Australian election May 18 to be fought on refugees, economy

April 11, 2019

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's prime minister on Thursday called a May 18 election that will be fought on issues including climate change, asylum seekers and economic management. "We live in the best country in the world," Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters after advising the governor-general to authorize the election.

"But to secure your future, the road ahead depends on a strong economy. And that's why there is so much at stake at this election," he added. Morrison's conservative coalition is seeking a third three-year term. But Morrison is the third prime minister to lead a divided government in that time and only took the helm in late August.

Opinion polls suggest his reign will become one of the shortest in the 118-year history of Australian prime ministers on election day. The polls suggest center-left opposition leader Bill Shorten will become the eighth prime minister since the country plunged into an extraordinary period of political instability in 2007.

The election pits Shorten, a former labor union leader who has presented himself as the alternative prime minister for the past six years, and Morrison, a leader who the Australian public is still getting to know.

Shorten said in his first news conference since the election was called that his government will take "real action on climate change" and reduce inequality in Australian society if his Labor Party wins power.

"Australians face a real and vital choice at this election. Do you want Labor's energy, versus the government's tiredness? Labor's focus on the future, versus being stuck in the past?" Shorten said. Morrison is seen as the architect of Australia's tough refugee policy that has all but stopped the people-smuggling traffic of boats from Southeast Asian ports since 2014. The policy has been condemned by human rights groups as an abrogation of Australia's responsibilities as a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention.

Morrison's first job in Prime Minister Tony Abbott's newly elected coalition government in 2013 was as minister for immigration and border protection. He oversaw the secretive military-run Operation Sovereign Borders.

Asylum seekers from the Middle East, Africa and Asia would typically disable or sink their boats when intercepted by patrol ships in waters north of Australia so that the Australian crews would have to rescue them rather than turn the boats away. Under the new regime, the asylum seekers were placed in motorized life boats that were towed back to Indonesia. The life boats had just enough fuel to reach the Indonesian coast. The Indonesian government complained the policy was an affront to Indonesian sovereignty.

The government has also maintained a policy adopted in the final months of a Labor government in 2013 of sending boat arrivals to camps on the Pacific island nations of Papua New Guinea and Nauru. Those who attempt to reach Australia by boat are told they will never be allowed to settle there.

Morrison remains proud of virtually stopping people-smuggler boat traffic. He has a trophy shaped like a people-smuggler's boat in his office inscribed with "I Stopped These." Labor has promised to maintain the policy of banishing boat arrivals to the islands. But Labor says it would give priority to finding permanent homes for the asylum seekers who have languished in island camps for years.

The conservative coalition argues that the boats would start coming again because a Labor government would soften the regime. The government introduced temporary protection visas for boat arrivals so that refugees face potential deportation every three years if the circumstances that they fled in their homelands improve. Labor would give refugees permanent visas so that they have the certainty to plan their lives.

Climate change policy is a political battlefield in a country that is the world's largest exporter of coal and liquefied natural gas and has been one of the world's worst greenhouse gas emitters on a per capita basis because of its heavily reliance on coal-fired power generation.

Disagreement over energy policy has been a factor in the last six changes of prime minister. Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard introduced a carbon tax in 2012. Conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott scrapped it two years later.

The coalition is torn between lawmakers who want polluters to pay for their greenhouse gas emissions and those who reject any measures that would increase household power bills. The government aims to reduce Australian greenhouse gas emissions by 26% to 28% below 2005 levels by 2030.

Labor has promised a more ambitious target of a 45% reduction in the same time frame. Action on climate change was a major priority for votes when conservative Prime Minister John Howard's reign ended after more than 11 years at an election in 2007.

Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd immediately signed up to the U.N.'s 1997 Kyoto Protocol on reducing emissions. Australia and the United States had been the only industrialized countries to hold out. Climate change dropped down the list of Australian priorities after the global financial crisis hit.

But after Australians sweltered through a record hot summer and grappled with devastating drought, global warming has become a high-priority issue for voters again. The government warns that Labor's emissions reduction plan would wreck the economy.

The coalition also argues that Labor would further damage the economy with its policy of reducing tax breaks for landlords as real estate prices fall in Australia's largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne.

Morrison boasts that the conservative administration Prime Minister Howard led delivered 10 annual surplus budgets and paid off all federal government debt before the government changed at the 2007 election.

Rudd had planned a budget surplus in his government's first fiscal year, but the global financial crisis struck. Many economists congratulate Rudd for keeping the Australian economy out of recession through stimulus spending. The coalition has accused Labor of spending too much and sinking Australia too deep in debt,

But debt has continued to mount since the conservatives regained the reins in 2013. But opinion polls suggest voters consider the conservatives to be better economic managers. The government brought forward its annual budget blueprint by a month to April 2 and revealed a plan to balance Australia's books in the next fiscal year for the first time in 12 years.

Labor also promised to deliver a surplus budget in the year starting July 1, but it has yet to detail how it will achieve this goal. Labor has also promised to spend an additional AU$2.3 billion ($1.6 billion) over four years on covering treatment costs of cancer patients. It's an attractive offer with half Australia's population expected to be diagnosed with some form of the disease in their lifetimes.

The conservatives have largely taken credit for Australia's remarkable run of 28 years of economic growth since its last recession under Labor's rule. Morrison hopes that voters will look to him to deliver a sequel to the Howard years when a mining boom delivered ever-increasing budget surpluses.

Algeria Postpones Presidential Vote After Contenders Disqualified

2 June 2019

Algeria has postponed presidential elections planned for next month after the two candidates were disqualified. The polls were to elect a successor to Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who resigned after pressure from protesters.

Algeria's Constitutional Council announced Sunday that it would be "impossible" for the presidential vote to go ahead on July 4 because the only two candidates in the race had been rejected.

The elections were planned after mass pro-democracy protests and pressure from the military forced long-time leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika to step down in April.

Algerians have been holding marches for months, calling for political reforms and a clear break from the elite that dominated politics during Bouteflika's two decades in power. The protesters have also demanded the polls be delayed over fears of vote rigging.

Two candidates rejected

Only two, largely unknown, candidates lodged bids by the deadline last week. The council said it had knocked back both application but did not explain why.

"Based on this decision, it is impossible to conduct the presidential elections on July 4," the council said in a statement, according to Algeria's official news agency APS.

The council added that it was now up to interim President Abdelkader Bensalah to set a date for a new vote. Bensalah had been appointed interim leader until July 9, but protesters say they want him gone.

On Friday, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators marched in the capital, Algiers, and other cities to demand his resignation, along with that of Bouteflika ally, Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: https://allafrica.com/stories/201906030002.html.

Algeria to hold first post-Bouteflika presidential election July 4

By Darryl Coote
APRIL 11, 2019

April 11 (UPI) -- Algeria's newly appointed interim leader set July 4 to hold the presidential election following last week's resignation of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Senate leader Abdelkader Bensalah, 77, made the televised announcement Wednesday, according to state-run media Algeria Press Service, which comes a day after Algerian lawmakers appointed him the nation's interim president for the next 90 days.

Bensalah, who is unable to run in the election, also announced plans to create a "sovereign" body with both politicians and civil society in order to foster conditions necessary for an honest election process, Al Jazeera reported.

The announcement failed to placate protesters who have held mass demonstrations since February demanding a change in the country's leadership.

The protests first erupted after President Bouteflika announcement late February that he would be running for a fifth term.

The 82-year-old Bouteflika, who had held tight to the reigns of his country since 1999, resigned April 2, after Algeria's army chief said it would pursue a constitutional procedure to declare the ailing, wheelchair-bound president unfit to rule.

Despite Bouteflika's resignation, protests persisted as the public worried the country's rule would only shift to another member of the same regime, and Bensalah's appointment did little to assuage those concerns as he had served as Speaker of the Council under Bouteflika.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior, Local Authorities and National Planning announced through the state-run Algeria Press Service Wednesday that it had authorized 10 political parties and 22 national and inter-provincial associations.

The ministry said it had examined files on the different parties and associations on a case-by-case basis and allowed 10 political parties "to hold their constituent congresses in accordance with the provisions of the organic law on political parties" while "certificates of approval have been issued to 22 national and inter-provincial associations."

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2019/04/11/Algeria-to-hold-first-post-Bouteflika-presidential-election-July-4/3061554973003/.

SpaceX Dragon Heads to Space Station After Successful Launch

by James Cawley for NASA ISS News
Kennedy Space Center FL (SPX)
May 04, 2019

More than 5,500 pounds of cargo is on its way to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. The company's 17th commercial cargo mission to resupply the space station began at 2:48 a.m. EDT on May 4, 2019, with liftoff aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Kenny Todd, International Space Station Operations and Integration manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, explained during the postlaunch press conference that launch success far overshadowed fatigue with the early morning launch.

"If you have to be up, I can't think of a better reason than to see one of these launches - it was absolutely spectacular," Todd said. "We're really excited to get Dragon on board in a couple of days."

After a successful climb into space, the Dragon spacecraft now is in orbit with its solar arrays deployed and drawing power.

"We had a beautiful launch today; it was really great," said Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX's vice president, Build and Flight Reliability. "Dragon is on the way, the orbiter is great - it's right on the money."

The Dragon spacecraft will deliver science, supplies and hardware to the orbiting laboratory. Science experiments include NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3 (OCO-3) and Space Test Program-Houston 6 (STP-H6).

OCO-3 will be robotically installed on the exterior of the space station's Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility Unit, where it will measure and map carbon dioxide from space to increase our understanding of the relationship between carbon and climate.

STP-H6 is an X-ray communication investigation that will be used to perform a space-based demonstration of a new technology for generating beams of modulated X-rays. This technology may be useful for providing efficient communication to deep space probes, or communicating with hypersonic vehicles where plasma sheaths prevent traditional radio communications.

Live coverage of the rendezvous and capture will air on NASA Television and the agency's website beginning at 5:30 a.m. on Monday, May 6. Capture is scheduled for 7 a.m.; installation coverage is set to begin at 9 a.m. Astronauts aboard the station will capture the Dragon using the space station's robotic arm and then install it on the station's Harmony module.

The Dragon spacecraft will spend about four weeks attached to the space station, returning to Earth with more than 4,200 pounds of research, hardware and crew supplies.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/SpaceX_Dragon_Heads_to_Space_Station_After_Successful_Launch_999.html.

Russian-US crew arrives at International Space Station

March 15, 2019

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AP) — A Russian-American crew arrived at the International Space Station on Friday, five months after a botched launch led to an emergency landing for two of the three astronauts.

This time, the Russian Soyuz rocket carrying NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch along with Roscosmos' Alexei Ovchinin lifted off precisely as planned from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:14 a.m. Friday (1914 GMT Thursday).

Six hours later, their capsule docked at the orbiting outpost. On Oct. 11, a Soyuz carrying Hague and Ovchinin failed two minutes into flight, activating a rescue system that allowed their capsule to land safely. That accident was the first aborted crew launch for the Russian space program since 1983, when two Soviet cosmonauts safely jettisoned after a launch pad explosion.

On Friday, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine congratulated the crew on a successful launch. "So proud of Nick Hague for persevering through last October's launch that didn't go as planned," he tweeted.

Speaking at a pre-launch news conference at Baikonur, the astronauts said they trusted the rocket and fully believed in the success of their mission. "I'm 100 percent confident in the rocket and the spacecraft," Hague said. "The events from October only helped to solidify that and boost confidence in the vehicle to do its job."

The trio will join NASA's Anne McClain, Roscosmos' Oleg Kononenko and David Saint-Jacques of the Canadian Space Agency who are already on the space station. They will conduct work on hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science.

When one of the four strap-on boosters for their Soyuz failed to separate properly two minutes after their launch in October, Hague and Ovchinin were jettisoned from the rocket. Their rescue capsule plunged steeply back to Earth with its lights flashing and alarms screaming, subjecting the crew to seven times the force of gravity.

Hague emphasized Wednesday that they were well-trained for the emergency. "The nature of our profession is we spend 90-95 percent of our time practicing what to do when things go wrong," he said. "And so we spend all that time training, running through all those scenarios. And because we do train that way, like in October when things like that happened, we were ready to do what we need to do to come out successfully."

The October failure was the first aborted launch for the Russian space program in 35 years and only the third in history. Each time, the rocket's automatic rescue system kept the crew safe. A Russian investigation attributed October's launch failure to a sensor that was damaged during the rocket's final assembly. The next crew launch to the space station in December went on without a hitch.

Ovchinin recalled that they felt "more annoyed than stressed" when their rescue capsule touched down in the barren steppes of Kazakhstan. "It was disappointing and a bit frustrating that we didn't make it to the International Space Station," he said.

NASA and Roscosmos praised the crew's valor and composure in the aborted launch and promised to quickly give them a second chance into space. "We don't accept the risk blindly, we have mitigated it as much as we can, and we always plan to be successful," Hague said.

Ovchinin stressed that the aborted launch in October was an "interesting and very useful experience" that "proved the reliability of the emergency rescue system." Since the 2011 retirement of the U.S. shuttle fleet, Russia's Soyuz spacecraft have been the only vehicles that ferry crews to the space station.

NASA, however, is counting on SpaceX and Boeing to start launching astronauts later this year. The SpaceX ship Dragon returned Friday from a six-day test flight to the space station and could take astronauts there on its next flight as early as this summer.

Isachenkov reported from Moscow.

China preparing for space station missions

Beijing (XNA)
Mar 06, 2019

The China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) announced Monday that the core module of the country's space station, the Long March-5B carrier rocket and its payloads will be sent to the launch site in the second half of this year, to make preparations for the space station missions.

China is scheduled to complete the construction of the space station around 2022. It will be the country's space lab in long-term stable in-orbit operation.

The space station will have a core module and experiment modules, which are under development and will be launched into space by the Long March-5B.

Joint exercises will be carried out in the Wenchang Space Launch Center at the end of 2019 for the maiden flight of the Long March-5B.

Programs to select and train astronauts are underway.

China is committed to making the country's space station an international platform for scientific and technological cooperation, according to the CMSEO.

In June this year, the CMSEO will work with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs to complete the application selection of China's space station and launch a number of cooperation projects.

China's Tiangong-2 space lab, launched on Sept. 15, 2016, is conducting in-orbit tests and will de-orbit after July this year.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/China_preparing_for_space_station_missions_999.html.

NASA Spacecraft to use 'Green' Fuel for the First Time

Edwards AFB CA (SPX)
Jun 11, 2019

A non-toxic, rose-colored liquid could fuel the future in space and propel missions to the Moon or other worlds. NASA will test the fuel and compatible propulsion system in space for the first time with the Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM), set to launch this month on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

The mission will demonstrate the exceptional features of a high-performance "green" fuel developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The propellant blends hydroxyl ammonium nitrate with an oxidizer that allows it to burn, creating an alternative to hydrazine, the highly toxic fuel commonly used by spacecraft today.

Spacecraft love hydrazine, but it's toxic to humans. Handling the clear liquid requires strict safety precautions - protective suits, thick rubber gloves and oxygen tanks. GPIM promises fewer handling restrictions that will reduce the time it takes to prepare for launch.

"Spacecraft could be fueled during manufacturing, simplifying processing at the launch facility, resulting in cost savings," explained Christopher McLean, principal investigator for GPIM at Ball Aerospace of Boulder, Colorado. The company leads this NASA technology demonstration mission.

Another perk of the is performance. It's denser than hydrazine and offers nearly 50% better performance - equivalent to getting 50% more miles per gallon on your car. This means spacecraft can travel farther or operate for longer with less propellant onboard.

In order to tap into the propellant's benefits, engineers first had to develop new hardware - everything from thrusters and tanks to filters and valves. GPIM uses a set of thrusters that fire in different scenarios to test engine performance and reliability. Planned maneuvers include orbit lowering and spacecraft pointing.

Aerojet Rocketdyne in Redmond, Washington, designed, built and extensively tested the GPIM propulsion system. The hardware consists of a propellant tank and five 1-Newton thrusters to carry the non-toxic fuel.

Fred Wilson, director of business development for Aerojet, has decades of experience in spacecraft propulsion systems. Wilson gave credit to NASA for funding the technology, through flight demonstration. Taking the green propellant from the lab to space insures the capability can be fully adopted by government and industry.

"If it weren't for the initial investment and inherent risk of doing something for the first time, this technology would likely already be in space," said Dayna Ise, executive for NASA's Technology Demonstration Missions program that manages GPIM. "NASA stepped up to fund it because we see the value and potential for this technology to propel spaceflight forward."

Building upon the GPIM work, Wilson says Aerojet is moving forward on a range of other thrust-level propulsion systems to utilize high-performance green propellant.

"We see interest in using green propellant across the space industry," Wilson said. "The trend is towards smaller and smaller satellites, to do more mission in a small package."

The technology appeals to small and cube satellite builders who have small budgets and serious space and weight limitations. From small satellites to large spacecraft, there's a wide range of space missions that can benefit by using green propellant. "GPIM has the potential to inspire new ideas and new missions," McLean said.

GPIM will illustrate the benefits of the green fuel and help improve how satellites are designed and operated. The propellant and propulsion system could be used in place of hydrazine regardless of a spacecraft's purpose or destination.

NASA has been charged to land humans on the Moon in 2024 and establish a sustainable presence by 2028. There is potential for this technology to be used for a variety of lunar missions within the Artemis program, but first it must be demonstrated in space.

GPIM is a technology demonstration mission made possible by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). It draws upon a government-industry team of specialists from NASA, Ball Aerospace, Aerojet Rocketdyne and AFRL. GPIM is one of over 20 satellites launching as part of the Department of Defense's Space Test Program-2 (STP-2) mission, which is managed by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASA_Spacecraft_to_use_Green_Fuel_for_the_First_Time_999.html.

IAF ties up with ISRO for manned mission crew selection

Bengaluru, India (IANS)
May 31, 2019

The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Wednesday said it signed an agreement with the state-run Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Tuesday for crew selection and training for the country's prestigious maiden manned mission Gaganyaan by 2021-22.

"The agreement was signed by Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Space Operations) Air Vice Marshal R.G.K. Kapoor and Gaganyaan Project Director R. Hutton in the presence of the space agency's Chairman K. Sivan here," tweeted IAF.

The crew selection and training will be conducted at ISRO's Human Space Flight Center, opened on January 31 adjacent to its headquarters in the city, to develop technologies for the manned space missions.

As announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address on August 15, 2018, the space agency will send three astronauts, including a woman, in a capsule into space around the earth's orbit for a week-long rendezvous by December 2021 or 2022, which marks the country's 75th year of independence.

The Rs 9,023-crore ambitious project involves sending a 3-member crew on board a heavy rocket to an altitude of 350-400 km and orbit around the planet for conducting experiments in space during a week-long voyage.

The previous NDA government on December 28, 2018 approved the country's first human space flight program.

"In the run-up, the space agency will send two unmanned missions before 2021 and the manned mission by 2022," a space official told IANS earlier.

ISRO on January 31 opened a Human Space Flight Center adjacent to its headquarters here to develop technologies for manned space missions.

The Human Flight Space Center will also develop engineering systems for crew survival in space and sustained human space flight missions.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/IAF_ties_up_with_ISRO_for_manned_mission_crew_selection_999.html.

SpaceX Crew Dragon splashes into Atlantic, completing test flight's return leg

MARCH 8, 2019
By Brooks Hays

March 8 (UPI) -- SpaceX's Crew Dragon has been retrieved by the "Go Searcher" recovery ship after splashing into the Atlantic Ocean Friday morning.

All three major phases of the return leg -- the spacecraft's deorbit, parachute deployment and splashdown -- went as planned.

Last week, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft proved the private space company is capable of safely launching and carrying astronauts from Earth to the International Space Station. Now, SpaceX and Crew Dragon have demonstrated their ability to safely shepherd astronauts back to Earth.

The return leg of the test flight began while most people on the East Coast were still asleep.

The International Space Station confirmed in a tweet the Crew Dragon undocked at 2:32 a.m. ET.

"Dragon's trunk has been jettisoned and its de-orbit burn is complete," SpaceX reported in a tweet at 8:10 a.m. ET.

The spacecraft deployed its four parachutes at 8:44 a.m. Just a few minutes later, the craft splashed into the Atlantic. At 9:52 a.m. ET, SpaceX confirmed in a tweet Crew Dragon had been successfully craned onto the deck of the recovery ship.

The Crew Dragon made history last week when SpaceX launched the first spacecraft under NASA's commercial crew program. After being released by the rocket's second stage, the Crew Dragon executed a series of orbital phasing maneuvers, finally rendezvousing with the International Space Station on Sunday morning.

After executing a docking maneuver, scientists unloaded 400 pounds of equipment and supplies. Crew Dragon remained attached to the space station from Sunday, allowing SpaceX engineers more time to test a variety of systems and components.

The inaugural commercial crew test flight, Demo-1 mission, is uncrewed. However, Crew Dragon is carrying one lifeless -- but lifelike -- passenger, a dummy outfitted with a variety of sensors so scientists can measure the forces exerted on the body during the mission. SpaceX engineers dubbed the dummy Ripley, a nod to a character in the 1979 film Alien.

In addition to bringing Ripley safely back to Earth, Crew Dragon is tasked with returning some 350 pounds of gear and scientific experiments.

If all goes as planned -- as was the case with the first half of the mission -- SpaceX could conduct a crewed test flight as early as April.

NASA selected SpaceX and Boeing to design and build crew-carrying spacecraft to carry astronauts to and from the space station -- replacements for the Space Shuttle, which NASA retired in 2011.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2019/03/08/SpaceX-Crew-Dragon-splashes-into-Atlantic-completing-test-flights-return-leg/2141551986386/.

SpaceX Dragon's final test: making it to Earth in one piece

By Ivan Couronne
Washington (AFP)
March 8, 2019

Crew Dragon, the new vessel built by SpaceX for NASA is set to return Friday off the coast of Florida -- the most perilous part of a mission to prove it can take US astronauts to the International Space Station.

Dragon will undock from the ISS Friday at 0731 GMT. Five hours later, the capsule will leave Earth orbit and re-enter the atmosphere, testing its heat shield. Splashdown is expected at 8:45am Eastern Time (1345 GMT).

"I'd say hypersonic re-entry is probably my biggest concern," Elon Musk, the founder and head of SpaceX, said last Saturday following the capsule's launch from the Kennedy Space Center.

"Will the parachutes deploy correctly? And will the system guide Dragon 2 to the right location and splashdown safely?" he asked.

The mission has been hitch-free thus far. Dragon docked with the ISS Sunday without incident, and the space station's three current crew members were able to open the hatch and enter the capsule. They closed the airlock Thursday.

This time around, Dragon's own crew member is a dummy, named Ripley. But if all goes well, the next flight will see two US astronauts book a return trip to the ISS, sometime before the end of the year, according to NASA.

Its descent will be broadcast in its entirety by NASA and SpaceX, thanks in large part to a camera embedded in Dragon.

A NASA spokesman told AFP a drone would be on hand to try to film the capsule, which will be slowed by four parachutes as it falls.

Long lens cameras have also been loaded onto the salvage boat. SpaceX did not broadcast images of Dragon's interior during the flight up to the ISS.

- Like Apollo -

NASA and the administration of President Donald Trump have spent all week extolling the historic nature of the mission.

It represents the first private space mission to the ISS, as well as the first time a space vessel capable of carrying people was launched by the US in eight years.

Dragon also marks a return to a "vintage" format: it is the first US capsule since the pioneering Apollo program of the 1960s and 70s.

Capsules have no wings and fall to the earth, their descent slowed only by parachutes -- much like the Russian Soyuz craft, which land in the steppes of Kazakhstan.

The last generation of US spacecraft, the Space shuttles, landed like airplanes. Shuttles took American astronauts to space from 1981 to 2011, but their cost proved prohibitive, while two of the original four craft had catastrophic accidents, killing 14 crew members.

After the program was retired, the US government, under then president Barack Obama, turned toward SpaceX and Boeing to develop a new way to ferry its crews, paying the firms for their services.

Due to development delays, the switch has come to fruition only Trump.

For now, Russia will continue to be the only country taking humans to the ISS. NASA buys seats for its astronauts, who train with their cosmonaut counterparts.

Russia, for its part, has not seemed particularly enthused with the success of the Dragon flight.

While the space world was busy congratulating SpaceX and NASA last Saturday, Roskomos tweeted only the following day, praising the US space agency (not SpaceX) but insisting the "safety of flights should be irreproachable," a pointed reference to technical objections Russians had raised on Dragon's approach procedure towards the ISS.

But the space agencies themselves insist that cooperation remains excellent.

In the long run, said NASA's Johnson Space Center director Mark Geyer, US astronauts will continue to learn Russian, and vice versa.

"There'll be a Russian on our flights, and we'll still have an American on a Soyuz flight. That's mainly because we always want, in case there are issues with either system, that we have an integrated crew."

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/SpaceX_Dragons_final_test_making_it_to_Earth_in_one_piece_999.html.

U.S., Italian F-35As integrate for first time in Astral Knight exercise

by Ed Adamczyk
Washington (UPI)
Jun 7, 2019

The U.S. Air Force announced the completion of a large air-and-missile defense exercise, involving F-35A fighter planes, in Europe.

"Astral Knight 2019" was the first involvement of the planes in a large-scale multinational exercise. It focused on simulated defense of several key areas of terrain from cruise-missile and aircraft strikes. U.S. military forces worked closely with NATO coalition forces of Croatia, Italy and Slovenia at various locations across Europe, conducting operational and cyber scenarios.

The fifth-generation F-35A Lightning IIs and personnel were brought from Hill AFB, Utah, to Aviano Air Base, Italy, in May for exercises and to train with other Europe-based aircraft. The squadron includes the 388th and Reserve 419th and 421st Fighter Wings of the U.S. Air Force.

In a four-day exercise ending on Thursday, the Air Force flew eight sorties per day. For the first time, U.S. Air Force F-35As integrated operationally with Italian air force F-35As. They communicated with each other over the Multifunction Advanced Data Link, a system unique to the plane's platform.

"It's truly rewarding to see that we can leverage all the capabilities of the F-35A, which we have all been working toward," said Lt. Col. Brad Klemesrud, 421st Fighter Wing Squadron deputy commander. "In an exercise this large and complex, you get the opportunity to see how theory meets reality and put into practice what's only been on paper."

The exercise, deemed a success, also tested the capabilities of maintenance teams.

"This is the first overseas location that the 421st AMU's [Aircraft Mantenance Unit] F-35As has gone to," said MSgt. John Ott, 421st AMU F-35A expediter. "Our duties include daily servicing and inspections, as well as logistics and coordination control to receive support on our aircraft and maintainers 24/7."...

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/US_Italian_F-35As_integrate_for_first_time_in_Astral_Knight_exercise_999.html.

Hong Kong students issue government deadline over demands

June 19, 2019

HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong student group demanded Wednesday that the city completely scrap a politically charged extradition bill and agree to investigate police tactics against protesters before a Thursday deadline or face further street demonstrations.

Meanwhile, the Civil Human Rights Front, which organized massive marches on the past two Sundays, called for another protest on July 1, the anniversary of Hong Kong's handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

Since last Sunday's march on the government headquarters by an estimated 2 million people, the number of protesters in the area has dropped to just a few dozen. But Wednesday's developments are the latest indication that the largest and angriest protests in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory in years aren't over yet.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam has apologized for her handling of the extradition bill, which could be used to send suspects to mainland China for trial. She agreed to suspend debate, but has stopped short of scrapping the legislation, which critics say threatens the territory's judicial independence.

"We are not asking (Lam) to come out and apologize. We are asking for real action," Joey Siu from the City University Students Union said at a Wednesday news conference. The group is part of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, which represents student unions at several universities. It has demanded that the government scrap the extradition legislation, investigate police tactics at a protest last Wednesday, cease calling the incident a riot, and release those arrested and drop charges against them.

Those terms have emerged as a bottom line for the suspension of protests. Other groups are also calling for Lam to resign for pressing ahead with the extradition legislation and mishandling the response to the protests. Lam has refused to step down.

The student group gave the government until 5 p.m. Thursday to meet the demands, saying otherwise protests would begin again in earnest. Opponents of the extradition bill, who also include legal and business groups, say it puts critics of China's ruling Communist Party at risk of torture and unfair trials in the mainland and further chips away at the "one country, two systems" framework under which Hong Kong has been governed since 1997.

That guaranteed the territory the right to retain its own legal, economic and political system for 50 years, but the Communist Party under Chinese President Xi Jinping has been pushing ever-more aggressively to quiet independent voices in Hong Kong. Beijing has squelched all reporting on the protests in mainland media and accused foreign forces of stirring up disturbances in Hong Kong.

At a daily briefing Wednesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China was willing to communicate over the issues with foreign politicians. However, he added, "if anyone tries to interfere in China's internal affairs with preconceived bias and even malicious political motive, our attitude is very determined, that is we firmly oppose it."

Meanwhile, opposition lawmakers on Wednesday grilled the city's security secretary over allegations of police brutality. A motion of no-confidence over Lam's handling of the legislation was expected but was likely to be rejected or boycotted by pro-government legislators, most of whom did not attend the questioning session.

The opposition lawmakers wore black with white ribbons pinned to their lapels. They put white chrysanthemums, another symbol of mourning, on their desks, and observed a few moments of silence for a protester who died in a fall last weekend.

The debate, aired online in both Chinese and English, was a reminder of the divide between Hong Kong, where officials are held publicly accountable and dissent is expected, and the Communist-ruled mainland, where such open criticism is not tolerated.

Security Secretary John Lee rejected suggestions that he should resign to take responsibility for police use of aggressive tactics, including beatings with steel batons and heavy use of tear gas. He also defended the decisions made on the scene.

Some lawmakers questioned the criticism, saying the police were concerned about their own safety when faced with hostile protesters, some of whom hurled bricks and other debris. Pro-democracy lawmaker Gary Fan said police encircled some protesters without warning and fired four rounds of tear gas. The demonstrators "ran for their lives" into a building, Fan said.

"The people didn't have anywhere to escape from the scene," he said. "How can this be a minimal use of force?" Lee reiterated Lam's insistence that complaints against police would be handled through agencies established to deal with such issues.

Lam formally apologized Tuesday and said she was responsible for the extradition bill mess. The fact that she did not bow in apology was front-page news, with many in Hong Kong criticizing what they said was an apparent lack of contrition.

Lam has insisted the legislation is needed for Hong Kong to uphold justice and not become a magnet for fugitives. It would expand the scope of criminal suspect transfers to include mainland China, Taiwan and Macau.

Samson Yuen, a professor at Hong Kong's Lingnan University, said the extradition bill is like a "knife at the throat" for many in Hong Kong. "There's a lot of energy, emotion and passion and also anger," he said in an interview. "It's a total mobilization of society."

Associated Press journalists Alice Fung, Nadia Lam and Raf Wober in Hong Kong and Christopher Bodeen in Beijing contributed to this report.

Hong Kong protests fade as activists mull next steps

June 18, 2019

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong's leader planned to speak to the media Tuesday afternoon after protests over legislation that sparked fears of Beijing's increasing control in the former British colony. Government headquarters reopened in the morning as the number of protesters outside dwindled to a few dozen.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam previously had suspended work on the extradition bill that ignited the protests but still faces calls to resign for having sought to push through the legislation, which would allow some suspects to be tried in mainland Chinese courts.

She was scheduled to hold a news conference at 4 p.m. but it wasn't clear if she would take questions. Late Monday, Hong Kong's police commissioner, Stephen Lo Wai-chung, sought to defuse anger over aggressive police tactics during protests last week. He said only five of 15 people arrested during the clashes were charged with rioting, a serious offense that can result in a prison term of up to 10 years. Another 17 people were arrested on lesser charges.

Lo still defended as appropriate the police response to the protests, which included the use of tear gas, rubber bullets and steel batons against protesters who removed crowd control and traffic barriers.

Those tactics helped draw nearly 2 million people, young and old, into a march on Sunday, according to organizers' estimates. Protesters were demanding Lam scrap the extradition bill and authorities apologize for the police actions.

A member of the Executive Council, Lam's cabinet, told reporters that Hong Kong's leaders made a "big mistake" in not consulting the public before proposing the legislation. Lam Ching-choi said of Carrie Lam, "I believe she will communicate her apologies to the public in the near future."

The activists have rejected Lam's apologies for her handling of the legislation, which touched a nerve not easily soothed in a city anxious over the increasingly authoritarian Communist rule of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The uproar also highlights worries that Hong Kong is losing the special autonomous status China promised it when it took control in 1997. On June 9, as many as 1 million people demonstrated to express their concern over Hong Kong's relations with mainland China.

The scenes are similar to demonstrations in 2014, when protesters camped for weeks in the streets demanding a direct election to decide the city's chief executive, who is chosen by a pro-Beijing committee.

One concern over the extradition bill is that it might be used to send critics of Communist Party rule to the mainland to face vague political charges, possible torture and unfair trials. Lam insists the legislation is needed for Hong Kong to uphold justice and not become a magnet for fugitives. It would expand the scope of criminal suspect transfers to include Taiwan, Macau and mainland China.

So far, China has been excluded from Hong Kong's extradition agreements because of concerns over the judicial independence of its courts and its human rights record. The vast majority of Hong Kong residents fled persecution, political chaos or poverty and famine in the Chinese mainland. They value stability and but also cherish freedoms of dissent and legal protections not allowed for people on the mainland.

State media say Chinese President Xi to visit North Korea

June 17, 2019

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping will make a state visit to North Korea this week, state media announced Monday, as U.S. talks with North Korea on its nuclear program are at an apparent standstill.

Xi will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during the visit on Thursday and Friday, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said. It said the trip will be the first by a Chinese president in 14 years. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency also announced the visit, but provided no further details.

The visit coincides with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and North Korea, CCTV said. The broadcaster added the leaders will exchange views on the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

The visit comes as negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea appear to have reached an impasse. A summit in Vietnam in February between Kim and President Donald Trump failed after the U.S. rejected North Korea's request for extensive relief from U.N. sanctions in exchange for dismantling its main nuclear complex, a partial disarmament step. Since the summit's breakdown, no major contacts between the U.S. and North Korea have been announced.

Kim traveled to the Russian Far East in April for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The move was viewed as aimed at strengthening his leverage over Washington and persuading Moscow to loosen its implementation of the international sanctions against North Korea.

Last month, North Korea fired short-range missiles and other weapons into the sea in an apparent effort to apply pressure on the U.S. KCNA reported in April that Kim said he will give the U.S. "till the end of the year" to reach out with further proposals.

Since taking office in 2012, Xi has met with Kim four times in China. The meetings were timed in proximity to Kim's meetings with Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, highlighting Beijing's role as a key player in the nuclear standoff. Beijing has long advocated a "dual suspension" approach in which North Korea would halt its nuclear and missile activities while the U.S. and South Korea cease large-scale joint military exercises.

Chinese political scholar Zhang Lifan said the aim of Xi's trip is likely not to make any breakthroughs, but rather to remind other countries of China's unique position. Zhang said Beijing may be seeking to gain leverage ahead of a G-20 summit in Japan later this month and reassert itself as a global player amid growing concerns over its economy.

"North Korea is a card for China to play," Zhang said. "China may want to show off its relationship with North Korea and demonstrate its importance to U.S.-North Korean relations." South Korea's presidential office said it hopes Xi's visit to North Korea will contribute to a swift resumption of negotiations to resolve the nuclear standoff. It said it has been engaging in discussions with Beijing over the possibility of a visit by Xi, which it views as a positive development in efforts to peacefully resolve the peninsula's issues.

Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim and Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

Hong Kong police begin to clear streets of protesters

June 17, 2019

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police and protesters faced off Monday as authorities began trying to clear the streets of a few hundred who remained near the city government headquarters after massive demonstrations that stretched deep into the night before.

The police asked for cooperation in clearing the road but said the protesters could stay on the sidewalks. Protesters, many in masks and other gear to guard against possible use of tear gas, responded with chants, some kneeling in front of the officers. The move came after activists rejected an apology from the city's top leader for her handling of legislation that has stoked fears of expanding control from Beijing in this former British colony.

Groups of police, most in normal uniforms not riot gear, sought to clear the roads of metal and plastic barricades to enable traffic to pass through. In some places, the protesters quickly moved to put them back to block traffic.

Hundreds of protesters were sitting or lying along a main road through downtown, but they were scattered over a relatively wide area. Activists called on Hong Kong residents to boycott classes and work, though it was unclear how many might heed that call.

Nearly 2 million of the city's 7 million people turned out on Sunday, according to estimates by protest organizers. Police said 338,000 were counted on the designated protest route in the "peak period" of the march. A week earlier as many as 1 million people demonstrated to voice their concern over Hong Kong's relations with mainland China in one of the toughest tests of the territory's special status since Beijing took control in a 1997 handover.

The scenes were similar to those seen nearly five years earlier, when protesters camped for weeks in the streets to protest rules that prevented the direct election of the city's chief executive, the top local official.

One of the activists arrested after those demonstrations, Joshua Wong, was due to be released from prison Monday. He served half of a two-month jail sentence for contempt. After daybreak Monday, police announced that they want to clear the streets. Soon after, police lined up several officers deep and faced off against several hundred demonstrators on a street in central Hong Kong.

The night before, as protesters reached the march's end thousands gathered outside the city government headquarters and the office of Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who on Saturday suspended her effort to force passage of the bill.

Hong Kong residents worry that allowing some suspects to be sent for trial in mainland China would be another of many steps chipping away at Hong Kong's freedoms and legal autonomy. One concern is that the law might be used to send criminal suspects to China to potentially face vague political charges, possible torture and unfair trials.

The protesters are demanding that Lam scrap the proposal for good and that she step down. Protesters are also angered over the forceful tactics by police use of tear gas, rubber bullets and other forceful measures as demonstrators broke through barricades outside the city government's headquarters to quell unrest during demonstrations on Wednesday, and over Lam's decision to call the clashes a riot. That worsens the potential legal consequences for those involved.

In a statement issued late Sunday, Lam noted the demonstrations and said the government "understands that these views have been made out of love and care for Hong Kong." "The chief executive apologizes to the people of Hong Kong for this and pledges to adopt a most sincere and humble attitude to accept criticisms and make improvements in serving the public," it said.

Not enough, said the pro-democracy activists. "This is a total insult to and fooling the people who took to the street!" the Civil Human Rights Front said in a statement. Protesters have mainly focused their anger on Lam, who had little choice but to carry through dictates issued by Beijing, where President Xi Jinping has enforced increasingly authoritarian rule. But some were skeptical that having Lam step down would help.

"It doesn't really matter because the next one would be just as evil," said Kayley Fung, 27. Many here believe Hong Kong's legal autonomy has been significantly diminished despite Beijing's insistence that it is still honoring its promise, dubbed "one country, two systems," that the territory can retain its own social, legal and political system for 50 years after the handover in 1997.

After Lam announced she was suspending the legislation to avoid more violence and allow additional debate, Chinese government officials issued multiple statements backing that decision. Lam, however, made clear she was not withdrawing it.

She has sidestepped questions over whether she should quit and also defended how the police dealt with last week's clashes with demonstrators. Lam insists the extradition legislation is needed if Hong Kong is to uphold justice, meet its international obligations and not become a magnet for fugitives. The proposed bill would expand the scope of criminal suspect transfers to include Taiwan, Macau and mainland China.

So far, China has been excluded from Hong Kong's extradition agreements because of concerns over its judicial independence and human rights record. Prosecutions of activists, detentions without trial of five Hong Kong book publishers and the illegal seizure in Hong Kong by mainland agents of at least one mainland businessman are among moves in recent years that have unnerved many in the city of 7 million.

Associated Press journalists Tassanee Vejpongsa, Christopher Bodeen and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

Hong Kong leader fights for political life after bill fiasco

June 17, 2019

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam steadily climbed her way up bureaucratic ranks to capture the top position in the former British colony, relying on sheer intelligence, ambition, canny networking and an astute deference to authority.

Yet the ground has shifted considerably since she began her civil service career in the 1980s. On Saturday, she appeared to be fighting for her political life as she sought to explain her decision to push through unpopular legislation that would make it easier to extradite suspects to communist-ruled mainland China, which took control of the territory in a 1997 handover.

A key reason for Lam's vulnerability is that she was not directly elected by the territory's people, but rather ushered into office in 2017 by the vote of a 1,194-member committee dominated by pro-Beijing elites — despite being far less popular than her main rival.

She now finds herself caught between a public that never truly backed her, and leaders in Beijing who want her to push through unpopular measures seen to be eroding Western-style economic, social and cultural freedoms that Beijing promised to respect for at least 50 years after it took back control from Britain.

Lam, 62, has a reputation as an efficient and pragmatic administrator. But she was unpopular with Hong Kongers even before she took office because she was seen as a proxy for Beijing who was out of touch with ordinary people.

She said Saturday that she was shelving the extradition bill to avoid further social turmoil following a protest march that drew hundreds of thousands of people on June 9 and violent clashes on Wednesday where police used tear gas, rubber bullets and other tactics, angering the public further.

Lam's insistence that she had the full backing of China's central government in taking her decision likely rang as tone-deaf given skepticism over the communist leadership's motives, especially after a deadly crackdown on student-led pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square three decades ago.

"They understand, they have confidence in my judgment and they support me," Lam told reporters, while also saying the legislation was still needed. Hours later, Bonny Leung, a leader with a pro-democracy alliance, accused Lam of "ignorance and arrogance." She and other activists urged Hong Kong citizens to turn out en masse for a march Sunday to demand the full withdrawal of the extradition bill, an apology for the aggressive police tactics and Lam's resignation as chief executive.

Few anticipated that Lam would become embroiled in such friction when she took over from her predecessor Leung Chun-ying, a highly polarizing former policeman who stepped down as chief executive in 2017, citing family reasons.

Lam may eventually, after a face-saving interval, also end up stepping aside, analysts said. That would allow time for Beijing to decide upon a successor that the leadership considers both competent and politically reliable.

"They may not fire her immediately, but her chances for a second term are totally gone now and they may find a reason to let her go without losing much face because now she is hated by everybody in Hong Kong and her administration has become quite ungovernable," said Willy Lam, a veteran political observer.

Carrie Lam is Hong Kong's first female leader and its fourth since Britain ended its colonial rule in 1997. While the Chinese government in Beijing has condemned foreign criticism of the protests over the extradition bill as meddling in the country's internal affairs, they've largely remained aloof from the controversy in Hong Kong, preferring to let Lam take the heat or even make her a scapegoat, according to some analysts.

China's ambassador to Britain told the BBC the push to fast-track the extradition bill was entirely Lam's idea. Unlike many in the top ranks of Hong Kong's leadership, Lam comes from a humble background. She grew up in the downtown Wanchai district, the fourth of five children. She attended a Catholic girls school, the University of Hong Kong and later Cambridge University.

She is married to a mathematician and has two sons. They are British citizens, but Lam is not. Much of the unhappiness with Lam and her administration predates her appointment as chief executive. Protests in 2014 over rules Beijing imposed for choosing members of the election committee that helps select the chief executive paralyzed parts of the city for weeks.

The protests, dubbed the Umbrella Movement, highlighted Hong Kong aspirations for greater, rather than less democracy. On taking office, Lam pledged to focus on issues such as housing, education and health care. In pushing for the extradition bill, she ignited public frustrations over increasing control by Beijing.

In speaking to reporters on Saturday, Lam insisted she only wants what's good for Hong Kong. "We have not done a good enough job to convince the people of Hong Kong," she said. "Give us another chance."

Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong released from prison

June 17, 2019

HONG KONG (AP) — Joshua Wong, a leading figure in Hong Kong's 2014 Umbrella Movement demonstrations, was released from prison on Monday and vowed to soon join the latest round of protests. Wong's release from the Lai Chi Kok Correctional Facility came as student demonstrators and police were gathered near the city's government headquarters after a protest on Sunday that organizers said drew nearly 2 million people.

He told waiting journalists he needed a bit of time but, "No matter what happens, I will join the protest soon." Wong, 22, served a two-month sentence for contempt related to his involvement in the 2014 protests advocating a more democratic elections process in the former British colony.

Wong's sentence was reduced from three months because he was only a teenager when he was arrested. The young activist won an appeal of a separate conviction and six-month sentence for unlawful assembly and released after spending more than two months in prison in that case.

The mostly young protesters still gathered near the government headquarters began moving off of downtown streets Monday morning after hours of haggling with police. They were streaming into an outdoor space near the city's legislative chamber that had been closed off earlier in the morning. That enabled police to reopen roads that had been blocked since Sunday's protest.

The latest protests were set off by an extradition bill that would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trials. The legislation has been suspended, but the activists saw it as undermining legal rights and judicial independence.

Massive protests draw apology from Hong Kong leadership

June 16, 2019

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong citizens marched for hours Sunday in a massive protest that drew a late-in-the-day apology from the city's top leader for her handling of legislation that has stoked fears of expanding control from Beijing in this former British colony.

The demonstration looked likely to match in scale one a week earlier that brought as many as 1 million people out to express their concern over Hong Kong's relations with mainland China in one of the toughest tests of the territory's special status since China took control in a 1997 handover.

Well after dark, crowds gathered outside the police headquarters and Chief Executive Carrie Lam's office. On Saturday Lam suspended her effort to force passage of the bill, which would allow some suspects to be sent for trial in mainland China.

The move did not appease Hong Kong residents angered over the plan who see it as one of many steps chipping away at Hong Kong's freedoms and legal autonomy. Opponents worry the law could be used to send criminal suspects to China to potentially face vague political charges, possible torture and unfair trials.

Protesters are also angered over forceful tactics by police in quelling unrest at a June 12 demonstration. Periodically, the shouts of the protesters standing shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the police headquarters would crescendo in a roar that reverberated through the narrow concrete canyons of the red-light district of Wanchai.

Smaller crowds stood chanting outside Lam's office building. The statement issued late Sunday mentioned the demonstrations and said the government "understands that these views have been made out of love and care for Hong Kong."

"The chief executive apologized to the people of Hong Kong for this and pledged to adopt a most sincere and humble attitude to accept criticisms and make improvements in serving the public," it said. The marchers want Lam to scrap the extradition bill, which is supported by the communist leadership in Beijing, and to resign.

The crowds filled a wide thoroughfare and side streets paralleling the waterfront of Victoria Harbor as tourists and shoppers who drive much of the Asian financial hub's economy looked on. At the march's end, hundreds sat wearily around the city government headquarters. Some were singing. Some listening to speeches. Some just resting.

"Our demands are simple. Carrie Lam must leave office, the extradition law must be withdrawn and the police must apologize for using extreme violence against their own people," bank worker John Chow said as he marched with a group of his friends. "And we will continue."

Protesters have mainly focused their anger on Lam, who had little choice but to carry through dictates issued by Beijing, where President Xi Jinping has enforced increasingly authoritarian rule. Many here believe Hong Kong's legal autonomy has been significantly diminished despite Beijing's insistence that it is still honoring its promise, dubbed "one country, two systems," that the territory can retain its own social, legal and political system for 50 years after the handover.

The rally drew marchers both young and old, some pushing strollers or carrying slumbering infants. Few wore face masks or seemed to be trying to hide their identities, in contrast with demonstrations Wednesday, when participants expressed worries over possible retribution from the authorities.

Protesters also are angry over the way police used tear gas, rubber bullets and other forceful measures as demonstrators broke through barricades outside the city government's headquarters in that smaller but more aggressive protest.

The police presence Sunday was considerably more relaxed, with officers deployed mainly to direct traffic as the protesters wound their way through Hong Kong's commercial center from a sprawling downtown park to government headquarters.

Farther down the parade route, mourners lined up to lay flowers and pay respects at a makeshift memorial for a man who fell to his death Saturday after hanging a protest banner that read in part, "Make Love, No Shoot" and "No Extradition to China."

The man slipped from the grasp of rescuers after clinging for a time to scaffolding outside a shopping mall. He missed a large cushion set up to capture him, and was declared dead at a nearby hospital.

Many protesters wore ribbons on their shirts and carried placards showing protesters who had been beaten bloody last week. Pro-democracy activists were calling for a general strike on Monday despite Lam's decision to suspend work on the legislation. Some labor unions, teachers associations and other groups were planning boycotts of work and classes, demanding the Lam administration retire the proposed amendments and not bring them up again for passage at a later stage.

"We encourage all the public to carry on the campaign," said Bonnie Leung, a leader of the pro-democracy group Civil Human Rights Front. "If any new violence takes place, it will be the responsibility of the police."

The Communist Party-ruled mainland took control in 1997 with a promise not to interfere with the city's civil liberties and courts. Many in Hong Kong fear the extradition bill would undermine freedoms enjoyed here but not elsewhere in China.

"China just wants to turn Hong Kong into another Chinese city," said Alex To, 54, who runs a small business. "Carrie Lam is just a figurehead. Everything depends on the attitudes of the leaders in Beijing."

After Lam announced she was suspending the legislation to avoid more violence and allow additional debate, Chinese government officials issued multiple statements backing that decision. Lam, however, made clear she was not withdrawing it.

She has sidestepped questions over whether she should quit and also defended how the police dealt with last week's clashes with demonstrators. Lam maintains that the extradition legislation is needed if Hong Kong is to uphold justice, meet its international obligations and not become a magnet for fugitives. The proposed bill would expand the scope of criminal suspect transfers to include Taiwan, Macau and mainland China.

So far, China has been excluded from Hong Kong's extradition agreements because of concerns over its judicial independence and human rights record. Prosecutions of activists, detentions without trial of five Hong Kong book publishers and the illegal seizure in Hong Kong by mainland agents of at least one mainland businessman are among moves in recent years that have unnerved many in the city of 7 million.

Hong Kong protesters wary of Chinese surveillance technology

June 14, 2019

HONG KONG (AP) — Young Hong Kong residents protesting a proposed extradition law that would allow suspects to be sent to China for trial are seeking to safeguard their identities from potential retaliation by authorities employing mass data collection and sophisticated facial recognition technology.

Agnes, a second-year college student who declined to give her surname, said she donned a face mask as soon as she left a subway train in the downtown Admiralty district to join Wednesday's overnight protest by pro-democracy demonstrators.

"Everybody coming out is wearing masks because you don't know what people will do with the information," Agnes said as friends nodded in agreement. None of them would give their names, saying they worried about how school authorities would react if Hong Kong or China's central government asked for information about them.

To further protect their privacy, the group was buying single-trip train tickets with cash rather than using their stored-value electronic cash cards that forward information on travel and locations to a central repository.

The semi-autonomous Chinese territory has installed thousands of security cameras but the data is mostly kept private. In mainland China, the government openly uses the technology to track down people considered politically unreliable, particularly among Muslim Uighurs, Tibetans and other minority groups.

In addition to closed-circuit television cameras spaced throughout the city, dozens of television stations and other news outlets have been broadcasting and publishing images of protesters. Attitudes among younger Hong Kong residents such as Agnes reflect a growing sophistication among government critics since massive 2014 protests that shut down much of the downtown area in a demand for universal suffrage but ultimately fizzled without achieving their goals. Since then, the government has sentenced many of the leaders of what has become known as "Occupy Central" or the "Umbrella Movement" to prison on vague charges of causing public disturbances or inciting other people to do so.

Hong Kong police officials on Thursday said they made 11 arrests among Wednesday's protesters and defended their right to track down those who had been sent to hospitals for treatment of injuries. Chinese authorities were recently discovered to be maintaining real-time data on more than 2.5 million people in western China, updated constantly with GPS coordinates of their precise whereabouts. Alongside their names, birthdates and places of employment, there were notes on the places that they had most recently visited, including mosques, hotels and restaurants.

The database appeared to have been recording people's movements tracked by facial recognition technology, logging more than 6.7 million coordinates in a span of 24 hours. It illustrated how far China has taken facial recognition and served as a reminder of how easily technology companies can leave supposedly private records exposed to global snoopers.

Chinese authorities have also begun deploying a new surveillance tool that uses people's body shapes and how they walk to identify them, even when their faces are hidden from cameras. Already used by police on the streets of Beijing and Shanghai, "gait recognition" is part of a push across China to develop artificial intelligence and data-driven surveillance that is raising concern about how far the technology will go.

Older protesters professed less concern about being caught on video at Wednesday's demonstration, saying they were already secure in their lives and careers. "I don't give it too much thought," said Andy Lau, an engineering professor at a Hong Kong polytechnic who was passing out leaflets calling for an end to police attacks and the resignation of the current Hong Kong government amid a crowd of protesters on a pedestrian bridge opposite the Legislative Council.

However, Lau said younger protesters were well advised to guard their identities and personal data if they want to join the demonstrations. "It's not just a problem after you cross the border into China. Even here in Hong Kong the police or school leaders can come tracking you down and knocking on your door at night," Lau said.

Hundreds detained in Moscow protest over journalist's case

June 12, 2019

MOSCOW (AP) — Hundreds of people were detained Wednesday as they marched in the Russian capital to protest what they called police fabrications in the wake of the arrest of an investigative journalist on drug charges that later were dropped when the government admitted there was no evidence he committed a crime.

The mass arrests at the unauthorized rally provided a harsh coda to the elation of journalists and other supporters of Ivan Golunov a day after Russia's interior minister announced the unprecedented move to drop the charges and seek punishment for the police officers involved.

"We should not stand down, even if Ivan is free. There are a number of other people in his situation in this country," said Maxim Reznik, a member of the St. Petersburg City Council who attended a smaller demonstration in that city.

Police said more than 200 were detained in the Moscow demonstration, but the OVD-Info organization that monitors political arrests put the figure at more than 400. The Interior Ministry said about 1,200 people took part in the Moscow demonstration, and those arrested faced charges that could bring up to 20 days in jail, state news agency Tass reported. Among them was Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most prominent foe.

Golunov, a reporter for the website Meduza, was arrested June 6 for allegedly dealing synthetic stimulants. Many believed he was set up as retaliation for his reporting on Moscow City Hall and the city's crime-ridden funeral industry.

Information quickly surfaced indicating Moscow police acted based on falsified evidence and sham allegations. In announcing Golunov's arrest, police posted photos of drugs allegedly taken in the journalist's apartment, but then admitted the images came from another case. Defense lawyers said his fingerprints weren't on any of the drug packets allegedly found in his apartment.

An outcry over his arrest intensified quickly, apparently catching authorities by surprise. Objections to Golunov's treatment were reported in unusual detail by Russian state media that generally hew closely to official versions.

Three of Russia's most respected newspapers published near-identical front pages Monday reading "I/we am/are Ivan Golunov." Even the powerful speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament expressed concern about the case.

Russian human rights activists have often complained to little effect of fabricated criminal cases against opposition figures and those who raise inconvenient questions about sometimes-shady businesses.

While the unusual prominence of Golunov's case could be seen as a watershed in drawing attention to the issue, observers also said it was only the beginning of a long struggle to hold authorities accountable.

"The case against Golunov is actually over. But the case against the system in which such lawlessness became possible is just beginning," Maria Zheleznova, opinion editor of the newspaper Vedomosti, wrote in a piece published Wednesday.

However, the police action at the Moscow demonstration showed that authorities intend to keep tight control over public protest. Opposition groups are routinely denied permission to hold rallies or sometimes given permission for gatherings at undesirable times or low-visibility locations.

Authorities had said the pro-Golunov demonstrators could hold a rally on Sunday, but protesters believed a delay could have sapped a sense of momentum.

Associated Press writer Irina Titova in St. Petersburg contributed.

Iran unveils homegrown surface-to-air missile defense system

by Allen Cone
Washington (UPI)
Jun 11, 2019

Iran formally delivered a new new surface-to-air missile system, called Khordad 15th, to the Air Defense Force of its army in a ceremony in Tehran.

Built in Iran, the system -- named after the third month of the Iranian calendar -- is capable of detecting six targets within a range of 93 miles at a maximum height of 17 miles and hit them in a range of 75 miles, Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami said Sunday in a report by the semi-official Mehr News Agency.

Stealth jets can be targeted at 53 miles and hit within 28 miles, Mehr reported. Other targets include reconnaissance aircraft, bombers and tactical warplanes.

"It can also be prepared for operation in less than five minute," Hatami said.

The system uses the homegrown Sayyad-3 missile, and is equipped with a phased array radar and independent launch pads.

"Iran will increase its military capabilities to protect its national security and interests, and it will not ask permission from anyone on this matter," Hatami said at the unveiling.

In February, the country successfully tested the Hoveizeh long-range cruise missile at a range of around 800 miles, including the capability of reaching Israel.

Later in the month, a midget Ghadir-class submarine fired an anti-ship cruise missile for the first time.

Before Sunday's ceremony, Iran's foreign minister urged European countries to uphold commitments under the 2015 nuclear accord.

Mohammad Javad Zarif criticized European and Western policies as having "only caused damage in the region." He said "Europeans are not in a position to criticize Iran for issues outside the JCPOA," referring to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal.

"Now some countries like Germany have stopped selling arms to Saudi Arabia for bombarding the people of Yemen, some other countries haven't done so," he added. "In general, the West has allowed the autocratic regimes in our region to commit crimes."

In early May, Europe and China were given a 60-day deadline for Iran to resume enriching uranium to a higher degree than permitted by the accord if they challenge the U.S. position. Last, year, U.S. President Donald Trump ended the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions.

The United States also last month deployed the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to the Persian Gulf last month, as well as B-52 bombers and an additional 1,500 troops, to counter imminent concerns about Iranian action.

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told a Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee last month there was a "very, very credible" intelligence that Iran was preparing to attack U.S. forces or interests in the region.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Iran_unveils_homegrown_surface-to-air_missile_defense_system_999.html.