Brex-split: 7 lawmakers quit Labor over EU, anti-Semitism

February 18, 2019

LONDON (AP) — Seven British lawmakers quit the main opposition Labor Party on Monday over its approach to issues including Brexit and anti-Semitism — the biggest shake-up in years for one of Britain's major political parties.

The announcement ripped open a long-simmering rift between socialists and centrists in the party, which sees itself as the representative of Britain's working class. It's also the latest fallout from Britain's decision to leave the European Union, which has split both of the country's two main parties — Conservatives and Labor — into pro-Brexit and pro-EU camps.

Many Labour lawmakers have been unhappy with the party's direction under leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran socialist who took charge in 2015 with strong grass-roots backing. They accuse Corbyn of mounting a weak opposition to Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May's plans for leaving the EU, and of failing to stamp out a vein of anti-Semitism in the party.

The splitters — who have between nine and 27 years' experience in Parliament and represent constituencies across England — make up a small fraction of Labor's 256 lawmakers, or of the 650 total members of Parliament. But this is the biggest split in the Labor party since four senior members quit in 1981 to form the Social Democratic Party.

Luciana Berger, one of those who quit Monday, said Labor had become "institutionally anti-Semitic." "I am leaving behind a culture of bullying, bigotry and intimidation," she said at a news conference alongside six colleagues.

Labor leaders have admitted that Berger, who is Jewish, has been bullied by some members of her local party in northwest England. Labor has been riven by allegations that the party has become hostile to Jews under Corbyn, a longtime supporter of the Palestinians. Corbyn's supporters accuse political opponents and right-wing media outlets of misrepresenting his views.

There have long been signs that British voters' 2016 decision to leave the EU could spark a major overhaul of British politics. May's Conservatives are in the throes of a civil war between the party's pro-Brexit and pro-EU wings. Labor is also split.

Many Labor members oppose Brexit — which is due in less than six weeks, on March 29 — and want the party to fight to hold a new referendum that could keep Britain in the 28-nation bloc. But Corbyn, who spent decades criticizing the EU before becoming a lukewarm convert to the "remain" cause in the 2016 referendum, is reluctant to do anything that could be seen as defying voters' decision to leave.

"I am furious that the leadership is complicit in facilitating Brexit, which will cause great economic, social and political damage to our country," said Mike Gapes, one of the departing lawmakers. The seven members of Parliament leaving Labor said they will continue to sit in the House of Commons as the newly formed Independent Group.

Corbyn said he was "disappointed that these MPs have felt unable to continue to work together for the Labor policies that inspired millions at the last election and saw us increase our vote by the largest share since 1945."

The Labor lawmakers who quit in 1981 eventually became today's Liberal Democrats, a centrist party that has failed to topple the dominance of the two bigger parties. The new group of seven stopped short of forming a new political party, but the seeds have been sown. The new group has a name, a website and a statement of principles, which argues for a mix of pro-businesses and social-welfare measures and a pro-Western foreign policy that is closer to the "New Labor" of former Prime Minister Tony Blair than to Corbyn's old-school socialism.

Their statement said the Labor Party "now pursues policies that would weaken our national security; accepts the narratives of states hostile to our country; has failed to take a lead in addressing the challenge of Brexit and to provide a strong and coherent alternative to the Conservatives' approach."

The departing lawmakers said they would not be joining the Liberal Democrats, and urged members of other parties to help them create a new centrist force in British politics. "We do not think any of the major parties is fit for power," said lawmaker Angela Smith. "People feel politically homeless and they are asking and begging for an alternative."

Victoria Honeyman, a lecturer in politics at the University of Leeds, said history suggests the breakaway group will struggle to gain traction in British politics. "It's very cold out there as an independent," she said. "It's all well and good leaving because you believe the party has moved away from you, but you can often achieve more from being inside the tent."

Family: UK teen who joined Islamic State has baby in Syria

February 17, 2019

LONDON (AP) — The family of a British teenager who ran away to join the Islamic State group and now wants to return to the U.K. said Sunday she has given birth to a baby boy. The family's lawyer said 19-year-old Shamima Begum and the baby are in good health. In a recent interview with The Times newspaper, Begum said she had previously lost two babies to illness and malnutrition.

Begum was one of a group of schoolgirls from London's Bethnal Green neighborhood who went to Syria to marry IS fighters in 2015 at a time when the group's online recruitment program lured many impressionable young people to its self-proclaimed caliphate.

Speaking to Britain's Sky News from Syria, where she has been living in a refugee camp, Begum said she didn't know what she was getting into when she left and wants to bring her baby back to Britain with her.

"I think a lot of people should have sympathy towards me for everything I've been through," she said in an interview broadcast Sunday. "I just was hoping that maybe for me, for the sake of me and my child, they let me come back, the young woman said. "Because I can't live in this camp forever. It's not really possible."

"I don't want to take care of my child in this camp because I'm afraid he might even die in this camp," she said. Begum said she had been only a "housewife" during her time with IS militants. "I never did anything dangerous. I never made propaganda. I never encouraged people to come to Syria. So they'd only have proof I didn't anything that is dangerous," she said.

She added she had been "OK with" beheadings carried out by Islamic State adherents because she had heard it was allowed under Islamic law. News about Begum and her desire to go back to Britain have ignited a debate in the U.K. about how to deal with citizens who joined IS and want to leave Syria now that the extremist group is on the verge of collapse.

While it is unclear whether Begum committed any crimes, many have focused on her apparent lack of remorse. In the earlier interview with The Times, Begum said she did not regret her decision to join the extremists.

Her legal situation remains uncertain; she could face charges for supporting IS if she returns to Britain. Two days before the baby's birth was announced, Begum's relatives in Britain said they were "shocked" by her comments but thought she should be brought back and dealt with by the British justice system.

"The welfare of Shamima's unborn baby is of paramount concern to our family, and we will do everything within our power to protect that baby, who is entirely blameless in these events," the family had said.

The family said it is concerned about Begum's mental health and characterizes her as having been groomed by Islamic State fighters.

In Brexit limbo, UK veers between high anxiety, grim humor

February 17, 2019

LONDON (AP) — It's said that history often repeats itself — the first time as tragedy, the second as farce. Many Britons feel they are living through both at the same time as their country navigates its way out of the European Union.

The British government awarded a contract to ship in emergency supplies to a company with no ships. It pledged to replace citizens' burgundy European passports with proudly British blue ones — and gave the contract to a Franco-Dutch company. It promised to forge trade deals with 73 countries by the end of March, but two years later has only a handful in place (including one with the Faroe Islands).

Pretty much everyone in the U.K. agrees that the Conservative government's handling of Brexit has been disastrous. Unfortunately, that's about the only thing this divided nation can agree on. With Britain due to leave the EU in six weeks and still no deal in sight on the terms of its departure, both supporters and opponents of Brexit are in a state of high anxiety.

Pro-EU "remainers" lament the looming end of Britons' right to live and work in 27 other European nations and fear the U.K. is about to crash out of the bloc without even a divorce deal to cushion the blow.

Brexiteers worry that their dream of leaving the EU will be dashed by bureaucratic shenanigans that will delay its departure or keep Britain bound to EU regulations forever. "I still think they'll find a way to curtail it or extend it into infinity," said "leave" supporter Lucy Harris. "I have a horrible feeling that they're going to dress it up and label it as something we want, but it isn't."

It has been more than two and a half years since Britons voted 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the EU. Then came many months of tense negotiations to settle on Brexit departure terms and the outline of future relations. At last, the EU and Prime Minister Theresa May's government struck a deal — then saw it resoundingly rejected last month by Britain's Parliament, which like the rest of the country has split into pro-Brexit and pro-EU camps.

May is now seeking changes to the Brexit deal in hope of getting it through Parliament before March 29. EU leaders say they won't renegotiate, and accuse Britain of failing to offer a way out of the impasse.

May insists she won't ask the EU to delay Britain's departure, and has refused to rule out a cliff-edge no-deal Brexit. Meanwhile, Brexit has clogged the gears of Britain's economic and political life. The economy has stalled, growing by only 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter as business investment registered a fourth straight quarterly decline.

Big political decisions have been postponed, as May's minority Conservative government struggles to get bills through a squabbling and divided Parliament. Major legislation needed to prepare for Brexit has yet to be approved.

Britain still does not have a deal on future trade with the EU, and it's unclear what tariffs or other barriers British firms that do business with Europe will face after March 29. That has left businesses and citizens in an agonizing limbo.

Rod McKenzie, director of policy at the Road Haulage Association, a truckers' lobby group, feels "pure anger" at a government he says has failed to plan, leaving haulers uncertain whether they will be able to travel to EU countries after March 29.

McKenzie says truckers were told they will need Europe-issued permits to drive through EU countries if Britain leaves the bloc without a deal. Of more than 11,000 who applied, only 984 — less than 10 percent — have been granted the papers.

"It will put people out of business," McKenzie said. "It's been an absolutely disastrous process for our industry, which keeps Britain supplied with, essentially, everything." He's not alone in raising the specter of shortages; both the government and British businesses have been stockpiling key goods in case of a no-deal Brexit.

Still, some Brexit-backers, such as former Daily Telegraph editor Charles Moore, relish the prospect of a clean break even if it brings short-term pain. "Perhaps it is time for a Brexit recipe book, like those comforting wartime rationing ones full of bright ideas for dull things," Moore wrote in The Spectator, a conservative magazine. He added that he and his neighbors were willing to "set out in our little ships to Dunkirk or wherever and bring back luscious black-market lettuces and French beans, oranges and lemons."

Brexit supporters often turn to nostalgic evocations of World War II and Britain's "finest hour," to the annoyance of pro-Europeans. The imagery reached a peak of absurdity during a recent BBC news report on Brexit, when the anchor announced that "Theresa May says she intends to go back to Brussels to renegotiate her Brexit deal," as the screen cut to black-and-white footage of World War II British Spitfires going into battle.

The BBC quickly said the startling juxtaposition was a mistake: The footage was intended for an item about a new Battle of Britain museum. Skeptics saw it as evidence of the broadcaster's bias, though they disagreed on whether the BBC was biased in favor of Brexit or against it.

Some pro-Europeans have hit back against Brexit with despairing humor. Four friends have started plastering billboards in London with 20-foot-by-10-foot (6-meter-by-3-meter) images of pro-Brexit politicians' past tweets, to expose what the group sees as their hypocrisy.

Highlights included former U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage's vow that "if Brexit is a disaster, I will go and live abroad," and ex-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's pledge to "make a titanic success" of Brexit.

The friends dubbed the campaign "Led by Donkeys," after the description of British soldiers in World War I as "lions led by donkeys." The billboards are now going nationwide, after a crowdfunding campaign raised almost 150,000 pounds ($193,000).

"It was a cry of pain, genuine pain, at the chaos in this country and the lies that brought us here," said a member of the group, a London charity worker who spoke on condition of anonymity because their initial guerrilla posters could be considered illegal.

A similar feeling of alienation reigns across the Brexit divide in the "leave" camp. After the referendum, Harris, a 28-year-old classically trained singer, founded a group called Leavers of London so Brexiteers could socialize without facing opprobrium from neighbors and colleagues who don't share their views. It has grown into Leavers of Britain, with branches across the country.

Harris said members "feel like in their workplaces or their personal lives, they're not accepted for their democratic vote. They're seen as bad people." "I'm really surprised I still have to do this," she said. But she thinks Britain's EU divide is as wide as it ever was.

"There can't be reconciliation until Brexit is done," she said. Whenever that is.

Bulgarian nationalists march in honor of pro-Nazi general

February 16, 2019

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian nationalists have marched through Sofia, the country's capital, to honor a World War II general known for his anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi activities. The annual Lukov March, staged by the far-right Bulgarian National Union, attracted hundreds of dark-clad supporters who walked through downtown Sofia holding torches and Bulgarian flags and chanting nationalist slogans.

It came despite strong condemnation by human rights groups, political parties and foreign embassies. The city mayor had banned the rally but organizers won a court order overturning the ban. A heavy police presence blocked any clashes between nationalists and their opponents.

Ahead of the march, the World Jewish Congress warned about the rise of far-right activities across Europe aimed at promoting anti-Semitism, hatred, xenophobia and Nazi glorification among young people.

"We urge governments across Europe to prioritize the introduction of administrative bans against such marches. This is not just a problem of the Jewish communities, but of European citizens and governments at large," the organization's CEO Robert Singer said.

In Sofia, the marchers praised Gen. Hristo Lukov, who had supported Germany during World War II and was killed by an anti-fascist resistance movement on Feb. 13, 1943. The general served as Bulgaria's war minister from 1935 to 1938, and led the pro-Nazi Germany Union of Bulgarian Legions from 1932 until 1943.

Organizers deny that Lukov was an anti-Semitic fascist or that they are neo-fascists, but claim that the descendants of the murderers of Lukov are afraid of the event. Zvezdomir Andronov, leader of the Bulgarian National Union, says the group's main objective is "the salvation of the Bulgarian people" from the social and economic crisis the country has been facing for many decades.

Nationalists from other European countries voiced anti-globalist and anti-EU slogans at the march and called on their peers from across the continent to join forces. "We want to get in contact with other nationalists in Europe, as we strongly believe that free, independent countries are very important. We want to regain the power from the globalists — the people who are running the EU, the people who are devastating Europe," said Per Sjogren of Sweden's Nordic Resistance Movement.

US steps up winter-warfare training as global threat shifts

February 20, 2019

MARINE MOUNTAIN WARFARE TRAINING CENTER, Calif. (AP) — Hunkered down behind a wall of snow, two U.S. Marines melt slush to make drinking water after spending the night digging out a defensive position high in the Sierra Nevada. Their laminated targeting map is wedged into the ice just below the machine gun.

Nearly 8,000 feet up at a training center in the California mountains, the air is thin, the snow is chest high and the temperature is plunging. But other Marines just a few kilometers away are preparing to attack, and forces on both sides must be able to battle the enemy and the unforgiving environment.

The exercise is designed to train troops for the next war — one the U.S. believes will be against a more capable, high-tech enemy like Russia, North Korea or China. The weather conditions on the mountain mimic the kind of frigid fight that forces could face in one of those future hotspots.

"We haven't had to deal with these things. We've been very focused on Iraq and Afghanistan," said Maj. Gen. William F. Mullen, head of the Marines' Training and Education Command. "What we really have to do is wake folks up, expose them to things that they haven't had to think about for quite a while."

After 17 years of war against Taliban and al-Qaida-linked insurgents, the military is shifting its focus to better prepare for great-power competition with Russia and China, and against unpredictable foes such as North Korea and Iran. U.S. forces must be able to survive and fight while countering drones, sophisticated jamming equipment and other electronic and cyber warfare that can track them, disrupt communications and kill them — technology they didn't routinely face over the last decade.

"If you were to draw a line from here to the DMZ between North and South Korea, both of these sites are on the 38th parallel. And so the weather here accurately replicates the weather that we would encounter in North and South Korea," said Col. Kevin Hutchison, the training center commander. "What you're seeing here is Marines fighting Marines, so we are replicating a near-peer threat."

As a snowstorm swirls around them, Mullen and Hutchison move through the woods, checking in with the young Marines designated as the adversary force of about 250 troops who must prevent more than 800 attackers from gaining control of nearby Wolf Creek Bridge. An Associated Press team was allowed to accompany them to the Marine Corps' Mountain Warfare Training Center south of Lake Tahoe and watch the training.

Lance Cpl. Reese Nichols, from Pensacola, Florida, and Lance Cpl. Chase Soltis of Bozeman, Montana, dug their defensive position a day ago, and they've been watching all night for enemy movement, while using a small burner to melt snow to stay hydrated.

The hardest part, said Nichols, is "boiling water 24/7. And the cold. It's cold." The cold and wet conditions force the Marines to use snowshoes and cross-country skis to get around. They wrap white camouflage around their weapons, struggle to keep the ammunition dry and learn how to position their machine guns so they don't sink into the powdery snow.

"It's kind of overwhelming coming up here. Many of them have never been exposed to snow before," said Staff Sgt. Rian Lusk, chief instructor for the mountain sniper course. "You're constantly having to dig or move up the mountain range. So, it's physically taxing, but more than anything, I think, it's mentally taxing."

The Marine Corps has changed its training in the mountain course and at Twentynine Palms Marine base 400 miles south. Instead of scripted exercises, trainers map out general objectives and let the Marines make their own battle decisions, replicating a more unpredictable combat situation.

Rather than fighting from forward operating bases that stretched across Iraq and Afghanistan, complete with security forces and chow halls, troops now have to be more independent, commanders say, providing their own protection and support. And they must prepare for a more formidable, high-tech enemy.

Mullen recalled speaking to a commander in Ukraine in the aftermath of Russia's annexation of Crimea. "He said that within two minutes of keying his handset he had rockets coming in on his position," said Mullen, who spent two days at Twentynine Palms, watching a battlefield exercise, before flying to the Bridgeport base in California's Toiyabe National Forest.

The key in both places, said Mullen, is whether the Marines can stay undetected and adjust their battle plan quickly when faced with unexpected threats. Back on the mountain, Mullen and Hutchison have seized on that issue. The attacking force, members of 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment out of Camp Pendleton, California, spotted one of the adversary's fighting positions and fired on it. The simulated attack didn't hurt anyone, but the competition is real for the defending forces from 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, out of Twentynine Palms.

"You took casualties today, and you didn't respond to it," Hutchison told the platoon leader, 2nd Lt. Brendan Dixon of Hampton Roads, Virginia. Why, pressed Mullen, didn't Dixon move his Marines to a safer location?

In the face of questioning from senior leaders, Dixon held his ground, confident his forces were in the right place to defend the bridge. It turns out, he was right. Moving toward the bridge, the attacking forces became trapped on a ridgeline, exposed to the enemy and unable to move through a ravine filled with snow. Gunfire exploded across the ridge.

The final assessment by the trainers was that the attackers suffered 30-40 percent casualties, while Dixon's troops lost about 10 percent. The attacking force, said Hutchison, made some decisions that would have resulted in Marine deaths in a real battle, but it's better to learn now, than in combat.

"In the Far East, whether it's in northern Europe, etc., we're replicating that here. And what we're finding is, it's an extremely challenging problem," said Hutchison. "And it's a problem that, frankly, if we don't train to, it's going to cost a lot of Marine lives."

In Nigeria's tight election, Christian vote is seen as key

February 17, 2019

YOLA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria's presidential campaign has been largely free of the religious pressures that marked the 2015 vote when Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim northerner, defeated a Christian president from the south who had grown unpopular over his failure to control Boko Haram.

Now, with the leading candidates both northern Muslims, the Christian vote in the upcoming election on Saturday may be decisive in sweeping the incumbent from power for the second time in as many elections in Africa's most populous country.

Nigeria's 190 million people are divided almost equally between Christians mainly in the south and Muslims, like Buhari and his opponent, Atiku Abubakar, who dominate in the north. Yet religious tensions remain even in an election that offers no clear sectarian choice, underscoring the pervasive influence of faith in Nigerian politics.

In Nigeria, election spectacle at odds with rampant poverty

February 15, 2019

RUGA SETTLEMENT, Nigeria (AP) — It's hard to find a campaign poster in this threadbare settlement on the outskirts of the Nigerian capital, where thousands live in makeshift structures of tarpaulin and sticks of timber.

From his little grocery shop, 65-year-old Jafar Ali awaits the moment a presidential contender will visit Ruga. He isn't hopeful. "Of all the funds that have been spent, not even one naira has come into my hands," Ali said, referring to the Nigerian currency that is equal to about a quarter of one U.S. cent.

"We have been hearing that a lot of money is being shared," he added, referring to the cash the top candidates hand out to draw crowds to their rallies and the no-interest loans the government has been distributing before the vote.

"All we ask God is to give us a leader who will remember us one day and come here," Ali said. On the eve of Nigeria's election on Saturday, the spectacle of campaign expenditure is at odds with the rampant poverty afflicting many. The lack of campaigning in this impoverished area contrasts with the election-time bustle of downtown Abuja, where the capital's tree-lined streets are adorned with colorful posters of presidential candidates and where their followers are ferried in buses to boisterous events.

It also highlights the frustration many of Nigeria's poor feel amid an election campaign said to be one of the country's most expensive ever as incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari tries to shake off the challenge of his billionaire rival, Atiku Abubakar.

Although there are legal limits to how much a presidential candidate can spend — one billion naira, or about $2.7 million — the campaigns of Buhari and Abubakar are widely believed to have spent far in excess of that, often with the support of groups that donate huge amounts of cash as well as gifts.

In one notable case, a group in northeastern Adamawa state that's loyal to Nuhu Ribadu, once revered as an anti-corruption activist until he threw his support behind the ruling party, donated 40 vehicles to the campaign to re-elect Buhari last month. That donation raised eyebrows because it is well over the donation limit of 1 million naira.

Buhari, who ruled briefly as a military dictator in the 1980s, was voted into power in 2015 with promises to fight corruption, boost the economy and end the deadly insurgency of the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.

Many Nigerians say he has failed on all three counts, citing an ineffective war on graft that appears to target opponents, persistent insecurity in the northern part of the country, and an anemic economy that is struggling to attract foreign investment.

In addition to his lackluster performance, the 76-year-old Buhari has spent months out of the country for medical treatment for an undisclosed ailment. Unemployment in Africa's most populous nation of 190 million was over 23 percent in the third quarter of 2018, up from 8.2 percent when Buhari took office, official figures show. Nigeria was in a recession for five months until early 2017, according to the International Monetary Fund, after the price of crude oil plunged to less than $30 a barrel in 2016.

Although Nigeria remains Africa's top oil producer, more than half of the country's total revenue goes toward servicing the public debt, according to the Brookings Institution, which reported last year that Nigeria had overtaken India as the country with the highest number of people living in extreme poverty.

Whoever wins Saturday's election will have to contend with a plethora of economic challenges that have left many Nigerians despairing, and often angry, with the government in Abuja. Despite its oil wealth, Nigeria's per capita income was $1,968 in 2017, according to the World Bank. There is an unresolved labor dispute over the minimum wage, which currently stands at 18,000 naira (about $50) per month.

Abubakar, a successful businessman and former vice president who is contesting the presidency for the fourth time, has seized on the wave of popular discontent with a vow to "get Nigeria working again."

For some Nigerians, the idea of their country as weak and uncertain is annoying. "We the masses are suffering in this country. What we are seeing is negative change," said Emmanuel Chimezie, 29, who said he hasn't found a job since graduating from college in 2015.

"Nigeria has a lot of potential, but how to harness it is a big problem in this country. We need a good leader who can diversify the economy, not depending on oil, oil, oil." Inflation rates pushing up the prices of food staples such as rice should convince the government to invest heavily in agriculture, he added.

"Buhari has to go," said Eze Onyekpere, who runs the Abuja-based Center for Social Justice. "If the masses don't sack him, then they should stop complaining." Campaign rallies, he added, have become "places for vulgar abuse" and rarely focus on bread-and-butter issues, mirroring how the candidates would govern.

Critics point out that the high cost of running campaigns fuels official corruption as elected officials bid to recover their costs once in office. "None of their manifestos speak directly to the needs of people," said Idayat Hassan, director of the Abuja-based civic group Center for Democracy and Development. "Politics is not the same as service to the people. If it were service to the people, they would not invest so much. It would not look like a do-or-die thing."

Similar concerns were raised last year in a report by the Chatham House think tank, which noted that Nigeria's two main parties are indistinguishable and both "function as patronage-fueled coalitions of fractious elite networks" whose goal is to get power and the associated financial rewards.

Some locals agree. "In Nigeria, politics has become an investment," said Wole Adeoye, an unemployed college graduate in the commercial capital, Lagos. "The losers lose all their money and the winners become rich overnight."

Associated Press writer Sam Olukoya in Lagos, Nigeria, contributed to this report.

Cheap and green: Pyongyang upgrades its mass transit system

February 19, 2019

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Pyongyang is upgrading its overcrowded mass transit system with brand new subway cars, trams and buses in a campaign meant to show leader Kim Jong Un is raising the country's standard of living.

The long-overdue improvements, while still modest, are a welcome change for the North Korean capital's roughly 3 million residents, who have few options to get to work or school each day. First came new, high-tech subway cars and electric trolleybuses — each announced by the media with photos of Kim personally conducting the final inspection tours. Now, officials say three new electric trams are running daily routes across Pyongyang.

Transport officials say the capacity of the new trams is about 300, sitting and standing. Passengers must buy tickets in shops beforehand and put them in a ticket box when they get on. The flat fare is a dirt cheap 5 won (US$ .0006) for any tram, trolleybus, subway or regular bus ride on the public transport system. The Pyongyang Metro has a ticket-card system and the Public Transportation Bureau is considering introducing something similar on the roads as well.

Privately owned cars are scarce in Pyongyang. Taxis are increasingly common but costly for most people. Factory or official-use vehicles are an alternative, when available, as are bicycles. Motorized bikes imported from China are popular, while scooters and motorcycles are rare.

The subway, with elaborate stations inspired by those in Soviet Moscow and dug deep enough to survive a nuclear attack, runs at three- to five-minute intervals, depending on the hour. Officials say it transports about 400,000 passengers on weekdays. But its two lines, with 17 stations, operate only on the western side of the Taedong River, which runs through the center of the city.

"The subway is very important transportation for our people," subway guide Kim Yong Ryon said in a recent interview with The AP. "There are plans to build train stations on the east side of the river, but nothing has started yet."

The lack of passenger cars on Pyongyang's roads has benefits. Traffic jams are uncommon and, compared to Beijing or Seoul, the city has refreshingly clean, crisp air. Electric trams, which run on rails, and electric trolleybuses, which have wheels, are relatively green transport options.

But mass transit in Pyongyang can be slow and uncomfortable. The tram system, in particular, is among the most crowded in the world. Swarms of commuters cramming into trams are a common sight during the morning rush hour, which is from about 6:00 to 8:30. Getting across town can take about an hour.

Pyongyang's tram system has four lines. In typical North Korean fashion, one is devoted to taking passengers to and from the mausoleum where the bodies of national founder Kim Il Sung and his son, Kim Jong Il, lie in state.

The city's red-and-white trams look familiar to many eastern Europeans. In 2008, the North bought 20 used trams made by the Tatra company, which produced hundreds of them when Prague was still the capital of socialist Czechoslovakia.

North Korea squeezes every last inch out of its fleet. Red stars are awarded for every 50,000 kilometers (31,000 miles) driven without an accident, and it's not unusual to see trams with long lines of red stars stenciled across their sides. One seen in operation in Pyongyang last month had 12 — that's 600,000 kilometers (372,800 miles), or the equivalent of about 15 trips around the Earth's circumference.

Impossible as that might seem, the math works. Ri Jae Hong, a representative of the Capital Public Transportation Bureau, told an AP television news crew the main tram route, from Pyongyang Station in the central part of town to the Mangyongdae district, is 21 kilometers from end to end. He said a tram might do the full route there and back on average six times a day.

By that reckoning, it would take just over 198 days of actual driving to win that first red star.

Israel hosts east European leaders after summit scrapped

February 19, 2019

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hosted his Czech, Slovakian and Hungarian counterparts Tuesday in a series of sit-downs that replaced a high-profile summit in Jerusalem that was cancelled over a rift with Poland.

The first gathering outside Europe of the Visegrad group was supposed to be a crowning achievement for Netanyahu in his outreach to central and eastern Europe to counter the traditional criticism Israel faces in international forums. But it dramatically unraveled over a bitter exchange between Poland and Israel over how to characterize Polish behavior toward its Jewish community during and after World War II.

In place of the summit, Netanyahu held back-to-back meetings with Slovakian Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban before hosting all three for lunch at his official residence.

But hovering over it all was the absence of Poland, the fourth member of the group. The diplomatic crisis between the typically close allies began last week when Netanyahu, pressed by reporters accompanying his visit to Warsaw, concurred that "Poles cooperated with the Nazis." The comments infuriated his Polish hosts, who reject suggestions that their country collaborated with the Nazis and have passed a law that prohibits linking the Polish nation to the genocide of 6 million Jews.

Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced Sunday that he was pulling out of the summit and that his foreign minister would go instead. He then canceled Polish participation altogether the following day after Israel's acting foreign minister, Israel Katz, referenced a quote from the late former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who said that Poles "suckled anti-Semitism with their mothers' milk."

Morawiecki denounced the comments as "racist" and "absolutely unacceptable." Poland's nationalist government has been quick to denounce anyone accused of linking the country to the well-documented history of anti-Semitism and violence against Jews that took place there during and after the wartime German occupation. Israeli officials see their controversial legislation as an attempt to suppress such discussion, and Netanyahu has faced criticism from historians in Israel for not opposing the law, which critics say distorts history.

It's a sensitive subject for Poland, which for centuries was a vibrant center of Jewish life. Poland was the first country occupied by Adolf Hitler's regime and never had a collaborationist government. Members of Poland's resistance and government-in-exile struggled to warn the world about the mass killing of Jews, and thousands of Poles risked their lives to help Jews.

However, Holocaust researchers have also collected ample evidence of Polish villagers who murdered Jews fleeing the Nazis, or Polish blackmailers who preyed on the Jews for financial gain and stole their property.

Netanyahu initially sought to clarify that he "spoke of Poles and not the Polish people or the country of Poland." But then his acting foreign minister, on his first day on the job, took to the airwaves and ratcheted up the rhetoric.

Netanyahu is seeking re-election in April, and it is possible both he and Katz are trying to gain favor with their nationalist base by standing up to Poland. Likewise, Poland's leaders are preparing for both national and European elections this year. The saga has unleashed a new wave of anti-Semitic incidents in Poland, where the local Jewish leadership has called on all sides to tone it down.

Israel-Central Europe summit canceled after Polish pullout

February 18, 2019

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland on Monday pulled out of a summit in Jerusalem, triggering the collapse of the entire meeting, after the acting Israeli foreign minister said that Poles "collaborated with the Nazis" and "sucked anti-Semitism with their mothers' milk.

The developments mark a new low in a bitter conflict between Poland and Israel over how to remember and characterize Polish actions toward Jews during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been due to meet with the leaders of four Central European nations known as the Visegrad group. With the Hungarian and Slovak prime ministers already in Israel and the Czech leader still planning to go, bilateral meetings were to go ahead instead.

Netanyahu had touted the meeting as an important step in his outreach to the countries of Central Europe, which have pro-Israeli governments that he is counting on to counter the criticism Israel typically faces in international forums.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had already announced Sunday that he was pulling out of the meeting after a comment by Netanyahu last week about Polish cooperation with Nazis. Morawiecki cancelled Polish participation altogether after the comments made by Israel's acting foreign minister, Israel Katz, which Morawiecki denounced as "racist" and "absolutely unacceptable."

Poland's Foreign Ministry also summoned the Israeli ambassador, Anna Azari, to demand a second set of clarifications in recent days. Katz made his remarks Sunday in an interview on Reshet 13 TV. "Poles collaborated with the Nazis, definitely. Collaborated with the Nazis. As (former Israeli Prime Minister) Yitzhak Shamir said — his father was murdered by Poles — he said that from his point of view they sucked anti-Semitism with their mothers' milk. You can't sugarcoat this history," he said.

Jewish leaders in Poland issued a statement saying that Shamir's words were "unjust already when they were first said, in 1989, when Polish-Israeli relations were just beginning to be rebuilt, after the long night of communism."

"They are even more unjust today, 30 years later, when so much has been done on both sides for a mutual understanding of our very difficult, but shared history," the statement added. Poland was the first country invaded and occupied by Adolf Hitler's regime and never had a collaborationist government. Members of Poland's resistance and government-in-exile struggled to warn the world about the mass killing of Jews, and thousands of Poles risked their lives to help Jews.

However, Holocaust researchers have collected ample evidence of Polish villagers who murdered Jews fleeing the Nazis, or Polish blackmailers who preyed on helpless Jews for financial gain. The head of the American Jewish Committee, David Harris, noted that that Poland and Israel, while otherwise friends, have clashed over the "varying assessments of the magnitude of anti-Semitism in Poland, especially before and during World War II, and often competing historical narratives."

He issued a statement acknowledging that "there are certainly pockets of anti-Semitism in Poland" but largely stressing the fact that Poles suffered and put up massive resistance to the Nazis during the war, also helping Jews. He also noted the Polish contributions in recent years to the renewal of Jewish life.

"As friends, we need to be able to manage our inevitable differences. That begins with choosing our words carefully — knowing when to speak, how to speak, and where to speak," Harris said. "It means not allowing individual incidents to escalate out of control. And it means not ceding all the progress achieved to date to those who might wish to destroy it."

Heller reported from Jerusalem. Karel Janicek in Prague contributed.

Israeli leaders' Nazi remarks scuttle summit with Europeans

February 18, 2019

JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's off-hand comment in Warsaw about Poland and the Holocaust set in motion a diplomatic crisis that on Monday scuttled this week's summit of central European leaders in Israel.

Poland's abrupt decision to cancel its participation in the planned Visegrad conference in protest blew up the gathering, which Netanyahu has touted as a major milestone in his outreach to emerging democracies in eastern Europe and his broader goal of countering the criticism Israel typically faces in international forums.

The crisis was sparked last week when Netanyahu told reporters that "Poles cooperated with the Nazis." The seemingly innocuous comment infuriated his Polish hosts, who reject suggestions that their country collaborated with Hitler.

Poland's prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, announced Sunday that he would be skipping this week's Visegrad summit, a gathering with fellow prime ministers from Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz was supposed to replace him at Tuesday's meeting in Jerusalem, the first time the gathering is being held outside of Europe.

But after Israel's acting foreign minister reiterated the collaboration claims, Morawiecki cancelled Poland's participation altogether, denouncing the comments as "racist." As a result, the summit was called off and Netanyahu was planning to meet the other leaders independently.

Lost in the diplomatic uproar was that Netanyahu was actually defending his close alliance with Poland and other eastern European leaders when he made his comments. Historians and domestic critics have accused Netanyahu of cozying up too tightly to nationalistic leaders who have promoted a distorted image of the Holocaust and turning a blind eye to anti-Semitism associated with them.

Morawiecki himself last year equated Polish perpetrators of the Holocaust to supposed "Jewish perpetrators." Netanyahu has recently hosted leaders of Lithuania, Ukraine and other countries who have engaged in selective World War II-era commemorations that play down their countries' culpability while making heroes out of anti-Soviet nationalists involved in the mass killing of Jews.

In response to a question from The Associated Press during his two-day visit to Warsaw, Netanyahu said he raises the issue of historical revisionism with the various leaders. He rejected the notion he was a partner to diminishing anyone's complicity in the genocide of Jews in World War II.

"I know the history. I don't starch it and I don't whitewash it. In Lithuania, in particular, there were some horrible things. No one is concealing that," said Netanyahu, the son of a historian. "This whole idea that we diminish history — we don't distort, and we don't hide, and no one has any interest in that, on the contrary."

In the same briefing with his travelling press corps, Netanyahu tried to deflect prominent criticism by Israeli historians of the deal he struck with Polish leaders over their country's controversial Holocaust speech law, which criminalized blaming the Polish nation for crimes committed against Jews during World War II.

Israeli officials saw it as an attempt by Poland to suppress discussion of the well-documented killing of Jews by Poles during and after the wartime German occupation. "Poles collaborated with the Nazis and I don't know anyone who was ever sued for such a statement," Netanyahu told the reporters.

However, some media outlets reported him saying "THE Poles," which set off an angry rebuke in Warsaw, including a summoning of the Israeli ambassador for clarifications. Netanyahu's office said he was misquoted and blamed the misunderstanding on an editing error in an Israeli newspaper.

Netanyahu's office then reiterated that he "spoke of Poles and not the Polish people or the country of Poland." That only got him in hotter water at home for seemingly catering to the Polish obsession over his wording.

"The prime minister of the Jewish state is selling out the memory of the Holocaust for a dubious alliance with an anti-Semitic leader," said Tamar Zandberg, leader of the opposition Meretz party. Nonetheless, the Polish government said it considered Netanyahu's response insufficient and threatened to withdraw from the conference.

With emotions running high in Poland, Israel's new acting foreign minister, Israel Katz, went on TV Sunday to reiterate that "Poles collaborated with the Nazis" — even mentioning Poles who "sucked anti-Semitism with their mothers' milk."

That prompted Poland to withdraw completely. Following that announcement, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the so-called V4 summit was cancelled altogether and bilateral meetings would be held instead.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon confirmed the summit was off, saying all four prime ministers had to be present for it to take place. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is already in Israel, is another leader who has trod into the sensitive terrain of World War II conduct.

Orban has lavished praise on Miklos Horthy, Hungary's World War II-era ruler, who introduced anti-Semitic laws and collaborated with the Nazis. Orban also has backed a state-funded museum that experts say plays down the role of Hungarian collaborators and also used anti-Semitic imagery in a campaign against the liberal American-Hungarian billionaire George Soros.

When pressed by the AP, though, Netanyahu came to his ally's defense. "His response was the most direct, saying 'we are not willing to accept this,'" Netanyahu responded. "He (Orban) attacked Horthy at some point. They are going the furthest here."

Netanyahu also addressed his warm welcome in January to President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine, whose parliament had just designated the birthday of Ukrainian wartime collaborator Stepan Bandera a national holiday.

Bandera's forces fought alongside the Nazis and were implicated in the murder of thousands of Jews. The same day Poroshenko was visiting Israel, another memorial was being erected in Kiev for Symon Petliura, whose troops are linked to pogroms that killed as many as 50,000 Jews after World War I.

Netanyahu said he was not aware of that specifically but that he had some discussions with Poroshenko on the larger issue. "I spoke to him too. I speak to them all. It's not that we can't raise the issue. We raise it freely," he insisted.

Still, he then quickly shifted attention toward the contemporary anti-Semitism from the "anarchist left" and Muslim communities. "I think the mass of anti-Semitism today in Europe is what is happening in western Europe," Netanyahu said. "What is happening in Britain is astounding. This is the new phenomenon. There is the anti-Semitism of the right that hasn't changed. That existed and still exists."

Northwestern study of analog crews in isolation reveals weak spots for Mission to Mars

Evanston IL (SPX)
Feb 19, 2019

Northwestern University researchers are developing a predictive model to help NASA anticipate conflicts and communication breakdowns among crew members and head off problems that could make or break the Mission to Mars.

NASA has formalized plans to send a crewed spacecraft to Mars, a journey that could involve 250 million miles of travel. Among the worldwide teams of researchers toiling over the journey's inherent physiological, engineering and social obstacles, Northwestern professors Noshir Contractor and Leslie DeChurch, and their collaborators, are charting a new course with a series of projects focused on the insights from the science of teams and networks.

In a multiphase study conducted in two analog environments - HERA in the Johnson Space Center in Houston and the SIRIUS mission in the NEK analog located in the Institute for Bio-Medical Problems (IBMP) in Russia - scientists are studying the behavior of analog astronaut crews on mock missions, complete with isolation, sleep deprivation, specially designed tasks and mission control, which mimics real space travel with delayed communication.

The goal is threefold: to establish the effects of isolation and confinement on team functioning, to identify methods to improve team performance, and to develop a predictive model that NASA could use to assemble the ideal team and identify potential issues with already composed teams before and during the mission.

Contractor and DeChurch discussed their latest findings and next steps at a 10 a.m. EST, Feb. 17 press briefing at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

"It's like astronaut Scott Kelly says, 'Teamwork makes the dream work,'" said Contractor, the Jane S. and William J. White Professor of Behavioral Sciences in the McCormick School of Engineering, School of Communication and the Kellogg School of Management.

Even for an astronaut, the psychological demands of this Mars journey will be exceptional. The spacecraft will be small, roughly the size of a studio apartment, and the round-trip journey will take almost three years.

"Astronauts are super humans. They are people who are incredibly physically fit and extremely smart," said DeChurch, a professor of communication and psychology at Northwestern. "We're taking an already state-of-the-art crew selection system and making it even better by finding the values, traits and other characteristics that will allow NASA to compose crews that will get along."

Communication delays with worldwide mission controls will exceed the 20-minute mark. In that sense, the Mars mission will be like no mission that has come before.

"A lot of the past efforts to try to create models to simulate the future have run into criticism because people have said it's not really grounded in good data," Contractor said. "What we have here is unprecedented good data. We aren't talking about intuition and expert views, this model is based on real data."

The Northwestern researchers have been culling data from the Human Experimentation Research Analog (HERA) at Houston's Johnson Space Center. HERA's capsule simulator houses astronauts for up to 45 days; a mock mission control outside the capsule augments the realism with sound effects, vibrations and communication delays.

Those on the inside undergo sleep deprivation and try to perform tasks. The researchers collect moment-to-moment metrics about individual performance, moods, psychosocial adaptation and more.

The teams DeChurch and Contractor have studied experienced diminished abilities to think creatively and to solve problems, according to results from the first eight analog space crews, and are able to successfully complete tasks between 20 and 60 percent of the time.

"Creative thinking and problem solving are the very things that are really going to matter on a Mars mission," DeChurch said. "We need the crew to be getting the right answer 100 percent of the time."

The next phase of the research, just begun on Friday, Feb. 15, involves using the model to predict breakdowns and problems a new HERA crew will experience and making changes to "who works with whom, on what, when," Contractor said. "We are going to run our model to see how we can nudge the team into a more positive path and make them more successful."

The researchers are also expanding the experiment to the SIRIUS analog in Moscow, where, beginning on March 15, four Russians and two Americans, will undertake a 120-day fictional mission around the moon, and including a moon landing operation.

Contractor and DeChurch are in the midst of four NASA-funded projects exploring team dynamics and compatibility in preparation for the Mars journey.

Their NASA studies address different aspects of the crew's challenges:

+ The likelihood that the crew and its support teams on Earth will have good chemistry and coping mechanisms; how to predict possible crew-compatibility outcomes

+ Work design; structuring the workflow so that astronauts can better manage transitions from solo to team tasks

+ Identifying and building shared mental models, whereby a team of varied specialists can find enough common ground to effectively accomplish their tasks but not so much that they engage in "group think" or form alliances.

Contractor, a leading expert in network analysis and computational social science, leads Northwestern's Science of Networks in Communities (SONIC) research group. DeChurch, a leading expert in teamwork and leadership who leads Northwestern's Advancing Teams, Leaders, and Systems (ATLAS) lab, focuses on team performance; psychology, social interactions, and how multiteam systems best function.

"Our complementary strengths have been a winning combination for tackling the big interdisciplinary questions," said DeChurch.

Source: Mars Daily.
Link: http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Northwestern_study_of_analog_crews_in_isolation_reveals_weak_spots_for_Mission_to_Mars_999.html.

Israel's first lunar mission to launch this week

Tel Aviv (AFP)
Feb 18, 2019

Israel is to launch its first moon mission this week, sending an unmanned spacecraft to collect data to be shared with NASA, organizers said Monday.

The 585-kilogram (1,290-pound) Beresheet (Genesis) spacecraft is to lift off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida at around 0145 GMT on Friday.

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and technology NGO SpaceIL announced the date at a press conference.

Mission control will be in Yehud, near Tel Aviv.

"We are entering history and are proud to belong to a group that has dreamed and fulfilled the vision shared by many countries in the world but that so far only three of them have accomplished," SpaceIL president Morris Kahn said.

So far only Russia, the United States and China have sent spacecraft to the moon.

The Chinese craft made the first ever soft landing on the far side of the moon on January 3.

NASA, which has installed equipment on Genesis to upload its signals from the moon, said last week it aims to land an unmanned vehicle there by 2024, and it is inviting private sector bids to build the US probe.

NASA plans to build a small space station, dubbed Gateway, in the moon's orbit by 2026.

It will serve as a way-station for trips to and from the lunar surface, but will not be permanently crewed.

Genesis will make its 6.5-million kilometer (one million-mile) journey at a maximum speed of 10 kilometers per second (36,000 kilometers per hour), according to an IAI statement.

It will carry a "time capsule" loaded with digital files containing a Bible, children's drawings, Israeli songs, memories of a Holocaust survivor and the blue-and-white Israeli flag.

The $100-million project will measure the lunar magnetic field to help understanding of the moon's formation.

"This is the lowest-budget spacecraft to ever undertake such a mission. The superpowers who managed to land a spacecraft on the moon have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in government funding," the IAI statement said.

"Beresheet is the first spacecraft to land on the moon as a result of a private initiative, rather than a government."

The project started as a potential entry for the Google Lunar XPrize, which in 2010 offered a $30-million reward to encourage scientists and entrepreneurs to offer relatively inexpensive lunar missions.

The contest closed without a winner in March 2018 but SpaceIL decided to keep working on the challenge.

Source: Moon Daily.
Link: http://www.moondaily.com/reports/Israels_first_lunar_mission_to_launch_this_week_999.html.

Offensive War in Space

Bethesda, MD (SPX)
Feb 15, 2019

A new arms race is unfolding among spacefaring nations. Space experts have been telling us about contested space for the last several years. Today, there are about 1,300 active satellites in a crowded nest of Earth orbits. They provide worldwide communications, GPS navigation, weather forecasting and planetary surveillance.

Military organizations rely on many of these satellites in support of modern warfare. The three main contenders are the U.S., China and Russia. The ongoing power struggle may ignite a conflict that could cripple the entire space-based infrastructure while reducing the capabilities of warfighter organizations.

There are several ways to disable, destroy or reduce effectiveness of satellites. One obvious way is to attack them with anti-satellite devices. Another is to simply approach a satellite and spray paint over its optics.

Other ways include manually snapping off communications antennas and destabilizing orbits. Lasers can temporarily or permanently disable satellite components. Ground station interference using radio or microwave emissions can jam or hijack transmissions to or from ground controllers.

The concept of war in space is not new. The prospect of Soviet nuclear weapons launched from orbit in the 1950s motivated the U.S. to began testing anti-satellite weaponry. Fortunately, orbiting weapons of mass destruction were banned through the UN Outer Space Treaty of 1967.

Consequently, space-based surveillance became a major component of the Cold War that served as an early-warning system for the deployment or launch of ground-based nuclear weapons.

Throughout most of the Cold War, the U.S.S.R. developed and tested "space mines" which could self-detonate in order to destroy U.S. spy satellites.

The militarization of space issue peaked again when President Reagan initiated the Strategic Defense Initiative to develop orbital countermeasures against Soviet ballistic missiles. In 1985, the USAF staged a demonstration when an F-15 fighter jet launched a missile that took out a failing U.S. satellite in low orbit.

Today, the situation is much more complicated. Low- and high-Earth orbits have become hotbeds of scientific and commercial activity, filled with hundreds of satellites from about 60 different nations. Despite their largely peaceful purposes each satellite is at risk because a few military space powers insist on continued development and test of new space weapons.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Offensive_War_in_Space_999.html.

NASA Selects New Mission to Explore Origins of Universe

Washington DC (SPX)
Feb 14, 2019

NASA has selected a new space mission that will help astronomers understand both how our universe evolved and how common are the ingredients for life in our galaxy's planetary systems.

The Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) mission is a planned two-year mission funded at $242 million (not including launch costs) and targeted to launch in 2023.

"I'm really excited about this new mission," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "Not only does it expand the United States' powerful fleet of space-based missions dedicated to uncovering the mysteries of the universe, it is a critical part of a balanced science program that includes missions of various sizes."

SPHEREx will survey the sky in optical as well as near-infrared light which, though not visible to the human eye, serves as a powerful tool for answering cosmic questions. Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 300 million galaxies, as well as more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way.

"This amazing mission will be a treasure trove of unique data for astronomers," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "It will deliver an unprecedented galactic map containing 'fingerprints' from the first moments in the universe's history. And we'll have new clues to one of the greatest mysteries in science: What made the universe expand so quickly less than a nanosecond after the big bang?"

SPHEREx will survey hundreds of millions of galaxies near and far, some so distant their light has taken 10 billion years to reach Earth. In the Milky Way, the mission will search for water and organic molecules - essentials for life, as we know it - in stellar nurseries, regions where stars are born from gas and dust, as well as disks around stars where new planets could be forming.

Every six months, SPHEREx will survey the entire sky using technologies adapted from Earth satellites and Mars spacecraft. The mission will create a map of the entire sky in 96 different color bands, far exceeding the color resolution of previous all-sky maps. It also will identify targets for more detailed study by future missions, such as NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope.

NASA's Astrophysics Explorers Program requested proposals for new missions in September 2016. Nine proposals were submitted, and two mission concepts were selected for further study in August 2017. After a detailed review by a panel of NASA and external scientists and engineers, NASA determined that the SPHEREx concept study offered the best science potential and most feasible development plan.

The mission's principal investigator is James Bock of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California. Caltech will work with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to develop the mission payload. JPL will also manage the mission.

Ball Aerospace in Broomfield, Colorado, will provide the SPHEREx spacecraft and mission integration. The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute in Daejeon, Republic of Korea, will contribute test equipment and science analysis.

NASA's Explorer program, managed by the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is the agency's oldest continuous program, designed to provide frequent, low-cost access to space using principal investigator-led space science investigations relevant to the Astrophysics and Heliophysics programs in NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

The program has launched more than 90 missions, beginning in 1958 with Explorer 1, which discovered the Earth's radiation belts. Another Explorer mission, the Cosmic Background Explorer, which launched in 1989, led to a Nobel Prize.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASA_Selects_New_Mission_to_Explore_Origins_of_Universe_999.html.

NASA announces demise of Opportunity rover

By Ivan Couronne
Washington (AFP)
Feb 14, 2019

During 14 years of intrepid exploration across Mars, it advanced human knowledge by confirming that water once flowed on the red planet -- but NASA's Opportunity rover has analyzed its last soil sample.

The robot has been missing since the US space agency lost contact during a dust storm in June last year and was declared officially dead Wednesday, ending one of the most fruitful missions in the history of space exploration.

Unable to recharge its batteries, Opportunity left hundreds of messages from Earth unanswered over the months, and NASA said it made its last attempt at contact Tuesday evening.

"I declare the Opportunity mission as complete," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate told a news conference at mission headquarters in Pasadena, California.

The community of researchers and engineers involved in the program were in mourning over the passing of the rover, known affectionately as Oppy.

"It is a hard day," said John Callas, manager of the Mars Exploration Rover project.

"Even though it is a machine and we're saying goodbye, it's very hard and it's very poignant."

"Don't be sad it's over, be proud it taught us so much," former president Barack Obama tweeted later on Thursday.

"Congrats to all the men and women of @NASA on a @MarsRovers mission that beat all expectations, inspired a new generation of Americans, and demands we keep investing in science that pushes the boundaries of human knowledge."

The nostalgia extended across the generations of scientists who have handled the plucky little adventurer.

"Godspeed, Opportunity," tweeted Keri Bean, who had the "privilege" of sending the final message to the robot.

"Hail to the Queen of Mars," added Mike Seibert, Opportunity's former flight director and rover driver in another tweet, while Frank Hartman, who piloted Oppy, told AFP he felt "greatly honored to have been a small part of it."

"Engulfed by a giant planet-encircling dust storm: Is there a more fitting end for a mission as perfect and courageous from start to finish as Opportunity?" he said.

The program has had an extraordinary record of success: 28.1 miles (45.2 kilometers) traversed, more than the Soviet Union's Lunokhod 2 moon rover during the 1970s and more than the rover that US astronauts took to the moon on the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

"It is because of trailblazing missions such as Opportunity that there will come a day when our brave astronauts walk on the surface of Mars," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement.

Opportunity sent back 217,594 images from Mars, all of which were made available on the internet.

- Human-like perspective -

"For the public, the big change was that Mars became a dynamic place, and it was a place that you could explore every day," Emily Lakdawalla, an expert on space exploration and senior editor at The Planetary Society.

"The fact that this rover was so mobile, it seemed like an animate creature," she said. "Plus it has this perspective on the Martian surface that's very human-like."

"It really felt like an avatar for humanity traveling across the surface," she added.

Opportunity landed on an immense plain and spent half its life there, traversing flat expanses and once getting stuck in a sand dune for several weeks. It was there, using geological instruments, that it confirmed that liquid water was once present on Mars.

During the second part of its life on Mars, Opportunity climbed to the edge of the crater Endeavor, taking spectacular panoramic images -- and discovering veins of gypsum, additional proof that water once flowed among the Martian rocks.

Opportunity's twin, Spirit, landed three weeks ahead of it, and was active until it expired in 2010. The two far exceeded the goals of their creators: In theory, their missions were supposed to last 90 days.

Today, only a single rover is still active on Mars, Curiosity, which arrived in 2012. It is powered not by the sun, but by a small nuclear reactor.

In 2021, the recently named Rosalind Franklin robot, part of the European-Russian ExoMars mission, is slated to land on a different part of the planet, raising the population of active rovers to two.

Source: Mars Daily.
Link: http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Mission_complete_NASA_announces_demise_of_Opportunity_rover_999.html.

China's lander and rover power down for lunar night

Beijing (Sputnik)
Feb 13, 2019

Last week, NASA released unique satellite reconnaissance photos of the landing site of the Chinese lunar mission, which made history last month by achieving humanity's first-ever successful soft landing on the far side of the Moon.

China's Chang'e-4 spacecraft and its Yutu-2 lunar rover have entered sleep mode to wait out the cold lunar night, during which temperatures can plunge to as low as -190 degrees Celsius, a press release by the China Lunar Exploration Program has confirmed.

The mission, which landed on the far side of the Moon on January 3, powered down at 7 PM on Sunday Beijing time in preparation for the lunar sunset 24 hours later. Lunar nights last roughly two Earth weeks, with the Yutu-2 expected to wake up February 28, and the Chang'e-4 following a day later on March 1.

The scheduled power down was the second since January, with Yutu-2 and Chang'e-4 powering up to continue their scientific mission on January 28 and 29, respectively. China's second successful Moon mission includes the study of the lunar environment, cosmic radiation and interactions between solar wind and the Moon's surface. Since waking late last month, Yutu-2 accumulated 120 meters of driving time, sending the information back to scientists on Earth.

Chinese space scientists say all systems aboard both devices are operating as normal, and that experiments are continuing as planned.

The solar-powered craft made its historic landing in the eastern section of the Von Karman crater, located in the southern hemisphere near the Aitken basin, known as the lunar South Pole, last month. The spacecraft has already performed a number of firsts, including the first biological experiment in human history on the lunar surface by germinating a cotton seed aboard the Chang'e lander.

The lander and rover are fitted out with a series of advanced instruments, including a low frequency radio astronomy instruments co-developed by China and the Netherlands, and a Russian-made radioisotope thermoelectric generator which made it possible to measure temperatures during the previous lunar night cycle.

Yutu-2 is the second Chinese lunar rover to be sent to the Moon's surface, and follows the 2013 Chang'e-3 mission, which saw the original Yutu rover travel 114 meters before becoming immobilized during its second lunar daytime outing. Yutu-2 featured a number of upgrades to improve reliability.

Source: Moon Daily.
Link: http://www.moondaily.com/reports/Chinas_lander_and_rover_power_down_for_lunar_night_999.html.

Iran unveils first semi-heavy missile-equipped submarine

February 17, 2019

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's state TV is reporting that the country's President Hassan Rouhani has unveiled the first Iranian made semi-heavy submarine. The Sunday report said the Fateh, "Conqueror" in Persian, is capable of being fitted with cruise missiles.

Since 1992, Iran has developed a homegrown defense industry that produces light and heavy weapons ranging from mortars and torpedoes to tanks and submarines. The Fateh has subsurface-to-surface missiles with a range of about 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), capable of reaching Israel and U.S. military bases in the region.

Iran pressures Europe to do more to save the nuclear deal

February 17, 2019

MUNICH (AP) — Europeans need to do more than talk if they want to preserve a deal meant to keep Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States, Iran's foreign minister said Sunday, slamming Washington as the "biggest source of destabilization" in the Middle East.

Mohammad Javad Zarif told a gathering of world leaders, top defense officials and diplomats that a barter-type system known as INSTEX, which was set up last month by France, Germany and Britain to allow businesses to skirt direct financial transactions with Iran and thereby evade possible U.S. sanctions, is not enough.

"Many around the world, particularly on this continent, speak eloquently about multilateralism, but they also need to walk the walk," Zarif told the Munich Security Conference in an impassioned address. "INSTEX falls short of the commitments by (European countries) to save the nuclear deal. Europe needs to be willing to get wet if it wants to swim against a dangerous tide of U.S. unilateralism."

The three European nations, as well as Russia, China and the European Union as a whole, have been struggling to save the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran since President Donald Trump announced a unilateral American withdrawal from it last year and re-imposed sanctions on Iran.

The deal promises Iran relief from sanctions in exchange for limiting its nuclear program, and so far the International Atomic Energy Agency has said that Tehran has been living up to its obligations.

Those working to preserve the agreement have been trying to walk a fine line between mollifying Iran without angering Washington. Zarif's comments appeared directed at European assurances that INSTEX could concentrate on products not currently subject to U.S. sanctions, such as medicine, medical supplies and agricultural goods, rather than on broader trade.

On Saturday, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence slammed INSTEX and urged others to abandon the nuclear deal entirely. "The time has come for our European partners to stop undermining U.S. sanctions against this murderous revolutionary regime," Pence said before leaving Germany. "The time has come for our European partners to stand with us and with the Iranian people, our allies and friends in the region. The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal."

Before Pence spoke, German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended the Iran deal, saying while she shared concerns about Iran's missile program and its regional ambitions, it was important to keep "the small anchor we have (with Iran) in order maybe to exert pressure in other areas."

Merkel's comments, and her defense of global diplomacy instead of a go-it-alone foreign policy, drew lengthy applause. Zarif told the conference that Pence had "arrogantly demanded that Europe must join the United States in undermining its own security and breaking its obligations" and urged them to push back against American pressure.

"If the United States were to come, in the course of their fight with China, and tell Europe to stop dealing with China, what would you do?" he asked. "Whatever you want to do then, do now, in order to prevent that eventuality."

He would not comment on whether the nuclear deal will survive without the U.S. but said Iran was not prepared to renegotiate it as Trump has suggested. "Nothing can be done that is better than this deal," he said. "It's not all we want and it's certainly not all the United States wants but it's the best that can be achieved."

Responding to Pence's comments that Iran was the "greatest threat to peace in the Middle East," Zarif said the U.S. had an "unhealthy fixation" with Iran and was itself the "single biggest source of destabilization in our neighborhood."

"The U.S. claims ... that it is Iran which is interfering in the region, but has it ever been asked whose region?" Zarif said. "Just glimpse at a map for a second — the U.S. military has traveled 10,000 kilometers to dot all our borders with its bases. There is a joke that it is Iran's fault that it put itself in the middle of all (the) U.S. bases."

Zarif also accused the U.S. administration of looking for regime change in Iran — something Washington denies — and said Israel was "looking for war" with "violations of Lebanon's air space and shooting into Syria."

"The risk (of war) is great, but the risk will be even greater if you continue to turn a blind eye to severe violations of international law," he said. Benny Gantz, a former Israeli military chief and Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu's primary challenger in the upcoming April election, responded in a separate forum, slamming Iranian aggression in the region.

"On my watch, there will be no appeasement (of Iran). On my watch, Iran will not threaten Israel by taking over Syria, Lebanon or Gaza strip," he said. "On my watch, Iran will not have nuclear weapons."

Gantz told the audience, speaking of Zarif: "do not be deceived by his eloquence. Do not be fooled by his lies." The Munich Security Conference is an annual gathering of world leaders and defense and foreign policy officials.

Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

India warns of 'crushing response' to Kashmir suicide attack

February 16, 2019

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — India's prime minister warned of a "crushing response" to the suicide bombing of a paramilitary convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 41 people and was the deadliest in the divided region's volatile history.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi placed the blame for Thursday's bombing squarely on neighboring Pakistan, which India accuses of supporting rebels in Kashmir. "Our neighboring country thinks such terror attacks can weaken us, but their plans will not materialize," he said Friday, adding that government forces have been "given total freedom" to deal with the militants.

"Security forces have been given permission to take decisions about the timing, place and nature of their response," he said. Pakistan's ruling party rejected Modi's allegation, saying India's governing party was blaming Islamabad for political gains in the upcoming national election.

"The Indian allegations against Pakistan over yesterday's incident are part of the election campaign," said Naeemul Haq, a senior leader of the Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which came to power in last year's parliamentary election. He said the violence in Kashmir was "the result of the brutalities of Indian occupied forces in Kashmir."

The attack has ratcheted up already high tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors, who both administer parts of the disputed territory but each claim it entirely. Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced Friday that New Delhi was withdrawing the most-favored nation trade status given to Pakistan and would take all possible diplomatic steps "to ensure the complete isolation from international community of Pakistan of which incontrovertible evidence is available of having a direct hand in this gruesome terrorist incident."

India's Foreign Ministry also summoned the Pakistani ambassador to protest the attack. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said the country condemns acts of violence anywhere in the world and denied any involvement. "We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations," it said in a statement.

Rebels, many of whom want Kashmir united with Pakistan, have been fighting Indian control since 1989. But the Muslim-majority region has experienced renewed attacks and repeated public protests in recent years as a new generation of Kashmiri rebels, especially in the southern parts of the region, has challenged New Delhi's rule with a mixture of violence and social media.

About 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian crackdown. Last year's death toll was the highest since 2009, with at least 260 militants, 160 civilians and 150 government forces killed.

In Thursday's attack, a local Kashmiri militant rammed an explosive-laden van into a bus traveling in the paramilitary convoy. In addition to the dead, the attack wounded nearly two dozen other soldiers, India's paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force spokesman Sanjay Sharma said.

Police said the bus was destroyed and at least five other vehicles were damaged. The Greater Kashmir newspaper reported that militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility. A pre-recorded video circulated on social media sites showed the purported attacker in combat clothes and surrounded by guns and grenades.

Authorities imposed a security lockdown in the southern Kakapora area to stop people from assembling at the home of the militant who allegedly attacked the convoy. Still, hundreds of people were able to reach his home by crossing rice fields and orchards, and offered prayers there.

Authorities suspended security convoys in the Kashmir Valley on Friday and Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Srinagar to review the security situation. He said civilian traffic would be stopped during the movement of convoys in Kashmir.

Meanwhile, three top Kashmiri leaders known as the Joint Resistance Leadership who challenge India's sovereignty over Kashmir said they regretted the killings. They said in a statement that India's "muscular military approach to counter an essentially political and human problem is wreaking havoc in Kashmir, especially on the next generation."

"Those who are here to execute this policy are also under stress and paying a price with their lives," they said. The attack has raised tensions elsewhere in Hindu-majority India. Hundreds of residents carrying India's national flag in Hindu-dominated Jammu city in the Muslim-majority state burned vehicles and hurled rocks at homes in Muslim neighborhoods, officials said. Authorities imposed a curfew and appealed for restraint.

Some people were reported injured in the mob attacks. Nearly 100 protesters chanting slogans such as "Pakistan down, down!" and "Attack Pakistan, Attack," burned an effigy of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in a park close to India's Parliament in New Delhi. They later dispersed.

The U.S. singled out Pakistan in a statement condemning the attack. "The United States calls on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil, whose only goal is to sow chaos, violence, and terror in the region," the statement from the White House press secretary's office said.

It said the attack strengthened U.S. resolve to bolster counterterrorism cooperation with India. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947 and regularly exchange fire along their highly militarized border in Kashmir.

Associated Press writers Ashok Sharma in New Delhi and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Death toll in deadliest car bombing in Kashmir climbs to 41

February 15, 2019

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — The death toll from a car bombing on a paramilitary convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir has climbed to 41, becoming the single deadliest attack in the divided region's volatile history, security officials said Friday.

A local Kashmiri militant rammed an explosive-laden van into the convoy along a key highway Thursday. In addition to the dead, the attack wounded nearly two dozen other soldiers, India's paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force spokesman Sanjay Sharma said.

The attack is ratcheting up already hostile tensions between India and Pakistan, who both administer parts of the disputed territory but each claim it entirely. India has blamed Pakistan for supporting the bombing, while Islamabad cautioned India not to link it to the attack.

India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced Friday that New Delhi was withdrawing the most favored nation trade status given to Pakistan and would take all possible diplomatic steps "to ensure the complete isolation from international community of Pakistan of which incontrovertible evidence is available of having a direct hand in this gruesome terrorist incident."

He said Home Minister Rajnath Singh would visit Kashmir later Friday and review security situation there, and warned that they will ensure "those who have committed this heinous act of terrorism and those who have supported it actively are made to pay a heavy cost."

Rebels have been fighting Indian control since 1989, but the Muslim-majority region has experienced renewed attacks and repeated public protests in recent years as a new generation of Kashmiri rebels, especially in the southern parts of the region, has challenged New Delhi's rule with a mixture of violence and social media.

Officials said the militant in Thursday's attack drove into a bus traveling in the convoy as it reached Lethpora, a town outside Srinagar. Police said the bus was destroyed and at least five other vehicles were damaged.

"The blast was so powerful that one cannot recognize whether the vehicle was a bus or a truck. Just pieces of mangled steel remain," Sharma said. Videos circulated by local news groups showed ambulances rushing to the site and people running as smoke billowed from the damaged vehicles. Debris and body parts littered the road.

The Greater Kashmir newspaper reported that militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility. A pre-recorded video circulated on social media sites showed the purported attacker in combat clothes and surrounded by guns and grenades.

Indian Prime Minister Modi condemned the attack in a speech at a government function Friday saying India would give "a crushing response." "Our neighboring country thinks such terror attacks can weaken us, but their plans will not materialize," he said. He said government forces have been "given total freedom" to tackle militants.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said the country condemns acts of violence anywhere in the world, and denied any involvement. "We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations," it said in a statement.

The U.S., however, specifically singled out Pakistan in its statement condemning the attack. "The United States calls on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil, whose only goal is to sow chaos, violence, and terror in the region," the statement from the White House press secretary's office said.

It said the attack strengthened U.S. resolve to bolster counterterrorism cooperation with India. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947 and regularly exchange fire along their highly militarized border in Kashmir.

Kashmir experienced many car bombings from 2000 through 2005 that inflicted high casualties on Indian troops. The attacks prompted Indian authorities to procure bombproof armored vehicles for soldiers operating in the region.

Indian soldiers are ubiquitous in Kashmir and local residents make little secret of their fury toward their presence in the Himalayan region. Most Kashmiris support the rebels' demand that the territory be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country, while also participating in civilian street protests against Indian control.

Since 1989, about 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian crackdown. Last year's death toll was the highest since 2009, with at least 260 militants, 160 civilians and 150 government forces killed.

Associated Press writer Ashok Sharma in New Delhi contributed to this report.

Road signs replaced to reflect North Macedonia name change

February 14, 2019

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — It's official: The Republic of North Macedonia has replaced Republic of Macedonia as part of a historic deal with Greece. The government gazette formally published the name deal Wednesday, opening the way for the renamed country's accession to NATO and eventually the European Union. The United Nations announced late Wednesday that it had been officially notified that the North Macedonia name agreement with Greece had gone into effect.

As a first practical move, workers were replacing road signs on the border with Greece to reflect the name change, which ends a nearly three decade-long dispute with Greece over use of the term "Macedonia." Later, the country will change signs at airports and on official buildings, web pages and printed materials.

Vehicle registration plates will also change, while passports and currency will be replaced over the coming years. The dispute dates back to the country's 1991 declaration of independence from Yugoslavia. Athens argued the name implied claims on the northern Greek province of Macedonia and usurped its ancient Greek heritage. Although more than 130 countries did recognize the country as Macedonia, the United Nations and other international bodies used the cumbersome moniker "Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia," agreed in an interim accord in 1995.

Hundreds of rounds of United Nations-brokered negotiations floundered until last year, when Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras agreed to a compromise. The deal was has been met with vociferous objections by large sections of the public on both sides of the border, with critics in both countries accusing their respective governments of conceding too much to the other side.

As their country's new name became a reality, reactions were mixed in Skopje. "I'm glad that we are moving forward. After 30 years of difficulties and isolation, my country has a future," said Suzana Alcinova Monevska, a 55-year-old meteorologist. "I'm already feeling that with the new name, obstacles are removed. My company has already got many invitations in recent days to participate in EU-sponsored projects."

But others were angered by the name change. Skopje resident Marinna Stevcevska, 55, said she was "deeply disappointed and emotionally hurt" by the change. "I will not change my passport as long as I can and I'm hoping that something will change to have the old name back," she said. "I've promised to myself that if Macedonia changes its name, I'll be leaving the country. I'm still thinking where to move."

Among the first practical steps North Macedonia must now take is to inform the United Nations and all the countries that had previously recognized it as Macedonia that its name has now changed. The country's customs administration will change all its digital records to reflect the new name within three days, while signs at airports and border crossings will be changed. Vehicle license plates will be changed within four months, while new passports will start being issued at the end of the year.

New currency will also be printed, but not quite yet. North Macedonian authorities say the National Bank will create a plan for the gradual replacement of the currency, with the first new banknotes being drawn up early next year.

Macedonia prepares for name change by removing signs

February 11, 2019

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Authorities in Macedonia have begun removing official signs from government buildings to prepare for its new name: North Macedonia. "Government of the Republic of Macedonia" signs were removed from the country's main government building early Monday in the capital Skopje.

The small Balkan country will change its name to North Macedonia after reaching a landmark agreement over the summer with neighboring Greece, which has a neighboring province called Macedonia. Macedonia is due to become a NATO member now that Greece's parliament approved a measure Friday that would allow the country to join the alliance. Previously, Greece had blocked Macedonia's accession to NATO.

Macedonia will now publish the deal with Greece in its government gazette so that it's officially enshrined in law.

Macedonia admitted to NATO after resolving Greece dispute

FEB. 6, 2019
By Clyde Hughes

Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Macedonia officially signed on Wednesday to become an official member of NATO, after resistance from Greece was settled last month.

Greece had long objected to membership over a dispute with the Macedonia name, which Athens uses for a Greek region in the north. Last month, the two countries settled the dispute when the country agreed to change its name to the Republic of North Macedonia. In exchange for the name change, Greece agreed to drop its veto toward Macedonia's NATO admittance.

The signing allows the Balkan nation to take part in NATO activities as an invitee while the 29 member nations ratify the agreement in their own countries. Macedonia will formally change its name after Greece's ratification.

"NATO keeps almost one billion citizens across Europe and North America secure and with you joining NATO there will be thirty countries committed to protect each other," NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement.

"Your accession will bring more stability to the Western Balkans. This is good for the region and for Euro-Atlantic security."

Macedonia already contributes to NATO's training mission in Afghanistan and the alliance's peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.

"This wasn't inevitable -- this wasn't even very likely to happen," Macedonia Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov said. "The impossible is actually doable. This is a family that strives to make our world more peaceful and a better place.

"This is a journey that has made us more mature... we have proven that we can assume our responsibility, face a problem, and resolve those problems."

Macedonia and Greece have squabbled over the name -- which has been around since Alexander The Great's reign in the region during late B.C. -- since 1991 when the country broke away from the former Yugoslavia.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2019/02/06/Macedonia-admitted-to-NATO-after-resolving-Greece-dispute/6431549457608/.

Macedonian PM: Greece's turn to make history with name deal

January 12, 2019

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Macedonia's prime minister says he expects Greece's parliament to do its part and ratify the deal changing his country's name to North Macedonia so it can soon join NATO. Prime Minister Zoran Zaev told reporters in the capital of Skopje on Saturday that he expects neighboring Greece to be the first country to sign the accession protocol for Macedonia to become NATO's 30th member.

NATO formally invited Macedonia to join the military alliance in 2008, but Greece vetoed the move, claiming that Macedonia's name implies territorial aspirations toward Greece's northern province with the same name as well as appropriating Greece's historical heritage.

Zaev said that Macedonian lawmakers had "made history" Friday with their decision to back the constitutional changes associated with the name change. "I know how difficult that was ... we are putting the bitterness in the past and we are looking now proudly to the future," Zaev said.

He said he now expects Greece's parliament to convene and do the same, and unblock Macedonia's NATO membership. Zaev said that Greece has "got a new friend now North Macedonia," adding that he hopes the two nations will build up trust and open "many new windows" for cooperation.

But in Greece, the upcoming parliamentary vote on the name change ratification has frayed relations between Greece's coalition partners. Greek defense Minister Panos Kammenos, leader of the right-wing populist Independent Greeks party, is vehemently opposed to the deal. He has repeatedly threatened to pull his lawmakers out of the government, although he has sent mixed signals on whether he will bring down the government in a vote of confidence.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Kammenos will meet Sunday morning to discuss their differences. A Greek government spokeswoman told The Associated Press that by Monday, or at least later in the week, the timeline for ratification will be clearer. The vote could possibly even take place this month, unless a confidence motion, invoked either by Tsipras or by the opposition New Democracy party, is discussed first.

Several lawmakers from small center-left parties, as well as at least two from Kammenos' party, have indicated they are ready to vote for the name deal. Tsipras, who has the unquestioned backing of the 145-strong Syriza parliamentary group, has repeatedly expressed certainty that he will find the 151 votes to ensure ratification of the name deal by a majority in the 300-member Parliament.

The Macedonian parliament's ratification has been hailed by several foreign leaders, including NATO General-Secretary Jens Stoltenberg and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. Adding his congratulations late Friday, was Matthew Nimetz, the U.N. Secretary-General's personal envoy on the name dispute since 1999, saying that the agreement paves the way for "a firmer basis for peace and security in the Balkans."

"I wish to congratulate the (Macedonian) parliament and the country's citizens for this accomplishment and for the democratic manner in which this important process was undertaken," he said.

Nellas reported from Athens, Greece.