Britain's UKIP drops candidate for saying he'd shoot rival

May 06, 2015

LONDON (AP) — Britain's political leaders visited factories, farms, supermarkets and schools Wednesday on the final day of campaigning before an election predicted to be excruciatingly close and frustratingly indecisive.

The election race drew to a bumpy close for the U.K. Independence Party, which suspended a candidate for making remarks about shooting his Conservative opponent in the head. Robert Blay, who was running in the southern English seat of North East Hampshire, was recorded by an undercover reporter saying of Conservative candidate Ranil Jayawardena that he would "put a bullet between his eyes" if Jayawardena became prime minister.

The Daily Mirror ran footage of Blay making the comments and saying Jayawardena, who has Sri Lankan heritage, was "not British enough to be in our Parliament." "We've suspended him immediately, which is the right thing to do, and we do have a history of getting rid of people when they do something wrong very quickly indeed," said UKIP deputy chief Paul Nuttall.

Hampshire police said they were reviewing the comments as part of "initial inquiries" but added that no one had been arrested. It is the latest in a string of embarrassing comments by members of UKIP, which has seen support grow for its anti-European Union stance and hopes to win a handful of seats on Thursday.

Small parties could play a major role in determining who governs Britain after an election that polls suggest is too close to call. Neither the Conservatives nor Labor look likely to win a majority of House of Commons seats, and their poll ratings have barely shifted during the monthlong campaign, with each supported by about a third of voters.

Both big parties, however, insisted they were aiming for outright victory. Prime Minister David Cameron acknowledged he was "nervous" about the result, but said he hadn't spent time planning for postelection talks with prospective coalition partners.

"I'm out there trying to convince people that the Conservative Party has the right answers to keep the economy growing, to keep creating those jobs, cutting those taxes, investing in our NHS (health service)," he said.

Labour leader Ed Miliband told BBC radio: "I'm not countenancing defeat. I'm focusing on winning the election." Miliband faced a torrent of last-minute criticism from right-leaning British newspapers, which have depicted the prospect of a Labor government supported by the separatist Scottish National Party — one possible election outcome — as a threat to Britain's future.

British newspapers do not confine their attempts at political influence to editorial-page endorsements. The Rupert Murdoch-owned Sun ran a front-page photo of Miliband awkwardly eating a bacon sandwich, with the headline "Save Our Bacon."

The right-wing Daily Mail urged readers not to let "a class-war zealot and the SNP destroy our economy — and our very nation." British newspapers once carried considerable political clout, but their influence, like their circulations, may be on the wane in the Internet age.

Also facing a dramatic reduction in influence are the Liberal Democrats. The party has been junior coalition partner to Cameron's Conservatives since 2010, but has seen its ratings slide to single digits and looks set to lose a big chunk of its 59 seats.

But leader Nick Clegg insisted his party "will be the surprise story of the election." "We are going to do so much better than anybody thinks," Clegg said.

Start your engines: UK election hopefuls burn rubber

May 05, 2015

LONDON (AP) — Britain's candidates are campaigning from Cornwall in southwestern England to the far northern reaches of Scotland in search of votes with the general election just two days away.

Polls suggest the race is extremely close and no clear trend has emerged. Many believe no party will win a majority, leading to a hung Parliament and a period of negotiations before a new government emerges.

Prime Minister David Cameron from the Conservatives and Labor Party leader Ed Miliband are virtually even in last-minute surveys despite weeks of intense campaigning. Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, who hopes to play kingmaker, plans a 1000-mile bus tour in the campaign's final days.

He said Tuesday there is no way Cameron or Miliband will gain a majority, leaving his party to provide stability.

Britain's new princess named Charlotte Elizabeth Diana

May 04, 2015

LONDON (AP) — Britain's newborn princess has been named Charlotte Elizabeth Diana — seen as a tribute to Prince William's parents and grandmother.

The princess is the second child of Prince William and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge. The baby will be known as Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, royal officials said Monday.

Charlotte, the feminine form of Charles, appears to be a nod to the newborn's grandfather, Prince Charles. The middle names honor Queen Elizabeth II, the infant's 89-year-old great-grandmother, and the late Princess Diana, William's mother.

The princess is fourth in line to the throne after Charles, William and her older brother Prince George. William and Kate introduced the baby princess to the world Saturday evening, just 12 hours after Kate checked into a London hospital to give birth. The baby weighed in at 8 pounds, 3 ounces (3.7 kilograms).

The couple had kept the world guessing about the name until after both sets of grandparents got a chance to visit Kensington Palace on Sunday to meet their granddaughter. Bookmakers had taken huge amounts of bets on the name, and Charlotte had been a favorite choice, a front-runner alongside other guesses like Alice and Victoria.

Earlier Monday, Westminster Abbey's bells pealed and gun salutes were fired across London in honor of the newborn princess. In a display of traditional pageantry, dozens of deafening volleys were fired from Hyde Park and the Tower of London to mark the occasion.

Royals traditionally look to their family tree for name ideas, and Britain's royal history has seen several Charlottes. Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III, was a keen botanist and founded London's Kew Gardens. Born in 1744, the queen had 15 children.

George IV also named his only child Charlotte in 1796, but she died in childbirth at the age of 21 in 1817, leading to a mass outpouring of grief in Britain.

British leaders in final push before May 7 election

May 03, 2015

LONDON (AP) — The leaders of Britain's main political parties are using the long weekend to make a final push to win over undecided voters before the general election.

Prime Minister David Cameron and his rivals are rallying supporters in the final weekend of campaigning before Thursday's vote. Most opinion polls suggest that the ruling Conservatives and their main opponents, the Labor Party, are neck and neck, and the election results are widely expected to be inconclusive. Some form of coalition government appears likely.

In a speech to activists on Sunday, Cameron said he is the "only option" for prime minister to avoid a power-sharing deal between Labor and the separatist Scottish National Party — a "calamity for our country," he warned.

Should Britain stay in the EU? Question hovers in election

May 03, 2015

LONDON (AP) — Ian Robinson, co-owner of a small investment firm in London, is watching Britain's general election this Thursday with unease.

A victory for Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party could bring Britain a step closer to leaving the 28-nation European Union, a move many companies fear would cause damage by increasing costs of doing business on the continent and eroding London's role as a global financial hub.

Robinson says leaving the EU would make even the most basic things more difficult for businesses in Britain, forcing him to apply for licenses in each country where he operates rather than getting a single permit from British regulators.

"Leaving the EU would be a disaster," he said in the offices of Kinson Capital Ltd., which manages assets and provides advisory services for banks and hedge funds. "Financial services and a lot of businesses work on an EU passport."

Cameron promised to hold a referendum on EU membership in 2017 as he sought to blunt the rise of the U.K. Independence Party, which says Britain should leave the bloc so it can stem the tide of immigrants from Europe and return all decision-making back to London from EU headquarters in Brussels. While the British campaign has focused mostly on issues like the economy and health care, uncertainty over Britain's possible exit — informally called "Brexit" — may curtail investment and rattle financial markets until the issue is resolved.

"Brexit is probably the biggest single source of uncertainty right now for U.K. investors," Daniel Vernazza, an economist at UniCredit Bank, said in an email. "The Conservatives have pledged an in-out referendum by the end of 2017, so it could be a multi-year period of uncertainty."

Only last month, HSBC, one of the world's biggest banks, said it was considering moving its headquarters out of the U.K., partly because of the EU debate. Britain joined the EU in 1973, bringing the bloc to nine members. Today the EU is made up of 28 countries, and with more than 500 million people is the world's largest economic bloc.

Historically, Britons have mostly wanted to remain in the EU. A poll conducted by Ipsos MORI in October found that 56 percent of respondents said they'd vote to stay in a referendum, while 36 percent would vote to leave. About 1,000 adults were interviewed by phone Oct. 11-14. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

But while the U.K.'s EU membership comes with advantages — like unfettered access to a 13.9 trillion euro ($15.5 trillion) market — it also comes with conditions that many in Britain are now finding onerous.

Of particular concern is one of the EU's founding principles — that citizens of any EU country can live and work in any other member state. After the EU expanded into former communist countries of Eastern Europe in 2004, Britain saw a huge increase in migrants seeking work.

Opinion polls show that UKIP, once a fringe party, may receive more than 10 percent of the May 7 vote as a result of its focus on immigration and the EU. In an election in which Britain's traditional two-party system has broken down, those votes may cost Cameron his job.

Former Labor Prime Minister Tony Blair made a rare return foray into electoral politics recently to criticize Cameron for pandering to xenophobic voters. "Think of the chaos produced by the possibility, never mind the reality, of Britain quitting Europe," Blair said in a speech this month. "Jobs that are secure suddenly insecure. Investment decisions postponed or cancelled. A pall of unpredictability hanging over the British economy. And for what? To satisfy the insistent Europhobia of a group who will never be satisfied."

Cameron says he wants Britain to remain in the EU, but only if the bloc is reformed. He wants to limit the free movement of labor so that migrants have the right to work outside their home countries but don't have an automatic right to claim benefits.

"What I'm doing is putting the country first and saying the people of the U.K. should be able to have a choice about whether they want to stay in Europe on a reformed basis or leave," he told the BBC. "It's an in-out referendum by the end of 2017. It's right for our country and it's right for Europe, too."

Cameron went so far as to describe a referendum as a "red line" issue and said he would not be a partner in a government with a party that did not accept that vote. That stance would sit poorly with the Liberal Democrats, which has partnered with the Conservatives in Cameron's own current government.

Proposals for reform have so far received little support from other European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said last week the EU would consider only minor changes.

While the EU is talking tough, it too, has a lot to lose should Britain leave, as London is Europe's pre-eminent financial center. Britain is also the EU's second-biggest economy after Germany and was the world's fastest-growing developed economy last year.

European business leaders are more concerned about Britain leaving the EU than they are about the much more widely discussed possibility of a Greek exit, according to a survey released Thursday by accounting firm Grant Thornton. Almost two-thirds of eurozone business leaders surveyed say Britain's departure would have a negative impact on Europe, compared with 45 percent for Greece.

"This aversion to a Brexit arguably gives the next British government a strong hand when it comes to seeking reform in Europe," said Sacha Romanovitch, CEO elect at Grant Thornton's U.K. arm. "One thing's for sure: businesses and policymakers across the continent will be watching very closely to see how the dust settles" after the election.

The election is so close, however, that even if Cameron wins, he may not get the majority needed to secure a referendum on the EU. UKIP's support has plateaued and Labor leader Ed Miliband has said he's in favor of the EU.

But until there's clarity on the issue — which could take weeks — businesses and investors will be on edge. In London, Robinson says he doesn't object to the idea of a referendum, but is worried it could be used by politicians to make short-term gains on populist issues like immigration while overlooking the long-term damage of any British exit from the EU.

"If you open it up to referendum, the political parties will hijack it and just use it for something else," he said.

New royal baby: Destined to be a 'spare to the heir'?

May 02, 2015

LONDON (AP) — When Prince William and his wife, Kate, announced the arrival of their first child in 2013, Britain jubilantly celebrated the birth of a future king. Two years later it's a different story.

A second child was born Saturday to the royal couple — a princess who will surely delight the public but face life known half-jokingly as "the spare to the heir." Her name was not immediately announced.

Royal succession rules dictate that the throne always passes to the eldest child, and royals born second in the line of succession rarely have to worry about one day becoming king or queen. It's a position that brings far less responsibility, but also fewer privileges than those enjoyed by the heir apparent. It's also one that attracts relentless public scrutiny.

While eldest children have their destinies carved out from birth, many royal "spares" have struggled to find meaningful public roles. "It's always been a rather unenviable situation. There are often shades of jealousy, evident in the current queen and her sister," said Joe Little, managing editor at Britain's Majesty magazine, referring to Queen Elizabeth II and the late Princess Margaret.

Not all younger royal children spend their lives waiting in the wings, heading charities and cutting ribbons. Elizabeth's grandfather, George V, inherited the throne in 1910 after his elder brother died of pneumonia. George VI, another second son, became king after his brother abdicated in 1936.

Here's a look at some younger royals.

PRINCE HARRY (born 1984)

The second son of Prince Charles and Diana, Harry is often seen as the mischievous one, the fun-loving counterpart to the more staid — some say dull — William.

Harry came of age under full public scrutiny, and through the years he has sparked some scandalous headlines. He admitted to smoking cannabis and drinking in his teenage years, and in 2004 he was photographed scuffling with a photographer outside a London nightclub.

A couple of incidents were particularly embarrassing for the royals: When the prince was photographed wearing a Nazi-themed costume to a fancy dress party, prompting the headline "Harry the Nazi," and more recently when he was pictured partying naked in Las Vegas.

Like many other royals, Harry chose a military career and has served in Afghanistan. That will likely continue to be his main role as he gets bumped further down the line of succession. The new royal baby will see Harry relegated to fifth in line.

PRINCE ANDREW (born 1960)

Andrew, the queen's second son and Charles' younger brother, gets more press than fellow siblings Anne and Edward — largely for the wrong reasons.

Andrew, the Duke of York, enjoyed a successful naval career as a helicopter pilot and served in the Falklands War, yet that record has been overshadowed in recent years by headlines about his friendship with several controversial figures, notably U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein, a registered sex offender. Andrew stepped down from his role as a trade envoy in 2011 as questions mounted, and this year he had to publicly deny claims that he had sex with an underage woman.

Andrew's chaotic marriage to Sarah Ferguson — known as Fergie — ended in divorce. He has long been criticized for his opulent, globe-trotting lifestyle, and his romantic links to a number of models and starlets have attracted unwelcome nicknames like "Randy Andy."

Andrew will become sixth in line to the throne with the baby's birth.

PRINCESS MARGARET (1930 -2002)

Four years younger than the queen, Margaret was Elizabeth's only sister. With her film-star looks and vivacious personality, Margaret lived a glamorous life, and many remember her best for her turbulent romances.

The princess's relationship with divorced pilot Peter Townsend was frowned upon by Winston Churchill and the Church of England, among others. In 1955, aged 25, she declared she had decided against marrying him, "conscious of my duty to the Commonwealth."

Margaret later married photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, a commoner, and the couple became the heart of a fashionable set in the Swinging London scene of the '60s and '70s. The princess was often snapped dancing late into the night, threw famous parties in the Caribbean and mixed with pop stars like Mick Jagger.

Before the couple divorced, Margaret met Roddy Llewellyn, 17 years her junior, a relationship that prompted huge media coverage.

Margaret's health declined in her 60s, and she died in 2002 at 71.

KING GEORGE VI (1895-1952)

The father of the queen, George VI — born Albert — became the unexpected king when his elder brother, Edward VIII, abdicated in 1936 after a reign that lasted just 11 months. Edward, often portrayed as a raffish playboy, had abandoned the throne to marry his mistress, the divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson.

A shy man with a stammer, George had to restore public faith in the monarchy and be the symbolic leader of a country at war with Germany. The Oscar-winning film "The King's Speech," which dramatized the story of how he overcame his initial struggles as monarch, reignited interest in his often overlooked life.

George died at 56 in 1952.

Britain has a new princess; and eagerly awaits her name

May 02, 2015

LONDON (AP) — From Prince Charles to the bettors at the corner store, everyone in Britain was hoping for a girl.

The Duchess of Cambridge delighted her nation and royal enthusiasts around the world Saturday by delivering one such princess. The royal birth was greeted with cheers and elated cries of "Hip, hip, hooray!" outside St. Mary's Hospital in London, where fans and the world's media have waited for days.

The baby — Prince William and Kate's second child — was born Saturday morning and weighed 8 pounds 3 ounces (3.7 kilograms), officials said. She is fourth in line to the throne and the fifth great-grandchild of 89-year-old Queen Elizabeth II. Britain hasn't welcomed a princess born this high up the line of succession for decades.

It may be a day or two before the world knows what to call her. When Prince George, her older brother, was born in 2013, royal officials waited two days before announcing his name. Speculation about the new royal's name has been frenetic, and all the top bets for the baby's name have been for girls: Alice and Charlotte are the clear favorites, followed by Elizabeth, Victoria and Diana — all names with strong royal connections. Royal children are usually given several names — the baby's brother was christened George Alexander Louis — so the princess's name could incorporate more than one of those guesses.

Anticipation had been building for weeks after Kate, 33, told a well-wisher she was due around late April. Still, journalists were caught slightly off guard when she delivered barely three hours after checking into the hospital at dawn Saturday. William, 32, was present at the birth.

The couple later emerged on the hospital steps with the infant to briefly pose for photographers before leaving for their home at nearby Kensington Palace. Kate, who wore a yellow-and-white floral shift dress by British designer Jenny Packham, held the sleeping baby wrapped in a white shawl.

The couple looked relaxed but didn't answer any questions. William earlier told reporters he was "very happy" as he brought young George to the hospital to meet his baby sister. George, looking slightly alarmed by all the cameras, waved dutifully at the adoring crowds.

The queen and senior royals were "delighted with the news," officials said. The queen marked the occasion by wearing a pink ensemble while carrying out an official engagement in North Yorkshire, 250 miles (400 kilometers) north of London.

Cheers and chants of "Princess! Princess!" rang out from the hundreds of well-wishers and tourists gathered outside the palace and the hospital as soon as the news was announced. One fan who had camped out outside the hospital for days danced with joy.

"I'm top of the world," said royal camper Terry Hutt, 80, decked out in patriotic Union Jack gear. He did not expect the birth to happen as soon as it did but said: "Babies come when they're ready." "If Diana was here, she'd be very, very proud," he added, referring to the late Princess Diana, William's mother.

The news was announced on social media sites like Twitter as well as by a traditional bulletin on a gilded easel in front of Buckingham Palace — a practice that dates to 1837. A town crier in an elaborate costume — with no official connection to the royal family — shouted out the news at the hospital's door, clanging his bell to welcome the new royal.

"May our princess be long-lived, happy and glorious," said Tony Appleton, reading from a scroll in a booming voice. Britain's political leaders — facing a hard-fought general election in just five days — rushed to congratulate the couple on the baby. Goodwill also poured in from the rest of the world: President Barack Obama said he wished the family "much joy and happiness," while Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper said the British royal family held a "very special place in our country."

At 21 months, George is third in line to the throne, after his grandfather Prince Charles and his dad William. The newborn princess becomes the fourth in line, bumping Uncle Harry to fifth. The last princess born so close to the throne was Princess Anne, the queen's second child, in 1950. Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, the daughters of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, were fifth and sixth in line at the time of their birth.

Thanks to a recent change in the law, the new princess will hold her place in the line of succession that for centuries had put boys ahead of their sisters. That means no younger brother will be able to overtake the new princess in the order of preference to inherit the throne.

Nonetheless, the princess probably doesn't have to worry about one day becoming queen, since royal succession rules dictate that the throne always passes to the eldest child. Younger siblings only step up to the job in rare circumstances — in case of an illness, death, or an abdication.

The birth of their second child marks a new phase for William and Kate, who were wed in a lavish ceremony at Westminster Abbey in April 2011. The royal couple is expected to spend more time in their country digs, a 10-room brick-faced mansion known as Anmer Hall on the queen's estate in Sandringham, 120 miles (190 kilometers) north of London. Their apartment at Kensington Palace in central London, where much of their staff is based, will still remain their official home, officials said.

Anmer Hall is also better located for William's new role as a pilot for Bond Air Services, a helicopter operator that works with the East Anglian Air Ambulance service. He will work with doctors responding to emergencies ranging from road accidents to heart attacks.

Greg Katz in London also contributed.

Prince William and Kate face transition: new baby, new job

May 02, 2015

LONDON (AP) — It is a period of transition for Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge, with the birth of a daughter even as William adjusts to a new job as a helicopter ambulance pilot.

Palace officials said Saturday morning that Kate gave birth to a baby girl hours after she went into the hospital. The new arrival was expected to spur the royal couple to spend more time in their country digs, a 10-room brick-faced mansion known as Anmer Hall on grandmother Queen Elizabeth II's estate in Sandringham, 120 miles (190 kilometers) north of London.

They are planning to spend less time in their apartment at Kensington Palace in central London, although officials say that will remain their official home. Much of their support staff is based there.

The country home is also better located for William's new role as a pilot for Bond Air Services, a helicopter operator that serves East Anglian Air Ambulance. He will work with doctors responding to emergencies ranging from road accidents to heart attacks.

The 32-year-old William, second-in-line for the throne, is on paternity leave after starting the new position in late March. He is expected to help care for his new daughter. William has been training for his new role, including spending time in a flight simulator and getting specialized in-flight instruction.

Kate has admitted she is sometimes frightened when he flies in foul weather but is proud of his work. He was involved in numerous helicopter rescues while serving at a Royal Air Force base on Anglesey off the coast of Wales.

Palace officials have said the new air ambulance role will be William's main job, although he will still have royal duties in Britain and overseas. He has recently represented the queen at official events and made official visits to Japan and China.

It's a girl! Duchess of Cambridge gives birth to princess

May 02, 2015

LONDON (AP) — Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, has given birth to a baby girl, royal officials said Saturday.

Kensington Palace said in a brief statement that Prince William's wife "was safely delivered of a daughter" at 8:34 a.m. London time (0734 GMT), less than three hours after she was admitted to central London's St. Mary's Hospital.

The announcement was greeted by cheers outside the hospital, where die-hard royal fans dressed in patriotic Union Jack gear have been camping out on the sidewalk, eagerly awaiting news. A town crier in elaborate costume loudly declared the news at the hospital's door, clanging his bell to welcome the new royal.

The baby weighs 8 pounds 3 ounces (3.7 kg). The palace added that Kate, 33, and her child are both doing well, and that Prince William was present for the birth. The princess is fourth in line to the throne and the fifth great-grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II.

The statement said that senior royals have been informed, and "are delighted with the news." Kate, who wed William in April 2011, gave birth to Prince George at the same hospital in July 2013. The name of the newborn wasn't expected to be announced immediately. When George was born, officials waited two days before announcing his name.

Betting had for weeks ran heavily in favor of the child being a girl, despite any apparent evidence to back that up. All the top bets for the baby's name are for girls. Alice and Charlotte are the clear favorites, followed by Elizabeth, Victoria and Diana — all names with strong connections to royal tradition.

Prince Charles has signaled — twice — that he's hoping for a granddaughter, which led some to speculate that Charles had some inside information. The monarchy has not welcomed a princess born this high up the line of succession since Princess Anne, the queen's second child, was born in 1950.

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, the daughters of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, were fifth and sixth in line at the time of their birth. At 21 months, George is currently third in line to the throne, after his grandfather Prince Charles and William. The newborn becomes the fourth in line, bumping Uncle Harry to fifth place.

Carly Fiorina announces campaign for president

May 04, 2015

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former technology executive Carly Fiorina formally entered the 2016 presidential race on Monday, launching a Republican White House bid in a morning announcement that highlighted her role as a leading critic of Democratic contender Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co. is the only woman in the crowded field of major GOP candidates. She has never held elected office, but she could play a prominent role in the GOP's push to broaden its appeal with women in 2016. Democrats have won the female vote in every presidential election since 1988.

Fiorina announced her campaign in an online video posted roughly the same time she confirmed her intentions with ABC's "Good Morning America." Clinton played a prominent role in both. Fiorina's announcement video begins with her watching the former secretary of state's recent announcement video.

"Our founders never intended us to have a professional political class," Fiorina said after turning away from a television on which Clinton declared her own candidacy. "We know the only way to reimagine our government is to reimagine who is leading it."

Fiorina, 60, has long been a fierce critic of Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, whose potential to become the nation's first female president is a centerpiece of her political brand.

"I have a lot of admiration for Hillary Clinton, but she clearly is not trustworthy," Fiorina said in the morning television interview. Fiorina cited what she called a lack of transparency from Clinton on a number of fronts, including the 2012 attack on an American embassy in Benghazi, Libya, her use of a private email server while secretary of State, and foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation.

Fiorina became a prominent figure in Republican politics in 2010, when she ran for Senate in California and lost to incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer by 10 points. Considered an excellent communicator, Fiorina has a compelling personal story. She began her career as a secretary, earned an MBA and worked her way up at AT&T to become a senior executive at the telecom giant.

She was hired in 1999 as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, then the world's largest technology company and an iconic brand in American business. But Fiorina was fired six years later, after engineering a merger with Compaq, a leading competitor, viewed by some as a failure.

"I understand executive decision-making, which is making the tough call in the tough time with high stakes for which you're prepared to be held accountable," she said Monday. Fiorina enters a race for the Republican presidential nomination already home to several seasoned politicians, including Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas. Others expected to join the race include several sitting and former governors.

Fiorina's first public event after the announcement is scheduled for Tuesday in New York City, although she will campaign in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina by week's end.

Burundian opposition leader arrested as protests continue

May 06, 2015

BUJUMBURA, Burundi (AP) — Burundian Police arrested an opposition leader Wednesday after he attended a meeting of foreign ministers from the East African Community who were seeking a solution to the unrest in the country, triggered by President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to run for a third term.

Police failed to pull opposition leader Audifax Ndabitoreye from the meeting between East African Community foreign ministers and Burundi leaders at a hotel in the capital Bujumbura. Officers in plain clothes then waited for him outside the hotel. He first resisted being arrested, but later gave himself up to the police.

Police showed journalists a warrant of arrest for Ndabitoreye which said he was wanted for insurrection. Protests have rocked Burundi's capital since the ruling party announced on April 25 that it had nominated Nkurunziza as its presidential candidate.

Ndabitoreye said intervention by the East African Community was late. "They should have come a long time ago. Everyone knew the situation was getting worse... You have a government militia that terrorizes people," he said.

Whether he himself is dead or alive the protest movement will continue, Ndabitoreye added. "I know behind me there are thousands, millions of Burundi citizens who believe things will change, who know in their flesh things must change," he said.

Foreign ministers from East African Community nations travelled to Burundi Wednesday to help seek a solution to the problems. They included ministers from Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, said Edwin Limo, a spokesman of Kenya's foreign ministry.

In Bujumbura, roads were barricaded with trees as protests continued for a second week. In the Kinondo area of the city, police fired shots into the air to disperse demonstrators who had been staging a sit-in.

Vladimir Monteriro, a U.N. press officer in Bujumbura, said a U.N.-facilitated meeting between the government, the opposition and civil society started Tuesday. Burundi's Constitutional Court on Tuesday validated the president's controversial bid for a third term but the deputy president of the court, who fled to Rwanda ahead of the ruling, called it unconstitutional.

Jean Minani, an opposition party leader, said the opposition will use all peaceful means to ensure that Nkurunziza does not contest in the elections because it's unconstitutional. Burundi's constitution says the president is elected by universal direct suffrage for a mandate of five years, renewable only once.

Nkurunziza was first installed as president in 2005 by Parliament to lead a transitional government. He won the 2010 presidential election as the sole candidate. Opposition members boycotted, saying they feared it would be rigged.

At least nine people have been killed in the protests and more than 20,000 Burundians have fled to Rwanda, fearing political violence.

Burundi court validates president's third term bid

May 05, 2015

BUJUMBURA, Burundi (AP) — The ruling party in Burundi says the country's constitutional court has validated the president's bid for a third term.

Evelyne Butoyi, who is in charge of information for Burundi's ruling party, says the court reached the decision in support of the ruling party on Tuesday. The court deputy president was apparently no present. The state-controlled New Times newspaper of Rwanda reported Tuesday court Deputy President Sylvere Nimpangaritse fled to Rwanda on Monday amid street protests over President Pierre Nkurunziza's decision to seek a third term.

Nkurunziza was chosen by lawmakers to be president for his first term in 2005 and was re-elected in a popular vote in 2010. Burundi's constitution says the president is elected by universal direct suffrage for a mandate of five years, renewable one time.

Burundi Red Cross: 3 killed in clashes with security forces

May 04, 2015

BUJUMBURA, Burundi (AP) — At least three people have been killed in Burundi on Monday in violent clashes with the security forces, said the Red Cross, as street demonstrations persist over the president's third term bid.

An estimated 45 more people have been wounded, said Red Cross spokesman Alexis Manirakiza, in the worst chaos since the ruling party nominated President Pierre Nkurunziza to be its candidate in elections on June 26.

The police defended their tactics, saying they had restrained themselves even when 15 police officers were wounded by an exploding grenade allegedly thrown by protesters, said Liboire Bakundukize, a spokesman for the public security ministry.

"They (the police) contained themselves. But you know when people are attacked with a grenade, the reaction can be violent," he said. "I commend them but want to call on the people that such a thing (the grenade incident) cannot happen again. It is unacceptable. Because when they are attacked by a grenade, they can also be authorized to throw grenades."

Last week at least six people were killed in violent confrontations with the police, who fired live ammunition, tear gas and water cannon to disperse crowds. The protests are happening mostly in the suburbs of the capital, Bujumbura.

The protests resumed Monday after a weekend pause after a week of clashes between police and protesters angry over the president's bid for run for another term. The U.S. has criticized Nkurunziza's decision to seek a third term.

Speaking in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters: "We are deeply concerned about President Nkurunziza's decision, which flies directly in the face of the constitution of his country. Violence that is expressing the concern of his own citizens about that choice should be listened to and avoided as we go forward in these days."

On Monday some protesters reached downtown Bujumbura, which they had previously failed to get to because of a heavy police and military presence. Gunfire rang out and men ducked for cover as some shopkeepers hurriedly closed their businesses.

The military is continuing to act as a buffer between angry protesters and the police. In the Musaga neighborhood, where anti-government anger has been particularly intense, barricades were erected as police watched on Monday. One of the protesters there had to be rushed to the hospital after being shot in the back.

Protesters say their goal is to force Nkurunziza to withdraw his bid for a third term, which many see as a violation of the Arusha Agreements that ended a civil war here in which more than 250,000 people died.

Burundi's defense minister, Maj. Gen. Pontien Gaciyubwenge, said on Saturday that the army should remain neutral amid the unrest. He urged "all political actors" to avoid violence. Nkurunziza, a Hutu, was selected president by Parliament in 2005. He was re-elected unopposed in 2010.

Muhumuza contributed to this report from Kampala, Uganda. Associated Press writer Bradley Klapper in Nairobi, Kenya, also contributed.

V-Day in Russia evokes national pride at difficult time

May 07, 2015

MOSCOW (AP) — If you call history student Nikolai Podchasov on his cell phone these days, you will hear the popular wartime tune "Katyusha" while waiting for an answer.

"I just like the song," explains the 22-year-old Podchasov, who got it for free by dialing 1945 as part of a promotion tied to the Victory Day holiday. Symbols of the Soviet triumph in World War II are impossible to escape in Russia in the run-up to the 70th anniversary of Victory Day on Saturday. There are the black-and-orange St. George's ribbons tied to women's hand bags, wartime TV bulletins from the front line played after the evening news and "To Berlin!" stickers seen on car rear windows.

May 9 has long been the most revered holiday in Russia, bringing together people of all generations and political views. But the holiday has become an increasingly pompous celebration as the Kremlin exploits the memory of the victory to reassert Russia's place in the world and justify its aggressive foreign policy. President Vladimir Putin also uses patriotism to rally the nation as the economy suffers under Western sanctions and to help stifle potential pockets of discontent.

The Victory Day celebrations are a perfect vehicle for uniting Russians around a sense of national purpose. "It's the only opportunity for the nation to assert itself. There are no other foundations for national pride left," said sociologist Lev Gudkov, director of the independent pollster Levada Center. "This is the triumph of the Soviet Union over Hitler's Germany and at the same time a triumph over the West. It's a declaration of might, the transformation into a superpower."

Since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis, the Kremlin has stoked patriotism by evoking World War II imagery to condemn the pro-Western government in Ukraine that took over last year after the ouster of the Russia-friendly president. On state television, the new Ukrainian leaders have been derided as "fascists" and the spiritual heirs of a wartime Ukrainian independence militant whom Moscow considers a Nazi collaborator.

Most Russians have eagerly adopted the Kremlin-sponsored trappings to show their patriotism, including proudly wearing the St. George's ribbon, long associated with victory in World War II. And patriotism has helped to keep Putin's approval ratings sky-high — over 80 percent despite rampant inflation and Russia's increasing isolation from the West.

Some, however, have been turned off by the lavish celebrations for Victory Day. Alexander Mikhailov, a 62-year-old engineer who spent years working at military rocket launch sites, said he sees the official celebrations as superficial, although he understands why they may be necessary "in light of the political moment and the need to consolidate the nation" in the face of Western pressure.

The bigger disappointment for him is that the celebrations, and in particular the military parade on Red Square, are a bitter reminder of the loss of empire. "I'm proud of the victory of the Soviet people and the Soviet Union, but neither of them exists any more. Russia looks on the map the way it did in the 17th century," Mikhailov said. "The victory should be celebrated as long as the country is using the fruits of this victory."

Olga Gref, a 37-year-old history teacher, recalled that for her grandmother, who died last year, watching the parade was a tradition as well as an occasion to shed a tear. For younger Russians like herself, the parade is "more about entertainment."

What touches her on Victory Day is when she and her family and friends reminisce about those who died and those who survived. "There's always this aching feeling, a lump in the throat and tears on the way," Gref said.

Russians' understanding of World War II evolved in the late 1980s when people began to talk openly about Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's repressions ahead of the Nazi invasion in June 1941 and the brutal treatment of Soviet soldiers during the war. But the portrayal of the war has reverted to the old propaganda, as exemplified by the portraits of beaming soldiers and pilots looking down from billboards along Moscow's streets.

For Gref, the best way to keep alive the memory of the wartime suffering and sacrifices is to delve into family history. In her eighth-grade class on a recent afternoon, students brought memorabilia from home and told family stories of the war, which gave a picture far more complex than the official narrative.

One student told the class about a great-grandfather who was a commander in the 1943 Battle of Kursk, while another spoke of a great-grandfather who wasn't able to go to war because he had been sent to a Gulag prison camp. A student also told the class about a man who had deserted and was caught and tortured by the Soviet security services.

"This is what makes the circumstances of the war easy for them (the children) to relate to," the teacher said. "We need to talk about the contradictory nature of this event, the complexity of the war, about the fact that along with the victories, there was a lot of personal grief and a lot of dubious achievements."

The family histories also can counter attempts to portray the victory as exclusively the achievement of the Soviet Union and the Soviet leadership, Gref said. The share of Russians who think the Soviet Union would have won the war on its own increased to 69 percent last year from 57 percent in 2010, according to Levada's polls.

Gref said her teenage students were enthusiastic about St. George's ribbons 10 years ago because wearing one seemed that it "came from the heart and was not ubiquitous." Now, she said, her students won't wear the ribbons because this has "turned into a state-sponsored movement that's difficult to follow with sincerity."

Podchasov, the history student, who is due to graduate from Moscow State University this month, said he enjoys all aspects of the Victory Day celebrations — even the "To Berlin!" stickers that are a nod to war-time messages on Soviet tanks. "It's not anti-German, just something funny," he said.

But aside from the patriotic trappings, he said Victory Day was ultimately about the sacrifice people made for their country. "Those people didn't think it beneath them to sacrifice their lives," Podchasov said.

Thousands of Nepalese pray for earthquake victims

May 07, 2015

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Thousands of people dressed in white offered prayers, flowers and lit incense at home and in temples Thursday as part of a Hindu ritual marking the end of a 13-day mourning period for those killed in the massive earthquake.

Families and friends also published condolence messages with photographs of victims in local newspapers. The mourners assembled amid the piles of stones, mud, bricks and wooden beams that once formed centuries-old temples, palaces and structures toppled in the April 25 quake, which killed more than 7,750 people. The main ceremony was held in the ruins of Kastamandap, a temple after which the capital, Kathmandu, was named.

"There are so many people and so many buildings we have all lost in the earthquake. I am here to show my support for these families and to say that we are all here for you," said Alok Shrestha, a banker dressed in white t-shirt and holding a bouquet of marigold.

During the customary 13-day mourning period, close family members stay at home, do not touch outsiders and refrain from eating salt. No entertainment is allowed. Nearly 500 people gathered at Kathmandu's historic center, Basantapur Durbar Square, whose temples were reduced to rubble, to offer prayers.

Bhimsen Das Shrestha, a lawmaker representing Kathmandu, said the government should enforce new rules to make buildings earthquake-resistant. "When we rebuild the structures in Kathmandu, we need to consider new technologies in earthquake-prone areas," he said.

Meanwhile, Nepal Rastra Bank, the central bank, announced that people whose houses were damaged could get loans at only 2 percent interest rate. The average commercial loan rate is about 10 percent. Bank official Min Bahadur Shrestha told state-run Radio Nepal that people in Kathmandu could avail of up to 2.5 million rupees ($25,000) and those outside the capital of 1.5 million rupees ($15,000) in loans.

More than a thousand engineers were checking damaged houses in the capital and advising people about whether they are safe. About 13,000 families have requested inspections of their homes since the magnitude-7.8 earthquake, Nepal Engineers Association General Secretary Kishore Kumar Jha said.

About 40 percent of the damaged houses inspected so far were considered safe, he said. It is still unclear how many houses were damaged in the capital and how many are repairable. Some modern buildings — including upscale hotels and expensive homes — appear to have escaped largely unscathed. But poorer neighborhoods suffered widespread damage.

Much of Kathmandu's Old City, home to many of the precious UNESCO World Heritage sites, was destroyed. Many villages outside the capital also were completely flattened. As aftershocks continue to shake the capital, many people still are afraid to return to their homes.

Police say about one-third of Kathmandu's population of 700,000 had left the city since the earthquake. Many others have moved in with relatives, while some are staying in tents in open areas.

Burundi: Anti-government protests enter second week

May 04, 2015

BUJUMBURA, Burundi (AP) — At least 35 people have been injured in demonstrations in Burundi's capital on Monday, the Burundi Red Cross said, as thousands continued to protest the president's decision to seek a third term.

The protests in the Burundian capital of Bujumbura resumed after a weekend pause following a week of clashes between police and protesters angry over the ruling party's decision to nominate President Pierre Nkurunziza as its candidate in elections scheduled for June 26.

Alexis Manirakiza, a spokesman for the Burundi Red Cross, said the number of those wounded in the clashes continues to grow, although no deaths were reported on Monday. Last week, at least six people were killed in violent confrontations with the police.

On Monday some protesters managed to reach downtown Bujumbura, which they had previously failed to access amid heavy police and military presence. Gunfire rang out and men ducked for cover as some shopkeepers hurriedly closed their businesses.

The military is continuing to act as a buffer between angry protesters and the police, who are accused of sometimes using live ammunition in confrontations with demonstrators. Police have also fired tear gas and water cannon.

In the Musaga neighborhood, where anti-government anger has been particularly intense, barricades were erected as police watched on Monday. Protesters say their goal is to force Nkurunziza to withdraw his bid for a third term, which many see as a violation of the Arusha Agreements that ended a civil war here in which more than 250,000 people were killed.

Burundi's defense minister, Maj. Gen. Pontien Gaciyubwenge, said on Saturday that the army should remain neutral amid the unrest. He urged "all political actors" to avoid violence. Nkurunziza, a Hutu, was selected president by Parliament in 2005. He was re-elected unopposed in 2010.

Burundi military says it will remain neutral amid protests

May 02, 2015

BUJUMBURA, Burundi (AP) — Burundi's defense minister said Saturday the army will remain neutral amid the street protests stemming from the president's controversial bid for a third term.

Maj. Gen. Pontien Gaciyubwenge told a news conference that "all political actors" in Burundi should not go down the path of violence, according to local media. In street protests since Sunday, the military has been acting as a buffer between protesters and local police, who are accused of sometimes using live ammunition against the protesters. Tear gas has also been used to break up crowds.

Burundi's popular Radio Isanganiro quoted Gaciyubwenge as saying the military should behave in ways that "conform to the spirit" of the constitution as well as the Arusha Agreements that ended a civil war in which more than 250,000 people died.

The fighting between Hutu rebels and a Tutsi-dominated army ended in 2003. The Central African nation's war began in October 1993, after Burundi's first democratically elected president was assassinated.

Although the current conflict is political, some observers are concerned about the risk of igniting ethnic tensions. "The current institutions are trying to bury the Arusha accords. This attitude leads us directly to hell," said former President Domitien Ndayizeye, who was in office from 2003 to 2005.

At least six people have been killed in clashes with the police, according to the Burundi Red Cross. A funeral for one was held Saturday. Protesters are vowing to return to the streets Monday to keep up the pressure on President Pierre Nkurunziza.

On Friday three people died in grenade attacks in Burundi, according to Pierre Nkurikiye, a spokesman for the ministry of public security. Seventeen people were wounded in the grenade attacks Friday night, he said.

Police have arrested two suspects but the motive of the attacks is not known, said Nkurikiye. Burundi is one of the world's poorest countries and the poverty and the absence of freedom could lead to a revolt, he said.

Nkurunziza, a Hutu, was selected president by Parliament in 2005. He was re-elected unopposed in 2010. His supporters say he can seek re-election again because he was voted in by lawmakers for his first term, and was not popularly elected.

U.S. Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Tom Malinowski traveled to Burundi on Wednesday and told reporters the government has been warned of "real consequences" if the crisis escalates.

Israel's Netanyahu completes formation of government

May 07, 2015

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu completed the formation of a new coalition late Wednesday, putting him at the helm of a hard-line government that appears to be set on a collision course with the U.S. and other key allies.

Netanyahu reached a deal with the nationalist Jewish Home party shortly before a midnight deadline, clinching a slim parliamentary majority and averting an embarrassing scenario that would have forced him from office. But with a government dominated by hard-liners that support increased West Bank settlement construction and oppose peace moves with the Palestinians, he could have a hard time rallying international support. Controlling just 61 of 120 parliamentary seats, the narrow coalition could also struggle to press forward with a domestic agenda.

After Netanyahu's Likud Party won March 17 elections with 30 seats, it seemed he would have a relatively easy time forming a coalition and serving a fourth term as prime minister. But the six-week negotiating process, which expired at midnight, turned out to be much more difficult than anticipated as rival coalition partners and members of the Likud jockeyed for influential Cabinet ministries.

"I am sure that nobody is surprised that the negotiations continued with all the factions and nobody is surprised it ended at the time it did," Netanyahu said late Wednesday. He vowed to install "a strong and stable government for the people of Israel" by next week, yet also hinted he would court additional partners in the near future.

"Sixty-one is a good number, and 61-plus is an even better number," he said. "But it starts at 61 and we will begin. We have a lot of work ahead of us." The coalition talks stalled this week when Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a longtime partner of Netanyahu's, unexpectedly stepped down and announced his secular nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party was joining the opposition.

That left Netanyahu dependent on Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett, a former aide who has a rocky relationship with Netanyahu. With Bennett driving a hard bargain, the talks stretched throughout the day and well into the night before Netanyahu called President Reuven Rivlin, as required by law, to announce the deal.

"I congratulate you on completing the formation of the government. I have received your letter of confirmation, and look forward to the convening of the Knesset as soon as possible, to approve the government," Rivlin said.

Netanyahu had until midnight to speak to Rivlin. Otherwise, the president would have been required to ask another politician to try to form a government. Analysts do not expect the new government to last long or accomplish much.

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog, head of the centrist Zionist Union, called the coalition "a national failure government." He said it was "an embarrassing farce" and "the narrowest in Israel's history."

During the campaign, Netanyahu angered the White House when he said that he would not allow the establishment of a Palestinian state on his watch. Although he has tried to backtrack, the White House has reacted with skepticism. Netanyahu's Likud Party is dominated by hard-liners opposed to Palestinian independence, a position that is shared by the Jewish Home. The odds of peace talks restarting — much less making any progress — appear slim.

The Jewish Home's close ties with the settler movement mean that there will likely be great pressure on the new government to expand construction on occupied lands. The international community overwhelmingly opposes settlement construction, and the Palestinians are trying to push forward with a war crimes case against the settlements at the International Criminal Court in the Hague. U.S. officials have said they could have a hard time defending Israeli policies if the government isn't committed to a two-state solution with the Palestinians.

The new government could also struggle at home. Under the coalition deal, the Jewish Home gained control of the influential Education and Justice Ministries. The incoming justice minister, Ayelet Shaked, is an outspoken critic of the country's judiciary and is expected to seek a greater voice in the appointment of judges.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu's ultra-Orthodox partners, Shas and United Torah Judaism, are bent on reversing reforms passed by the last government. Those reforms sought to end an unpopular system that granted the ultra-Orthodox exemptions from compulsory military service, welfare subsidies to study full-time instead of entering the work force and generous budgets for a religious school system that largely ignores key subjects like math, English and computer studies.

These longstanding benefits have bred widespread resentment among the secular majority. Wiping out the reforms is likely to generate renewed public anger. Yair Lapid, whose Yesh Atid party spearheaded the outgoing government's reforms, said there was little to celebrate Wednesday night.

"A narrow, suspicious and sectoral government is on its way," he said, vowing to "do everything" to stop "the clearance sale of the country" to parties with narrow interests. Netanyahu's last partner, Kulanu, is a centrist party focused on bringing relief to Israel's struggling middle class. Although in control of the Finance Ministry, the party could struggle passing reforms due to the slim parliamentary majority.

Ian Deitch contributed to this report.

Israel's Netanyahu races to form narrow coalition government

May 06, 2015

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was racing against the clock Wednesday to put together a governing coalition or else face an almost unimaginable scenario by which he would be forced out of office.

Netanyahu was holding furious consultations with the hawkish Jewish Home Party in order to secure a narrow 61-seat majority in the 120-seat parliament. If he fails by the end of the day, President Reuven Rivlin must appoint someone else the task of forming a coalition.

After Netanyahu's Likud Party won March 17 elections with 30 seats, it seemed he would have a relatively easy time forming a coalition. But talks stalled this week when Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman unexpectedly stepped down and announced his secular nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party was joining the opposition. That left Netanyahu dependent on Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett, a former aide who has a rocky relationship with Netanyahu.

Netanyahu has secured deals with three partners controlling 53 seats. They include Kulanu, a centrist party focused on economic issues, and two ultra-Orthodox religious parties. Fuming over the deals giving ultra-Orthodox parties ministerial power over religious services, Bennett is driving a hard bargain. Slated to serve as education minister, Bennett is now demanding the job of justice minister for a party member.

The Jewish Home party is linked to the West Bank settler movement and unlikely to push for Netanyahu's ouster, a move that could open a potential path to government of the more dovish Zionist Union. Even if, as expected, they reach a deal, Netanyahu would have a thin majority, leaving him vulnerable to extortion from any individual coalition lawmaker.

A narrow coalition would have a difficult time passing economic reforms favored by Kulanu. It also would be averse to Palestinian peace moves and likely favor expanded settlement construction, putting it on a collision course with the international community.

Likud officials concede such a government would not be effective or last long, raising speculation that Netanyahu will ultimately reach out to the Zionist Union and its leader, Isaac Herzog. He insists on serving as the opposition leader.

Protests highlight troubles of Ethiopian Jews in Israel

May 04, 2015

JERUSALEM (AP) — When Israel secretly airlifted waves of Ethiopian Jews in the 1980s and 1990s, saving them from war and famine in the Horn of Africa, it was celebrated as a triumphant show of unity for the Jewish people.

Thirty years after the first large groups of Ethiopians arrived, few in the community are celebrating. Israel's black Jewish minority is plagued by poverty, crime and unemployment, and their brewing frustrations over racism and lack of opportunity have boiled over into an unprecedented outburst of violent anti-police protests.

The unrest has laid bare the struggles of absorption and the rocky attempts of the state to integrate them into a society for which they were ill-prepared. Caught off- guard, Israel's leaders are vowing to respond to the community's grievances.

President Reuven Rivlin said Monday the outcry "exposed an open, bleeding wound in the heart of Israeli society." "We must look directly at this open wound. We have erred. We did not look, and we did not listen enough," said Rivlin, whose largely ceremonial office is meant to serve as a moral compass.

On Sunday, protesters shut down a major highway in Tel Aviv, hurled stones and bottles at police and overturned a squad car. They were dispersed with tear gas, water cannons and stun grenades. More than 60 people were injured and 40 arrested in the second such protest in recent days, and demonstrations are expected to continue.

The unrest followed video that emerged last week of an Ethiopian Israeli soldier being beaten by police in what appeared to be an unprovoked attack. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Monday with community leaders and with the soldier who was attacked, telling him "we'll have a change a few things." Closing the gaps in Israeli society, however, will be a difficult task.

Ethiopian Jews trace their ancestors to the ancient Israelite tribe of Dan. The community was cut off from the rest of the Jewish world for more than 1,000 years. Under its "Law of Return," Israel grants automatic citizenship to any Jews. In the early 1980s, after a period of debate about recognizing the community as Jews, Israel covertly began to bring in thousands of Ethiopian immigrants. In 1991, thousands more came in a secret airlift carried out over two days.

The new arrivals struggled greatly as they made the transition from a rural, developing African country into an increasingly high-tech Israel. Over time, many have integrated more into Israeli society, serving in the military and police and making inroads in politics, sports and entertainment. Some prominent community figures speak Hebrew without a trace of an accent and are indistinguishable from other Israelis in everything but skin color.

Overall, however, the Ethiopians are an underclass. Many complain of racism, lack of opportunity and routine police harassment. About 120,000 Ethiopian Jews live in Israel today, a small minority in a country of 8 million. Many older Ethiopians work menial jobs — men as security guards and women as cleaners and cashiers. They live with their families in rundown city neighborhoods and impoverished towns with high rates of crime and domestic violence.

Their children have made gains, but overall, the younger generation is still struggling. A 2012 study by the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute said that 41 percent of Ethiopian Israelis lived below the poverty line, compared with 15 percent for the overall Jewish population. The average income of Ethiopian Israelis was about two-thirds of their Jewish counterparts. Just 5 percent had college degrees, compared with 28 percent for the broader Jewish population. According to Israel's Prison Service, one-fifth of the inmates in juvenile facilities are Ethiopian Israelis.

Ethiopian Israelis also allege repeated discriminatory slights and, at times, outright racism. In the late 1990s, it was discovered that Israel's health services were throwing out Ethiopian Israeli blood donations over fears of diseases contracted in Africa. Some landlords have also refused them as tenants, and accusations have been raised that Israel has deliberately tried to curb their birth rates.

"Anyone who attended the protest yesterday experienced at one point in their life humiliation based on nothing but skin color," said Mehereta Baruch-Ron, a Tel Aviv deputy mayor of Ethiopian descent, who added that police did not believe she was a city official and blocked her from joining the protest. "We have had enough. It is time to do something."

Job Goshen, an Ethiopian Israeli social worker who works as a job counselor, said the problems stem from decades of well-intentioned but flawed policies. He said that while the government encourages Ethiopians to enter the labor force, it also imposes unnecessary job requirements that make it difficult for them to get hired. He said a truck driver's license, for instance, requires a computerized "theory" test that poorly educated Ethiopians struggle to pass.

"Most of the older Ethiopians don't have the education. But they have other abilities that are not taken into account," he said. "As a result, they are stuck in the same jobs — services, security, cleaning — and they don't get ahead."

Younger Ethiopians are better equipped for the work world, he said, but also face their own unique challenges, especially after completing compulsory military service. Unlike their other Jewish counterparts, Ethiopians do not have parents and siblings who can steer them toward university studies or good jobs after leaving the army. Many come from large or broken homes and must support their parents or younger siblings. Goshen said that while he has not experienced overt racism, his friends, relatives and clients all have.

Fixing these problems will be a long process that will require the government and the community to work together. "It has to come from both sides," he said. "The government can't impose a solution. It has to consult with us."

Shlomo Molla, a former lawmaker of Ethiopian origin, said hope for change lies with the generation born in Israel and less intimidated by the establishment. "I call upon these young people to continue resolutely, so that perhaps they might succeed where my generation failed," he wrote in the Maariv daily. "The next stage of this battle should be civil disobedience. We should stop enlisting in the army, not join the police, and stop paying taxes, because if the state doesn't take its citizens into account, the citizens are also permitted not to take the state into account."

Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, told reporters Monday that "the fight versus racism and discrimination is a universal one. Obviously, people have a right to demonstrate peacefully, and we encourage the Israeli authorities to deal with the issues."

The images of black Israelis clashing with police have drawn comparisons to the unrest in the U.S. following deadly altercations between police and black men or boys. But Fentahun Assefa-Dawit, executive director of the advocacy group Tebeka, said there were few similarities. He said Ethiopian-Israelis have a different set of issues related to integration into Israel's modern, fast-paced society — as opposed to maintaining a distinct subculture.

He called on Netanyahu to make Ethiopian absorption a keystone of his new administration, which is expected to take office in the coming days. "Before it is too late, we call on the prime minister to take the matter into his own hands," he said. "In four years, I would want to see this prime minister say 'I'm glad I did' instead of 'I wish I had.'"

Associated Press writer Cara Anna at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Europe's Next Space Chief Wants a Moon Colony on the Lunar Far Side

by Leonard David
Space.com's Space Insider Columnist
May 01, 2015

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado — The incoming leader of the European Space Agency is keen on establishing an international base on the moon as a next-step outpost beyond the International Space Station (ISS).

Johann-Dietrich Wörner expressed his enthusiasm for a moon colony at the Space Foundation’s National Space Symposium, a gathering of global, commercial, civil, military and "new space" experts that was held here from April 13 to April 16.

"It seems to be appropriate to propose a permanent moon station as the successor of ISS," Wörner said. This station should be international, "meaning that the different actors can contribute with their respective competencies and interests."

Wörner said that "the moon station can be an important stepping stone for any further exploration in deep space," adding that a lunar outpost could help humanity learn how to use resources on-site instead of transporting them.

"In any case, the space community should rapidly discuss post-ISS proposals inside and with the general public, to be prepared," Wörner concluded.

The case for the moon

Wörner's appointment as the next director general of the European Space Agency (ESA) was announced on Dec. 18, 2014. He will succeed Jean-Jacques Dordain, whose term of office ends on June 30.

Currently, Wörner is chairman of the executive board of DLR, the German Aerospace Center. He advocated a lunar far-side base at the 31st National Space Symposium, both in a panel of space agency leaders and during a focused panel on space in Germany.

"We have to look into the future about what are the next destinations … what to do after the International Space Station," Wörner said. The end of ISS operations is very close, "and we better know what to do afterwards," he added.

Mars is a "nice destination," Wörner said, but he also asserted that a far-side outpost on the moon offers a number of "drivers," including cosmological research.

For instance, the lunar far side is shielded from radiation-chatter broadcasts from Earth, allowing radio telescopes built there to survey the universe with very little background noise, he said.

Wörner told Space.com that the far-side outpost is not a new idea. "But now we have to do it as opposed to study it," he said.

The global space community should seek out joint activities on a scale that a single nation cannot realize, Wörner said. In the past, there were many scientifically sound proposals to further investigate the moon, he added, with special scientific possibilities championed for the lunar far side, such as in astronomy and in fundamental research.

Cis-lunar infrastructure

NASA chief Charles Bolden also took part in the panel of space agency leaders during the symposium.

Bolden had recently come back from Europe, where, he said, he participated in discussions with nations now scripting a space-exploration road map. These conversations touched on many topics, including to what degree other countries wish to cooperate with NASA on its Asteroid Redirect Mission, he said.

"Although Mars is the ultimate destination for humanity, we mustn't forget that there are lots of other places in the solar system. And there are places where humans will go and must go," Bolden said. "A lot of our international partners are interested in lunar exploration."

NASA views the moon as an interesting destination as well, he added.

"We're going to spend a 10-year period of time between 2020 to 2030 in cis-lunar space," Bolden said, "trying to establish an infrastructure in lunar orbit from which we can help entrepreneurs, international partners and the like who want to get down to the surface of the moon."

NASA "can't lead it," Bolden added. "But I hope you'll let me have at least one astronaut on the mission that goes down to the surface of the moon … because there is invaluable experience to be gained from doing that."

Source: Space.com.
Link: http://www.space.com/29285-moon-base-european-space-agency.html.

Russia's new Armata tank makes debut in parade rehearsal

May 04, 2015

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's new Armata tank appeared in public for the first time Monday, rumbling down a broad Moscow avenue on its way to Red Square for the final rehearsal of the Victory Day parade.

The Russian Defense Ministry last month released photographs of the tank, but its turret was covered with fabric and only the platform was visible. Monday was the first time that the tank was shown uncovered.

The Armata will be a highlight of the military parade on Saturday, the 70th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. About 200 pieces of military hardware and 16,500 troops will take part in the parade on Red Square.

Russian and some Western military experts say the Armata will surpass all Western versions. The tank is the first to have an internal armored capsule housing its three-man crew and a remotely controlled turret with an automatic weapons loading system, features that allow for increasing both the level of crew protection and the efficiency of the tank's weapons.

The Armata designers also envisage the use of the same platform for several other machines, including a heavy armored infantry vehicle, a self-propelled heavy howitzer and combat support vehicle. This would cut production costs and streamline technical support and maintenance.

The pioneering design potentially puts the Armata ahead of Western competition, but it is yet unclear whether the Russian weapons industries will be able to meet the ambitious production plan for the new tank.

Under a major weapons modernization program, the military is reportedly set to receive 2,300 Armatas by 2020, but those plans may face revision with the Russian economy reeling under the impact of slumping oil prices and Western sanctions.

Oleg Bochkaryov, a deputy head of the Military Industrial Commission, a government panel dealing with weapons procurement, said last week that the Armata will enter service next year. He said the new tank will not be sold abroad at least for another five years.

Pro-Putin bikers lay wreath in Vienna en route to Berlin

May 03, 2015

VIENNA (AP) — Members of a nationalistic Russian bikers club were greeted by cheering supporters as they laid a wreath Saturday at a monument to the Soviet soldiers who liberated Vienna from the Nazis.

The pro-Kremlin Night Wolves are commemorating the Russian and Allied defeat of Nazi Germany 70 years ago in World War II with a ride from Moscow that is meant to end in Berlin May 9. Some EU officials have expressed criticism of their plans and Poland denied them entry, reflecting strains between Warsaw and Moscow over Russia's role in the Ukraine conflict.

In contrast, their reception in Vienna was strikingly free of tensions. Accompanied by more than a dozen supporters, two group members wearing their colors and displaying flapping Russian flags on their motorcycles, drove up to the central Vienna square to the monument depicting Russian soldiers in a martial pose. Assisted by soldiers from the Russian embassy, they then laid a wreath at the structure, erected by the Soviets after their liberation of Vienna.

Police spokesman Patrick Mayerhofer said a police escort accompanied the group to Vienna from the Slovak capital of Bratislava. Police estimated that about 500 spectators turned up for the event. Some wore t-shirts with portraits of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Others held signs saying "Stop Russia Phobia," and "We are brothers and sisters — no war."

Among those turning out was Russian Ambassador Sergey Nechaev, who thanked Austrian authorities for making the tribute possible. "The bikers only came to commemorate and honor the fallen soldiers who died for the liberation of Austria," he told reporters, in comments focused on deflecting EU anxiety over the trip.

The Night Wolves support Putin, who has ridden with them, and backed Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

AP video journalist Philipp Jenne contributed from Vienna.

Nepali police dig bodies from village and trekking route

May 05, 2015

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Rescuers were digging Tuesday through thousands of tons of earth from a quake-triggered mudslide in Nepal that wiped out an entire village along a popular Himalayan trekking route and killed at least 60 people.

Nine of the victims recovered in the Langtang Valley since the April 25 earthquake and mudslide were foreign trekkers, said Gautam Rimal, the top government official in the Rasuwa district. Villagers say as many as 200 people could have been killed.

The valley and its little village of Langtang are about 60 kilometers (35 miles) north of Nepal's capital, Kathmandu. It was a popular stop for trekkers because of its scenic views of the Himalayas. "The entire village was wiped out by the mudslide. There were some 60 houses there, but they were all buried under rubble. It will be impossible to recover all the bodies," Rimal said.

The village is now about a two-day hike from the nearest town because the landslide has blocked area roads. While helicopters allow easy access, they remain in short supply because of aid missions across the quake-affected parts of Nepal.

The still-rising death toll from the quake, Nepal's worst in more than 80 years, has reached more than 7,500. In Kathmandu, authorities say up to one-third of the city's residents have left since the quake. In the first days, bus stations were jammed with people fearing aftershocks or trying to get home to relatives in devastated villages.

Authorities do not know how many of those people have returned to the capital, but on Tuesday there were still people waiting for buses to leave. "I stayed back here to help out my neighbors and clean up the neighborhood," said Surya Singh, who was at a large bus station. But now he wants to see the damage in his home village — though with many roads still blocked by landslides he was unsure if he could get all the way by bus.

Kathmandu police say nearly 900,000 people have left in the past 10 days. The population of Kathmandu valley — including the city of Kathmandu and smaller towns of Lalitpur and Bhaktapur — is 2.5 million people.

Life has been slowly returning to normal in Kathmandu. Schools are to remain closed until May 14 but some markets are open and trucks have been bringing in fresh food and vegetables every day.

An elderly Nepali villager, and memories of the 1934 quake

May 03, 2015

POKHARIDANDA, Nepal (AP) — He was 9 years old when he felt the earth tremble for the first time. He'd been out in a field, grazing his goats on wild grass below Nepal's snow-covered peaks.

"The earth started shaking," said Fattha Bahadur Rana, who at 90 years old is now the oldest man in this demolished farming village not far from the epicenter of the deadly April 25 earthquake. "I was a kid, I was scared. I saw everyone screaming, and I heard a loud roar." He lisps a little, because he has just two teeth left. "I thought that a plane had crashed from the sky," he said.

It was 1934. Hitler was on the rise in Europe, America was engulfed in its Great Depression, and Nepal was a sleepy, feudal Himalayan kingdom at the northern fringes of the British Empire. Rana had become the man of his house a year earlier, after his father died in Kathmandu, the capital. He never learned the cause. He only knew it was up to him to help his mother and little brother on the farm.

The 1934 quake had a magnitude of 8.0. The epicenter was more than 200 kilometers (120 miles) away, near the Nepal-India border, and in Pokharidanda it did little more than frighten the villagers. In those days, news traveled slowly, but eventually they learned what had happened. More than 10,000 people had died and entire towns and cities had been smashed to the ground.

"Kathmandu was demolished," said Rana. "The king and queen, they were crying." This time, he was not so remote. The epicenter of the recent quake was perhaps a couple of dozen kilometers (miles) away.

But having experienced it once, he knew what the tremors could do. He threw aside the book he'd been reading and scrambled away from the stone house he had built with bare hands, seconds before it came crashing down.

"I thought it was the end of the world. I thought I would die," Rana said. "But now how will I live? I've lost everything." All 30 of Pokharidanda's homes are demolished. Miraculously, all its residents survived the quake.

Few Nepalese remember the 1934 quake. To have lived so long in Nepal is a feat in itself. Life expectancy today is just under 68 in the mountainous nation, and was maybe half that in 1925, when Rana was born.

His life has been otherwise typical for Nepalese villagers. At 16, he married, and soon after joined the army. He had four children and after his wife died he married again at age 32. More children were born, and then grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The village grew.

Now, he and his 82-year-old wife life on handouts and sleep in a flimsy shelter villagers made from corrugated tin set beneath the tumbling boughs of a fiery pink bougainvillea. Pigeons flutter on the makeshift roof overhead. Baby goats forage in the shambles that was once his home.

The Nepalese army came and managed to pull a single box from the wreckage, containing a pensioner ID card that gets him the equivalent of about $5 a month. Everything else — the documents he'd collected over a lifetime, his clothing, his mother's jewelry, and more — has been lost.

"I don't know what will happen next," he said, cupping a cigarette to his lips and gently pulling in. "But this is where I am now. I have to live somewhere until I die."

Nepal shuts airport to big jets; more bodies found

May 03, 2015

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Runway damage forced Nepalese authorities to close the main airport Sunday to large aircraft delivering aid to millions of people following the massive earthquake, but U.N. officials said the overall logistics situation was improving.

The death toll climbed to 7,057, including six foreigners and 45 Nepalese found over the weekend on a popular trekking route, said government administrator Gautam Rimal. The victims included a French national, an Indian, four other foreigners and Nepalese guides, hotel owners, workers and porters.

The main runway was temporarily closed to big planes because of damage. It was built to handle only medium-size jetliners, but not the large military and cargo planes that have been flying aid supplies, food, medicines, and rescue and humanitarian workers, said Birendra Shrestha, the manager of Tribhuwan International Airport, located on the outskirts of Kathmandu.

There have been reports of cracks on the runway and other problems at the only airport capable of handling jetliners. Despite the setback, the U.N. coordinator for Nepal, Jamie McGoldrick, said the bottlenecks in aid delivery were slowly disappearing.

"I think the problem is there, but it's actually diminishing," he said, adding the Nepalese government eased customs and other bureaucratic hurdles on humanitarian aid following complaints from the U.N.

"The government has taken note of some of the concerns that we've expressed to them and they've addressed those both at customs and the actual handling," he said. Airport congestion was only the latest complication in global efforts to aid people in the wake of the April 25 quake, the impoverished country's biggest and most destructive in eight decades.

People in Nepal — both in remote villages and the capital, Kathmandu — have complained about not seeing any rescue workers or international aid and about a lack of temporary shelters, with many sleeping out in the open because of fears of aftershocks bringing down their damaged homes.

U.N. humanitarian officials said that they were increasingly worried about the spread of disease. They said more helicopters were needed to reach isolated mountain villages that were hard to access even before the quake.

The true extent of the damage from the earthquake is still unknown as reports keep filtering in from remote areas, some of which remain entirely cut off. The U.N. says the quake affected 8.1 million people — more than a quarter of Nepal's 28 million people.

The government said Sunday that the quake had killed 7,057 people. Laxi Dhakal, a Home Ministry official, said hopes of finding survivors had faded dramatically. "Unless they were caught in an air pocket, there is not much possibility," he said.

Among the latest fatalities to be counted were the 51 people, including six foreigners, whose remains were found in the Langtang Valley in Rasuwa district, nearly 60 kilometers (35 miles) north of Kathmandu.

The area, with a dozen inns near the trekking trail, was buried by a landslide after the earthquake. Nepal has been shaken by more than 70 aftershocks following the quake, and its people remain on edge. One brief aftershock Saturday afternoon shook the only paved road in the village of Pauwathok. Residents screamed and began to run, then stopped when the tremor eased.

The small village is located in the district of Sindupalchok, where more deaths have been recorded than anywhere else in Nepal — 2,560, compared to 1,622 in Kathmandu. The U.N. says up to 90 percent of the houses in Sindupalchok have been destroyed.

Aid still scarce in Nepal's remote villages as anger grows

May 02, 2015

MAJUWA, Nepal (AP) — With help still not reaching some isolated villages a week after Nepal's devastating earthquake, a top international aid official said Saturday that more helicopters were needed to get assistance to the farthest reaches of this Himalayan nation.

Many mountain roads, often treacherous at the best of times, remain blocked by landslides, making it extremely difficult for supply trucks to get to the higher Himalayan foothills. "We definitely need more helicopters," Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the U.N.'s World Food Program, told The Associated Press in the village of Majuwa, in the quake-devastated Gorkha district. Aid agencies have been using Majuwa as a staging area to get supplies deeper into mountainous areas. "Even seven days in this is still very much considered the early days, because there are people we still haven't reached. So we need helicopters to reach them."

"This is one of the poorest places on Earth. If the global community walks away, the people of this country will not receive the assistance that is required for them to rebuild their lives," she said.

Cousin said shelter was a more urgent priority at this point than food. More than 130,000 houses were destroyed in the quake, according to the U.N. humanitarian office. Near the epicenter, north of Kathmandu, whole villages were in ruins, and residents were in desperate need of temporary shelters against the rain and cold.

The magnitude-7.8 earthquake killed more than 6,600 people, with the death toll continuing to rise as reports filter in from isolated areas. The U.N. has estimated the quake affected 8.1 million people — more than a fourth of Nepal's population of 27.8 million.

Other teams conducting search and rescue operations also said their work was hampered by a lack of helicopters. David O'Neill of United Kingdom Fire and Rescue said a team from his group drove and then walked for several hours to reach remote villages that had reported 80 percent fatalities.

Most of the residents of Golche and Pangtang villages died in a major aftershock a day after the quake, O'Neill said in Chautara, a village in Sindhupalchok district. He said the team had hoped to reach the areas by helicopter from Chautara, but none were available to charter and they could not get on choppers flown by Nepal's army, so they were returning to Kathmandu.

Nepal's government renewed its appeal to international donors to send tents, tarpaulins and basic food supplies, saying some of the items being sent are of little use. It also asked donors to send money if they cannot send things that are immediately necessary.

"We have received things like tuna fish and mayonnaise. What good are those things for us? We need grains, salt and sugar," Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat told reporters Friday. Three senior officials were sent to remote villages after criticism that authorities had not reached some of the areas a full week since the earthquake.

"Our target now is for our officers to reach each of the villages that have been affected by the earthquake," Chief Secretary Lilamani Poudyal said. There was enough food and grain, but the immediate need for tents and shelter remained, he said.

Information Minister Minendra Rijal said Nepal would need 400,000 tents and so far has been able to provide only 29,000 to those in need. Life has been slowly returning to normal in Kathmandu, but to the east, angry villagers in parts of the Sindhupalchok district said Saturday they were still waiting for aid to reach them.

In the village of Pauwathok, three trucks apparently carrying aid supplies roared by without stopping. "What about us?" screamed villagers, as the trucks sped on. Of the 85 homes in Pauwathok, all but a handful were destroyed.

"Nobody has come here to help us. No government, no police, no aid," Badri Giri, 71. Anger and frustration at the slow pace of aid delivery have been growing among residents of remote Himalayan villages.

In the nearby village of Jalkeni, mounds of broken wood and stone line the road, the remains of homes flattened by the quake. On top of one mound, surrounded by a pile of dusty rocks, a broken TV, shredded clothes and bags of whatever she had managed to save from the debris, Sunita Shrestha sat cradling a young girl. The mound used to be her two-story home.

"No one has come to help us yet," said Shrestha, as the sun beat down. "I don't know if they ever will."

Associated Press writer Binaj Gurubacharya in Kathmandu, Nepal, contributed to this report.