US leaving UN's Human Rights Council, cites anti-Israel bias

June 20, 2018

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is leaving the United Nations' Human Rights Council, which Ambassador Nikki Haley called "an organization that is not worthy of its name." It's the latest withdrawal by the Trump administration from an international institution.

Haley said Tuesday the U.S. had given the human rights body "opportunity after opportunity" to make changes. She lambasted the council for "its chronic bias against Israel" and lamented the fact that its membership includes accused human rights abusers such as China, Cuba, Venezuela and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights," Haley said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, appearing alongside Haley at the State Department, said there was no doubt that the council once had a "noble vision."

But today we need to be honest," Pompeo said. "The Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights." The announcement came just a day after the U.N. human rights chief, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, denounced the Trump administration for separating migrant children from their parents. But Haley cited longstanding U.S. complaints that the 47-member council is biased against Israel. She had been threatening the pull-out since last year unless the council made changes advocated by the U.S.

"Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not heeded," Haley said. Still, she suggested the decision need not be permanent, adding that if the council did adopt reforms, "we would be happy to rejoin it." She said the withdrawal notwithstanding, the U.S. would continue to defend human rights at the United Nations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office called the U.S. decision "courageous," calling it "an unequivocal statement that enough is enough." The move extends a broader Trump administration pattern of stepping back from international agreements and forums under the president's "America First" policy. Although numerous officials have said repeatedly that "America First does not mean America Alone," the administration has retreated from multiple multilateral accords and consensuses since it took office.

Since January 2017, it has announced its withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, left the U.N. educational and cultural organization and pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal. Other contentious moves have included slapping tariffs on steel and aluminum against key trading partners, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv.

Opposition to the decision from human rights advocates was swift. A group of 12 organizations including Save the Children, Freedom House and the United Nations Association-USA said there were "legitimate concerns" about the council's shortcomings but that none of them warranted a U.S. exit.

"This decision is counterproductive to American national security and foreign policy interests and will make it more difficult to advance human rights priorities and aid victims of abuse around the world," the organizations said in a joint statement.

Added Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch: "All Trump seems to care about is defending Israel." On Twitter, al-Hussein, the U.N. human rights chief, said it was "Disappointing, if not really surprising, news. Given the state of #HumanRights in today's world, the US should be stepping up, not stepping back."

And the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank close to the Trump administration, defended the move, calling the council "notably incurious about the human rights situations in some of the world's most oppressive countries." Brett Schaefer, a senior fellow, pointed out that Trump could have withdrawn immediately after taking office but instead gave the council 18 months to make changes.

Haley has been the driving force behind withdrawing from the human rights body, unprecedented in the 12-year history of the council. No country has ever dropped out voluntarily. Libya was kicked out seven years ago.

The move could reinforce the perception that the Trump administration is seeking to advance Israel's agenda on the world stage, just as it prepares to unveil its long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan despite Palestinian outrage over the embassy relocation. Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is visiting the Middle East this week as the White House works to lay the groundwork for unveiling the plan.

Israel is the only country in the world whose rights record comes up for discussion at every council session, under "Item 7" on the agenda. Item 7 on "Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories" has been part of the council's regular business almost as long as it has existed.

The United States' current term on the council ends next year. Although the U.S. could have remained a non-voting observer on the council, a U.S. official said it was a "complete withdrawal" and that the United States was resigning its seat "effective immediately." The official wasn't authorized to comment publicly and insisted on anonymity.

That means the council will be left without one of its traditional defenders of human rights. In recent months, the United States has participated in attempts to pinpoint rights violations in places like South Sudan, Congo and Cambodia.

The U.S. pullout was bound to have ripple effects for at least two countries at the council: China and Israel. The U.S., as at other U.N. organizations, is Israel's biggest defender. At the rights council, the United States has recently been the most unabashed critic of rights abuses in China — whose growing economic and diplomatic clout has chastened some other would-be critics, rights advocates say.

There are 47 countries in the Human Rights Council, elected by the U.N.'s General Assembly with a specific number of seats allocated for each region of the globe. Members serve for three-year terms and can serve only two terms in a row.

The United States has opted to stay out of the Human Rights Council before: The George W. Bush administration opted against seeking membership when the council was created in 2006. The U.S. joined the body only in 2009 under President Barack Obama.

Associated Press writers Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.

Before the Tea Party: A forgotten rebellion in Rhode Island

June 07, 2018

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Islanders feel slighted that Bostonians get all the glory for helping spark the American Revolution with the Boston Tea Party. After all, more than a year before any tea was tossed, Rhode Island colonists burned a British ship.

Saturday is the 246th anniversary of the day a local ship captain lured the British schooner HMS Gaspee into shallow waters a few miles south of Providence, where it ran aground. A smaller model of a ship will be burned Sunday to commemorate the forgotten act of rebellion.

U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse often recounts the story of how colonists waited till night fell, rowed out to the stranded Gaspee, shot the ship's captain and burned the boat. It's a cool story about an extraordinary act, said the Rhode Island Democrat. By comparison, he said, Massachusetts patriots mustered the courage to push tea bags off the deck of a British boat more than a year later.

"It's going to be a long, slow process to try to correct 240 years of the Massachusetts megaphone, but I think it is important to stick up for historic deeds that were done by Rhode Islanders," said Whitehouse, who spoke about the Gaspee Affair Monday on the Senate floor.

Many Rhode Island residents feel similarly aggrieved. Historians say the affair reignited patriotic fervor at a time when it had cooled off, and emboldened Bostonians. The chief historian at the recently opened Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia believes Rhode Islanders have a legitimate point about its importance being overlooked.

"There's a period where there's hope that maybe things could simmer down, but right in the middle of it, this Gaspee Affair happens," Philip Mead said. "It's really a foreshadowing of what will happen with the Boston Tea Party, because both sides react very strongly to each other."

Seth Rockman, who teaches at Brown University in Providence about the Revolution, thinks people should know more about the Gaspee Affair. But the fact of the matter is, he said, it's not as important as the Boston Tea Party, which set so many more events in motion.

"On the one hand, yes, a full accounting of the coming of the American Revolution should probably draw attention to the Gaspee as a significant moment," he said. "On the other hand, should people in Rhode Island be worked up about it?"

The Gaspee was sent to Narragansett Bay in 1772 to enforce trade laws. The colonists were soon fed up with the Gaspee and its captain, Lt. William Dudingston, stopping ships and disrupting trade, especially after rum was seized from local merchant Jacob Greene, said Steven Park, who wrote a book about the affair.

The Gaspee ran aground on June 9, 1772. Colonists in Providence heard the news and rowed out to it. Later, no one would tell King George III who set fire to the ship. The Sons of Liberty in Boston politicized the event to resist the British government, Park added.

Many historical texts were written in Boston immediately after the war and focused on Massachusetts. The now-famous revolutionary figures schoolchildren learn about weren't involved in burning the Gaspee.

"Even though we might not go so far as to say the Gaspee needs to replace the Tea Party in American consciousness, I think we can agree that those advocating for more attention for the Gaspee are right," Mead said.

The nonprofit Gaspee Days Committee marks the anniversary annually with the model-ship burning and other events in Warwick. The crew of the Gaspee was brought ashore in Pawtuxet Village in Warwick as their ship burned.

"I would hope there never comes a day this legacy is not carried on," said Ryan Giviens, committee president. "Were it written in the textbooks, it would be easier. So as long as it's not, we're going to keep spreading the message ourselves."

Orbital ATK to convert anti-radiation missiles for Navy

By James LaPorta
May 31, 2018

May 31 (UPI) -- Orbital ATK has been awarded a contract by the Department of Defense for advanced anti-radiation guided missiles and other products for the U.S. Navy and Australian government.

The contract, from Naval Air Systems Command and valued at more than $171.2 million, comes under the terms of a modified firm-fixed-price contract and enables Orbital ATK to provide advanced anti-radiation guided missiles, the Pentagon announced on Wednesday.

Specifically, the contract provides for the conversion and upgrade of 271 AGM-88 High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles from Block B to Block E, in addition to providing "eight Captive Air Training Missiles and 10 AGM-88E AARGM AURs for foreign military sales customers," as well as other supporting services and spare parts.

Work on the contract will occur in California and is expected to be complete in March 2020.

The total cumulative value of the contract will be obligated to Orbital ATK at time of award from Navy fiscal 2016, 2017 and 2018 weapons procurement funds coupled with foreign military sales funds, the Pentagon said.

More than $240,000 of the obligated funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year in September.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2018/05/31/Orbital-ATK-to-convert-anti-radiation-missiles-for-Navy/9781527785546/.

South African police kill man after fatal mosque attack

June 14, 2018

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A man fatally stabbed two people on Thursday and wounded several others at a mosque near Cape Town before police shot and killed the attacker, authorities said. The assailant, believed to be in his thirties, charged police who had tried to persuade him to surrender after the attack in Malmesbury in Western Cape province, police said.

"He ignored the calls and tried to attack police. He was shot and killed in the process," said a statement from police, who did not immediately comment on a possible motive for the attack. A man said his father had been sleeping in the Malmesbury mosque when he was killed just ahead of the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Suad Bassa, son of Ismail Bassa, said in an interview with the News24 outlet that the attacker also injured his brother when they confronted him. "It's sad, but Allah has taken him away in the place that he loved the most," Suad Bassa said.

News24 video footage showed the body of the attacker lying in an open area cordoned off by police tape. On May 10, assailants killed one person and injured two others in a similar attack on a mosque in the eastern town of Verulam, near Durban. No arrests have been made.

South Africa's Muslim Judicial Council said it was "shocked to its core" by the attack in Malmesbury and that its president and his deputies were heading to the mosque. "We do not have any further details as yet but we urge the community not to jump to any conclusions until clarity can be given," the council said.

The Democratic Alliance, an opposition party that runs Western Cape province, condemned the attack and said South Africans have the right to religious freedom. "An attack on people while they worship is a direct attack on the constitution and the freedoms we enjoy in this country," the party said.

Koreas discuss removing North's artillery from tense border

June 25, 2018

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The rival Koreas are discussing the possible relocation of North Korea's long-range artillery systems away from the tense Korean border, the South's prime minister said Monday, as the countries forge ahead with steps to lower tensions and extend a recent detente.

North Korea has deployed an estimated 1,000 artillery pieces along the border, posing a significant threat to Seoul and the metropolitan area. In a speech marking the 68th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War, Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said that "moving (North Korea's) long-range artillery to the rear is under discussion," as he explained what types of good-will steps between the sides have been taken in recent months.

Lee's comments appear to be Seoul's first official confirmation of media reports that South Korea demanded that the North reposition its forward-deployed artillery pieces during inter-Korean military talks this month. Seoul's Defense Ministry, which has denied those reports, said it had no immediate comment on Lee's speech.

A 2016 South Korean defense white paper described the North's long-range artillery as one of the country's biggest threats, along with its nuclear and missile programs. Seoul, a capital city with 10 million people, is about 40-50 kilometers (25-30 miles) from the border.

South Korean media speculated that during the June 14 military talks, the North likely demanded that South Korea and the United States withdraw their own artillery systems from the border as a reciprocal measure. About 28,500 U.S. soldiers are deployed in South Korea.

Also Monday, military officers from the two Koreas met to discuss how to fully restore their military hotline communication channels, according to the South's Defense Ministry. The results of the talks were expected later Monday.

The talks came a day after Seoul said it would "indefinitely suspend" two small-scale annual military drills with the United States. The drills involving marines from the allies were supposed to occur from July to September, according to a statement from South Korea's Defense Ministry. It said South Korea is willing to take unspecified additional measures if North Korea is continuously engaged in "productive" negotiations.

Last week, South Korea and the United States announced the suspension of their larger, annual military exercises called the Ulchi Freedom Guardian, part of their efforts to increase the chances of successful nuclear diplomacy with North Korea. Some experts say the drills' suspension could weaken the allies' combined defense posture against North Korea.

Kim Jong Un visits China to discuss next steps on nukes

June 19, 2018

BEIJING (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is making a two-day visit to Beijing starting Tuesday in which he's expected to discuss with Chinese leaders his next steps after his nuclear summit with U.S. President Donald Trump last week.

Kim's visit to Beijing, while expected, is one way for China to highlight its crucial role in U.S. efforts to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear program. The U.S. has long looked to China to use its influence with North Korea to bring it to negotiations, but the visit comes as ties between Beijing and Washington are being tested by a major trade dispute.

Chinese President Xi Jinping "is exerting a lot of influence from behind the scenes," said Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Glaser said it was predictable Xi would want to be briefed by Kim directly about the North Korean leader's talks with Trump.

"I expect they will talk about the path going forward and where priorities should lie," Glaser said. Those priorities, from China's perspective, would be to ensure that Beijing is included in any peace treaty talks and in creating an environment on the Korean Peninsula that will make it unnecessary for U.S. troops to remain.

Security was tight Tuesday morning at the Pyongyang airport, where another flight was unexpectedly delayed, and later at the Beijing airport, where paramilitary police prevented journalists from shooting photos. A motorcade including sedans, minibuses, motorcycles and a stretch limo with a golden emblem similar to one Kim used previously was seen leaving the airport.

Roads near the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, where senior Chinese officials meet with visiting leaders, were closed and the same motorcade was later seen heading into the compound. A ring of police vehicles and black sedans surrounded the perimeter of the guesthouse, where Kim stayed on his first visit earlier this year.

A similar convoy of vehicles was seen leaving the state guesthouse in the direction of the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing on Tuesday afternoon. Kim's presence in Beijing and the schedule of his visit, including any meetings with Xi, have not been confirmed.

Kim was diplomatically isolated for years before making his first foreign trip as leader in March to meet with Xi in Beijing. This is his third visit to China, North Korea's main ally and key source of trade and economic assistance. Following his summit with Trump, Kim was expected to meet with Chinese leaders to discuss progress in halting his country's missile and nuclear weapons programs in exchange for economic incentives.

China's foreign ministry refused to provide details on Kim's visit other than to say that Beijing hopes it will help deepen relations between the countries. Geng Shuang, a ministry spokesman, said at a regular briefing Tuesday that the visit would "strengthen our strategic communication on major issues to promote regional peace and stability."

Geng said Beijing supported Russia's calls last week for unilateral sanctions on North Korea — ones that aren't imposed within the United Nations framework — to be canceled immediately. "China always stands against the so-called unilateral sanctions outside the Security Council framework. This position is very clear and we believe sanctions themselves are not the end," Geng said.

While Beijing and Moscow have supported U.N. restrictions, they bristle at Washington imposing unilateral sanctions to put pressure on North Korea. The Singapore meeting resulted in a surprise announcement of a U.S. suspension of military drills with its South Korean ally, a goal long pursued by China and North Korea. That move is seen as potentially weakening defenses and diplomacy among America's Asian allies, while bolstering China and Russia.

The U.S. has stationed combat troops in South Korea since the Korean War, in which China fought on North Korea's side and which ended in 1953 with an armistice and no peace treaty. South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Kim's visit to China highlights the "constructive role" Beijing could play in disarming North Korea.

Ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk said Seoul and Beijing share a "strategic goal" in achieving the "complete denuclearization" of the Korean Peninsula and that progress in nuclear diplomacy has been facilitating high-level contacts between North Korea and its neighbors.

Noh also downplayed concerns that improving relations between China and North Korea could result in loosened Chinese sanctions against North Korea, saying that Beijing has repeatedly stated its commitment to U.N. Security Council resolutions against the North.

Chinese state media's treatment of Kim's visit departed from past practice of not announcing his travels until Kim returned home. Analysts said Beijing appeared to be trying to normalize such visits. Cheng Xiaohe, an associate professor at Renmin University's School of International Studies in Beijing, said that unlike previous visits, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV announced Kim's visit before his departure.

"This is an improvement. This shows that China is moving toward a healthier and more normal direction in relations with North Korea," Cheng said. He added that the frequency of Kim's visits was "unprecedented."

Yang Mu-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said Kim's repeated visits to Beijing this year show that the recent chill in the two countries' ties over Kim's development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles had fully lifted.

"I believe that indicates that the blood alliance between the North and China has been completely restored," Yang said. The visit comes as a dispute over the large trade imbalance between China and the U.S. has been escalating, straining ties between the world's two largest economies and moving them closer to a potential trade war.

Trump recently ordered tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods in retaliation for alleged intellectual property theft. The tariffs were quickly matched by China on U.S. exports, a move that drew the president's ire. On Tuesday morning China woke to news that Trump had directed the U.S. Trade Representative to prepare new tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese products, a move swiftly criticized by Beijing.

A trade war with the U.S. could make it less attractive for China to use its influence over North Korea to help the U.S. achieve its objectives of denuclearization. "The potential comprehensive trade war will make the cooperation between China and U.S. in North Korea's nuclear issue more complicated," Cheng said. "There will be a big question mark over whether China and the U.S. will continue this cooperation."

Associated Press journalists Gillian Wong and Shanshan Wang in Beijing, Adam Schreck in Pyongyang, North Korea, and Kim Tong-hyung and Yong Jun Chang in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

North Korea lauds, and basks in, Kim's summit performance

June 13, 2018

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — The series of photos on the front page of the ruling workers' party newspaper showed something North Koreans never would have imagined just months ago — their leader Kim Jong Un warmly shaking hands with President Donald Trump.

The priority treatment of what even Pyongyang is calling the "historic" meeting between Kim and Trump in Singapore underscores just how much of a propaganda coup the North saw in Tuesday's unprecedented summit.

Dubbing it the start of a new relationship between their countries, which are still technically at war, Pyongyang's first reports Wednesday stressed to the North Korean people that Trump agreed at Kim's demand to halt joint military exercises with South Korea as long as talks toward easing tensions continue and suggested that Trump also said he would lift sanctions as negations progressed.

"President Trump appreciated that an atmosphere of peace and stability was created on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, although distressed with the extreme danger of armed clash only a few months ago, thanks to the proactive peace-loving measures taken by the respected Supreme Leader from the outset of this year," said a summary of the leaders' summit by the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency.

The summit capped a swift and astonishing turn of events that began on New Year's Day with a pledge by Kim to reach out to the world now that his nuclear forces have been completed. His focus on diplomacy, including earlier meetings with the leaders of China and South Korea, is a sharp contrast with his rapid-fire testing of long-range missiles and the fiery exchanges of threats and insults last year that created real fears of a war on the Korean Peninsula.

Kim has framed the switch as a natural next step now that he has what he stresses is a credible and viable nuclear arsenal capable of keeping the U.S. at bay. The framing that he went into the summit as an equal and from a position of strength is crucial within North Korea, after enduring years of tough sanctions while it pursued its nuclear ambitions.

Kim's vows to denuclearize were reported by state media Wednesday within that context — that Pyongyang would respond to easing of what it sees as the U.S. hostile policy against it with commensurate but gradual moves toward "the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

"Kim Jong Un and Trump had the shared recognition to the effect that it is important to abide by the principle of step-by-step and simultaneous action in achieving peace, stability and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," KCNA reported.

That doesn't seem to pin the North down to the concrete and unilateral measures Trump said he would demand going into the talks and it remains to be seen what significant changes could occur now that they seem to be moving toward more peaceful relations. Both sides promised to push the process forward quickly, and Trump and Kim exchanged invitations to each other to visit their nations' capitals.

Interestingly, the North made no secret of China's behind-the-scenes presence at the summit. A flurry of media coverage the day Kim arrived in Singapore showed him waving from the door of the specially chartered Air China flight that brought him from Pyongyang.

That is another key to what lies ahead. Kim's biggest task in the months ahead will most likely be to try to push China, his country's key trading partner, to lift its sanctions and to entice South Korea to start once again offering crucial investment in joint ventures and infrastructure projects.

In the meantime, however, the North appears to be basking in it leader's new found status as the most popular kid on the block. "Singapore, the country of the epoch-making meeting much awaited by the whole world, was awash with thousands of domestic and foreign journalists and a large crowd of masses to see this day's moment which will remain long in history," KCNA noted.

Japan to cancel evacuation drills for NKorean missile threat

June 21, 2018

TOKYO (AP) — Japan plans to suspend the civilian evacuation drills it started last year while North Korea was repeatedly test-firing missiles near and over Japanese islands. Nine drills to prepare residents in Japan for possible missile attacks were to be held later this year.

The Cabinet Secretariat in charge of crisis management said Thursday the official announcement of the suspension was underway and that recent diplomatic developments meant the prospect of strikes from North Korean missiles has subsided for now.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un promised at his summit with President Donald Trump to work toward a denuclearized Korean Peninsula. The planned suspension surfaced Thursday after officials in Tochigi prefecture confirmed a drill there next Tuesday had been called off at Tokyo's request.

Strong quake near Osaka, Japan, kills 4, knocks over walls

June 18, 2018

TOKYO (AP) — Residents in western Japan were cleaning up debris Monday evening after a powerful earthquake hit the area around Osaka, the country's second-largest city, killing four people and injuring hundreds while knocking over walls and setting off fires.

The magnitude 6.1 earthquake that struck the area early Monday damaged buildings and left many homes without water or gas. The quake also grounded flights in and out of Osaka and paralyzed traffic and commuter trains most of the day.

By evening, bullet trains and some local trains had resumed operation, and stations were swollen with commuters trying to get home, many of them waiting in long lines. An exodus of commuters who chose to walk home filled sidewalks and bridges.

Some commuters took refuge in nearby shelters instead of going home. NHK public television showed dozens of men wearing ties and carrying briefcases sitting on gym mats at a junior high school gymnasium in Ibaraki city, where some families also gathered.

Takatsuki city confirmed another victim late Monday, as the death toll rose to four. City officials didn't have details of the victim, but NHK and Kyodo News reported that an 81-year-old woman was found dead underneath a wardrobe that fell on her at her home in Takatsuki.

Also in Takatsuki, a concrete wall at an elementary school fell onto the street, killing 9-year-old Rina Miyake as she walked to the school. NHK showed the collapsed upper half of the high wall, which was painted cheerfully with flowers, trees and blue sky and surrounded the school swimming pool.

Mayor Takeshi Hamada apologized over her death because of the wall's collapse. The city acknowledged that the wall did not meet building safety codes. The structure was old and made of concrete blocks — a known risk in earthquakes. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga ordered the Education Ministry to conduct nationwide safety checks of concrete block structures at public schools.

More than 1,000 schools were closed in Osaka and nearby prefectures, Kyodo News reported. Wall cracks and other minor damage were found at several schools. A man in his 80s died in the collapse of a concrete wall in Osaka city. An 85-year-old man in nearby Ibaraki died after a bookcase fell on top of him at home, according to the disaster management agency.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 307 people were treated for injuries at hospitals. Most of the injured were in Osaka. Osaka officials did not give details, but the injuries reported in Kyoto and three other neighboring prefectures were all minor.

The quake struck shortly before 8 a.m. north of Osaka at a depth of about 13 kilometers (8 miles), the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The strongest shaking was north of Osaka, but the quake rattled large parts of western Japan, including Kyoto, the agency said.

Dozens of domestic flights in and out of Osaka were grounded, while train and subway service in the Osaka area, including bullet trains, was suspended to check for damage. Passengers exited trains on the tracks between stations.

Some subway service resumed in the afternoon, but stations remained crowded with passengers waiting for trains to restart, many of them sitting on the floor. Long lines of people waited to board bullet trains as they resumed operation.

Some manufacturers, including automakers Daihatsu Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co., electronics makers Panasonic and Sharp Corp., and confectioners Ezaki Glico Co. and Meiji Co., temporarily stopped production lines at their factories in the region for safety checks, news reports said.

The quake knocked over walls, broke windows and set off scattered building fires. It toppled furniture in homes and goods onto shop floors. It also cracked roads and broke water pipes, leaving homes without water.

Many homes and buildings, including a major hospital, were temporarily without power, though electricity was restored at most places by midafternoon. Due to damage to underground gas lines, 110,000 homes in Takatsuki and Ibaraki cities were without gas, and repairs are expected to take as long as two weeks, according to Osaka Gas Co.

More building damage was found in the afternoon as disaster and relief workers inspected and cleaned up the affected areas. Roofs and roof tiles at homes and at least one temple fell to the ground in Osaka. At a shrine in Kyoto, stone lanterns broke and collapsed to the ground.

Defense troops joined rescue and relief operations in parts of Osaka, along with special vehicles to deliver clean drinking water. Residents cleaned up debris at home and stores throughout the day. Meteorological agency officials warned of strong aftershocks in the area, urging residents to stay away from damaged structures.

The earthquake reminded many of the magnitude 7.3 Kobe quake in 1995 that killed more than 6,000 people in the region. Monday's quake also followed a series of smaller quakes near Tokyo in recent weeks. Japan's northern prefectures are still recovering from a magnitude 9.0 quake and tsunami in 2011 that killed more than 18,000.

"It was not as bad as the Kobe quake," said Jun Kawanami, a 30-year-old lawyer in Osaka. He said his wife ducked under a table and elevators in his office building were out of operation. "I used the stairs but I was out of breath by the time I arrived at my office on the 22nd floor," he said.

Hiromi Tanoue in Osaka contributed to this report.

Japan to receive digital radar systems from Raytheon

By James LaPorta
May 30, 2018

May 30 (UPI) -- Raytheon was awarded a contract by the Department of Defense on Tuesday for digital radar warning systems that will benefit Japan.

The contract, from the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, is valued $90 million under the terms of an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, which is part of a foreign military sale of digital radar warning receiver systems to the government of Japan, the Pentagon announced on Tuesday.

The Raytheon-produced AN/ALR-69A digital radar warning receiver system provides aircraft with enhanced protection and detection of enemy air defenses at a lower cost.

The system is currently being tested on multiple U.S. aircraft such as the F-16 Fighting Falcon and C-130 Hercules, according to Raytheon.

The contract from the Defense Department will specifically provide for the "fabrication, integration, testing and delivery of line replaceable units and shop replaceable units," the Pentagon said.

Work on the contract will occur in California and Mississippi with an estimated completion date of May 2023.

More than $51.4 million will be obligated to Raytheon from Japanese foreign military sale funds.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2018/05/30/Japan-to-receive-digital-radar-systems-from-Raytheon/9041527699612.

Hong Kong sentences activist Leung to 6 years in prison

June 11, 2018

HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong court sentenced activist Edward Leung to six years in prison Monday for his part in a violent nightlong clash with police over illegal street food hawkers two years ago. Leung, 27, was among a generation of young political activists who emerged after 2014's failed nonviolent protests over Beijing's decision to restrict elections.

His sentence shows the hard line authorities are taking toward those advocating for more open politics in the former British colony. The South China Morning Post reported that Lo Kin-man, charged alongside Leung, was sentenced to seven years on a conviction for rioting, while a third man, Wong Ka-kui, 27, was given a sentence of 3 ½ years.

The Feb. 8-9, 2016, outbreak of violence in the city's working-class Mong Kok district was the most serious opposition to local authorities in decades. Leung has been an advocate of independence for Hong Kong, which became part of China in 1997 after more than a century of British rule. China guaranteed a 50-year transition period under which Hong Kong would retain considerable autonomy and keep the rule of law and its own legal and financial system.

However, the ruling Communist Party has made it clear those liberties are limited by its bottom line on sovereignty over the territory. Chinese President Xi Jinping warned in a speech last year that any activities in Hong Kong seen as threatening China's sovereignty and stability would be "absolutely impermissible."

Despite that, Hong Kong's courts have appeared unwilling to pass sentences so harsh they might prompt questions about the territory's relatively open society and rules-based economy. Prison sentences for three young pro-democracy activists convicted for their roles in kicking off 2014's "Umbrella Movement" protests were overturned earlier this year.

This story has been corrected to show Leung is now 27, not 26.

Xi extolls free trade at Asia meet as G-7 ends in disarray

June 10, 2018

QINGDAO, China (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping extolled free trade and criticized "selfish, short-sighted" policies during a closely orchestrated gathering of a Beijing-led bloc Sunday, standing in stark contrast with the G-7 summit that ended in disarray over trade tensions.

"We should reject selfish, short-sighted, narrow and closed-off policies. We must maintain the rules of the World Trade Organization, support the multilateral trade system and build an open global economy," Xi said. Though his remarks did not mention President Donald Trump, Beijing has sought to portray itself as a defender of free trade in response to the American leader's support for import controls. This is despite China's status as the most-closed major economy.

Xi also hailed the entry of new members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, calling the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain "of great historic significance" in opening remarks at this weekend's summit of in the northern Chinese port of Qingdao. Their two South Asian nations joined the bloc as full members last year.

With tight security, closed roads and restricted press access, the summit's choreographed show of unity was a striking contrast to the tumultuous Group of Seven summit of leading industrialized nations that concluded Saturday in Quebec and saw the U.S. and its allies divided by escalating trade tensions.

Trump lashed out at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in an extraordinary set of tweets from Air Force One, calling him "dishonest & weak" and retracting the U.S. endorsement of the G-7 summit's communique.

The Beijing-led bloc, which experts see as seeking to challenge the Western-led order, is dominated by China and Russia and also includes Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Founded in 2001, it was originally conceived as a vehicle for resolving border issues, fighting terrorism, and — more implicitly — to counter American influence in Central Asia following its invasion of Afghanistan.

The summit comes as Russia and China have boosted ties in response to the U.S. national security strategy that describes them as America's top adversaries. "We should reject the Cold War mentality and confrontation between blocks," Xi said, adding that the countries should "oppose the practices of seeking absolute security of oneself at the expense of the security of other countries."

In recent years, the Shanghai bloc's economic component has grown more prominent, embodied in Xi's signature, trillion-dollar foreign policy and infrastructure drive known as the Belt and Road Initiative.

Xi announced that China would offer 30 billion yuan ($4.7 billion) in loans through the bloc, highlighting its economic aspect. Beijing's infrastructure projects in Central Asia make some in the bloc uncomfortable — particularly India, which alone among members has refused to endorse the program. Russia, too, is wary of China's expanding influence, and though it has somewhat reluctantly embraced the Belt and Road, it is also seeking to expand its own economic and political leverage in the region through a customs union it dominates known as the Eurasian Economic Union.

China has sought to downplay concerns that the Shanghai grouping is a way for Beijing to project its strategic influence abroad. The Global Times, a Communist Party newspaper, said Sunday in a commentary that unlike Western organizations like NATO and the G-7, which seek to "consolidate the global economic order that is favorable to the Western world," the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is inclusive.

It is "is not a tool for geopolitical games, seeking hegemony or engaging in international confrontation," the paper said. As trade tensions simmered between China and the U.S. in recent months, Beijing has drawn closer to Moscow and New Delhi.

On Friday, Xi presented Russian President Vladimir Putin China's first Friendship Medal at an elaborate ceremony in Beijing. On Saturday, Xi met Modi for the second time in two months, signing deals on the export of non-basmati rice and sharing information on the waters of the Brahmaputra River, which runs between China and India, according to tweets by spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs Raveesh Kumar.

Xi and Modi also found common ground on security. On Sunday, Xi urged closer cooperation on joint counterterrorism exercises and law enforcement, while Modi called security "our top priority" and said India would play "an active and constructive role" in the bloc to work against extremism in Afghanistan.

Beijing sees the bloc as a force for stability in a poor, unstable neighborhood bordering on its volatile region of Xinjiang, where attacks in recent years by radicals among its native Muslim population killed hundreds and prompted a massive security crackdown, while New Delhi is interested in striking Islamic militant groups targeting India.

UN refugee agency: Record 68.5 million displaced in 2017

June 19, 2018

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. refugee agency reported Tuesday that nearly 69 million people who have fled war, violence and persecution were forcibly displaced last year, a record for the fifth straight year.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said the continued crises in places like South Sudan and Congo, as well as the exodus of Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar that started last year, raised the overall figure of forced displacements in 2017 to 68.5 million.

Of that total, 16.2 million were newly displaced last year — an average of more than 44,000 people per day. Most have been displaced for longer than that, some forced to flee multiple times. "The global figure has gone up again by a couple of million," said the High Commissioner, Filippo Grandi. "This is because of protracted conflicts and lack of solutions for those conflicts that continue, continuous pressure on civilians in countries of conflict that pushed them to leave their homes and new or aggravating crises, like the Rohingya crisis."

For the fourth year running, Turkey was again the country with the largest number of refugees — mostly Syrians — at 3.5 million at the end of 2017. The United States received the most new individual applications for asylum last year, at nearly 332,000. Germany was second at more than 198,000.

But UNHCR, Grandi's agency, said the figures debunked the flawed perception among some that a refugee crisis has affected more developed countries in the "Global North." It said 85 percent of refugees are in developing countries, many of them "desperately poor."

"It should be an element dispelling the perception, the notion that is so prevailing in many countries: That the refugee crisis — singular — is a crisis of the rich world," Grandi said. "It is not. It continues to be a crisis mostly of the poor world."

Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council who once headed the U.N. humanitarian aid agency, said cooperation between countries and diplomacy for peace were in "deep crisis." "International responsibility-sharing for displaced people has utterly collapsed. Rich countries are building walls against families fleeing war, at the same time as less money is available for aid to people in conflict areas," Egeland said. He said leaders in many countries are invoking border closures in Europe to carry out their own exclusion policies.

"We have to end this race to the bottom, and rather let us be inspired by generous recipient countries like Uganda, where vulnerable refugees are being protected," he said. The data release comes ahead of World Refugee Day on Wednesday.

Israel opposition leader named head of Jewish Agency

June 24, 2018

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's opposition leader has been appointed chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, a non-governmental organization responsible for bridging Israel and Jewish communities worldwide.

The organization issued a statement Sunday that its board of governors unanimously elected Isaac Herzog, a former Labor Party leader, as its new chairman. Herzog was selected over Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His appointment is seen as a defeat for Netanyahu, but Herzog vowed to work closely with his political rival.

Herzog, who starts Aug. 1, succeeds outgoing chairman, former Soviet political prisoner Natan Sharansky. The Jewish Agency is a non-governmental umbrella organization that works closely with the Israeli government to encouraging Jewish immigration and developing ties with Diaspora communities. It had a $362 million budget in 2018.

Coronation plans threaten poll delay in junta-ruled Thailand

June 20, 2018

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's prime minister said Tuesday his military government will hold elections only after a coronation ceremony for the new Thai king, casting fresh doubt on promises the polls will be held by next February.

The junta seized power from an elected government in May 2014 and has repeatedly pushed back promised dates for holding new polls. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha told reporters his government is preparing for the coronation of King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun, mentioning — apparently for the first time in public — that the election will take place only after the ceremony.

No date has been set for the coronation, bringing the timing of the polls into question. Vajiralongkorn assumed the throne after the death of his father in 2016. "The most important thing that the NCPO is now considering is making preparations for the royal coronation ceremony," Prayuth said. "Do not forget, all Thais, this is an important issue." The NCPO is the National Council for Peace and Order, the ruling junta's formal name.

Prayuth's mention of the election came in response to a reporter's question whether it would take place before the coronation or not. He replied "After, of course" and "After the royal coronation" as he walked away from reporters at a Government House news briefing.

Chaturon Chaisaeng, education minister in the government ousted by the 2014 coup, said that because the prime minister did not say when the coronation would take place, the announcement is not yet a political issue. "When the coronation will take place is up to his majesty's wishes and the government because nobody knows, as of now, when that is. If it takes place soon, for example much before the election, the election will take place as normal."

"Right now everyone is waiting to hear when the coronation will take place," Chaturon said.

Beyond World Cup: Advocates call attention to Russian abuses

June 23, 2018

MOSCOW (AP) — Wrapped in national flags, jubilant fans dance at midnight in the streets of Moscow, smiling, laughing and cheering. While foreign spectators from all over the world are having a blast at the World Cup being hosted by Russia, human rights activists are urging them not to overlook the other side of Vladimir Putin's nation: political prisoners and the harassment of critical voices.

Friday marked the 40th day that Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov has been refusing food in a Russian prison. Sentsov, an outspoken opponent of Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, was sentenced in 2015 to 20 years for conspiracy to commit terror acts. He calls the case against him politically motivated and went on a hunger strike in mid-May to demand his release, as well as that of other Ukrainians held by Russia. Western nations have been calling for Sentsov's release.

Sentsov's lawyer, Dmitry Dinze, visited him in a prison clinic Friday and said his client has lost about 20 kilograms (44 pounds) and was very frail. "His condition is bad. He is very weak, very pale," Dinze told The Associated Press by telephone. Dinze said Sentsov is able to walk, but talking is difficult and he has kidney and heart problems. Sentsov is receiving vitamins and other nutrients through an intravenous line and is refusing to be force-fed.

"He has stated his position firmly. Nobody will be able to talk him out of it, he will continue until his demands are met," Dinze said. Russian officials have been saying Sentsov is in satisfactory condition and his health has not suffered.

"This is a double picture of a very bright, very sparkling celebration, but on the other hand, there is an entire abyss of despair," said Tanya Lokshina, the Russia program director at Human Rights Watch. "It is very important that today those who watch Russia, film Russia, write about Russia see not only this celebration, beautiful by itself, which will come and go, understand even a little bit what today's Russia is in terms of human rights and basic freedoms."

Ukrainian rights activist Maria Tomak was among about a dozen people who staged a rally Friday outside the Russian consulate in Kiev, urging Putin to exchange Sentsov and other Ukrainians jailed in Russia for Russians detained in Ukraine.

"The situation around Oleg Sentsov is a threat to everyone," Tomak said. "If there is some kind of fatal incident with Oleg in Russia during the World Cup, this will look awful, this will lead to (Russia's) isolation."

On the opening day of the World Cup, Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny walked out of a Moscow jail after 30 days behind bars on charges of organizing an authorized rally and resisting police. Two days later, Navalny's press secretary was released after a 25-day stint in prison.

In the Chechen capital of Grozny, where Egypt's national team set up its base, Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov was posing for photos with the Egypt star soccer forward Mohamed Salah. All the while, across town, the region's top human rights activist Oyub Titiev was in a prison on drug charges that he calls fabricated.

International human rights organizations have dismissed the charges against Titiev as fake and have called on FIFA to intervene and seek his release. Beyond soccer, movie theaters across Russia are playing "Summer," a romantic period drama about the budding rock scene in the waning years of the Soviet Union that received a standing ovation at the Cannes Film festival in May. But its director, Kirill Serebrennikov, is under house arrest on embezzlement charges, which he denies. The case is viewed by many in Russia as punishment for Serebrennikov's iconoclastic views and has raised fears of a return to Soviet-style censorship.

Before hosting the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, Russia freed its most prominent prisoners, the oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and two women from the Pussy Riot punk band. Lokshina called for the same for Sentsov, Titiev and others.

"If this doesn't happen, the legacy of the World Cup will be clouded by these awful, horrible cases," Lokshina said. Independent political analyst Masha Lipman welcomed the festive and positive atmosphere of the World Cup, given that relations between Russia and the West had sunk to their lowest point in recent history. Lipman said that Western leaders have already made their position clear by not attending World Cup games but she says regular fans who have spent a lot of money and effort to come to come to Russia should focus on soccer and enjoy their stay.

"Do you think it would be better if everybody was walking around somber and angry, for tourists and fans to come here and to be looking for what else would upset them? Of course it is better when there is a friendly attitude toward the country," Lipman said. "At least for a change."

Inna Varenytsia contributed to this report from Kiev.

A big stink erupts over landfills ringing Russia's capital

June 19, 2018

KOLOMNA, Russia (AP) — Walking to a store in March, Olga Yevseyeva was hit by the familiar, noxious stench of rotten eggs wafting from the town landfill a few miles away. It was a moment that changed her life.

"This smell just made me explode with anger," she recalled of that spring night in Kolomna, a town about 60 miles (100 kilometers) southeast of Moscow. "And I realized something had to be done, because you can't just go on like this."

Never politically active, the 34-year-old Yevseyeva joined hundreds of other residents who stood in the middle of the road a few weeks later, blocking garbage trucks from delivering more of the waste to the landfill.

Thousands of activists have taken part in such demonstrations in the towns surrounding Russian capital in recent months, complaining that they are being used as a dumping ground for Moscow's trash. They say the foul gases from the decomposing landfills have given them and their children respiratory problems, skin rashes and other ailments, and have rendered their homes unlivable and unsellable.

The growing outrage at the shadowy owners of the lucrative waste management companies and government officials who seem indifferent or offer only short-term solutions has driven some to violence: One man charged a garbage truck with an ax and another opened fire with a gun; someone even tried to set a landfill on fire.

Yevseyeva and several others were detained for their unsanctioned protest in Kolomna, and she ended up losing her job at the curtains store where she worked. "I'm in shock about how the authorities operate," she said. "I thought the authorities should be on the people's side."

SHIFTING THE PROBLEM

President Vladimir Putin, at his annual call-in show last summer, got a complaint by residents of Balashikha, another town near Moscow. They said their landfill — the largest in the capital region — was a health hazard. Putin ordered it closed by the end of the year.

The trash from Moscow's nearly 12 million people and the surrounding region, which together account for 20 percent of all the garbage produced in Russia, still had to go somewhere, and waste management companies scrambled to find other places to dump it.

One site was near Volokolamsk, a picturesque medieval town of white churches about 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of Moscow, where the large Yadrovo landfill recently had been privatized.

But as the Yadrovo dump overflowed and the organic waste decayed under the topsoil, a mixture of hydrogen sulfide and methane gases enveloped the town during the winter. Residents inundated Mayor Pyotr Lazarev with complaints of rashes, headaches and coughs. He said he was powerless even to inspect the landfill, adding that regional health officials had assured him there was no risk.

The smell sometimes kept Tatyana Kunyakina awake at night and gave the 27-year-old waitress a cough for two months. On March 20, her 7-year-old son awoke with a fever, cough and red eyes.

The next day, more than 50 children were brought to Volokolamsk's hospital, with about 20 admitted. An angry crowd formed.

"I saw ambulances parked by the school in the morning and thought something must have happened to the kids," Lazarev recalled. "It was scary: A crowd of women burst into my office in tears."

The protest drew a quarter of Volokolamsk's 20,000 people. When Moscow Region Gov. Andrei Vorobyev arrived, he was pelted with snowballs amid shouts of "Resign!" A 10-year-old girl in a pink cap made a throat-cutting gesture at him, and video of that image became an internet sensation.

Authorities later declared a temporary state of emergency, saying the landfill was belching alarmingly high levels of hydrogen sulfide. A Dutch company was hired to remove the toxic gases from under the soil.

One action Vorobyev did take: He fired the town's local administrator.

PROTESTS AND BACKLASH

Protests soon grew in nearby towns over their fast-filling landfills.

"People who saw Volokolamsk said, 'So you can do it like this?' These people are really desperate," said Alexei Kiselyov, head of Greenpeace Russia's toxic waste program. "The situation in Volokolamsk has been a norm for all of Russia for years, but it took a real emergency to get media attention."

Kolomna residents set up a camera to track the 150 to 200 garbage trucks arriving on a typical day. Activists in Klin, Naro-Fominsk, Zaraysk, Voskresensk and other towns blocked roads, filed lawsuits and tried to tally how much trash was being dumped.

But the activists have faced threats and intimidation.

Regional officials dismissed them as alarmists and paid provocateurs; doctors have refused to cite the landfill as the cause of the health problems, sometimes even after documenting the cases; and parents of affected children have stopped talking to reporters. Some protesters have lost their jobs, were jailed for 15 days or had their businesses raided.

Kunyakina, the Volokolamsk waitress, said she came down with rashes and swelling on her face, chest and arms in late May. When a friend tried to arrange for her to visit a Moscow clinic, Kunyakina said she was denied an appointment "for political reasons."

POWERLESS TO ACT

Local and regional officials have lost much of their authority under Putin's "power vertical"-style of governance, which gives central control to federal authorities over many regulatory issues.

Regional environmental officials also say they are helpless against the private businesses that run the landfills, whose ownership is often murky. Authorities say these operators have powerful patrons who protect them from allegations of mismanagement, or they cannot be closed because of a shortage of dumpsites.

Russian Environment Minister Sergei Donskoy described the situation in Volokolamsk as "dire," adding: "It's practically impossible to shut down all landfills."

Activists focus their anger at Moscow, which finds it cheaper to dump the waste than separate and recycle it.

While the amount of trash generated in the capital has been rising slowly, the region as a whole saw an increase of 41 percent for 2016, according to a government report. That year, the last for which statistics are available, the city produced 4.6 million tons, with an additional 3 million tons from the surrounding region.

Regional and city officials announced a task force to coordinate waste management and plans to open 11 sorting and recycling facilities as well as several incinerators. Activists say the plans are vague and don't address the core problem of recycling in Moscow.

The city signed long-term deals with private companies in 2013-15. The biggest, for about $694 million, went to Khartiya, whose majority owner is Igor Chaika, the 29-year-old son of Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika.

A $198 million contract went to Spetstrans, co-owned through a number of subsidiaries by the state conglomerate Rostec headed by Sergei Chemezov, Putin's longtime friend and fellow former KGB officer in East Germany.

This spring, the regional government also signed long-term deals with Rostec's RT-Invest, winning three contracts worth a total of $1.7 billion, while Khartiya got a contract worth about $565 million.

The contracts oblige the companies to separate 20 percent of the waste for recycling, while other cities boast of separating 80 percent, according to environmental experts.

Lyubov Sobol, who investigated the deals for the Foundation for Fighting Corruption, alleged that "these were not random companies who just happened to win those contracts."

Moscow city officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Greenpeace's Kiselyov said the contracts are violated every day, over trash separation.

"Did Moscow become hostage of these contracts? Probably, yes."

Putin, whose personal intervention a year ago seemed to worsen the landfill crisis, addressed the issue in his latest call-in show June 7. He referred to it as a legacy of the Soviet Union, saying hundreds of illegal, unregulated landfills don't pay taxes.

"This is an absolutely unacceptable practice. Part of this activity is criminalized," he said.

Elite Gurkhas from Nepal deployed to secure Trump-Kim summit

June 12, 2018

SINGAPORE (AP) — To protect one of the highest-profile diplomatic events so far this century, Singapore has enlisted the help of its fearsome Nepalese fighters whose large curved knives, according to custom, must "taste blood" whenever they're drawn.

Wearing brown berets and equipped with body armor and assault rifles, the elite Gurkha police officers are a conspicuous part of the enveloping security force Singapore has deployed for Tuesday's summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The meeting, which could prove to be a crucial moment in the global diplomatic push to resolve the nuclear standoff with Pyongyang, has sent the highly manicured city-state into security overdrive. Trump and Kim have brought their own personal security personnel and heavily armored limousines; Kim's bodyguards have been seen running in formation alongside his massive Mercedes.

Selected among young men from impoverished Nepal, Gurkhas have been part of Singapore's police force since 1949. There are reportedly about 1,800 Gurkha officers in Singapore, and they are a regular presence at high-security events. On Monday, they were seen standing guard at the heavily fortified St. Regis Singapore, where Kim arrived Sunday afternoon.

"This is a moment of pride to see the Gurkhas responsible for guarding such an important event," said Krishna Kumar Ale, who served for 37 years in the British army before retiring back home in Nepal. "It shows that we Gurkhas have reached a point where we are trusted with the security of two of the most important people in the world."

In 2015, during the Shangri-la Dialogue, a Singapore summit that includes defense ministers and top security officials from around the world, a Gurkha officer shot and killed a driver after his car breached a series of roadblocks outside the summit's venue. The incident turned out to be drug-related, not an attack.

When asked about the scale of security operations for the summit, Singapore's Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said Sunday that more than 5,000 police had been deployed. The Gurkha Contingent is a special police unit inside the force.

"I think the fact that it had to be put together in two weeks ... added tremendously to the pressure and logistics, the demands. But I think the officers have worked around the clock, we are quietly confident that they have put in place the preparations," he said.

Singapore is not new to hosting high-profile events, including International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group meetings, and Association of Southeast Asian Nations summits in 2007 and 2018. Gurkhas, whose name derives from the Nepalese hill town of Gorkha, have been deployed in major conflicts and wars since becoming part of the British army in the 19th century. More than 200,000 Gurkhas fought in the two world wars, where they won admiration for their combat skills and bravery, living up to their traditional motto "It's better to die than to be a coward." Gurkhas also fought in the Falklands conflict, the Gulf War, Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

The British experienced Gurkhas' fierceness firsthand after suffering heavy losses during their invasion of Nepal. A peace deal signed by the British East India Company in 1815 allowed Britain to recruit troops from Nepal.

After Indian independence in 1947, Britain, Nepal and India reached an agreement to transfer four Gurkha regiments to the Indian army. Former British colonies Singapore and Malaysia have also employed Gurkhas for their police and army, respectively.

In Nepal, getting picked to serve as Gurkha soldiers and officers overseas is seen as a ticket out of poverty. According to Nepal's Gurkha Army Ex-Servicemen Organization, over 10,000 applicants try out every year for about 260 places in the British army's Gurkha units. Many train for months for the selection process, which includes a grueling "doko" race, which involves carrying 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of sand while running a steep 4.2-kilometer (2.6-mile) uphill course.

Along with their modern weapons, Gurkhas still carry the traditional "kukri," a long curved knife which tradition says must "ragat khaikana" — taste blood — once it is drawn. "That is no longer the current practice ... mostly," said the Gurkhas Australia website.

Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea. AP writer Binaj Gurubacharya in Kathmandu, Nepal, contributed to this report.

Injured former Cambodian PM Ranariddh sent to Thai hospital

June 18, 2018

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A Cambodian prince who was a candidate in upcoming general elections was transferred early Monday to a hospital in neighboring Thailand after being injured in a road crash that killed his wife, said a fellow politician and a Cambodian news agency.

Prince Norodom Ranariddh, 74, was in a convoy along with senior members of his FUNCINPEC party heading toward Sihanoukville in southwest Cambodia on Sunday morning when a taxi traveling in the opposite direction slammed into his SUV, said a senior party member in the group.

Ranariddh's wife also was standing as a candidate in Cambodia's general election next month. His 39-year-old wife, Ouk Phalla, died in a hospital after the crash, and Ranariddh suffered head injuries and was transferred to Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital, for urgent treatment, Sihanoukville police chief Gen. Chuon Narin said.

Ranariddh, who was originally reported severely injured, suffered broken ribs, a politician familiar with his situation told The Associated Press. The politician, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information, said Ranariddh was flown to Bangkok at 1 a.m. Monday for medical care on request from the country's Royal Palace. Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni is Ranariddh's half-brother.

Fresh News, a news agency close to the government, also reported that Ranariddh had been taken to Thailand. Nhep Bun Chin, a FUNCINPEC spokesman, said Ranariddh's condition had improved, but declined to confirm his evacuation to Bangkok.

Health care in Cambodia has a poor reputation, and senior officials, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, as well as the well-to-do, often go abroad for serious medical problems. Ranariddh was Cambodia's co-prime minister for four years in an uneasy power-sharing arrangement with Hun Sen after his party won a United Nations-organized election in 1993. His party's popularity was largely due to its royalist credentials, although Ranariddh's personal relations with his popular father, late King Norodom Sihanouk, were often strained.

He was ousted in July 1997 and fled abroad when long-simmering tensions between him and Hun Sen exploded into two days of bitter fighting in Phnom Penh between his forces and those loyal to Hun Sen. Ranariddh was allowed to return to contest elections the following year but failed to repeat his success at the ballot. He slid into political irrelevancy, as FUNCINPEC became co-opted by Hun Sen, a much savvier and tougher politician than Ranariddh.

Ranariddh is currently president of FUNCINPEC. It holds 41 seats in the National Assembly, but only because seats held by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party were redistributed after CNRP was dissolved.

The dissolution was widely seen as a maneuver to ensure an easy victory for Hun Sen in the general election, with parties contesting the polls generally seen as hopelessly weak or fronting for the ruling Cambodian People's Party so it can claim it ran a fair race by allowing opposition candidates.

Ranariddh is also president of the Supreme Privy Advisory Council to King Norodom Sihamoni. Ouk Phalla, a classical Cambodian dancer reported to be descended from a separate royal family branch, was Ranariddh's second wife.

Myanmar, UN sign pact on initial steps for Rohingya return

June 06, 2018

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar and U.N. agencies signed an agreement Wednesday that could eventually lead to the return of some of the 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled brutal persecution by the country's security forces and are now crowded into makeshift camps in Bangladesh.

The memorandum of understanding promises to establish a "framework of cooperation" that aims to create conditions for "voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable" repatriation of Rohingya refugees but does not address Myanmar's denial of citizenship for the minority.

Myanmar's government said it hoped the pact would hasten repatriation, but rights groups still doubt it will let many Rohingya return or can guarantee the safety of those who do. Myanmar's statement didn't mention Rohingya, reflecting the government and the Burmese majority's insistence there is no such ethnic group in Myanmar. Instead it referred to them as "displaced persons."

Myanmar's security forces have been accused of rape, killing, torture and the burning of Rohingya homes in western Rakhine state, where most Rohingya lived. The U.N. and U.S. have described the army crackdown that began in August last year as "ethnic cleansing."

Predominantly Buddhist Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed in November to begin repatriating Rohingya. But refugees feared their lives would be at risk in Myanmar without international monitoring while Myanmar insisted they have identity documents, which most Rohingya have been denied.

Knut Ostby, U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar, said the agreement is an important first step toward resolving the crisis. "There is a lot of work to be done. This task should not be underestimated," Ostby said. "We are talking about approximately 700,000 people who don't only have to return, but the conditions have to be right for them to return: the conditions both in terms of their identity in society, in terms of their safety and also in terms of services, livelihoods, a place to live, infrastructure."

The U.N. has said the agreement provides for its refugee and development agencies to be given access to Rakhine state. It said that will allow the refugee agency to assess the situation and provide information to refugees about conditions in their areas of origin so that they can better decide whether they want to return.

The Myanmar government statement said assistance from the U.N. agencies would assist the work it has already started toward repatriation. It highlighted that it had cooperated with the U.N. a quarter century earlier in repatriating 230,000 "displaced persons" — Rohingya — who had fled violence in Rakhine to Bangladesh.

Rights groups remain pessimistic that the safe return of Rohingya refugees will ever be possible. They point to a lack of firm commitments from Myanmar and its decades of hostility toward a minority that was denied citizenship by a 1982 law that excluded them from a list of recognized ethnic groups in the majority Buddhist nation.

"How will the Burmese government guarantee these people will not face again persecution?" said Kyaw Win, executive director of Burma Human Rights Network. "It is very politically convenient for the Burmese government to sign this agreement, and also never commit."

Some 125,000 of the Rohingya who remain in Myanmar are living in camps where their movement is restricted after being forced from their villages in 2012 by a wave of violence led by radical Buddhists and security forces.

"There's still been no movement to ensure Rohingya have equal access to full citizenship," said Matthew Smith, the head of advocacy group Fortify Rights. "Discourse around repatriation now unfortunately appears to be attempt by authorities to distract from mass atrocities and crimes taken place."

'Game of Thrones' co-stars Kit Harington, Rose Leslie wed

June 23, 2018

LONDON (AP) — Former "Game of Thrones" co-stars Kit Harington and Rose Leslie married Saturday with a church service and a celebration at the bride's ancestral castle in Scotland. The couple and guests arrived for the afternoon service at Rayne Church, close to the 900-year-old Wardhill Castle in northeast Scotland, which is owned by Leslie's family. Harington, wearing a morning suit, and Leslie, in a flowing ivory gown and veil, smiled at members of the public who had gathered outside the church.

Guests included the pair's "Game of Thrones" co-stars Peter Dinklage, Maisie Williams, Sophie Turner and Emilia Clarke. Later the newlyweds were showered with rose petal confetti as they left the church and drove off in a Land Rover festooned with "Just Married" signs to a reception on the castle grounds.

Harington and Leslie, who are both 31, met in 2012 on the set of the HBO fantasy series, where they played a couple as the characters Jon Snow and Ygritte. Leslie left the cast in 2014 and currently stars in U.S. legal drama "The Good Fight."

The couple announced their engagement with a notice in the Times of London newspaper in September. The bride's father, Sebastian Leslie, said Saturday he was "absolutely thrilled" about the wedding. "It's an absolutely lovely day for us," he said.