Syrian army breaks IS siege on Deir Ezzor

2017-09-05

DAMASCUS - Syria's army broke a years-long Islamic State group siege on the government enclave of Deir Ezzor city on Tuesday as it battles to expel the jihadists from a key stronghold.

The jihadist group has already lost more than half of its nearby bastion of Raqa to US-backed forces, and the loss of Deir Ezzor city and the surrounding oil-rich province of the same name would leave it with only a handful of isolated outposts.

Syria's army and allied fighters, backed by Russian air support, have been advancing towards Deir Ezzor on several fronts in recent weeks, and on Tuesday arrived inside the Brigade 137 base on its western edge.

"The Syrian Arab Army this afternoon broke the siege on Deir Ezzor city after its advancing forces arrived from the western province to Brigade 137," state news agency SANA said.

"This great achievement is a strategic shift in the war on terror and confirms the ability of the Syrian Arab Army and its allies," the army command said.

A local journalist said a minesweeper moved ahead of troops as they arrived at the base.

As they reached the soldiers who have been besieged inside the base and adjacent parts of the city, the troops embraced and shouted patriotic slogans.

Others fired in the air and flashed victory signs, as Syrian and Russian warplanes flew overhead.

Civilians gathered on either side of the road connecting the base to neighborhoods of the city to welcome the arriving troops.

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad congratulated troops in a call to commanders at the base, his office said.

"Today you stood side-by-side with your comrades who came to your rescue and fought the hardest battles to break the siege on the city," he said.

A source in the Deir Ezzor governorate said trucks loaded with food and medicine were expected to arrive inside the besieged city from Aleppo by this evening.

Government forces and tens of thousands of civilians in the city have been trapped under IS siege for over two years, facing food and medical shortages.

Early this year, the government-held parts of the city were cut in two by an IS offensive.

The army's advance Tuesday breaks the siege on the northern part of the city, but a southern section, which includes a key military airport, remains surrounded, with the army now 15 kilometers (nine miles) away.

Around 100,000 people are believed to be inside government-held areas of Deir Ezzor, with perhaps 10,000 more in parts of the city held by IS.

Earlier Tuesday, the national flag was raised throughout government-held areas of the city in anticipation of celebrations upon the arrival of government soldiers.

Some residents had begun greeting each other with "Good morning of victory."

The army still faces a potentially difficult battle to break the siege on the south of the city and free its remaining neighborhoods, and the surrounding province, from IS.

But for the government, its success would be "one of the most symbolic victories in its six-year war," wrote Syria analyst Aron Lund in a recent analysis.

- 'Spiral of defeats' -

"The reopening of the Deir Ezzor road is a strategic disaster for IS, which is now at its weakest since 2014 and seems unable to break out of an accelerating spiral of defeats," he added.

IS has lost over half its other Syrian stronghold, the city of Raqa, to an offensive by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters.

And in neighboring Iraq, it has lost 90 percent of the territory it once held, including the city of Mosul.

Inside Deir Ezzor, residents have faced years of privation, with food becoming scare or unaffordable, and medicine and healthcare unavailable.

The government has continued to fly in limited supplies by helicopter, and the UN last year began airdropping humanitarian aid to the city.

Syria's army began its offensive to reach the city in earnest last month, and has advanced on multiple fronts, including from the neighboring Raqa province to the west and central Homs province to the south.

It has been supported by Russia's military, which began an intervention in support of the government in 2015.

The Syrian army's breaking of the years-long siege of Deir Ezzor city is a "very important strategic victory," the Kremlin said on Tuesday.

"Commander-in-chief Vladimir Putin has congratulated the Russian military command (in Syria) as well as the command of the Syrian government troops with this very important strategic victory over the terrorists with the aim of freeing Syria from ISIL," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

Earlier Tuesday a Russian warship in the Mediterranean fired cruise missiles at IS fighters near the town of Al-Shula to aid the Syrian army, the Russian defense ministry said.

"As a result of these strikes there was damage to the infrastructure, underground communications, weapon stockpiles of the terrorists, and this allowed the armed contingents of government forces... to rapidly advance, break through IS defenses and unblock the city (of Deir Ezzor)," Peskov said.

Putin has also "sent a telegram to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad" praising the victory, he added.

More than 330,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests which were violently suppressed, leading the country into a vicious and complex civil war.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=84687.

34 Syria regime forces killed in IS counterattack

2017-08-25

LONDON - At least 34 Syrian soldiers and allied fighters have been killed in an Islamic State counterattack in the east of Raqa province, rolling back regime gains, a monitor said Friday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the jihadist group had recaptured large swathes of territory from government forces in the fighting on Thursday.

Syria's army is seeking to advance through Raqa province to reach neighboring Deir Ezzor, where jihadists have besieged government forces and civilians in the provincial capital since 2015.

Earlier this month, government troops and allied fighters arrived at the outskirts of Madan, the last IS-held town in the eastern Raqa province countryside before Deir Ezzor.

But in Thursday's counterattack, IS "made major progress and... expanded the area under its control along the southern bank of the Euphrates," the Observatory said.

"IS has managed to push regime forces back 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the western outskirts of Madan," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The Syria army operation in the area, backed by air support from ally Russia, is separate from the battle for provincial capital Raqa city.

The effort to oust IS from the city, once the jihadist group's Syrian stronghold, is being led by the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters.

The SDF has captured just under 60 percent of Raqa city since it entered in June after months of fighting to encircle it.

More than 330,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://middle-east-online.com/english/?id=84537.

Amman suitable for metro project — field study

By Ana V. Ibáñez Prieto
Sep 09,2017

AMMAN — A study conducted by the Chinese Railway Engineering Corporation (CREM) for the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) has confirmed that the topography of the city allows the implementation of the Amman Metro, a GAM official told The Jordan Times on Saturday.

Following a memorandum of understanding signed in December 2016 between the two parties, CREM started a field study in the capital with the aim of analyzing the potential path the metro would take if established in Amman.

The study concluded that the launch of such a project would be possible on the ground.

The GAM official called these results “very positive” and “encouraging”, noting that CREM is currently preparing a more detailed study on the implementation of the metro in the city — which is expected to connect the north and south of the city through a single line.

Furthermore, the official said that, if the project was found feasible, it would be implemented in parallel with the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), with a common station connecting both systems.

 “Amman needs the metro as part of the integrated transportation system, which aims to build a comprehensive transportation network where the two systems would work together,” the official stated.

Once completed, the detailed study will be submitted to the GAM later this year, along with the estimated cost and the detailed plans for the project.

If feasible, the construction and the operation of the Amman Metro will “probably” be conducted under a DBOT (design, construction, operation, transfer) model, the official said, adding that other options are yet to be considered.

The establishment of the Amman metro would reduce the “frustration” of commuters facing daily transportation hustle, the official added, stressing that many complaints were expressed over the lack of regulations in the bus service earlier this year.

 However, the project still raises discrepancies among the population.

“We definitely need a new transportation infrastructure”, said student Ghazal Aburaad. “However, finding the necessary funds and organisations will present great challenges,” she continued, noting that “the government will not be able to do this without partnerships”.

This view was shared by Hazem Zureiqat, founder of the public transportation advocacy campaign Maan Nasel, who stated that “the main challenge is going to be with institutions and management”.

“If the government wants to implement this plan, it will probably have to subsidize it,” said Zureiqat, adding that the metro is a very costly system.

Furthermore, Zureiqat pointed out that this is not the first study on the implementation of a metro line in Amman, referring to the feasibility study conducted in 2010 by a French company.

“When the results of that study came out, the cost of line per kilometer was up to JD140 million, and that is why the priority was given to the BRT,” he said.

“However, the BRT is not enough and Amman needs a rail-based transportation system”, he concluded.

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://jordantimes.com/news/local/amman-suitable-metro-project-%E2%80%94-field-study.

Balloons of peace released over the city of Derna

September 10, 2017

Local and charitable institutions in the city of Derna organized a balloon festival in the city where parents and children participated in releasing dozens of balloons into the city sky from different places.

Each group of balloons carried several messages calling for peace. Balloons were released from the roofs of houses and the local children's park and the Emilia tourist resort.

The aim of this demonstration as a civil initiative is to remove the minds of people from the difficult atmosphere they are experiencing in the city because of the siege imposed by the Dignity Operation forces.

Source: The Libya Observer.
Link: https://www.libyaobserver.ly/inbrief/balloons-peace-released-over-city-derna.

Spanish officials crank up pressure on Catalan breakaway bid

September 13, 2017

MADRID (AP) — Spain's top prosecutor is investigating more than 700 Catalan mayors for cooperating with a planned referendum on the region's independence after the nation's constitutional court ordered the vote put on hold, the prosecutor's office said Wednesday.

Catalonia's regional police force is under orders to arrest the mayors if they refuse to appear for questioning, State Prosecutor Jose Manuel Maza's office said. The announcement significantly raised the stakes in an increasingly tense standoff between Catalan independence supporters and national authorities over the referendum planned for Oct. 1.

If mayors and their municipalities cannot help organize balloting, the vote is unlikely to proceed. Maza's order also puts regional police officers in the uneasy position of carrying out commands from Madrid in their towns and cities.

The pro-independence coalition ruling Catalonia has vowed to hold the referendum, defying a prohibition by Spain's Constitutional Court. It has asked the 947 mayors in the northeastern region to provide voting facilities.

Maza ordered the prosecutors in Spain's 17 provinces to investigate the 712 mayors who already have offered to provide municipal premises as polling stations. Most of Catalonia's mayors have said they would cooperate with the referendum. However, the willing mayors represent less than half of the region's voting-age population.

Urban support is key for the pro-independence movement, especially the Catalan capital of Barcelona, which is home to around 20 percent of voters. Barcelona Mayor Ana Colau, who opposes secession but supports a vote, says she wants to help arrange the referendum but won't do so without assurances that she and her staff would be acting legally.

Such assurance is unlikely to materialize, and without Barcelona's participation, the referendum would lack legitimacy. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy appealed to Catalans to ignore calls from independence supporters to turn out to vote.

"If anyone urges you to go to a polling station, don't go, because the referendum can't take place, it would be an absolutely illegal act," Rajoy said. Spain's King Felipe VI also entered the fray, stepping up the pressure on Catalonia by vowing that the Spanish Constitution "will prevail" over any attempt to break the country apart.

In his first comments on the growing political crisis, Felipe said the rights of all Spaniards will be upheld against "whoever steps outside constitutional and statutory law."

Spanish police raids aim to halt Catalan independence vote

September 09, 2017

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A Spanish judge ordered police to search a printer's shop and two offices of a regional newspaper in Catalonia as part of an investigation into alleged preparations for an illegal referendum on independence for the prosperous northeastern region.

A Barcelona-based court said Saturday that the police searches took place Friday in the towns of Valls and Constanti in southern Catalonia. The court said the searches formed part of an investigation into possible disobedience, prevarication and the embezzlement of public funds by Catalan officials.

The regional Catalan newspaper El Vallenc reported that "4 agents of the Civil Guard entered our newspaper." El Vallenc said "the search took place hours after they had searched the Indugraf business." Indugraf is a printer in Constanti.

Catalonia's president Carles Puigdemont, the regional politician leading the push for independence, said on Twitter that police weren't "looking for ballots, they were looking for a fight." The court did not say what police were looking for in the searches. Media speculation is that the printer and the newspaper could be connected to plans by the regional government to prepare for the independence referendum.

Spain's constitutional court has suspended laws passed by the Catalan parliament this week to call for an independence referendum on Oct. 1. State prosecutors have also targeted Puigdemont and other members of his government with lawsuits for possible disobedience, abuse of power and embezzlement charges.

The pro-independence coalition ruling Catalonia says the vote will be binding and says if the "yes" side wins it will lead to the independence from Spain by Oct. 3 no matter what the turnout. Spain's constitutional court has previously ruled that only the national government is allowed to call a referendum on secession and that all Spaniards in the country must have a vote when it comes to sovereignty.

Portugal faces dire drought, the worst in more than 20 years

September 11, 2017

SANTA SUSANA, Portugal (AP) — Portugal's Pego do Altar reservoir looks like disused quarry now, its bare, exposed slopes rising up steeply on each side and shimmering in the sun as it holds barely 11 percent of the water it was designed for.

The huge lake where people used to swim, boat and fish has shrunk to a slither of water, surrounded by baked, cracked earth and a handful of white fish carcasses. It is a desolate and disturbing sight — and one that has become increasingly common in southern Portugal.

While parts of the United States and the Caribbean are drowning in water amid ferocious hurricanes, a drought is tightening its grip on wide areas of Portugal. More than 80 percent of the country is officially classified as enduring "severe" or "extreme" drought — conditions among the country's worst in more than 20 years.

Water has sporadically been scarce in this part of southern Europe for centuries. But Portuguese Environment Secretary Carlos Martins tells The Associated Press that "it has gotten worse with climate change."

The prolonged dry spell is most acute in the Alentejo region, south and east of Lisbon, the capital. Here, the essential river is the Sado, Portugal's seventh-largest. As its flow has dwindled, so the reservoirs in the river basin, such as Pego do Altar, are drying up. In some places now, the Sado is a thin, knee-deep flow.

The receding water at Pego do Altar has exposed a small, 18th-century stone bridge which was last seen in 1999. Locals have been coming to take photos of themselves next to it. The dead fish in Pego do Altar's dried mud are the canary in the mine for authorities. Large numbers of fish dying due to depleted oxygen levels would contaminate the area's public drinking water, so a program to scoop out the doomed fish from four Sado basin reservoirs is now underway. It's a race against the clock.

"It's a preventive measure," says Carlos Silva, a spokesman for EDIA, a state company that helps manage the Alentejo's water supply. "It would be a catastrophe if the fish started dying off" in large quantities.

As gray herons watch from the bank and birds of prey glide silently by, fishermen Tomaz Silva, 25, and Miguel Farias, 29, nudge their boat toward silver nets buoyed by empty plastic water bottles that they had strung across the reservoir the previous day. Chatting in a strong Alentejo accent, they throw the fish into a box where they flap around. Some weigh 5 or 6 kilograms (up to 13 pounds) and are as long as an adult's arm. Many, however, are skinny due to the fierce competition for diminishing food.

With the water level so low, it's a bit like shooting fish in a barrel. Silva and Farias catch on average between 1 and 1.5 metric tons a day. Their haul is taken away to be turned into fishmeal. Over about six weeks, officials expect to harvest more than 100 metric tons from the four Sado reservoirs.

Martins, the environment secretary, said a government drought monitoring committee is working to reconcile the conflicting demands placed on the region's scarce water resources. Making sure there's enough water for drinking faucets is the top priority, he says.

That could end up bringing a ban on the irrigation of farmland, which uses up 80 percent of the region's available water. Farmers are fretting over their parched pasture land and wilting cereal crops. Cattle breeders are demanding drinking water for their livestock. And energy companies want water to flow to keep up their hydroelectric production at dams.

The Alentejo is a famously pretty part of Portugal, with groves of olive trees, stone pines and cork oaks — native varieties resilient enough to survive its weather extremes. But it's also one of the European Union's poorest regions — sparsely populated, covering 34 percent of the country but containing only 7 percent of its population. Almost half of its residents are more than 65 years old.

Many people here make a living from farming, and cutting off irrigation would sound the death knell for their jobs. At Torrao, a 15th-century hilltop village with a panoramic view of the Sado basin's Vale do Gaio reservoir, locals live with daily evidence of the drought.

Antonio Sardinha, an 82-year-old subsistence farmer with thick fingers and a sun-kissed complexion, says he has never seen the reservoir so low. Official records say it's at 18 percent of capacity. The water in his well is so shallow, he says, that his bucket hits the bottom.

"Water is the key to everything," Sardinha said. "You need water to create everything else."

Catalan celebration focuses on right to break from Spain

September 11, 2017

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of people packed the sunny streets of downtown Barcelona on Monday to celebrate Catalonia's national day, an anniversary that provided a stage for the many Catalans who hope to vote within weeks for the region's independence from Spain.

The Spanish city's broad, tree-lined boulevards were a sea of yellow T-shirts that evoked the yellow-and-red striped Catalan flag. Many participants carried the pro-independence flag, known as the "estelada," which also contains a blue triangle and a white star. The crowd passed a giant banner calling for a secession referendum overhead.

This year's annual celebration came amid growing excitement and tension over the independence vote planned for Oct. 1. Spain's constitutional court has suspended the referendum while it considers its legality, but Catalan leaders say they will go ahead with it anyway.

Spain's national government, based in Madrid, is doing all it can to stop the ballot, which it says is illegal. Catalan independence parties said Monday's huge turnout in the regional capital — estimated by Barcelona's municipal police at 1 million — was a show of strength that would add momentum to their cause.

"Today we have said loud and clear that no orders from any court will stop us," Jordi Sanchez, head of the grassroots movement Assemblea Nacional Catalana, said in a speech to the crowd. While the standoff between Barcelona and Madrid is creating divisions, the good-humored celebration attended by families produced no signs of conflict

Participants sang and clapped along to recordings of the Catalan anthem "Els Segadors" (The Reapers). At one point, the crowd shouted in unison: "Independencia!" — Independence! The symbolic moment came after organizers counted down over a public address system to 5.14 p.m., which on a 24-hour clock is 1714.

That's the year independence supporters regard as the point when Catalonia lost much of the self-governing power it enjoyed for centuries. Among the comparatively wealthy region's grievances is that because it accounts for a fifth of Spain's economic output, it pays more into the central government's coffers than it receives.

Nuria Bou, who wore a pro-independence flag tied around her neck like a cape, said she hoped she would get a chance to vote. "We don't have anything against Spaniards," Bou said. "But for many years the Spanish government has been making cuts to the funds we receive, and what we want is to govern ourselves."

Miquel Puig, 41, a pro-independence Barcelona resident who runs a language school, wore a T-shirt reading "Ara es l'hora," which translates to "Now is the moment." Puig said he was motivated by "a mix of cultural, social and economic issues."

He noted that Catalonia, with a population of 7.5 million, has its own language and culture, that Catalans feel ignored by authorities in Madrid, and that the region can stand alone financially. In a proof of their commitment to holding the vote, Catalan officials on Monday said mail-in voting by Catalan expatriates had already started.

Most Catalans support a vote on whether the prosperous region's future lies within or outside of Spain, but polls show that a referendum approved by the central government is preferred over a vote Madrid opposes.

Citizens also are divided over the independence issue. According to a June survey by the Catalan government's own polling agency, 41 percent supported independence while 49 percent were for staying in Spain. Outside of Catalonia, most Spaniards reject the idea.

Castillo Cancho, 69 and retired, did not go to the city center to join in the traditional march. He complained that what was once a day to celebrate Catalan culture has been usurped by the separatist cause.

Cancho is not in favor of independence and embraces his dual identity of Spanish and Catalan, but even so, he hopes that the Oct. 1 vote is held. "If they don't let them vote, I will be annoyed, and I would almost be pushed to go vote if I could," he said. "Repression make you rebel."

His wife Rosa Maria Descalzo, 60, was wary of the vote because of the lack of legal guarantees such as an official voter roll. "I am not convinced by the reasons they are giving for independence," she said. "When everyone is opening frontiers, why should we be closing them?"

Associated Press reporter Aritz Parra contributed to this story from Madrid. Barry Hatton contributed from Lisbon, Portugal.

Spain already is another country for many in Catalonia

September 10, 2017

SABADELL, Spain (AP) — The challenge facing Spain as it moves to stifle the push for independence in its proud and wealthy Catalonia region goes beyond stopping plans by separatist politicians to hold a referendum on secession.

Thousands of Catalans already feel as if they live in another country in all but name. The red and yellow Spanish flag rarely appears on balconies across the region. Instead, pro-independence flags with a white star and blue triangle and red-and yellow stripes adorn streets marked by signs printed in the distinct Catalan language that bears about as much similarity to Spanish as does Portuguese.

"We say, 'What do they say in Spain?' It is an expression that has been said countless times," Montserrat Coca, the owner of a bodega who only will sell wines produced in Catalonia, said. "We are Catalans; it's as simple as that."

Spain's Ministry of Justice has warned that local officials who facilitate the Oct. 1 independence vote the Catalan government called last week risk criminal prosecution, yet over 600 of Catalonia's 948 municipalities say they intend to open polling stations. It remains unclear what position officials will take in Barcelona, the regional capital.

Coca, 59, did not always favor independence. Her transformation mirrors those of scores of people in her hometown of Sabadell and across Catalonia, where the central government in Madrid is often seen as a distant troublemaker that takes more in taxes than it returns in services and roads, schools and hospitals.

Sabadell's pro-secession mayor, Maties Serracant, cites as a tipping point the 2010 ruling by Spain's Constitutional Court that struck down key parts of a proposed charter that would have granted Catalonia greater autonomy and recognized it as a nation within Spain.

The court's decision, combined with an economic downturn from which Spain has only recently recovered, pushed neutral Catalans into the self-government camp previously occupied mainly by residents with generations-long roots and for whom independence is an age-old question of identity.

"For me and for many others, the move from just feeling Catalan to wanting to live in our own country has gone very, very fast," Serracant said. "It's not just economic, it's the sensation that everything that has come from Catalonia in recent years hasn't even been heard or is just ignored."

Many Catalans also have bitter memories of the prohibitions on the use of the Catalan language under the 1939-1975 dictatorship of Spain's Gen. Francisco Franco. Since the return to democracy, Catalonia has achieved important levels of self-governance. School lessons are conducted mainly in Catalan. The region has its own police force, and runs a public health service.

Catalonia has formed part of Spain since the union of the crowns of Castile and Aragon, which encompassed present-day Catalonia, in the 15th century. While Catalans share many customs with other Spaniards, stereotypes paint them as more reserved and hard-working, with a good nose for business.

The caricature is summed up in the Catalan word "seny," which can be roughly translated as the ability to exercise good judgment. An hour's drive northwest of cosmopolitan and touristy Barcelona, Sabadell is a quiet city of 200,000 with an industrial past. People once came from all over Spain to find jobs and opportunities there, but like many towns and villages across Catalonia, it has been swept up in the secessionist fervor.

Serracant brags of his town being "at the forefront of the push for self-determination." He claims it is the biggest municipality in Catalonia with a town hall run by a majority of council members in support of an independence referendum.

"(Sabadell) is a city that does not historically have a separatist tendency, but now it is the city that is the most committed (to the cause)," said the mayor. Serracant spent Wednesday in Catalonia's regional parliament while separatist lawmakers held a marathon session to push through laws that they claim give the regional government legal backing to hold the independence vote.

Spain's constitutional court suspended the scheduled referendum on Thursday after agreeing to review an appeal lodged by the Spanish government. The government, led by Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, has vowed to stop the vote, arguing that a referendum affecting all of Spain would have to be voted on by all Spaniards.

On the outskirts of Sabadell is La Plana del Pintor, a humble neighborhood of ramshackle houses, many of which were built by migrants from southern Spain. There are no pro-independence flags on its sun-baked streets, but even here separatism has made in-roads.

Take 54-year-old Alonso Simon, a computer technician who prefers to speak Spanish instead of Catalan, enjoys traditional Spanish flamenco music and whose parents were from Madrid and southern Spain. Simon complains that Catalonia provides more revenue to the rest of Spain than it should. He cites regular breakdowns on the train line run by Spain's national rail service that passes through Sabadell, comparing it to the commuter train service operated by Catalonia that recently inaugurated a stop nearby.

"If they had had better infrastructure like we have now with the Catalan train, we would not have these problems," Simon said. "The money we spend should stay here." After a surge in recent years, opinion polls show that support for breaking away from Spain among the region's 7.5 million inhabitants has plateaued at around 50 percent. A large part of the half that opposes independence feels comfortable with a dual identity that is both Spanish and Catalan.

Manuel Antunez was walking his dog in a park when he stopped to lament the political crisis in Catalonia. Now 88, Antunez came to Sabadell in 1953, going to work in building Barcelona's subway line. "I feel bad because those who lifted Catalonia up are those who came from elsewhere," Antunez said. "I feel Spanish and Catalan. It makes me sad. I don't know how this can be fixed."

Ukrainian police arrive at Saakashvili's hotel

September 12, 2017

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian border guards and police turned up at the hotel where Mikhail Saakashvili is staying Tuesday after he forced his way across the border from Poland in a move that puts him on a collision course with the authorities in Kiev.

Television footage showed Ukrainian security officials in Leopolis Hotel's lobby in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. But it was unclear whether they had come to arrest the former Georgian president and ex-governor of Ukraine's Odessa region.

Saakashvili poses a challenge to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who was once his patron but revoked his Ukrainian citizenship in July. Surrounded by supporters, he broke through a cordon of Ukrainian border guards in chaotic scenes at the Ukraine-Poland border Sunday.

But returning to Ukraine was a risk for Saakashvili, who is stateless because he was forced to give up his Georgian citizenship when he received Ukrainian nationality. Saakashvili denies breaking any Ukrainian laws but Poroshenko has said that he committed a crime by entering the country.

The headstrong and divisive Saakashvili leads a small Ukrainian political party called the Movement of New Forces and has vowed to shake-up Ukrainian politics. In an interview with The Associated Press at his hotel on Monday night, Saakashvili called the current situation in Ukraine "tragic" and said he would devote himself to helping to create a "new political class for an emerging Ukraine."

"We need new people. Ukraine is fed up with old corrupt political class. They want new people, new energy, new faces, new ideas," he told the AP. Saakashvili was appointed governor of Odessa in 2015 on the strength of his record of fighting corruption as Georgian president between 2004 and 2013. However, he resigned from the Odessa post after 18 months, complaining that official corruption in Ukraine was so entrenched he couldn't work effectively.

Saakashvili said Sunday that it is "very important not to allow oligarchs to get away with an imitation of reform." Georgia, where Saakashvili faces accusations of abuse of power and misappropriation of property, has sent an extradition request for him to Ukraine. It is not clear if Ukraine intends to honor that request.

Stateless Mikheil Saakashvili breaks through into Ukraine

September 10, 2017

SHEHYNI, Ukraine (AP) — Mikheil Saakashvili and a small crowd of supporters shoved their way through a line of guards at the Ukrainian border Sunday, making good on the politician's vow to return to the land that had stripped him of citizenship.

The return of the divisive and headstrong Saakashvili, who became governor of Ukraine's Odessa region after being Georgian president from 2004-13, poses a strong challenge to Ukrainian Petro Poroshenko, who once was Saakashvili's patron but then revoked his citizenship in July.

Saakashvili was appointed to the Odessa post in 2015 on the strength of his record of fighting corruption in Georgia. However he resigned the post after only 18 months, complaining that official corruption in Ukraine was so entrenched he could not work effectively.

The return carries risks for Saakashvili, who is stateless. Georgia, where he faces accusations of abuse of power and misappropriation of property, has sent an extradition request for him to Ukraine. It is not clear if Ukraine intends to honor that request.

Prosecutor-General Yuri Lutsenko said late Sunday that charges would be pursued against organizers of Saakashvili's unauthorized entry. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said 17 police and border guards were injured in the confrontation.

The border breakthrough at the Medyka-Shehyni crossing point on the Polish-Ukrainian border came after a day of drama and repeatedly changing travel plans. Saakashvili had intended to travel through another crossing point, where hundreds of supporters had gathered on the Ukrainian side. But he changed his plans at midday Sunday, claiming fears that provocateurs on the Ukrainian side were gearing up for violence.

He then traveled to the Polish city of Przemysl, where he boarded a train bound for the western Ukraine city of Lviv. But the train was held at the station for hours — and then announced that it would not leave with a person who had no permission to enter Ukraine.

Saakashvili and his entourage eventually got off the train and took buses to the Medyka crossing, where Polish guards let him through. After passing the Polish checkpoint, he was confronted by cars blocking the road and a single line of guards in camouflage, carrying batons.

The crowd approached the line of guards and eventually began shoving, then broke through. Supporters who had gathered on the Ukrainian side rushed forward to greet Saakashvili and the crowd proceeded toward the Ukrainian town of Shehyni on foot.

In the evening, Saakashvili and others arrived in Lviv, western Ukraine's largest city. Supporters who accompanied him to the crossing point included former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Mustafa Nayyem, a lawmaker who was a key figure in the 2013-14 protests that drove Russia-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych out of the country.

Saakashvili was a strong supporter of those pro-democracy protests and has accused Poroshenko of betraying their ideals.

Jim Heintz in Moscow and Monika Scislowska in Medyka, Poland, contributed to this story.

Media ownership, courts on agenda for Poland's lawmakers

September 12, 2017

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's parliament gets back to work on Tuesday following its summer break, launching what is widely expected to be a raucous autumn of political change under the ruling nationalist-conservative Law and Justice party. These are some of the main issues the party has promised to tackle:

NATIONALIZING THE MEDIA

After communism collapsed in 1989, publishers and broadcasters from Germany and other Western countries established a dominant role in Poland and media markets elsewhere in Central Europe.

Law and Justice says the number of foreign-owned media constitute a dangerous monopoly that Western European nations would never allow. The party is working on a law that would drastically limit foreign ownership of newspapers, magazines and other news outlets. A "de-concentration" is needed "for the good of Poland and the good of citizens," party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said.

Among the companies at risk are Swiss-German venture Ringier Axel Springer Media, which owns the widely read tabloid Fakt and the Polish versions of Newsweek and Forbes; German media houses Bauer Media Group, Burda and Verlagsgruppe Passau; and the American company Scripps Networks Interactive, owner of TVN, which produces independent and popular news programming. Scripps itself was recently bought by another U.S. company, Discovery.

Critics fear that Law and Justice — after turning public media into a party propaganda organ — is trying to seize control of private media to silence critical voices.

TAKING CONTROL OF THE COURTS

Law and Justice already achieved a partial overhaul of Poland's court system, an effort it said was needed to make the courts more efficient and remove "many pathologies" left over from communism. Opponents see a power grab as the changes give the party greater control over the courts.

So far, the party has packed the Constitutional Tribunal with its loyalists in a legally dubious way. It has also given the Justice Minister, who is also the Prosecutor General, the power to name the heads of all the ordinary courts in the country.

Further changes, however, were blocked in July by President Andrzej Duda, who was elected on the Law and Justice ticket in 2015 but has since been at odds with party leaders.

This fall both the parliament and the president are expected to present new versions of the two vetoed bills. One of the key issues at stake is whether the party will also be able to assert its control over the Supreme Court, whose responsibilities involve confirming election results.

NEW SCHOOLS, NEW PATRIOTS

Law and Justice is promoting a reorganization of the educational system to instill greater patriotism in young Poles. The Education Ministry says it wants to encourage the values of "fatherland, nation, state," among others. One proposed change would remove ancient Greek and Roman history from the 4th grade curriculum to focus exclusively on Polish history at that stage.

The multi-year transition also would phase out middle schools and return to a system of eight years of primary school followed by high school. Some teachers and principals fear they will lose their jobs, while critics worry the patriotic curriculum will create a more inward-looking and less tolerant mindset among Polish youth.

The party is still hammering out changes to the high-school curriculum. Many are expected to be contested.

RELATIONS WITH EUROPEAN POWERS

As the party pushes its domestic legislative agenda, it also must manage relationships with other European powers that have become strained in recent months.

The main standoff pits Poland against the European Union. Key areas of dispute are Law and Justice's judicial changes and approval of large-scale logging in an ancient forest. Poland's refusal to accept any refugees under an EU-wide resettlement plan also has further inflamed the tension.

Polish leaders also have bickered with French President Emmanuel Macron, who wants to stem the flow of lower-paid workers from other EU countries to France. And the government in Warsaw has threatened to bill Germany in coming months for Nazi's destruction of Poland during World War II.

German right-wing party on course to enter parliament

September 13, 2017

PFORZHEIM, Germany (AP) — A nationalist party that wants Germany to close its borders to migrants, give up the euro and end sanctions against Russia is predicted to enter parliament for the first time, propelled by voters' anger at Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to admit over a million refugees since 2015.

Alternative for Germany, or AfD, is forecast to take between 8 and 11 percent of the vote on Sept. 24, giving it dozens of lawmakers in the national parliament. Some polls even project that it could even place third behind Merkel's party and the center-left Social Democrats.

If the predictions are correct, it would be the first time in 60 years that a party to the right of Merkel's conservative Union bloc has attracted enough votes to enter the Bundestag. "It's quite an achievement for a right-wing party to clear the 5 percent minimum threshold," said Gideon Botsch, a political scientist at the University of Potsdam near Berlin.

AfD's poll numbers are all the more remarkable because the party has become increasingly extreme since its founding in 2013, according to Botsch. "German voters haven't wanted to vote for a right-wing party in recent decades," he said. "Germany's Nazi history is obviously one of the reasons for that."

At an election rally last week in the southwestern city of Pforzheim, a mostly male, middle-aged audience gave a standing ovation to party co-leader Alexander Gauland, a 76-year-old former civil servant. Gauland, a former member of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, sparked controversy last year by saying that Germans don't want to live next to a black football player.

He made headlines again recently for suggesting that the government's integration czar should be "disposed of" in Turkey, from where her family emigrated before she was born. In Pforzheim, Gauland touched on a subject the party's supporters are particularly anxious about: the influx of migrants from Muslim-majority countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Only if we defend Europe against a new Islamic invasion," he told the crowd, "do we have a chance to remain a majority in this country and survive." Gauland's anti-Islam comments fell on fertile ground in Pforzheim, which is located at the northern tip of Germany's Black Forest. His party achieved a surprise victory there in last year's regional election. It now has seats in 13 state assemblies and the European Parliament.

Observers say AfD benefited from Pforzheim's large population of so-called Russlanddeutsche — ethnic Germans who emigrated from the former Soviet Union and hold more conservative views than the general population.

One such voter, Waldemar Meister, said he thinks AfD is the only party that listens to ordinary people's concerns. "We're lied to, we're deceived (by the other parties)," he said. According to Timo Lochocki, a Berlin-based researcher at the German Marshall Fund think tank, AfD's success is partly due to the disillusionment voters feel with Germany's established political parties. The development mirrors Britain's vote to leave the European Union and the rise of U.S. President Donald Trump, whose election AfD enthusiastically endorsed.

Nico Siegel, head of the infratest dimap polling agency, said more than half of people who vote for AfD say they did so out of dissatisfaction with other parties, drawing votes from all the others. "The AfD is like a vacuum cleaner for those unsatisfied with the other parties," he said.

Like populist politicians and parties elsewhere, AfD portrays itself as the lone voice of the people and all others, from mainstream politicians to journalists, as enemies or even traitors. It also enjoys good ties with Moscow .

The party has created a formidable social media machine with which to stoke outrage against migrants, Merkel and the media. It has by far the highest number of Facebook followers of all German political parties, and members avidly use Twitter to share news about crimes if they are committed by migrants .

Although the number of asylum-seekers arriving in Germany has dropped sharply since 2015 , the issue remains at the top of the political agenda partly due to the absence of other major problems in the country, Lochocki said.

Germany's unemployment is low, wages are rising and Merkel has absorbed most of her left-wing rivals' political positions — from phasing out nuclear power to allowing same-sex marriage and easing immigration rules.

"Merkel has lost credibility among conservatives," said Bernd Lucke, one of the founders of AfD who left the party in 2015 after losing a leadership battle. Lucke said many German conservatives are unsure who they'll back this time round.

Recent opinion polls show almost half of German voters are still undecided. Some in AfD fear the party's unwillingness to clamp down on extreme nationalist rhetoric and veiled anti-Semitism could end up costing it precious votes.

"Germans would rather vote for nuclear war than for Nazis," AfD's regional head in North Rhine-Westphalia state, Marcus Pretzell, told The Associated Press in May. This week, the party closed ranks around co-leader Alice Weidel following media reports that she had expressed racist views in a private email four years ago.

Senior AfD figures dismissed the report in the weekly Welt am Sonntag, which quoted from an email Weidel allegedly sent to an acquaintance in which she claimed the government was trying to cause "civil war" by systematically flooding German cities with Arab and Roma migrants.

Another report on Wednesday threatened to embarrass the party further. Weidel's lawyer told Die Zeit newspaper that while Weidel had been friends with a Syrian asylum-seeker and had her over to visit, the newspaper's report that she had employed the woman under-the-table as a housecleaner last year was untrue.

AfD later issued a statement reiterating that Weidel never employed the asylum-seeker. Botsch, the political scientist, said it's conceivable AfD might again fail at the last hurdle — like it did in 2013, when it ended up with 4.7 percent of the vote.

On the other hand, if the party comes in third and Merkel's Union bloc continues its coalition with the center-left Social Democrats, AfD could end up being the biggest opposition party, with special privileges in Parliament.

"That will put AfD in a very strong position, but a lot depends on whether it can behave professionally," Botsch said.

Merkel: Hungary can't ignore EU refugee ruling

September 12, 2017

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says it's unacceptable for Hungary to ignore a ruling by the European Union's top court that it must accept refugees under an EU-wide plan. But she's not specifying any consequences.

Hungary's prime minister has said that while he "took note" of the European Court of Justice's ruling last week, he'd continue to oppose the plans. Merkel told Tuesday's edition of the daily Berliner Zeitung: "That one government says it isn't interested in a verdict by the European Court of Justice cannot be accepted."

Asked whether that means Hungary must leave the EU, she replied: "It means that a very fundamental European question is affected, because for me Europe is a place governed by laws." Merkel said an EU summit in October must discuss the issue.

Macron to visit Caribbean as France defends hurricane prep

September 10, 2017

MARIGOT, St. Martin (AP) — The French government on Sunday defended its hurricane preparations for the hard-hit Caribbean islands of St. Martin and St. Barts, rejecting criticism by political opponents and by islanders who felt abandoned as their homes and towns were devastated.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced he would be traveling to St. Martin on Tuesday on an Airbus carrying aid supplies to show that Paris is committed to both helping and rebuilding its far-away territories pummeled by Hurricane Irma.

Some Caribbean officials said Britain was also too slow in responding to destruction on the British Virgin Islands and the Dutch government faced criticism for not acting more quickly to evacuate tourists stranded on St. Maarten, the Dutch side of St. Martin. The Dutch king is also heading to the region.

The hurricane killed at least nine people on St. Martin as it hit Wednesday, destroying a huge number of houses, cars and boats and cutting off all water and electricity for days. Extra troops had to be sent to stop the looting of stores. Another four people were killed on St. Maarten.

The arrival of Hurricane Jose, a Category 4 that passed by on Sunday, only delayed recovery efforts across the Leeward Islands. In St. Martin on Sunday, authorities were trying to set up the first large distribution points for food and water as the smell of churned-up rotting debris wafted over the island.

In the western coastal town of Grand-Case, a 76-year-old man who only gave his first name, Michel, emerged from a grocery store laden with food, explaining that he had nothing else to eat. "Everything has been destroyed where I work. There's nothing there," said Manon Brunet-Vita, 27, as she walked through Grand-Case. "When I got to this neighborhood, I cried."

French government spokesman Christophe Castaner, speaking Sunday with Europe1-CNews-Les Echos, said he "perfectly (understood) the anger" of island residents. But he insisted that officials had known of the "extremely high risk" posed by the hurricane days in advance and had mobilized military and health care personnel in nearby Guadeloupe.

Castaner said many islanders were suffering from "emotional shock, an impact that's extremely hard psychologically." More than 1,000 tons of water and 85 tons of food along with fuel have been shipped to St. Martin and St. Barts, and additional deliveries are expected in upcoming days, government officials in Guadeloupe said. Crews with heavy equipment and chain saws were clearing the roads of debris.

St. Martin's port of Marigot, which has been too dangerous to enter due to the scores of wrecked boats either sunk or scattered across its shores, was to reopen Monday morning. A ship is expected to dock with a 5-ton crane capable of unloading large containers.

An increase in police and soldiers patrolling the streets has reduced the amount of looting. Authorities in St. Martin have set up some 1,500 emergency shelters, doctors have treated around 100 people at a makeshift triage area and nearly 250 people have been evacuated, including seven facing medical emergencies, officials in Guadeloupe said.

The French military had positioned two frigates in the area ahead of the storm with helicopters ready to ferry supplies but the sheer violence of Irma seemed to take authorities by surprise. Far-right National Front party leader Marine Le Pen, who lost the presidency to Macron in May, accused the French government of having "totally insufficient" emergency and security measures in place. Far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon and conservative politician Eric Ciotti called Sunday for a parliamentary inquiry into the government's handling of Irma, Macron's first major challenge.

The families of some island residents have taken to social media to voice similar criticisms. Macron held emergency meetings Saturday and Sunday about Irma and its successor, Jose, and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe insisted that the government's support for Irma's victims isn't "empty words."

"I am aware of the fear, the exhaustion and the anguish that the current situation is causing families in the Antilles and on the mainland," Philippe said. "We are completely mobilized to rescue, to accompany and to rebuild."

France's main electricity provider EDF says it transported 140 tons of electrical equipment to help restore the power supply on St. Martin and St. Barts. Camp beds, sleeping bags and life-saving equipment were also sent.

With Jose past, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said Sunday that authorities were concentrating on getting tons of water to island residents. He praised the hundreds of police and soldiers sent in, saying they ended the looting.

On St. Maarten, where the airport was badly damaged by Irma, dozens of Dutch tourists were forced to watch as Canadian and American flights picked up their vacationing citizens. They had to hunker down in whatever shelter they could find Saturday night as a second hurricane, Jose, passed to the north of the island.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte defended his government's actions, saying that authorities prioritized evacuations to ensure the safety of patients in St. Maarten's hospital, including 65 people who needed kidney dialysis, pregnant women and other emergency cases.

"The Netherlands had one major priority ... that is evacuating the patients," Rutte told reporters. "Other countries with tourists — the Canadians, the Americans — don't have that." Military cargo planes or aid flights were expected to pick up stranded Dutch tourists later Sunday and take them to Curacao, from where they would be able to catch flights home.

Some 500 British soldiers, meanwhile, were sent to the Caribbean to help local police re-establish security, including 120 to the British Virgin Islands. The British aid ship Mounts Bay landed on Tortola carrying personnel and heavy equipment to fix communications systems and to try to clear airport runways so aid flights can come in.

Charlton reported from Paris. Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto, Thomas Adamson in Paris, Mike Corder in the Netherlands and Greg Katz in London also contributed.

UK lawmakers back key Brexit bill, but fight still looms

September 12, 2017

LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers voted a key Brexit bill past its first big hurdle in Parliament early Tuesday. But many legislators branded the bill a government power grab, and vowed to change it before it becomes law.

After a debate that stretched past midnight, the House of Commons backed the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill by a vote of 326 to 290. That means lawmakers approve the bill in principle, but the government will now face attempts to amend it before a final vote later this year.

A key plank in the Conservative government's Brexit plans, the bill aims to convert thousands of EU laws and regulations into U.K. domestic laws on the day Britain leaves the bloc in March 2019. Prime Minister Theresa May said the measure provides "certainty and clarity" ahead of the divorce. Brexit Secretary David Davis said that without it, the U.K. faces "a chaotic exit from the European Union."

But the opposition says it would give the government dangerous new powers to amend laws without parliamentary scrutiny. Since Britain joined the EU in 1973, thousands of EU laws and regulations have come to operate in the U.K., covering everything from environmental protection to employment rules.

Justice Secretary David Lidington told lawmakers that the bill is needed to ensure Britain has "a functioning and coherent statute book and regulatory system the day we leave." It calls for incorporating all EU laws into U.K. statutes so they can then be kept, amended or scrapped by Britain's Parliament. The government says that will fulfill the promise of anti-EU campaigners during last year's referendum to "take back control" of the country from Brussels to London.

Critics say the bill gives the government too much power, because it allows ministers to fix "deficiencies" in EU law without the parliamentary scrutiny usually needed to make or amend legislation. Such measures are often referred to as "Henry VIII powers" after the 16th century king's bid to legislate by proclamation.

Opponents worry the government could use the powers to water down environmental standards, employment regulations or human rights protections. Labor Party lawmaker Chris Bryant said the bill "pretends to bring back power to this country, but it actually represents the biggest peacetime power grab by the executive over the legislature, by the government over Parliament, in 100 years."

Members of Labor, the main opposition party, were ordered by their leader to vote against the bill. A few rebelled or abstained, wary of being seen as trying to frustrate voters' decision to leave the EU.

Pro-EU lawmakers from the governing Conservatives largely backed the bill, saying they would try to amend it at the forthcoming committee stage. The government needs to pass the bill to keep its Brexit plans on track. It has been almost 15 months since Britain voted to leave the 28-nation bloc, and nearly six months since the government triggered the two-year countdown to exit.

Since then, negotiations between Britain and the EU have made little progress on key issues including the status of the Ireland-Northern Ireland border and the amount Britain must pay to settle its financial commitments to the bloc.

May's authority took a battering when she called a snap election in June seeking to increase her majority in Parliament and strengthen her negotiating hand. The move backfired when voters stripped the Conservatives of their majority, leaving May reliant on support from a small Northern Ireland party to govern.

Opposition lawmakers, backed by some Conservatives, say they will try to amend the bill at the next stage, when it receives line-by-line scrutiny before a final vote. Conservative lawmakers signaled that the government would likely agree to water down the contentious Henry VIII powers.

Edward Leigh, a Conservative who backs Brexit, said the government should "be generous ... accept some of the amendments" proposed by lawmakers.

Right holds onto power narrowly in Norway

September 12, 2017

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The center-right grouping that has governed Norway the past four years retained a narrow hold on power in national elections, according to near-complete results early Tuesday. With 95 percent of the votes counted, Prime Minister Erna Solberg's Conservatives, coalition partner the Progress Party and two support parties, the Liberals and the Christian Democrats, looked likely to win a total of 89 seats in the 169-seat parliament, the Storting.

The election was a bitter disappointment for the leftist Labor Party. It remains the largest single party in parliament with 49 seats, but other likely coalition partners or support parties didn't add enough to put the left in power.

There was no immediate announcement about forming a new government, but the four-party center-right alliance appeared almost certain to continue. "We delivered on what we promised," Solberg said at party headquarters. "It seems that there will be a clear non-socialist majority in this election."

Labor leader Jonas Gahr Store was chastened. "As it seems now, it just did not happen," he said, according to the Norwegian news agency NTB. Although the center-right grouping had steered Norway through crises over a sharp influx of migrants and the decline in global prices for the oil and gas that are the backbone of the country's prosperity and comfort, some analysts were surprised that Labor lost significant ground. Its 49 seats were a loss of six from what it held in the previous parliament.

"Labor had a sensationally bad election. It is quite unusual for an opposition party to go back this way," NTB quoted political analyst Svein Erik Tuastad as saying. The election was a contest over national values, including how welcoming the wealthy country should be to migrants and asylum-seekers and how close it should be to the European Union.

Many Norwegians see the Britain as a model for severing ties to the 28-nation EU. Although not a member, Norway has access to the EU's single market of a half billion people, accepts the free movement of EU workers, enacts reams of EU laws and pays a membership fee to do that.

The rural Center Party, which was the election's single biggest winner with a gain of 10 seats, has called for a public inquiry into the country's relationship with the EU. But both Labor and the Conservatives are committed to the current arrangement. They also have ruled out ending oil and gas exploration — a demand of the Greens who remained static with a single seat.

Associated Press writer Jim Heintz reported this story from Moscow and AP writer David Keyton reported in Stockholm.

Guatemala congress rejects lifting president's immunity

September 12, 2017

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Lawmakers voted against lifting President Jimmy Morales' immunity from prosecution Monday, hours after a congressional commission recommended the protection be withdrawn to open the way for a possible trial on campaign-finance accusations.

Congress voted overwhelmingly not to do so. But since the measure failed to meet a threshold of 105 votes either for or against needed to settle the matter for good, it now goes into a kind of dormant state and can be reconsidered in another session of congress.

Morales has been targeted by investigators amid allegations that about $825,000 in financing for his 2015 campaign was hidden and that other expenditures had no explainable source of funding. The president has denied any wrongdoing. He issued a statement Monday night saying that the congressional decision "demonstrates the democratic maturity" of Guatemala's institutions.

Earlier Monday, Julio Ixcamey, head of the five-member commission of lawmakers, said it had found evidence of unregistered money in campaign funds. But he also said Morales "did not have a direct participation in registering funds and contributions."

The investigation was conducted by Guatemalan prosecutors as well as Ivan Velasquez, the head of a U.N. anti-corruption commission that has been working in the Central American nation for a decade. Last month Velasquez and Guatemala's chief prosecutor asked for the immunity attached to the presidency to be lifted in connection with the probe.

Two days later Morales sought to expel Vazquez from the country, but that order was swiftly overturned by the Constitutional Court.

Canadian gold company suspends investments in Greek mines

September 11, 2017

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Canadian mining company Eldorado Gold, one of Greece's largest foreign investors, said Monday it planned to suspend investment at its mines in Greece following what it said are government delays in the issuing of permits and licenses.

Eldorado, which runs Greek subsidiary Hellas Gold, operates mines in northern Greece that have faced vehement opposition from parts of local communities on environmental grounds, with protests often turning violent.

Eldorado said in an announcement it would continue maintenance and environmental safeguards, but would make no further investment in three mines in the Halkidiki area of northern Greece and two projects in the northeastern province of Thrace.

"Delays continue in issuing routine permits and licences for the construction and development of the Skouries and Olympias projects in Halkidiki, northern Greece," the company said. "These permitting delays have negatively impacted Eldorado's project schedules and costs, ultimately hindering the company's ability to effectively advance development and operation of these assets."

The company, which employs more than 2,000 people in Greece, said the "suspension and termination of contractors and employees" would be done according to Greek law. On Sunday, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras insisted his left-led coalition government was friendly towards business and investments.

"This government is friendly towards entrepreneurship and investments," Tsipras said during his annual news conference at a trade fair in the northern city of Thessaloniki. But he stressed that "we want investments, we want a healthy business environment, but we want to protect labor relations and the environment."

Reacting to Eldorado's announcement, Interior Minister Panos Skourletis said that according to the contract signed between the company and the Greek state, differences would be resolved through arbitration.

"This is the phase we are at now," he said, adding that the company's stance "shows intolerance towards Greek legality." "It might be a move of political pressure towards the government at a crucial time," Skourletis said, noting the announcement came during the Thessaloniki trade fair where the prime minister traditionally lays out his economic policy.

He insisted Greece was friendly towards foreign investments, but that the Canadian project, being a mining operation, was a special case. "Such kinds of investments no longer exist in the rest of Europe. They're not allowed due to the great environmental cost they have," Skourletis said. "So it's wrong to connect this particular case with the general picture in the area of investments (in Greece)."

The company said it was still awaiting details from the government regarding pending arbitration, and pointed out that Greece's Council of State, the country's highest administrative court, had issued 18 decisions in its favor in various permit disputes.

Greece has been struggling to emerge from a deep financial crisis that has wiped out more than a quarter of its economy and left the country reliant on three international bailouts. Attracting foreign investment has been seen as a key in standing on its own feet again.

But the Halkidiki mines have been mired in controversy for decades, with Eldorado's predecessors facing similar protests. Many in the local communities are vehemently opposed to the development of the mines on environmental grounds, saying local forests would be decimated and groundwater could be contaminated. The company has countered that it's carrying out environmental cleanup work even of its predecessors and rejects accusations of pollution.

When first elected on an anti-bailout platform in 2015, Tsipras' government initially moved to suspend some of the permits that had been granted to the mining company. Eldorado said the Skoures and Olympias projects and Stratoni mine would start being placed "on care and maintenance" starting Sept. 22, at an estimated cost of $30 million, while environmental protection work would continue. It said sustaining maintenance costs would be roughly $25 million per year.

"It is extremely unfortunate to find ourselves at this impasse when we should be advancing an important commercial project in partnership with Greece and adding another 1,200 jobs to our current workforce of approximately 2,400 people," Eldorado Gold President George Burns said.

The company bought the old Kassandra Mines for nearly $2 billion in 2012. Burns said it had since invested a further $1 billion in Greece, a figure which would double if the company could fully develop its assets in Greece.

"However, as a result of the delay in issuing permits by the Greek government, Eldorado is unable to continue investing in the country," Burns said. The company president has scheduled a news conference in Athens later Monday morning.

Ultrathin spacecraft will collect, deposit orbital debris

Los Angeles CA (Sputnik)
Sep 13, 2017

A new design gaining the interest of NASA could see the inexpensive and efficient removal of Earth's orbiting space debris.

A proposed design for a space trash collector has received a second round of funding from NASA, and the technologies involved could benefit developments in miniaturization back on Earth. A flat quadrilateral, a sort of magic carpet less than the thickness of a human hair and about three feet on a side, would incorporate redundant microelectronic and other digital technologies, as well as the propellant to allow the device to be moved around in orbit.

Upon arriving in close proximity to one of the estimated 520,000 of bits of detectable human-made space junk dangerously cluttering up near-Earth regions, the device, known as a 'Brane craft,' would wrap itself around the orbiting offal and direct both objects to an uncontrolled descent into our planet's atmosphere, at which point the trash and the collector would be on track to be immolated by the intense heat and pressure of reentry.

The space-cleaning carpet, the brainchild of California-based Aerospace Corporation, itself would be subject to the same risks it is designed to ameliorate, so it will be built with multiple backups - crafted in such a way that a tiny particle shooting through it at extremely high velocities of up to 17,500 mph would not incapacitate the device.

NASA says that it tracks around 20,000 pieces of orbital trash larger than a softball - just under four inches - orbiting the Earth, and these objects travel fast enough to damage satellites and spacecraft, placing astronauts at risk.

And while there are known to be at least 500,000 pieces of orbiting garbage the size of a marble, or bigger, there are thought to be millions upon millions of tiny bits speeding around the planet that are small enough to avoid detection, but not small enough to stop a spacewalker from being hurt or killed.

The skinny space cleaner is designed to be stackable, for easy shipping aboard a launcher, and would be deployed in swarms that can be organized to work in concert or alone - each directed to specific coordinates that can be modified at will, according to space.com.

Preparing the tech for real-world testing will take several million dollars at a minimum, according to Aerospace's principal investigator and a senior scientist Siegfried Janson.

"We're looking at how we can get government or other companies interested in this to take this to the next level," Janson said, cited by space.com.

Company assertions claim that if enough of the Brane craft are deployed, almost every detectable piece of space trash weighing up to 2 pounds or less could be eliminated from orbit within a decade.

NASA, hedging its bets, provides low-level proof-of-concept funding for many near-Earth garbage-collection technologies.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Ultrathin_spacecraft_will_collect_deposit_orbital_debris_999.html.

Three astronauts blast off for five-month ISS mission

By Kirill Kudryavtsev
Baikonur, Kazakhstan (AFP)
Sept 12, 2017

Two US astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut blasted off for the International Space Station in a nighttime launch from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Wednesday, heading for a five-month mission.

The Soyuz MS-06 rocket carrying Alexander Misurkin of the Russia's Roscosmos space agency, NASA first-time flyer Mark Vande Hei and his veteran colleague Joe Acaba launched as scheduled at 3:17 am (2117 GMT), according to images broadcast live by Roscosmos.

After a roughly six-hour flight, the spacecraft is expected to dock at around 0300 GMT on Wednesday, where the astronauts will join Paolo Nespoli of Italy, Sergey Riazanski of Russia and Randy Bresnik of the US.

The launch marks the first time two US astronauts have blasted off together on a mission to the ISS from Russia's Baikonur since June 2010.

The American space agency stopped its own manned launches to the ISS in 2011 but recently moved to increase its crew complement aboard the orbital lab as the Russians cut theirs in a cost-saving measure announced last year.

Acaba, 50, has spent nearly 138 days in space over two missions, while Vande Hei, 50, served with the US army in Iraq before training as an astronaut.

Misurkin, 39, who is beginning his second mission aboard the ISS, also has a military background.

Speaking at the pre-launch news conference on Monday, Acaba, who is of Puerto Rican heritage, said he would be taking some "musica Latina" on board to lift his crewmates' spirits.

"I can guarantee my crewmates they will not fall asleep during that music and if you want to dance at about 3 am tuned into our Soyuz capsule I think you'll enjoy it," he told journalists.

- 'Praying for people' -

The launch has been overshadowed by deadly storms that have battered the Caribbean and the southern half of the United States.

External cameras on the ISS captured footage of hurricane Irma last week brewing over the Atlantic as it prepared to wreak deadly havoc.

NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston said earlier this month it suffered "significant" damage during Hurricane Harvey, although Mission Control remained operational.

Vande Hei struck a somber note in a pre-launch tweet on Monday.

"L-2 days. Sunrise over Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Praying for the people of Florida as well as the continued recovery of the Texas Gulf Coast," he said.

Space is one of the few areas of international cooperation between Russia and the US that has not been wrecked by tensions over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

The ISS orbits the Earth at a height of about 250 miles (400 kilometres), circling the planet every 90 minutes at a speed of about 17,500 miles (28,000 kilometres) per hour.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Three_astronauts_blast_off_for_five-month_ISS_mission_999.html.