French president pushes for new changes as criticism grows

August 22, 2018

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron is back from summer vacation and he plans to launch a new push for economic changes as he faces growing criticism at home. The 40-year-old leader holds a Cabinet meeting Wednesday at the Elysee presidential palace.

Macron hopes his break will help give his policies new impetus after a nightmare political scenario in July. His government survived two no-confidence votes last month following a scandal over a top Macron security aide, Alexandre Benalla, identified in a video as acting violently toward a protester while wearing police equipment.

While the centrist leader promised transparency and an exemplary government before his election, the scandal has raised questions about his team's working methods and actions. Benalla, who initially stayed in his job before a public uproar led to his dismissal, has since faced initial charges, including committing violent acts and impersonating a police officer.

The latest public opinion polls at the end of July have seen Macron's popularity rate at its lowest level since he was elected in May 2017. Opponents commonly describe Macron as "Jupiter," the Roman king of gods, or "Napoleon" —in a reference to his authoritarian style and tendency to use special powers to pass some key measures without a parliamentary debate. In addition, critics often portray him as the "president of the rich," for tax cuts for the wealthy.

Similar comments have been recently revived by his request to build a 34,000-euro ($39,200) swimming pool in the presidential summer residence on the French Riviera. The French leader took 15 days of vacation, reading books and enjoying the view of turquoise waters. He made only a few public appearances.

He invited British Prime Minister Theresa May for dinner, with Brexit discussions on the agenda. He also had phone calls with several world leaders, including President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

An official at the French presidency said Macron's international agenda in the coming weeks will focus on showing a united European front in Brexit negotiations. Macron seeks to strengthen ties between pro-European governments, seen as opposed to rising populism in the European Union. He's notably planning to visit Denmark and Finland at the end of the month and meet with Merkel in early September. The official spoke on customary condition of anonymity.

Macron is likely to face a tough task in domestic politics. The government is preparing the country's budget for next year as the economic growth forecast is lower than previously expected at an estimated 1.8 percent, compared with 2.2 percent last year.

Macron is planning to focus on pursuing further labor changes with a bill focusing on helping small businesses to grow by removing some financial and bureaucratic barriers. Over the past year, the government struggled to pass labor measures and a plan to revamp national railway company SNCF.

The changes have been rejected by unions as weakening workers' hard-won protections, prompting big protests last autumn and spring, and months-long rolling strikes from railway workers. The government will also detail next month a sweeping overhaul of the costly health care system, including hospital financing. The plan will be closely monitored as the French are attached to preserving the system, widely considered one of the best in the world.

Meanwhile, key constitutional changes were delayed because the Benalla scandal interrupted the debate at parliament in July. The changes were aimed at fulfilling some of Macron's campaign promises like decreasing the number of lawmakers and accelerating the process to make laws. The government hopes to be able to revive the plan this autumn.

In addition, Macron wants to reorganize the structure of the Elysee Palace and its 820 workers, especially in the fields of security, communication, transportation and logistics. The changes may be sensitive since they would challenge decades-old traditions and ways of working.

Macron's office stresses that it needs to be modernized to be more reactive and efficient. For example, the military command unit ensuring security inside the Elysee is also in charge of mundane tasks like printing invitation cards, while Macron's highly trained bodyguards are also responsible for carrying the luggage of the president's aides during official trips.

UK govt says 'no-deal' Brexit would mean red tape, expense

August 23, 2018

LONDON (AP) — Businesses could face red tape at the border, customers could see higher credit card fees, patients could endure delays to medical treatment and there could even be a sperm shortage if Britain leaves the European Union next year without a deal, the U.K. government acknowledged Thursday.

But Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative government vowed it would limit the instability that could be triggered by a disorderly Brexit, releasing documents outlining its plans to cope. Even if Britain crashes out of the bloc next year without a trade deal, its plans include unilaterally accepting some EU rules and giving EU financial services firms continued access to the U.K. market.

Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said Britain was determined to "manage the risks and embrace the opportunities" of Brexit. "We have made clear that if negotiations don't achieve the optimum outcome, we will continue to be a responsible European neighbor and partner," he said in a speech Thursday to business leaders in London.

With seven months until Britain leaves the EU on March 29, negotiations on divorce terms and future trade have bogged down amid infighting within May's divided government about how close an economic relationship to seek with the EU.

The government insists it's confident of getting a deal, but is preparing for all outcomes. On Thursday it published the first 25 of more than 70 papers covering "no-deal" planning for sectors including financial services, medicines and nuclear materials. The rest are to be released by the end of September.

The documents urge people and businesses not to be alarmed, and say the government will work to "minimize any disruption to the economy." The papers say Britain will allow EU financial services firms continued "passporting" rights to operate in the U.K. for up to three years, even if no agreement is reached with the EU — although it can't guarantee that the bloc will let U.K. companies operate there. That could leave British retirees living in EU countries unable to receive their pensions.

Raab said Britain would take "unilateral action to maintain as much continuity as possible" and insisted that "for the vast majority of consumers in this country, there's not going to be much change at all."

He dismissed alarming headlines suggesting the U.K. could run out of sandwich supplies and other staples because of economic barriers between Britain and the EU, its biggest trading partner. "You will still be able to enjoy a BLT after Brexit," Raab said.

But the documents reveal the possible scale of disruption to the British economy and daily life that could follow Brexit. Britain will need new regulatory bodies to carry out functions currently done by the EU, and British businesses that now trade freely with the bloc will face new paperwork if there is no deal.

For goods going to and coming in from the EU, "an import declaration will be required, customs checks may be arrived out and any customs duties must be paid," one document says. And one of the thorniest questions — how to maintain an open border, free of customs posts, between EU member Ireland and the U.K.'s Northern Ireland — remains unanswered.

"We will provide more information in due course," is all the documents say. The government said the U.K. will recognize EU standards for testing medicines, so drugs from the bloc won't need to be re-tested in the U.K. But new drugs and treatments would still need approval from the U.K. medicines regulator before they could be sold in Britain.

Steve Bates, chief executive of the U.K. Bioindustry Association, said that meant British patients "would get access to new therapies later than other countries in Europe." Brexit could also affect the supply of semen for fertility treatment, the papers say. Almost half of Britain's donor sperm currently comes from EU member Denmark. If there's no deal, Britain will be outside the EU's directive on organs, tissues and cells, and U.K. fertility clinics will need to strike new written agreements with their suppliers.

The papers reveal that British organic farmers won't be able to export their produce to the EU unless the bloc certifies U.K. standards — a process that can't start until after Brexit and takes nine months. And the widely recognized organic logo plastered across everything from vegetables to beef belongs to the EU, so U.K. producers will no longer be able to use it.

Cigarette packaging also will have to be redesigned, because the EU holds the copyright on the photos of diseased lungs and other off-putting images emblazoned on the packs. And millions of Britons could find online shopping more expensive. The documents note that in the event of no deal "the cost of card payments between the U.K. and the EU will likely increase" and the EU-imposed ban on firms charging extra for credit-card payments will no longer apply.

Keir Starmer, Brexit spokesman for the opposition Labour Party, said the government's "vague papers" wouldn't reassure anybody. European Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein said the bloc was "working constructively to reach a deal."

But, he said, "it is also clear that the withdrawal of the U.K. is going to lead to disruption, regardless, with a deal or without a deal." "That's why everybody, and in particularly economic operators, need to be prepared," he added.

Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this story.

Superdry founder gives $1.28 million to anti-Brexit campaign

August 19, 2018

LONDON (AP) — The co-founder of the fashion brand Superdry said Sunday he has donated 1 million pounds ($1.28 million) to a group seeking a new referendum on Britain's departure from the European Union, as the U.K. government prepares to publish its assessment of the impact of leaving the bloc without an agreement on future relations.

Julian Dunkerton, whose streetwear brand has outlets in 46 countries, wrote in the Sunday Times that he is backing the People's Vote campaign because he predicts Brexit will be a "disaster" and "we have a genuine chance to turn this around."

With only seven months until Britain is due to leave the EU, exit talks have stalled and both sides say the chances of the U.K. crashing out without a deal are rising. That has energized those calling for a new vote on the departure terms, who sense that public opinion in Britain shifting against Brexit.

Pro-Brexit advocates, meanwhile, plan a campaign to ensure the British government goes through with the decision to leave, which was made by voters in a 2016 referendum. Former U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage announced Saturday that he would join a cross-country bus tour by the group Leave Means Leave to oppose Prime Minister Theresa May's plan for future ties with the EU, which he branded a "cowardly sell-out."

May is proposing to stick close to EU regulations in return for free trade in goods. The plan has infuriated Brexit-backers such as Farage and former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who say it would leave the U.K. tethered to the bloc and unable to strike new trade deals around the world.

Britain and the EU aim to hammer out an agreement on divorce terms and future trade by October — or, at the latest, December — so that it can be approved by all individual EU countries before the U.K. leaves the bloc on March 29.

But talks have bogged down amid infighting within May's divided Conservative government. Last week Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics put the chances of getting a Brexit deal at 50-50. U.K. businesses have warned that leaving without a deal could cause mayhem for trade and travel, bringing higher food prices, logjams around U.K. ports and disruption to everything from aviation to medical supplies.

The U.K. government says it remains confident of reaching a deal, but is preparing for all outcomes. On Thursday it plans to publish the first in a series of technical reports outlining the effects a no-deal Brexit would have on various sectors and offering advice to businesses and the public on how to prepare.

Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said the planning is "the responsible thing for any government to do, to mitigate the risks and make sure the U.K. is ready to make a success of Brexit."

UK's right-wing Farage vows to end Brexit 'sell-out'

August 18, 2018

LONDON (AP) — In Britain, there is a growing sense of Brexit deja vu. Two years after the country voted to leave the European Union, emotional arguments about membership in the bloc are raging as fiercely as they did during the 2016 referendum.

With seven months until Britain officially leaves the bloc, negotiations faltering, chances are rising of an acrimonious divorce — and the one thing that pro- and anti-EU forces have in common is that they are both unhappy.

Former U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage announced Saturday that he was returning to political campaigning in a bid to derail British Prime Minister Theresa May's plan for future ties with the EU.

Farage, the right-winger who helped lead the successful "leave" campaign in 2016, wrote in the Daily Telegraph that he would join a cross-country bus tour by the group Leave Means Leave to oppose May's "cowardly sell-out."

Referring to U.K. politicians and civil servants, he said "unless challenged, these anti-democrats will succeed in frustrating the result" of the referendum. Negotiations on future relations between the U.K. and the bloc have faltered, largely due to divisions within May's Conservative government over how close an economic relationship to seek with EU.

Last month the government finally produced a plan, proposing to stick close to EU regulations in return for free trade in goods. That infuriated Brexit-backers such as Farage and former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who say it would leave the U.K. tethered to the bloc and unable to strike new trade deals around the world.

Opponents of Brexit say that, even if the EU accepts May's plan — which appears unlikely — it would still erect barriers between Britain and the EU, its biggest trading partner. Meanwhile, time is running out. Britain and the EU say they aim to hammer out an agreement on divorce terms and future trade by October — or, at the latest, December — so that it can be approved by all individual EU countries before the U.K. leaves the bloc on March 29.

This week Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics put the chances of getting a Brexit deal at 50-50, a figure echoed by other EU leaders. U.K. businesses, however, have warned strongly that leaving without a deal could cause mayhem for trade and travel, bringing higher food prices, logjams around U.K. ports and disruption to everything from aviation to medical supplies.

The U.K. government says it remains confident of reaching a deal, but is preparing for a "no deal" scenario. Anti-Brexit campaigners are urging a second referendum on whether to accept any agreement that is reached. The idea is opposed by the government but supported by a growing number of politicians, trade unions and groups including the British Medical Organization.

Bob Kerslake, a former head of Britain's civil service, said Saturday that the consequences of leaving the EU without a deal were so serious that Brexit should be put on hold if agreement wasn't reached.

"If the government can negotiate a good deal, then so be it," he told the BBC. "But if they can't and we end up in this position, then we have to reopen the question of whether we go forward with Brexit at all. It is not too late to do that."

Tourist bus crashes in Bulgaria; 16 reported killed

August 25, 2018

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian authorities say a tourist bus has flipped over on a highway near Sofia, the capital, killing at least 16 people and leaving 26 others injured. Police said a bus carrying tourists on a weekend trip to a nearby resort overturned and then fell down a side road 20 meters (66 feet) below the highway. The accident happened at 5:10 p.m. Saturday about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Sofia.

Ambulances rushed to the scene and took the injured to Sofia hospitals. Doctors said some of them were in critical condition. Health Minister Kiril Ananiev gave an initial death toll of 15, but doctors from Sofia's emergency hospital said another bus victim died Saturday night.

The major of Bozhurishte, north of Sofia, told reporters that all the passengers were from his village. The government declared Monday a national day of mourning for the victims.

Brussels highlights sun-splashed summer with flower carpet

August 16, 2018

BRUSSELS (AP) — Brussels is highlighting its sun-splashed summer with a Mexican-themed carpet of over half a million flowers on its historic Grand-Place. The UNESCO World Heritage site on Thursday opened up the cobblestones of its market square for a giant display of flowers depicting scenes and symbols from Guanajuato, a Mexican region with an exceptionally rich culture and flower tradition.

The city lays down such a flower carpet every two years but the extreme heat of this summer posed special challenges. Brussels Culture alderwoman Karine Lalieux says that beyond the traditional use of Belgian begonias, dahlias also were used "as this year was very, very hot."

The carpet, measuring 75 by 24 meters (246 by 79 feet), will be on view until Sunday.

Belorussian leader Lukashenko fires Cabinet as economy sinks

August 19, 2018

MINSK, Belarus (AP) — Belorussian President Alexander Lukashenko has fired his Cabinet, emphasizing the need to strengthen the economy to preserve the nation's post-Soviet independence. Lukashenko said he fired Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov's Cabinet for failing to execute his orders and for paying too little attention to the country's social needs. He appointed banker Sergei Rumas to succeed Kobyakov.

Lukashenko has ruled Belarus with an iron hand for 24 years, maintaining rigid Soviet-style controls over the economy and showing little tolerance for dissent or independent media. He said Saturday that Belarus won't turn into a "vassal" of its giant neighbor, Russia, even though he underlined the importance of close ties with Moscow.

Belarus has long depended on cheap energy and other subsidies from Russia, which is facing its own economic woes and warned that it would scale down assistance to its ally. Lukashenko criticized Russia for failing to honor its agreements with Belarus.

"We will never become a vassal to anyone," he said, warning against any attempts to encroach on Belarus' independence. "We will remain independent for as long as our economy develops as needed," the Belorussian leader said, adding that "we won't be able to maintain our independence if we ruin the economy."

Observers noted that the Belorussian leader was facing pressure to reform the economy as Russia's assistance dries up. "It doesn't mean that the country is going to have full-fledged free-market reforms, but some movement is possible," independent Minsk-based analyst Alexander Klaskovsky said. "Lukashenko hasn't turned into a reformer, but he realizes that Moscow is turning off the taps and he needs to raise money himself and turn to the West."

War hero and presidential candidate John McCain dies at 81

August 26, 2018

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John McCain, who faced down his captors in a Vietnam prisoner of war camp with jut-jawed defiance and later turned his rebellious streak into a 35-year political career that took him to Congress and the Republican presidential nomination, died Saturday after battling brain cancer for more than a year. He was 81.

McCain, with his irascible grin and fighter-pilot moxie, was a fearless and outspoken voice on policy and politics to the end, unswerving in his defense of democratic values and unflinching in his criticism of his fellow Republican, President Donald Trump. He was elected to the Senate from Arizona six times but twice thwarted in seeking the presidency.

An upstart presidential bid in 2000 didn't last long. Eight years later, he fought back from the brink of defeat to win the GOP nomination, only to be overpowered by Democrat Barack Obama. McCain chose a little-known Alaska governor as his running mate in that race, and turned Sarah Palin into a national political figure.

After losing to Obama in an electoral landslide, McCain returned to the Senate determined not to be defined by a failed presidential campaign in which his reputation as a maverick had faded. In the politics of the moment and in national political debate over the decades, McCain energetically advanced his ideas and punched back hard at critics — Trump not least among them.

The scion of a decorated military family, McCain embraced his role as chairman of the Armed Services Committee, pushing for aggressive U.S. military intervention overseas and eager to contribute to "defeating the forces of radical Islam that want to destroy America."

Asked how he wanted to be remembered, McCain said simply: "That I made a major contribution to the defense of the nation." One dramatic vote he cast in the twilight of his career in 2017 will not soon be forgotten, either: As the decisive "no" on Senate GOP legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act, McCain became the unlikely savior of Obama's trademark legislative achievement.

Taking a long look back in his valedictory memoir, "The Restless Wave," McCain wrote of the world he inhabited: "I hate to leave it. But I don't have a complaint. Not one. It's been quite a ride. I've known great passions, seen amazing wonders, fought in a war, and helped make a peace. ... I made a small place for myself in the story of America and the history of my times."

Throughout his long tenure in Congress, McCain played his role with trademark verve, at one hearing dismissing a protester by calling out, "Get out of here, you low-life scum." But it was just as notable when he held his sharp tongue, in service of a party or political gain.

Most remarkably, he stuck by Trump as the party's 2016 presidential nominee even when Trump questioned his status as a war hero by saying: "I like people who weren't captured." McCain declared the comment offensive to veterans, but urged the men "put it behind us and move forward."

His breaking point with Trump was the release a month before the election of a lewd audio in which Trump said he could kiss and grab women. McCain withdrew his support and said he'd write in "some good conservative Republican who's qualified to be president."

By the time McCain cast his vote against the GOP health bill, six months into Trump's presidency, the two men were openly at odds. Trump railed against McCain publicly over the vote, and McCain remarked that he no longer listened to what Trump had to say because "there's no point in it."

By then, McCain had disclosed his brain cancer diagnosis and returned to Arizona to seek treatment. His vote to kill the GOP's years-long Obamacare repeal drive — an issue McCain himself had campaigned on — came not long after the diagnosis, a surprising capstone to his legislative career.

In his final months, McCain did not go quietly, frequently jabbing at Trump and his policies from the remove of his Hidden Valley family retreat in Arizona. He opposed the president's nominee for CIA director because of her past role in overseeing torture, scolded Trump for alienating U.S. allies at an international summit, labeled the administration's zero-tolerance immigration policy "an affront to the decency of the American people" and denounced the Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki as a "tragic mistake" in which the president put on "one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory."

On Aug. 13, Trump signed into law a $716 billion defense policy bill named in honor of the senator. Trump signed the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act in a ceremony at a military base in New York — without one mention of McCain.

John Sidney McCain III was born in 1936 in the Panana Canal zone, where his father was stationed in the military. He followed his father and grandfather, the Navy's first father-and-son set of four-star admirals, to the Naval Academy, where he enrolled in what he described a "four-year course of insubordination and rebellion." His family yawned at the performance. A predilection for what McCain described as "quick tempers, adventurous spirits, and love for the country's uniform" was encoded in his family DNA.

On October 1967, McCain was on his 23rd bombing round over North Vietnam when he was shot out of the sky and taken prisoner. Year upon year of solitary confinement, deprivation, beatings and other acts of torture left McCain so despairing that at one point he weakly attempted suicide. But he also later wrote that his captors had spared him the worst of the abuse inflicted on POWs because his father was a famous admiral. "I knew that my father's identity was directly related to my survival," he wrote in one of his books.

When McCain's Vietnamese captors offered him early release as a propaganda ploy, McCain refused to play along, insisting that those captured first should be the first set free. In his darkest hour in Vietnam, McCain's will had been broken and he signed a confession that said, "I am a black criminal and I have performed deeds of an air pirate."

Even then, though, McCain refused to make an audio recording of his confession and used stilted written language to signal he had signed it under duress. And, to the end of his captivity, he continued to exasperate his captors with his defiance.

Throughout, McCain played to the bleachers, shouting obscenities at guards to bolster the spirits of fellow captives. Appointed by the POWs to act as camp entertainment officer, chaplain and communications chief, McCain imparted comic relief, literary tutorials, news of the day, even religious sustenance.

Bud Day, a former cellmate and Medal of Honor winner, said McCain's POW experience "took some great iron and turned him into steel." McCain returned home from his years as a POW on crutches and never regained full mobility in his arms and leg.

He once said he'd "never known a prisoner of war who felt he could fully explain the experience to anyone who had not shared it." Still he described the time as formative and "a bit of a turning point in me appreciating the value of serving a cause greater than your self-interest."

But it did not tame his wild side, and his first marriage, to Carol Shepp, was a casualty of what he called "my greatest moral failing." The marriage to Shepp, who had been in a crippling car accident while McCain was imprisoned, ended amiably. McCain admitted the breakup was caused by "my own selfishness and immaturity."

One month after his divorce, McCain in 1981 married Cindy Hensley, the daughter of a wealthy beer distributor in Arizona. In one day, McCain signed his Navy discharge papers and flew west with his new wife to a new life. By 1982, he'd been elected to the House and four years later to an open Senate seat. He and Cindy had four children, to add to three from his first marriage. Their youngest was adopted from Bangladesh.

McCain cultivated a conservative voting record and a reputation as a tightwad with taxpayer dollars. But just months into his Senate career, he made what he called "the worst mistake" of his life. He participated in two meetings with bank regulators on behalf of Charles Keating, a friend, campaign contributor and savings and loan financier later convicted of securities fraud.

As the industry collapsed, McCain was tagged as one of the Keating Five — senators who, to varying degrees, were accused of trying to get regulators to ease up on Keating. McCain was cited by the Senate Ethics Committee for "poor judgment."

To have his honor questioned, he said, was in some ways worse than the torture he endured in Vietnam. In the 1990s, McCain shouldered another wrenching issue, the long effort to account for American soldiers still missing from the war and to normalize relations with Vietnam.

"People don't remember how ugly the POW-MIA issue was," former Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey, a fellow Vietnam veteran, later recalled in crediting McCain for standing up to significant opposition. "I heard people scream in his face, holding him responsible for the deaths of POWs."

Over three decades in the Senate, McCain became a standard-bearer for reforming campaign donations. He denounced pork-barrel spending for legislators' pet projects and cultivated a reputation as a deficit hawk and an independent voice. His experience as a POW made him a leading voice against the use of torture. He achieved his biggest legislative successes when making alliances with Democrats.

But faced with a tough GOP challenge for his Senate seat in 2010, McCain disowned chapters in his past and turned to the right on a number of hot-button issues, including gays in the military and climate change. And when the Supreme Court in 2010 overturned the campaign finance restrictions that he'd work so hard to enact, McCain seemed resigned.

"It is what it is," he said. After surviving that election, though, McCain took on conservatives in his party over the federal debt and Democrats over foreign policy. McCain never softened on his opposition to the U.S. use of torture, even in the recalibrations of the post-9/11 world. When the Senate in 2014 released a report on the CIA's harsh interrogation techniques at secret overseas facilities after the 9/11 attacks, McCain said the issue wasn't "about our enemies. It's about us. It's about who we were, who we are and who we aspire to be. It's about how we represent ourselves to the world."

During his final years in the Senate, McCain was perhaps the loudest advocate for U.S. military involvement overseas - in Iraq, Syria, Libya and more. That often made him a critic of first Obama and then Trump, and placed him further out of step with the growing isolationism within the GOP.

In October 2017, McCain unleashed some his most blistering criticism of Trump's "America first" foreign policy approach — without mentioning the president by name — in describing a "half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems."

Few politicians matched McCain's success as an author. His 1999 release "Faith Of My Fathers" was a million seller that was highly praised and helped launch his run for president in 2000. His most recent bestseller and planned farewell, "The Restless Wave," came out in May 2018.

Zimbabwe opposition rejects ruling and 'false' inauguration

August 25, 2018

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe's main opposition leader said Saturday he respectfully rejects the court ruling upholding President Emmerson Mnangagwa's narrow election win and he called the inauguration set for Sunday "false."

Nelson Chamisa spoke a day after the Constitutional Court unanimously rejected the opposition's claims of vote-rigging and said it did not bring "sufficient and credible evidence." Chamisa said "we have the right to peaceful protest" and that other routes will be pursued now that the legal one has reached an end. "Change is coming," he said. "Political doors are going to be opened very soon." He gave no details.

Last month's peaceful election was seen as a chance for Zimbabwe to move on from Robert Mugabe's repressive 37-year-rule. Now Chamisa alleges "a new persecution" after a deadly crackdown on the opposition.

The 40-year-old opposition leader again said he won the election and that the southern African nation needs fundamental reforms that cannot be resolved by five more years of "vacant leadership." The 75-year-old Mnangagwa, a former Mugabe enforcer who has tried to restyle himself as a reformer, appealed for calm after the court ruling and in a Twitter post told Chamisa "my door is open and my arms are outstretched."

Chamisa responded with skepticism, saying the opposition had reached out to Mnangagwa for dialogue earlier but the president did not respond. Zimbabwe's electoral commission had declared Mnangagwa the winner of the July 30 balloting with 50.8 percent of the vote. It later revised it to 50.6 percent, citing an "error" but arguing it was not significant enough to invalidate the win. It said Chamisa received 44.3 percent.

Chamisa's opposition Movement for Democratic Change party late Friday issued an angry statement saying in the coming days it would announce a "vigorous program of action in response to this electoral theft of the century."

Chamisa on Saturday, however, said he didn't know where that statement came from. He said the party's national council will meet next week on the way forward, and he did not directly respond to questions about the possibility of a government of national unity.

Mnangagwa, who took power in November after Mugabe stepped down under military pressure, called the election Zimbabwe's most transparent and credible ever. The government badly needed a credible vote to help end its status as a global pariah, have international sanctions lifted and open the door to investment in an economy that collapsed under Mugabe.

Zimbabweans now await the final reports from dozens of Western observers invited into the country for the first time in nearly two decades. The observers noted few issues on election day but expressed concern over the harassment of the opposition that followed. Six people were killed two days after the vote when the military swept into the capital, Harare, to disperse protests.

Mnangagwa has said an inquiry would look into the deaths after his inauguration. Chamisa indicated that he felt threatened as an opposition leader. "By challenging a dictatorship you are signing a death warrant," he said. "We are ready for any eventuality."

Meanwhile, the 60,000-seat National Sports Stadium was being prepared for Sunday's inauguration, with soldiers drilling and workmen hanging colorful pro-Mnangagwa banners. "Rest assured of a brighter tomorrow," one banner said.

Chamisa said he would not attend.

Congo rebel on trial at ICC denies involvement in atrocities

August 30, 2018

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A rebel militia leader known as "The Terminator" denied involvement in atrocities in Congo as his three-year trial at the International Criminal Court ended Thursday and judges began considering their verdicts.

"I am a revolutionary but I am not a criminal," Bosco Ntaganda told the three-judge panel. Ntaganda faces a maximum life sentence if he is convicted. He faces 18 charges including murder, rape, pillage and the use of child soldiers in 2002-2003 during an ethnic conflict in the mineral-rich Ituri region of northeastern Congo.

Prosecutors urged judges to convict him on all charges, while Ntaganda's attorneys challenged the reliability of many prosecution witnesses and said judges should acquit him. Judges are expected to take months to reach verdicts.

Ntaganda was first indicted in 2006. For years he was a symbol of impunity in Africa, once serving as a general in Congo's army before turning himself in in 2013 as his power base crumbled. During his trial in The Hague he testified for weeks in his own defense, saying he wanted to put the record straight about his reputation as a ruthless military leader.

"I hope that you now know me better and you now realize that 'The Terminator' described by the prosecutor is not me," he said. Prosecutors called dozens of witnesses, including insiders from within the ranks of Ntaganda's forces, to support allegations that he was responsible, both in person and as a military commander of the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo rebels, for crimes committed in attacks on villages in Ituri.

On Tuesday the prosecution's senior trial lawyer, Nicole Samson, told judges that "the overwhelming weight of credible evidence in this case leaves no reasonable doubt that Bosco Ntaganda is guilty of counts one through 18 with which he is charged."

Britain, Nigeria sign defense pact to counter Boko Haram

August 29, 2018

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Britain and Nigeria signed a security and defense agreement during a one-day visit by Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday as Africa's most populous country struggles to defeat Boko Haram extremists and others linked to the Islamic State organization.

The British prime minister is on a three-country Africa visit with a large business delegation as Britain seeks to boost economic ties ahead of a bumpy exit from the European Union in March. This is the first visit by a British prime minister to Africa in five years. May also stopped in South Africa, another of the continent's top economies, and she goes next to Kenya.

After meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, May said the countries will work together on "shared security threats like Boko Haram and human trafficking." The defense aid includes more training and equipment for Nigeria's military, which has been criticized by human rights groups over alleged abuses that it denies.

Last week, Buhari attracted headlines when he told troops in northwestern Zamfara state that "as your commander-in-chief, I want you to be as ruthless as humanly possible" against bandits in the region: "Nigerians deserve some peace."

As elections approach next year Buhari is under pressure to deliver on promises to improve the country's security, in particular to defeat Boko Haram's years-long insurgency in the northeast. The extremists, known both for mass abductions and for using young women as suicide bombers, continue to carry out attacks on military bases and in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state and the insurgency's birthplace.

Buhari and his government more than once have declared that Boko Haram had been crushed. As Europe worries about migration and human trafficking from West Africa, May also announced a new project with France to help Nigeria, the region's powerhouse, and neighboring Niger improve border cooperation along one of the main migration routes north. Nigeria and other West African countries in recent months have brought hundreds of migrants stranded in Libya home after reports of abuses, but the dream of employment remains a draw for some in the region where poverty and climate change can bite hard.

As it tries to assert itself more across Africa, Britain also is opening new embassies in Niger and Chad and expanding its embassy in Mali, calling it support to countries "on the front line of instability" as West Africa's vast, arid Sahel is threatened by a number of extremist groups with shifting allegiances.

Britain and Nigeria, Britain's second-largest trading partner on the continent, also signed an agreement on economic cooperation. May welcomed the commitment from two major Nigeria companies, Dangote Cement and Seplat Petroleum to make listings on the London Stock Exchange.

Mali's president wins runoff vote with more than 67 percent

August 16, 2018

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita won a second five-year term in the turbulent West African nation with more than 67 percent of the vote in a runoff election, the Ministry of Territorial Administration said Thursday.

Opposition leader Soumaila Cisse received over 32 percent of the vote in Sunday's runoff that had an estimated turnout of 34 percent amid threats of violence from extremist groups. The turnout dropped from the first round, in which nearly 43 percent of voters made it to the polls.

The constitutional court must approve the results by Aug. 22. "We are very happy for this well-earned victory for our president," said Mahamadou Camara, spokesman for Keita. "Malians have expressed a choice which had already been evident since the first round. Our candidate came in first. We are not scared of a post-election crisis."

Cisse supporters gathered in the capital, Bamako, shouting in disappointment. The 68-year-old opposition leader has blamed Keita for the country's insecurity, and his party alleged fraud in the first round and warned against it in the runoff. It was not immediately clear whether the party would challenge the runoff's results in court.

"We are not in agreement with these results. It's Soumaila Cisse who won, and we will march in protest because IBK stole our victory," said 33-year-old Oumar Toure, referring to the president by his initials.

Cisse's campaign director, Tiebile Drame, urged supporters to protest. "Nothing was spared by the supporters of the regime to divert the vote of the Malians. We are launching a strong call for citizen mobilization to exert popular, peaceful and democratic pressure to uphold the Malian vote," Drame said.

The 73-year-old president leads a nation that has grown more insecure since he beat Cisse in a second-round election in 2013, the same year that French-backed forces pushed extremists in the north from their strongholds. He took power the year after a military coup ushered in an era of chaos that allowed the extremists to flourish.

The extremists linked to both al-Qaida and the Islamic State organization have been staging more brazen attacks that have spread into central Mali. Deadly communal clashes between ethnic groups and accusations of heavy-handed counterterror operations have caused even deeper tensions and mistrust of the state.

In northern and central Mali more than 50 polling stations had closed before noon on Sunday because of threats by extremists, according to the Citizen Observation Pool of Mali which had more than 2,000 observers.

The observers also reported several incidents of violence on voting day, including the killing of a village chairman and the harassment of at least four election workers. A number of polling stations were burned. In Bamako, voting was also hindered by rains.

Diplomats have called for calm and respect for the election results, with the United Nations urging the use of "legal and constitutional channels to settle disputes."

El Salvador, Taiwan break ties as China isolates island foe

August 21, 2018

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan broke off diplomatic ties with El Salvador on Tuesday as the Central American country defected to rival Beijing in the latest blow to the self-ruled island China has been trying to isolate on the global stage.

The break in ties means Taiwan is recognized as a sovereign nation by only 17 mainly small, developing countries. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced that his government had established ties with El Salvador.

"History will prove that establishing diplomatic relations with China is in full accordance with the fundamental and long-term interests of the country and the people of El Salvador," Wang said. Taiwan split from mainland China amid civil war in 1949, and Beijing, which considers Taiwan its territory, campaigns relentlessly to isolate the island globally. It cut off relations with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen's government shortly after she took office in 2016 and has been steadily ratcheting up both diplomatic and economic pressure.

Earlier this year, the West African nation of Burkina Faso and the Dominican Republic broke ties with Taiwan and resumed or established diplomatic relations with China. Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu on Tuesday condemned what he called China's campaign of luring away Taiwan's allies with promises of vast financial aid and investment.

Taiwan is willing to consider cooperating with its allies in education, farming or even infrastructure initiatives, Wu said, but refuses to compete with China in buying diplomatic support. Wu said that El Salvador had repeatedly sought large amounts of funding from Taiwan for a port project that a Taiwanese team of engineers dispatched by the government thought wasn't economically feasible.

"We think this is an inappropriate development plan that risks causing both countries to fall into great debt," Wu said, noting that some developing countries were increasingly concerned about the risks of unsustainable debt linked to Chinese investments.

Wu said El Salvador's ruling party was also expecting Taiwan to provide funds to help it win in elections, but Taiwan refused. "It is irresponsible to engage in financial aid diplomacy or compete with China in cash, or even in providing illegal political money," Wu said. "My government is unwilling to and cannot do so."

Some analysts say Chinese President Xi Jinping, one of the most powerful Chinese leaders in decades, seems determined to bring Taiwan under Beijing's control during his time in office, which would place him in the history books alongside Mao Zedong.

The island's 23 million residents are strongly in favor of maintaining their de facto independent status, but Xi has previously warned a Taiwanese envoy that the issue of unification cannot be put off indefinitely.

Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren said on national television that China and El Salvador would discuss ways to cooperate in trade, investment and infrastructure development. "It will give great benefits to the country and provide extraordinary opportunities on a personal level to each one of you," he said.

The move comes just a day after China's foreign ministry said it had complained to the U.S. over Taiwanese President Tsai's visits this month to Los Angeles and Houston while in transit to diplomatic allies Paraguay and Belize.

The administration of President Donald Trump has been boosting relations with Taiwan amid a brewing trade war with Beijing. Tsai urged the island's people to unite despite the pressure the government was facing diplomatically.

"Taiwan will not yield because of pressure," Tsai said in a televised address. "We will be stronger and more united, and this will strengthen Taiwan's determination to go out."

Marcos Aleman in San Salvador, El Salvador, contributed to this report.

Global reactions to death of former UN chief Kofi Annan

August 18, 2018

GENEVA (AP) — Reactions to the death of Kofi Annan, the first black African to become U.N. secretary-general and a Nobel Peace Prize winner who died early Saturday at age 80 after a short illness:

"In a world now filled with leaders who are anything but that, our loss, the world's loss, becomes even more painful." — U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein

"I sincerely admired his wisdom and courage as well as his ability to make balanced decisions even under the most dire and critical circumstances." — Russian President Vladimir Putin

"A relentless champion for peace and a passionate ambassador for Sesame Street and the world's children." — Sesame Street

"We are devastated ... Africa and the world has lost a special human being." — Nelson Mandela Foundation

"A towering global leader and an unwavering champion for peace, justice and rule of law." — Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif

"The U.N. and the world have lost one of their giants." — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg

"We give great thanks to God for Kofi Annan, an outstanding human being who represented our continent and the world with enormous graciousness, integrity and distinction." — Former South African archbishop Desmond Tutu

Israeli PM wants Baltics to help change view of Israel

August 24, 2018

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting Friday with three Baltic prime ministers in his quest to counterbalance European criticism of Israel's actions in the occupied Palestinian territories and to increase pressure on Iran.

Netanyahu will hold talks with Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis, Estonia's Juri Ratas and Maris Kucinskis of Latvia. He started the day by meeting Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite. A day earlier, he said that Israel was "often mistreated by the EU," adding there were "many distortions." Netanyahu, however, welcomed the decision by major international airlines to end their direct flights to Iran's capital, Tehran, in September after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal with Iran and began restoring U.S. sanctions.

Skvernelis said in an interview with the Baltic News Service that after a meeting Thursday with Netanyahu, "I believe Lithuania really has a better understanding of Israel and that understanding could be spread among other EU countries. "

"We need to better listen, hear them out and understand their position. We definitely lack a direct dialogue," he said. "But we have to admit that today Israel is not only waging war and defending its independence, the lives of its people, but is also fighting in a wider context, if we speak about terrorism and potential expansion of IS fighters to Europe," Skvernelis said.

Netanyahu arrived Thursday in Vilnius is on a four-day visit, the first to Lithuania by an Israeli prime minister.

Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen contributed to this report.

Facing protests, Russia's Putin offers pension concessions

August 29, 2018

MOSCOW (AP) — In a rare televised address Wednesday, Russia's President Vladimir Putin offered some concessions to a package of pension reforms that have hit his approval ratings. Putin said the new retirement age for women will be raised to 60 from the current 55, instead of the 63 previously proposed. However, he did not offer to change the proposed figure for men, which is rising from 60 to 65. The changes are supposed to be raised by one year every year over the course of the next five years.

The government's plan to raise the retirement age for both men and women announced in June has caused widespread discontent. In Russia, the average life expectancy for women is 78 and 67 for men. Many Russian families, especially in rural areas and small towns, have relied on pensions as an extra income at a time younger people often struggle to find a stable job.

The proposals weighed on Putin's approval ratings, which have dropped below 70 percent — the lowest level since the 2014 annexation of Crimea. Russia's pensioners who have seen their incomes rising steadily under Putin have been one of the president's staunchest supporters.

Putin said the reform was necessary and "cannot be put off any longer." Without increasing the retirement age, Putin said Russia's pension system "would crack and eventually collapse." "I'm asking you to be understanding of this," he said.

Russia's economy has been hobbled over the past few years by Western sanctions following the annexation of Crimea and lower oil prices. In addition to lowering the proposed retirement age for women, Putin voiced other suggestions aimed at softening the blow including an idea to keep old-age benefits such as tax breaks for senior citizens even before they reach the retirement age.

Putin is known for his annual marathon call-in TV shows where he talks to ordinary Russia via video-link and takes phone calls. But he rarely addresses the nation on television, which indicates just how contentious the planned reforms are.

Putin's most formidable foe, Alexei Navalny, who was jailed on Monday for 30 days over an unsanctioned protest seven months earlier, has called for nationwide rallies for Sept. 9. to protest against the reforms.

Ungodly espionage: Russian hackers targeted Orthodox clergy

August 28, 2018

LONDON (AP) — The Russian hackers indicted by the U.S. special prosecutor last month have spent years trying to steal the private correspondence of some of the world's most senior Orthodox Christian figures, The Associated Press has found, illustrating the high stakes as Kiev and Moscow wrestle over the religious future of Ukraine.

The targets included top aides to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, who often is described as the first among equals of the world's Eastern Orthodox Christian leaders. The Istanbul-based patriarch is currently mulling whether to accept a Ukrainian bid to tear that country's church from its association with Russia, a potential split fueled by the armed conflict between Ukrainian military forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The AP's evidence comes from a hit list of 4,700 email addresses supplied last year by Secureworks, a subsidiary of Dell Technologies. The AP has been mining the data for months, uncovering how a group of Russian hackers widely known as Fancy Bear tried to break into the emails of U.S. Democrats , defense contractors , intelligence workers , international journalists and even American military wives . In July, as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, a U.S. grand jury identified 12 Russian intelligence agents as being behind the group's hack-and-leak assault against Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

The targeting of high-profile religious figures demonstrates the wide net cast by the cyberspies. Patriarch Bartholomew claims the exclusive right to grant a "Tomos of Autocephaly," or full ecclesiastic independence, sought by the Ukrainians. It would be a momentous step, splitting the world's largest Eastern Orthodox denomination and severely eroding the power and prestige of the Moscow Patriarchate, which has positioned itself as a leading player within the global Orthodox community.

Ukraine is lobbying hard for a religious divorce from Russia and some observers say the issue could be decided as soon as next month. "If something like this will take place on their doorstep, it would be a huge blow to the claims of Moscow's transnational role," said Vasilios Makrides, a specialist in Orthodox Christianity at the University of Erfurt in Germany. "It's something I don't think they will accept."

The Kremlin is scrambling to help Moscow's Patriarch Kirill retain his traditional role as the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and "the more they know, the better it is for them," Makrides said.

The Russian Orthodox Church said it had no information about the hacking and declined comment. Russian officials referred the AP to previous denials by the Kremlin that it has anything to do with Fancy Bear, despite a growing body of evidence to the contrary.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko flew to Istanbul in April in an effort to convince the patriarch to agree to a split, which he has described as "a matter of our independence and our national security." Moscow's Patriarch Kirill is flying to Turkey later this week in a last-ditch bid to prevent it.

Hilarion Alfeyev, Kirill's representative abroad, has warned that granting the Tomos could lead to the biggest Christian schism since 1054, when Catholic and Orthodox believers parted ways. "If such a thing happens, Orthodox unity will be buried," Alfeyev said.

The issue is an extraordinarily sensitive one for the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Reached by phone, spokesman Nikos-Giorgos Papachristou said: "I don't want to be a part of this story." Other church officials spoke to the AP about the hacking on condition of anonymity, saying they did not have authorization to speak to the media.

Bartholomew, who is 78, does not use email, those church officials told AP. But his aides do, and the Secureworks list spells out several attempts to crack their Gmail accounts. Among them were several senior church officials called metropolitans, who are roughly equivalent to archbishops in the Catholic tradition. Those include Bartholomew Samaras, a key confidante of the patriarch; Emmanuel Adamakis, an influential hierarch in the church; and Elpidophoros Lambriniadis, who heads a prestigious seminary on the Turkish island of Halki. All are involved in the Tomos issue; none returned recent AP messages seeking comment.

Spy games have long been a part of the Russian Orthodox world.

The Soviet Union slaughtered tens of thousands of priests in the 1930s, but the Communists later took what survived of the church and brought it under the sway of Russia's secret police, the KGB, with clerics conscripted to spy on congregants and emigres.

The nexus between Russia's intelligence and religious establishments survived the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union and the KGB's reorganization into the FSB, according to Moscow-based political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin.

"Our church leaders are connected to the FSB and their epaulettes stick out from under their habits," Oreshkin said. "They provide Vladimir Putin's policy with an ideological foundation."

That might make one target found by the AP seem curious: The Moscow Patriarch's press secretary, Alexander Volkov.

But Orthodox theologian Cyril Hovorun said he wouldn't be surprised to see a Russian group spying on targets close to home, saying, "they're probably checking him out just in case."

Volkov did not return AP emails seeking comment.

Hovorun is unusually qualified to speak on the issue. In 2012 he — like Volkov — was an official within the Moscow Patriarchate. But he resigned after someone leaked emails showing that he secretly supported independence-leaning Ukrainian clergy.

Hovorun has since been targeted by the Russian hackers, according to the data from Secureworks, which uses the name Iron Twilight to refer to the group.

Hovorun said he believes that those who published his emails six years ago weren't related to Fancy Bear, but he noted that their modus operandi — stealing messages and then publishing them selectively — was the same.

"We've known about this tactic before the hacking of the Democrats," Hovorun said, referring to the email disclosures that rocked America's 2016 presidential campaign. "This is a familiar story for us."

The Russian hackers' religious dragnet also extended to the United States and went beyond Orthodox Christians, taking in Muslims, Jews and Catholics whose activities might conceivably be of interest to the Russian government.

John Jillions, the chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America, provided the AP with a June 19, 2015, phishing email that Secureworks later confirmed was sent to him by Fancy Bear.

Fancy Bear also went after Ummah, an umbrella group for Ukrainian Muslims; the papal nuncio in Kiev; and an account associated with the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, a Byzantine rite church that accepts the authority of the Vatican, the Secureworks data shows.

Also on the hit list: Yosyp Zisels, who directs Ukraine's Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities and has frequently been quoted defending his country from charges of anti-Semitism. Zisels said he had no knowledge of the attempted hacking. Vatican officials did not return messages.

Protestants were targeted too, including three prominent Quakers operating in the Moscow area.

Hovorun said Protestants were viewed with particularly intense suspicion by the Kremlin.

"There is an opinion shared by many in the Russian establishment that all those religious groups — like Quakers, evangelicals — they are connected to the American establishment," he said.

Secureworks' data shows hacking attempts on religious targets that took place in 2015 and 2016, but other material obtained by the AP suggests attempts to compromise the Ecumenical Patriarchate are ongoing.

On Oct. 16, 2017, an email purporting to come from Papachristou, who was just being appointed as spokesman, arrived in the inboxes of about a dozen Orthodox figures.

"Dear Hierarchs, Fathers, Brothers and Sisters in Christ!" it began, explaining that Papachristou was stepping into his new role as director of communications. "It's a very big joy for me to serve the Church on this position. Some suggestions on how to build up relations with the public and the press are provided in the file attached."

The file was rigged to install surveillance software on the recipients' computers.

The email's actual sender remains a mystery — independent analyses of the malicious message by Secureworks and its competitor CrowdStrike yielded nothing definitive.

Church officials told the AP they were disturbed by the hacker's command of church jargon and their inside knowledge of Papachristou's appointment.

"The one who made this is someone who knows us," one official said.

Priests and prelates don't make obvious targets for cyberespionage, but the stakes for the Kremlin are high as the decision on Tomos looms.

Granting the Ukrainian church full independence "would be that devastating to Russia," said Daniel Payne, a researcher on the board of the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor University in Texas.

"Kiev is Jerusalem for the Russian Orthodox people," Payne said. "That's where the sacred relics, monasteries, churches are ... it's sacred to the people, and to Russian identity."

Francesca Ebel and Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow contributed to this report.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny gets month in jail

August 27, 2018

MOSCOW (AP) — A Moscow court sentenced Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Monday to a month in jail for an unsanctioned protest, a move that puts President Vladimir Putin's most prominent political rival behind bars and not in the streets for the next nationwide anti-government protest.

Navalny's arrest Saturday outside his home came as a surprise, since police were detaining him over a protest rally held in January. Navalny has been jailed multiple times for organizing demonstrations, but that typically happens soon after the event.

Navalny has called for nationwide rallies on Sept. 9 to protest the Russian government's plans to raise the retirement age for both men and women. The issue has created widespread outrage, uniting Russians with widely varying political views against the proposal.

After the Tverskoy district court ruled Monday to put Navalny in custody for 30 days, he urged his supporters to still take to the streets for the pension protest. In a tweet posted shortly after the ruling, Navalny said the Kremlin "shouldn't think that my arrest changes anything."

Navalny rose to prominence thanks to his investigations into official corruption. On Friday he published another investigation, alleging that at least $29 million had been stolen in procurement contracts for Russia's National Guard, which is headed by Putin's former bodyguard, Viktor Zolotov.

Russia says Taliban plan to attend Afghan talks in Moscow

August 21, 2018

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia said Tuesday that the Taliban have accepted an invitation for talks next month, in what promises to be one of the insurgent group's biggest diplomatic forays since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

The announcement of the planned talks comes as the Taliban have expanded their footprint across Afghanistan and launched an unrelenting wave of attacks, including a prolonged assault on Ghazni, a strategic city near Kabul, earlier this month.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow invited the Taliban to the Sept. 4 talks and was hoping for "productive" negotiations. "The first reaction was positive, they are planning to take part in the meeting," he said.

Lavrov reaffirmed that Russia's contacts with the Taliban aim to ensure the safety of Russian citizens in Afghanistan and encourage the insurgents to abandon hostilities and engage in a dialogue with the government.

A senior Taliban official confirmed they would send a delegation to Russia "for the sake of finding peace in Afghanistan." The official said the group plans to send representatives to other countries in the region, including Pakistan and China, "to take them into confidence and address their concerns."

"We are in contact with all neighbors," the official said, adding that the Taliban routinely hold meetings with European officials at the group's political office in the Gulf state of Qatar. The Taliban official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Lavrov rejected claims by the Afghan government that Russia is hoping to use the Taliban to combat the Islamic State group. An IS affiliate in Afghanistan has staged several devastating attacks in recent years and has repeatedly clashed with the Taliban. The IS branch is seen as particularly threatening to Russia because it includes a large number of battle-hardened Uzbek militants.

"I can't even hypothetically imagine how Russia could use the Taliban for fighting the IS," Lavrov said at a news conference. "We fight the IS with all means available, we support Syria in that struggle, we help equip the Iraqi army for the same goal and we naturally would like to see the people of Afghanistan getting rid of the IS."

In a separate statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry strongly criticized the claim, made by Afghan Ambassador Abdul Qayyum Kochai, saying it's based on "insinuations" and "completely distorts the meaning of Russia's policy on Afghanistan."

"It's deplorable that instead of helping maintain partnership and mutual trust between Russia and Afghanistan, the Afghan ambassador has taken steps leading in the opposite direction," the ministry said.

It hailed the Afghan government's offer of a holiday cease-fire, adding that the Taliban's apparent rejection of it is regrettable. The ministry said the Sept. 4 talks in Moscow would include representatives of Russia, Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, Iran and India, and are intended to "help advance the process of national reconciliation in Afghanistan and establish peace in the country as soon as possible." It said other countries, including the U.S., also have been invited to attend.

The Taliban have raised their diplomatic profile in recent weeks by sending official delegations to Uzbekistan and Indonesia, and say they held talks with a senior U.S. diplomat in Qatar last month. The group has refused direct talks with the Afghan government, which it views as a U.S. puppet, saying it will only negotiate the end of the 17-year war directly with Washington.

Russian President Vladimir Putin supported the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks and the deployment of U.S. forces to former Soviet states in Central Asia. But Moscow has grown increasingly critical of U.S. actions as relations with Washington have soured in recent years, and is stepping up its own diplomatic outreach across the region.

Gannon reported from Islamabad.

Putin dances at Austria wedding before meeting Merkel

August 18, 2018

BERLIN (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin made a flying visit to Austria to attend the wedding of the country's foreign minister Saturday before heading to Berlin for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Austrian authorities imposed tight security measures around the site of the ceremony near the southern border with Slovenia, where Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl married her partner Wolfgang Meilinger, a businessman. Kneissl, an independent, was nominated by the pro-Russia Austrian Freedom Party, whose leaders also attended the wedding.

Photos showed Putin dancing with the bride, who was dressed in traditional Austrian costume. According to Austrian public broadcaster ORF, Putin also brought a small Cossack men's choir along to entertain about 100 guests at the wedding.

Austrian lawmaker Joerg Leichtfried of the opposition Social Democratic Party criticized Kneissl's decision to invite Putin to the wedding, saying it called into question Austria's role as a neutral intermediary in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed rebels are battling government forces. Austria currently holds the European Union's rotating presidency.

Putin's meeting with Merkel late Saturday takes place at the German government's guesthouse in Meseberg, north of Berlin. Topics during the bilateral talks include Ukraine, Syria and the planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany that the United States and some European countries object to.

The two leaders were scheduled to make statements before the talks, but there were no plans for a news conference afterward.

Australian prime minister says he could quit Parliament soon

August 23, 2018

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's beleaguered prime minister warned he will quit Parliament on Friday if his disgruntled party continues to try to oust him, forcing a by-election that could cost the government its single-seat majority or pushing his successor into immediately calling general elections.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is under mounting pressure from supporter of his rival, former Cabinet minister Peter Dutton, to hold a leadership ballot of lawmakers in their conservative Liberal Party on Thursday.

Turnbull bought himself time by announcing he would hold a party meeting on Friday, but only if a majority of at least 43 lawmakers in the party signed a petition requesting a meeting. If that meeting wanted a leadership ballot, Turnbull said he would not contest his job and would not stay in Parliament.

"What we have witnessed at the moment is a very deliberate effort to pull the Liberal Party further to the right," Turnbull told reporters. "A minority has by a process of intimidation ... persuaded people that the only way to stop the insurgency is to give in to it. ... I have never given in to bullies," he added.

Senior ministers Mathias Cormann, Michaelia Cash and Mitch Fifield had earlier told Turnbull that he had lost his government's support and must hold a ballot quickly. It was a major blow to Turnbull's chances of staying in office.

Turnbull had defeated Dutton 48-35 in a surprise vote on Tuesday. Turnbull initiated the ballot in the hope of ending speculation that his government had lost faith in him in the face of poor opinion polling.

Cormann, the finance minister, had publicly stated his support for Turnbull on Wednesday, but on Thursday said Dutton should lead the government. "I was wanting to continue to support Malcolm Turnbull for years to come as leader of the Liberal Party. But I can't ignore reality," Cormann told reporters.

"When I have five Cabinet colleagues telling me that they supported Malcolm on Tuesday ... but they have changed their position, that is not something that I can ignore," he added. Media reports said other lawmakers were considering running for Turnbull's job, including Treasurer Scott Morrison.

Opposition lawmakers reacted with outrage when the government shut down Parliament hours early so that Liberal Party lawmakers could focus on their leadership crisis. Opposition Labor Party leader Bill Shorten told Parliament it was evidence that "Australia no longer has a functioning government."

"The Liberal Party, whatever it does today and tomorrow, is irreparably split," Shorten said. His deputy Tanya Plibersek told Parliament that whoever emerged as prime minister should immediately call an election — an outcome that some analysts argue is probable. But with the next election due by May, the ruling coalition is far less prepared for an election now than center-left Labor is. The coalition has yet to select many candidates.

Dutton supporters on Wednesday circulated a petition among Liberal Party lawmakers in a bid to force Turnbull to hold a ballot. But they failed to get the minimum 43 signatures that were required. The opposition narrowly lost a vote in Parliament that would have sent Dutton to court to determine whether he is eligible to be a prime minister. The vote to refer Dutton to the High Court was defeated 69-68 in the House of Representatives before it adjourned.

Dutton has released legal advice that his family's ownership of two child-care centers that received federal funding does not breach a constitutional ban on lawmakers having a pecuniary interest in an agreement with the public service. Some constitutional lawyers say there are areas of doubt.

Such a pending court case could scare lawmakers away from supporting Dutton in a leadership ballot. Government lawyers are investigating his case to see if there were issues for the High Court to determine.

Turnbull said he wanted the government's legal advice on Dutton's eligibility presented to Friday's meeting. No Australian prime minister has lasted a full three-year term since Prime Minister John Howard lost power in 2007 after more than 11 years in office. They have all been thrown out of power by their own parties amid poor opinion polling in a trend of political instability that divides parties and angers voters.

Soccer-In Damascus, World Cup loyalties muddled by war

Wednesday, 20 June 2018

DAMASCUS, June 20 (Reuters) - In a Damascus cafe, some of the Syrians watching Russia play Egypt in the World Cup faced a dilemma: whether to support a fellow Arab nation or their government's most powerful ally.

"I am confused because I was supposed to support Egypt but because Russia supports us, I support Russia," said Amin Maarouf, 62, as he watched Russia defeat Egypt 3-1 on Tuesday at a crowded cafe in a middle class Damascus neighborhood.

"If Egypt were playing against any other country I would support it. But when I had to choose, I chose Russia."

Seven years of conflict have muddled the loyalties of a Syrian nation fractured by a civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, and driven millions abroad as refugees.

While Russia enjoys support among Syrians who back the government, President Bashar al-Assad's opponents are rooting for any team that is playing against it or Iran, his other major military ally.

These are the first World Cup finals since Russia intervened in support of Assad in 2015, turning the tide of the war decisively in his favor. Russia is hosting the tournament.

Russian flags were being waved by fans watching Tuesday's match at an open-air screen in a street in Damascus, where just last month the government and its allies crushed the last remaining rebel enclave.

Still, not everyone was cheering for Russia. "I am supporting Egypt," said Jubran Louis, 18. "It's an Arab team, I have to support it."

The Syrian national side did not make it to the tournament, but it made an unexpectedly strong showing in the qualifiers. This too was also a point of division among Syrians. While government supporters rallied behind the team, some Assad opponents identified it with the Syrian government.

Omar Fleihan, who has lived in Istanbul since leaving Syria in 2014, ultimately wants England to win the World Cup and was hoping Egypt would beat Russia on Tuesday.

"Yesterday they were supporting Russia in Damascus, and this isn't something strange or new to them," he said. "I certainly support anyone (playing) against Iran and Russia without exception - Arab or non-Arab". (Reporting by Kinda Makieh in Damascus and Beirut bureau Writing by Tom Perry Editing by Alison Williams)

Link: http://news.trust.org//item/20180620121506-t77yl/.

Turkey: 30,000 Syrians who were granted citizenship will vote

June 19, 2018

Some 30,000 Syrians who have been granted Turkish citizenship will vote in Sunday’s presidential and parliamentary elections, broadcaster NTV quoted Prime Minister Binali Yildirim as saying today.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has granted citizenship to thousands of refugees who have fled the conflict in neighboring Syria. Turkey is hosting around 3.5 million Syrian refugees.

In April, Erdogan announced snap parliamentary and presidential elections would take place in the country on 24 June.

The move came a day after his main ally, far-right leader Devlet Bahceli, called for snap polls, with the decision primarily motivated by the need to strengthen the current administration to effectively tackle the ongoing crisis in Syria and the country’s economic challenges.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180619-turkey-30000-syrians-who-were-granted-citizenship-will-vote/.

Turkish army announces patrols in Syria's Manbij

18.06.2018

Turkish army on Monday announced the start of patrols in the northern Syrian city of Manbij by Turkish and U.S. troops in line with a previously agreed roadmap for eliminating terrorists and stabilizing the area.

In a tweet, the Turkish Armed Forces said the patrols were being carried out between Manbij and Turkey's Operation Euphrates Shield area.

Earlier on Monday, local sources speaking anonymously said armored vehicles of Turkish army were stationed around Sajur stream which divides Jarablus town, in the Operation Euphrates Shield area, and Manbij.

The joint forces carried out patrols in an area overlooking the U.S. base in Syria's Dadat town, the sources said, adding that the patrols lasted around three hours.

The roadmap was first announced after a meeting in Washington last week between Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The deal focuses on the withdrawal of PKK-affiliated YPG terror group from the northern Syrian city and stability in the region.

Should the model prove to be a success, Turkey will push for a similar arrangement in eastern Syria.

In its over-30-year terrorist campaign against Turkey, the PKK has taken some 40,000 lives. The YPG/PKK is its Syrian branch.

Turkey has said the presence of terrorist forces near its border constitute a threat, and has launched military operations and other efforts to rid the region of terrorists.

Source: Anadolu Agency.
Link: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/turkish-army-announces-patrols-in-syrias-manbij/1178013.

15 Palestinian refugees killed in Syrian regime shelling on Yarmouk camp

June 1, 2018

The bodies of 15 Palestinian refugees who were killed by regime shelling have been found in Yarmouk refugee camp, the Working Group for the Palestinians in Syria said yesterday.

The rights group went on to demand medical and civil defense teams be allowed access to the Palestinian refugee camp to recover the bodies from under the rubble.

Following the Assad regime’s brutal air raids against Syria’s largest refugee camp, the United Nations said the regime “turned it into a death camp”.

“The Yarmouk camp in Damascus lies today in ruins, with hardly a single building that has not been destroyed or damaged.  The fighting has been particularly intense in the last month or more.  Almost all the Palestine refugees who were there have now fled,” United Nations Secretary-General’s Spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said last week.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180601-15-palestinian-refugees-killed-in-syrian-regime-shelling-on-yarmouk-camp/.

3m homes destroyed in Syria war

June 1, 2018

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said yesterday that the years of conflict in Syria have left almost three million homes completely or almost completely destroyed, and the regime has caused about 90 per cent of the damage.

In a report the network stressed that it had obtained satellite images which prove that the Russian attacks on eastern Ghouta destroyed entire towns.

Under the title “Satellite imagery proves that Russian attacks have exterminated entire eastern Ghouta towns”, the report said that the military campaign in eastern Ghouta in February was the most brutal of the campaigns by the Russian-Syrian-Iranian coalition forces since the outbreak of popular movements in March 2011.

The report pointed out that “the Syrian regime and Russia deliberately bombed and destroyed the largest possible number of houses later, especially vital installations.” It noted that “most of the bombing was without a military justification as required by the law of war.”

“Some three million homes have been partially or completely destroyed in Syria and that millions of Syrians have lost their homes, which means for the majority the loss of a quarter of a century of work that they spent in order to have housing.”

According to the report, “the regime used extensive destruction as a war tool against all who opposed it, and aimed to end and destroy all forms of opposition to the regime, and to completely destroy society.”...

... It went on: “Since 18 February until 12 April 2018, the use of 3,968 surface-to-surface missiles, approximately 1,674 explosive barrels, 5,281 mortar and artillery shells, as well as four explosive hoses, 60 rockets loaded with incendiary munitions, 45 rockets loaded with cluster munitions has been registered.”

During the same period, “the Russia-Syria forces killed 1,843 civilians, including 317 children, 280 women, 15 medical personnel and 12 civil defense personnel. The same forces committed at least 68 massacres and at least 61 attacks on civilians’ vital centers.”

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180601-3m-homes-destroyed-in-syria-war/.

Syria civilians protest against US-backed Kurdish forces

May 30, 2018

Syrian civilians held demonstrations across the city of Raqqa yesterday calling on US-backed Kurdish militias to leave the area, according to Syria Call news agency.

Protests took part in the main Al-Sakia Street as well as in several of the city’s neighborhoods, including Al-Mashbal. Demonstrators shouted slogans against the Kurdish authorities and expressed opposition to the federalist system they seek to implement in the northern territories under their control.

People’s Protection Unit (YPG) militias sent security reinforcements to suppress the demonstrations and reportedly fired on the crowded protesters, resulting in several injuries.

The protests come a week after the YPG imposed forced conscription on residents of the city, mandating that men between the ages of 18 and 30 join militias for at least nine months, dubbing the policy “compulsory conscription in the duty of self-defense”.

The YPG, an offshoot of the designated terror organization the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has started to face increasing resistance to its policies from Syrians, including the formation of a new battalion called the Al-Raqqa Brigade.

Earlier this week, Kurdish militias stormed a bastion of the group in an operation that left three opposition fighters dead. Despite the attack, Al-Raqqa Brigade called on civilians to show their resistance to the YPG in yesterday’s demonstrations.

US-backed Kurdish forces, known collectively as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), have secured swathes of land in the north of Syria causing heightened tensions with neighboring Turkey.

Since January, Turkey has undertaken an air and ground offensive in Syria as part of “Operation Olive Branch” against the YPG in Afrin. The move prompted the Kurdish militia to call on the Syrian regime of President Bashar Al-Assad to aid them in the fight against Turkish soldiers.

Cooperation between the YPG and the Syrian regime is ongoing, with a member of the Central Committee of the Kurdish Democratic Party in Syria revealing last week that the YPG had handed over more than 90 Kurdish detainees to the security branch of the Assad government, after withdrawing from the city of Afrin in the north-west of Aleppo.

The YPG has also received increased backing from Europe; French forces have established six artillery batteries in the north of the country and along the Syria-Iraq border since their arrival last month.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180530-syria-civilians-protest-against-us-backed-kurdish-forces/.

Foe accused by Maduro says Venezuela military is fracturing

August 15, 2018

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — The exiled opposition leader accused by Venezuelan authorities of directing a failed plot to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro says the greatest threat to the embattled socialist leader may be his detractors in uniform standing quietly behind him.

Julio Borges, who once led Venezuela's opposition-controlled National Assembly, said Tuesday that the arrests of two high-ranking military officers in connection with the attack using drones loaded with plastic explosives is yet another signal that fractures within the nation's armed forces are growing.

"The conflict today is within the government — not just at the political level, but more importantly within the armed forces," Borges said in an interview with The Associated Press in Colombia's capital.

His comments came hours after Venezuela's chief prosecutor announced the arrest of Gen. Alejandro Perez and Col. Pedro Zambrano from Venezuela's National Guard as part of the investigation into the Aug. 4 attack. Their alleged roles were not described.

Authorities said they have arrested 14 people so far while Borges and other alleged conspirators are being sought. Maduro has accused Borges of plotting with others to train anti-government saboteurs in Colombia and transport the drones and explosives used in the attack across the border into Venezuela.

Borges, who fled to Colombia with his family following the breakdown of negotiations with the government this year, said he had no prior knowledge of the plot. "Not at all," he said in his simple, bare office in a drab building in Bogota.

Almost from the moment the attack took place, Venezuela's opposition has warned that Maduro would use the incident to intensify a crackdown on his opponents as the government seeks to tamp down discontent over the country's imploding economy. In the past week, the number of suspects and detainees has nearly doubled.

Among those in custody is another opposition lawmaker, Juan Requesens, who was charged with treason and attempted homicide. Officials released videotaped testimony of Requesens that they say shows an admission of involvement in the alleged plot, but he never mentions the attack itself. In the video, Requesens is heard telling investigators that he helped Borges ferry one of the alleged ringleaders into Venezuela from Colombia.

Relatives of Requesens deny he participated in any plot. They say he is being unjustly jailed for being an outspoken critic of Maduro's government and policies that the opposition blames for Venezuela's severe shortages of food and medicine as well as hyperinflation that the International Monetary Fund has said could reach 1 million percent by year's end.

The drone attack came as Maduro was delivering a speech at a military ceremony in Caracas. Video footage of the event being aired live on state television shows Maduro, his wife and several other high-ranking officials suddenly looking up to the sky. The video then pans to hundreds of uniformed soldiers scrambling out of their formation in panic.

Authorities say two drones were aimed at the stage where Maduro was speaking but the military succeeded in knocking one off its path electronically while the other crashed into a nearby apartment building. Seven soldiers were injured but Maduro was not harmed.

Since taking over Venezuela's presidency in 2013 following the death of Hugo Chavez, Maduro has sought to maintain the loyalty of the armed forces by awarding troops outsized bonuses and bestowing officers with top government posts. With Venezuela reeling economically, and its oil production collapsed to levels unseen since the 1940s, that support has become even more important.

Maduro and top military commanders dispute the idea that dissention is growing in the armed forces, but analysts say discontent has been brewing among rank-and-file soldiers, many of whom now need to find second jobs in order to put food on their families' tables.

"Maduro is facing a divorce with the armed forces, which is apparent in the various rebellions that have taken place in recent months," Borges said. "That's opened a road which is irreversible." The drone incident was not the first attack targeting Maduro's government. Rogue police officer Oscar Perez stole a helicopter and flew it over the capital in June 2017, launching grenades at the Supreme Court building. He and several comrades died in a gunbattle with police after months on the lam. A year ago, a small band of armed men assaulted an important military base.

Attorney Alonso Medina Roa said 154 members of the military have been detained in recent months as discontent and instability escalates within the armed forces. Borges, the founder of the Justice First party, served as the opposition's top negotiator in the failed dialogue with the government and is one of the beleaguered anti-government movement's most visible leaders.

Maduro has called him the mastermind behind the drone attack and Venezuelan officials have requested his extradition from Colombia. "Borges you are an assassin," Maduro said on state television. "Life gave you the chance to conduct politics freely in Venezuela but you've turned into a killer in Colombia."

Borges brushed off Maduro's allegation, describing it as one more baseless charge by a government that regularly claims to have stymied opposition attacks. "Fear is the government's last resort left," Borges said. "They want to appear like a strong government. And they're not."

Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman contributed to this report.

3 WWII bombs removed from Baltic Sea resort in Poland

August 13, 2018

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — More than 2,000 people were evacuated Monday while Polish navy experts removed three World War II bombs from the Baltic Sea bed at the vacation resort of Kolobrzeg. The spokesman for the local navy unit, Jacek Kwiatkowski, said the bombs were hoisted out of the sea and onto a special truck and were taken to a test range for a controlled detonation.

Each bomb weighed about 300 kilograms (660 pounds) and their impact radius was estimated at 2 kilometers (1.2 miles). Two other metal objects found at the site turned out to be parts of an old anchor and some scrap metal.

Dariusz Trzeciak, a Kolobrzeg city official, said about 2,000 residents and 200 vacationers were evacuated in their own cars or in buses. They were later allowed to return. Kolobrzeg, which was part of Germany during the war, was the site of fierce fighting in the war's last phase.

Italian bridge collapse sends cars plunging, killing 26

August 15, 2018

MILAN (AP) — A 51-year-old highway bridge in the Italian port city of Genoa collapsed in a driving rain Tuesday, killing at least 26 people and injuring 15 others as it sent dozens of vehicles tumbling into a heap of concrete and twisted steel.

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte called it "an immense tragedy ... inconceivable in a modern system like ours, a modern country." The disaster, on a major interchange connecting Genoa and other northern cities with beaches in eastern Liguria into France, focused attention on Italy's aging infrastructure, particularly its concrete bridges and viaducts built in the postwar boom of the 1950s and 1960s.

What caused the Morandi Bridge to fall remained unknown, and prosecutors said they were opening an investigation but had not identified any targets. Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said the collapse was "unacceptable" and that if negligence played a role "whoever made a mistake must pay."

Early speculation focused on the structural weakness of the span. Witnesses reported hearing a roar as the 45-meter (nearly 150-foot) bridge collapsed in a torrential rain during midday traffic on the eve of a major holiday that sees most Italians abandoning cities for beaches and mountains.

One unidentified woman who was standing below told RAI state TV that it crumbled as if it were a mound of baking flour. Video of the collapse, showing a misty scene of crumbled concrete, captured a man screaming: "Oh, God! Oh, God!"

Civil Protection authorities said at least 30 cars and three heavy vehicles were on the 80-meter (260-foot) section of the span that collapsed in the industrial area of warehouses. There was an immense gap where the bridge used to be, and one heart-stopping image showed a green truck halted on the rain-slickened roadway just short of the edge.

A man who was standing under the bridge in front of his truck at the time of the collapse called it "a miracle" that he survived. The middle-aged man, who did not give his name, said the shockwave sent him flying over 10 meters (33 feet) into a wall, injuring his right shoulder and hip.

"I was in front of the truck and flew away, like everything else. Yes, I think it's a miracle. I don't know what to say. I'm out of words," he said, walking away from the site. More than 300 rescue workers and canine crews were on the scene. They used heavy equipment and dogs to search for survivors in the rubble. At least four people were pulled alive from vehicles under the bridge, ANSA reported.

"Operations are ongoing to extract people imprisoned below parts of the bridge and twisted metal," said Angelo Borrelli, the head of Italy's civil protection agency. Officials evacuated several hundred people living along the raised highway that traverses the city as a precaution.

The effort would continue into the night. "It is a bit like working on an earthquake," said firefighters spokesman Luca Cari. "The main difficulty is removing the rubble and safeguarding the rescue teams."

There was confusion over the death toll throughout the day, with different officials giving conflicting numbers. Officials in the Liguria region said Tuesday night that 26 people had died, saying two more bodies had been found and one of the 16 injured had died in surgery.

After visiting the scene, Conte told RAI state TV the tragedy was "a serious wound for Genoa, Liguria and Italy." The Italian CNR civil engineering society said that structures dating from when the Morandi Bridge was built had surpassed their lifespan. It called for a "Marshall Plan" to repair or replace tens of thousands of bridges and viaducts built in the 1950s and 1960s. Updating and reinforcing the bridges would be more expensive than destroying and rebuilding them with technology that could last a century.

They cited previous accidents: a bridge that fell in April 2017 in the northern province of Cuneo, crushing a carabinieri police car after the officers and driver had barely managed to get away in time; and an overpass that in the northern city of Lecco that collapsed under exceptional weight, crushing a car and killing the driver.

The design of the bridge has been criticized in the past. Antonio Brencich, a professor specializing in reinforced concrete construction at the University of Genoa, called the span "a failure of engineering" in an interview in 2016.

"That bridge is wrong. Sooner or later it will have to be replaced. I do not know when. But there will be a time when the cost of maintenance will be higher than a replacement," he told Italian media Primocanale.

Other engineers said corrosion or weather conditions could have contributed. "As this reinforced and pre-stressed concrete bridge has been there for 50 years, it is possible that corrosion of tendons or reinforcement may be a contributory factor," said Ian Firth, former president of The Institution of Structural Engineers, a London-based international network. He called the bridge "an unusual design."

Mehdi Kashani, an associate professor in structural mechanics at the University of Southampton in the U.K., said maintenance issues and pressure from "dynamic loads," such as traffic and wind, could have resulted in "fatigue damage in bridge components."

Borrelli said highway engineers were checking other parts of the bridge and that some areas were evacuated as a precaution. "You can see there are very big portions of the bridge (that collapsed). We need to remove all of the rubble to ascertain that all of the people have been reached," he said.

The transport minister, Toninelli, said the company that has the concession to operate that section of highway said its maintenance on the bridge was up to date and no work was being done at the time of the collapse. But he added that they were about to launch a 20 million euro ($22.7 million) bidding process for significant safety work on the bridge.

"There has not been sufficient maintenance and checks, and safety work for many bridges and viaducts and bridges in Italy constructed — almost all — during the 1960s," he said. It was the second deadly disaster on an Italian highway in as many weeks.

On Aug. 6, a tanker truck carrying a highly flammable gas exploded after rear-ending a stopped truck and getting hit from behind near the northern city of Bologna. The accident killed one person, injured dozens and blew apart a section of a raised eight-lane highway.

Kirka reported from London. Simone Somekh in Rome contributed.