prosecutors that he accepted bribes from big construction firms and other contractors to win bids from the oil producer.

Also Friday, Brazil's comptroller general's office said it will investigate allegations that about 20 Petrobras officials accepted bribes to award contracts several years ago to SBM Offshore, a Netherlands-based supplier of offshore oil vessels.

Petrobras said it had no immediate comment. In a separate case involving the oil company, a Senate commission is investigating Petrobras' purchase of the Pasadena Refining System in 2006. Petrobras paid Belgium's Astra Oil $360 million that year for a 50 percent stake in the refinery. A year later, Astra exercised an option requiring Petrobras to buy the remaining 50 percent. Petrobras refused, but lost an arbitration case in the U.S. in 2012 and had to pay $820.5 million for the remaining 50 percent, including interest and legal fees.

In the end, Petrobras paid $1.18 billion for a refinery that cost Astra $42.5 million in 2005.

Associated Press writer Brad Brooks reported this story in Rio de Janeiro and Stan Lehman reported from Sao Paulo.

Space agency says Philae completes primary mission

November 15, 2014

BERLIN (AP) — The pioneering lander Philae completed its primary mission of exploring the comet's surface and returned plenty of data before depleted batteries forced it to go silent, the European Space Agency said Saturday.

"All of our instruments could be operated and now it's time to see what we got," ESA's blog quoted lander manager Stephan Ulamec as saying. Since landing Wednesday on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko some 311 million miles (500 million kilometers) away, the lander has performed a series of scientific tests and sent reams of data, including photos, back to Earth.

In addition, the lander was lifted on Friday by about 4 centimeters (1.5 inches) and rotated about 35 degrees in an effort to pull it out of a shadow so that solar panels could recharge the depleted batteries, ESA's blog said.

ESA spokesman Bernard von Weyhe on Saturday confirmed the lander's difficult rotation operation. It's still unclear whether it succeeded in putting the solar panels out of the shade. Even if the lander was rotated successfully and is able to recharge its batteries with sunlight, it may take weeks or months until it will send out new signals. Regular checks for signals will continue.

The agency did not schedule any media briefings on Saturday. ESA's mission control center in Darmstadt, Germany, received the last signals from Philae on Saturday morning at 0036 GMT (7:36 p.m. EST Friday). Before the signal died, the lander returned all of its housekeeping data as well as scientific data of its experiments on the surface — which means it completed the measures as planned, the ESA blog said.

During a scheduled listening effort on Saturday at 1000GMT, ESA received no signals from Philae, ESA's mission chief Paolo Ferri told The Associated Press. "We don't know if the charge will ever be high enough to operate the lander again," Ferri had told The AP ahead of the 1000GMT (5 a.m. EST) listening time. "It is highly unlikely that we will establish any kind of communication any time soon."

Now it's up to ESA's team of scientists to evaluate the data and find out whether the experiments were successful — especially a complex operation Friday in which the lander was given commands to drill a 25-centimeter (10-inch) hole into the comet and pull out a sample for analysis.

"We know that all the movements of the operation were performed and all the data was sent down" to ESA, Ferri said Saturday. "However, at this point we do not even know if it really succeeded and if it (the drill) even touched the ground during the drilling operation."

Material beneath the surface of the comet has remained almost unchanged for 4.5 billion years, so the samples would be a cosmic time capsule that scientists are eager to study. The lander did already return images of the comet's surface that show "it is covered by dust and debris ranging from millimeter to meter sizes," while "panoramic images show layered walls of harder material," ESA's blog stated.

The science teams are now studying their data to see if they have succeeded in sampling any of this material with Philae's drill. Beyond analyzing the new data, scientists are also still trying to find the exact spot where Philae landed on Wednesday.

"The search for Philae's final landing site continues, with high-resolution images from the orbiter being closely scrutinized," the blog said. Scientists hope the $1.6 billion (1.3 billion-euro) project will help answer questions about the origins of the universe and life on Earth.

One of the things scientists are most excited about is the possibility that the mission might help confirm that comets brought the building blocks of life — organic matter and water — to Earth. They already know that comets contain amino acids, a key component of cells. Finding the right kind of amino acids and water would be an important hint that life on Earth did come from space.

"The data collected by Philae and Rosetta is set to make this mission a game-changer in cometary science," Matt Taylor, ESA's Rosetta project scientist, was quoted as saying on the blog.