US Senate votes to block Saudi arms sales, UK suspends licenses

By Michael Mathes, with Dmitry Zaks in London
Washington (AFP)
June 20, 2019

Saudi Arabia's controversial military campaign in Yemen suffered a double blow Thursday as US lawmakers voted to block President Donald Trump's arms sales to Riyadh hours after Britain temporarily suspended similar sales.

In Washington, the Senate voted to prevent $8.1 billion in US arms in a symbolic bipartisan rebuke to the president and his close ties with the kingdom.

A handful of Republicans joined Democrats in voting against 22 separate sales of aircraft support maintenance, precision-guided munitions and other weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan at a moment of heightened tensions in the Middle East.

The votes were only assured this week when Republican leadership agreed to hold the sensitive roll calls on the arms sales, which critics say will aggravate the devastating war in Yemen.

Trump's administration took the extraordinary step of bypassing Congress to approve the sales in May, declaring Iran to be a "fundamental threat" to regional stability.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had said the administration was responding to an emergency caused by Saudi Arabia's historic rival Iran, which backs the Huthi rebels in Yemen.

But critics in the United States and Britain have expressed concern about the devastating toll that the four-year Saudi bombing campaign in neighboring Yemen has taken on civilians.

"When they target civilians how can we continue to sell those arms?" Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, author of the resolutions, said Thursday.

The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives and triggered what the United Nations describes as the world's worst existing humanitarian crisis.

Britain's temporary sales suspension was announced by International Trade Secretary Liam Fox after a British court ordered the government to "reconsider" the sales due to their toll on non-combatants.

"We disagree with the judgement and will seek permission to appeal," Fox said in a statement delivered in parliament, adding authorities "will not grant any new licenses to Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners which might be used in the conflict in Yemen."

Government figures analyzed by CAAT show that Britain, which accounts for 23 percent of arms imports to Saudi Arabia, has licensed nearly 5 billion pounds ($6.4 billion, 5.6 billion euros) in weapons to the kingdom since its Yemen campaign began in 2015.

Germany halted all arms sales to Saudi Arabia in response to Saudi opposition columnist Jamal Khashoggi's 2018 killing and called on other EU governments to follow suit.

- 'Resolve or weakness' -

The process in Washington, traditionally a major provider of weaponry to the kingdom, is more protracted.

The measures, which passed with votes of 53-45 and 51-45, now go to the Democratic-led House of Representatives, where they are expected to win approval and then head to the president's desk.

Trump is likely to veto them, and it will remain an uphill climb for Congress to come up with a two-thirds vote to override a veto.

Some of the president's allies in Congress are outraged by Saudi Arabia's behavior.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he hoped his vote to block the sales would "send a signal to Saudi Arabia that if you act the way you're acting, there is no space for a strategic relationship."

Khashoggi's murder in Turkey by Saudi agents triggered a full-blown crisis in Riyadh's relations with the West.

"There is no amount of oil that you can produce that will get me and others to give you a pass on chopping somebody up in a consulate," Graham said.

Senator Tom Cotton, a hawk who backs Trump's policies in the Gulf, warned colleagues that Tehran would be watching the Saudi arms sales votes "for signs of resolve or weakness" by Washington.

Congress rebuked Trump in March with a historic resolution curtailing the president's war-making powers and ending American support for the Saudi-led coalition.

Trump vetoed the measure in April.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_Senate_votes_to_block_Saudi_arms_sales_UK_suspends_licenses_999.html.

U.S. considers sanctions on Turkey over plans to buy Russian air defense system

by Ed Adamczyk
Washington DC (UPI)
Jun 20, 2019

The United States is considering economic and military sanctions against Turkey if it proceeds with buying a Russian air defense system, officials said.

At issue is a plan by Turkey, a NATO member, to purchase the S-400 surface-to-air missile defense system. On Friday the Pentagon announced it would remove Turkey from participation in manufacturing elements of the F-35 Lightning II fighter plane by moving industrial operations to other countries. Turkey is one of nine countries in which parts of the plane are made. Turkish companies currently manufacture 937 of the plane's parts, largely in the landing gear and the main body.

Receipt of the Russian defense system would also mean that no new F-35s would enter service in the Turkish military, and Turkish pilots would no longer have access to training. U.S. officials fear that the S-400 system, which is not compatible with NATO systems, will allow Russia to gather closely guarded data on the F-35.

"As we have very clearly communicated at all levels, Turkey will not receive the F-35 if Turkey takes delivery of the S-400 system. Thus, we need to begin unwinding Turkey's participation in the F-35 program," Ellen Lord, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said Friday. She added that Turkish involvement would end by 2020 in a "very disciplined and graceful wind-down. We want to have a process that is not disruptive to the program and allows the Turks to wind down their activities, as well. We do not want to have the F-35 in close proximity to the S-400 over a period of time because of the ability to understand the profile of the F-35."

The White House is considering hindering the Turkish economy through sanctions, unnamed officials familiar with the matter said. Representatives of the National Security Council, the State Department and the Treasury Department are currently involved in discussions.

Several Turkish defense companies could be targeted with sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which penalizes entities involved in business with Russia. The sanctions would have the effect of removing those companies from the U.S. financial system by severely reducing their ability to buy U.S. components or sell their products in the United States.

The already-battered Turkish lira was trading 0.6 percent weaker against the U.S. dollar in Istanbul at noon on Wednesday, after falling as much 1.5 percent. The currency lost 30 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar in 2018, and another 11 percent thus far in 2019. Bonds and stocks fell on Wednesday, with the yield on 10-year government debt jumping 38 basis points to 18 percent. The benchmark Borsa Istanbul 100 Index was headed for it first downturn in four days.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_considers_sanctions_on_Turkey_over_plans_to_buy_Russian_air_defense_system_999.html.

S. Korea, Russia differ over warning shots fired at jets

July 23, 2019

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean air force jets fired 360 rounds of warning shots Tuesday after a Russian military plane twice violated South Korea's airspace off the country's eastern coast, Seoul officials said in an announcement that was quickly disputed by Russia.

South Korea said three Russian military planes — two Tu-95 bombers and one A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft — entered the South's air defense identification zone off its east coast before the A-50 intruded in South Korean airspace. Russia said later that two of its Tu-95MS bombers were on a routine flight over neutral waters and didn't enter South Korean territory.

South Korea said it was the first time a foreign military plane had violated its airspace since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. According to South Korean accounts, an unspecified number of South Korean fighter jets, including F-16s, scrambled to the area and fired 10 flares and 80 rounds from machine guns as warning shots.

Seoul defense officials said the Russian reconnaissance aircraft left the area three minutes later but later returned and violated South Korean airspace again for four minutes. The officials said the South Korean fighter jets then fired another 10 flares and 280 rounds from machine guns as warning shots.

But the commander of Russia's long-range aviation forces denied both that the planes had violated South Korean airspace and that shots were fired. "If the Russian pilots had identified such a threat to themselves, they would have immediately given an appropriate response," Lt. Gen. Sergei Kobylash said, according to Russian news agencies.

He said South Korean military planes escorted the Russian planes over neutral waters, which he called "aerial hooliganism." South Korea's presidential national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, told top Russian security official Nikolai Patrushev that South Korea views Russia's airspace violation "very seriously" and will take "much stronger" measures if a similar incident occurs, according to South Korea's presidential office.

Pavel Felgenhauer, an independent Russian military analyst, told The Associated Press he believed the incursion could have been a navigation mistake. He also suggested the incident would not have serious consequences because "South Korea right now is not very interested in pressing this into a kind of long-term worsening of relations."

The former Soviet Union supported North Korea and provided the country with weapons during the Korean War, which killed millions. In 1983, a Soviet air force fighter jet fired an air-to-air missile at a South Korean passenger plane that strayed into Soviet territory, killing all 269 people on board. Relations between Seoul and Moscow gradually improved, and they established diplomatic ties in 1990, a year before the breakup of the Soviet Union.

The airspace that South Korea says the Russian warplane violated is above a group of South Korean-held islets roughly halfway between South Korea and Japan that have been a source of territorial disputes between the two Asian countries. Russia isn't part of those disputes.

Japan, which claims ownership over the islets, protested to South Korea for firing warning shots over Japanese airspace. South Korea later countered that it cannot accept the Japanese statement, repeating that the islets are South Korean territory. Japan also protested to Russia for allegedly violating Japanese airspace.

South Korea said the three Russian planes entered the South Korean air defense identification zone with two Chinese bombers. South Korea said the Chinese planes didn't intrude upon South Korean airspace.

The Russian statement accused South Korean aircraft of trying to hamper the flights of Russian jets before "a vague missile defense identification area" that it said South Korea unilaterally defined. Russia said it had raised its concerns about the zone before.

Before their reported joint flights with the Russian planes, the Chinese warplanes entered South Korea's air defense identification zone off its southwest coast earlier Tuesday, South Korea's Defense Ministry said. Seoul says Chinese planes have occasionally entered South Korea's air defense identification zone in recent years.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry and Joint Chiefs of Staff registered their official protests with Beijing when they summoned China's ambassador and defense attache. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she was not clear about the situation but noted that the air defense identification zone is not territorial airspace and others are entitled to fly through it.

She took issue with a reporter's use of the word "violation" to ask about China's reported activity in South Korea's air defense identification zone. "I feel that given China and South Korea are friendly neighbors, you should be careful when using it, because we are not clear about the situation," she said.

Associated Press writers Jim Heintz and Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

S. Korea, Japan fail to resolve growing trade dispute

July 13, 2019

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea and Japan on Friday failed to immediately resolve their dispute over Japanese export restrictions that could hurt South Korean technology companies, as Seoul called for an investigation by the United Nations or another international body.

Tokyo last week tightened the approval process for shipments of photoresists and other sensitive materials to South Korea, saying they can be exported only to trustworthy trading partners. The move, which could affect South Korean manufacturers of semiconductors and display screens used in TVs and smartphones, has triggered a full-blown diplomatic dispute and further soured relations long troubled over Japan's brutal colonial rule of Korea before the end of World War II.

At their first meeting in Tokyo since the crisis erupted, Japanese officials told their South Korean counterparts that Tokyo saw weaknesses in Seoul's export controls. They said that the trade curbs were not retaliation for South Korean court rulings that ordered Japanese firms to compensate aging South Korean plaintiffs for forced labor during World War II, according to a Japanese trade ministry official.

Lee Ho-hyeon, an official from South Korea's trade ministry, said Japanese officials cited inadequate bilateral discussions as a reason why their government tightened controls on high-tech exports to South Korea, but didn't clearly say whether Tokyo believes Seoul may have illegally transferred sensitive materials to North Korea.

Lee said South Korean officials countered by saying that Seoul has a stronger export control system than Tokyo's. The Japanese officials also reiterated that they won't negotiate over the trade curbs and said, without specifying, that there have been "inappropriate" cases regarding Japanese exports to South Korea. When pressed by South Korean officials, the Japanese said the cases were unrelated to illegal shipments to a third country but refused to provide details, Lee said.

He said South Korean officials protested that Japan was providing only "very abstract" reasons for its stricter export controls. "The positions still differ (between the two sides)," Lee said. "We did not see any willingness by Japan to change its measures from this meeting."

The meeting started in an icy atmosphere, with officials skipping handshakes and staring at each other across the table in silence for several minutes, and continued for nearly six hours. Kim You-geun, deputy director of South Korea's presidential national security office, said South Korea has been thoroughly implementing U.N. sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear weapons program. He demanded that Japan provide evidence for claims made by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his conservative aides that there may have been illegal transfers of sensitive materials from South Korea to North Korea.

Kim said his government proposes Japan accept an inquiry by the U.N. or another body over the export controls of both countries to end "needless arguments" and to clearly prove whether the Japanese claims are true or not.

He said South Korea has been imposing stringent export controls on arms and sensitive materials that can be used for both civilian and military purposes as a signatory of major international pacts that govern such transactions.

"If the result of the investigation reveals that our government did something wrong, our government will apologize for it and immediately apply measures to correct it," said Kim, reading a prepared statement on live TV.

"If the result shows that our government has done nothing wrong, the Japanese government should not only apologize but also immediately withdraw the exports restrictions that have the characteristics of a (political) retaliation. There also should be a thorough investigation on (any) Japanese violation," he said.

South Korea plans to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization. Its trade minister on Tuesday said an "emergency inspection" of companies that process and export the chemicals imported from Japan found no sign of illegal transactions allowing them to reach North Korea or any other country affected by United Nations sanctions.

In Washington, Kim Hyun-chong, another South Korean presidential official, was meeting with officials from the White House and Congress as Seoul sought U.S. help to end its diplomatic row with Japan. Kim Hee-sang, a South Korean Foreign Ministry official, also held talks with State Department officials in Washington.

"The U.S. side has showed a good understanding about (the issue) and expressed a desire to provide active support to resolve the problem as South Korea, the United States and Japan should work together and cooperate in the Asia-Pacific," Kim Hyun-chong told South Korean reporters after a meeting with U.S. congressional officials.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that its minister, Kang Kyung-wha, discussed the issue with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who Seoul said expressed an "understanding" of the South Korean position and agreed to facilitate communication through diplomatic channels between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo.

Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo.

Ties to China shape cautious reaction to Hong Kong protests

August 22, 2019

For Canada and the European Union, they are a "situation." For President Donald Trump, a potential stumbling block in ongoing trade disputes. And for South Korea, an issue to be monitored. With the notable exception of Taiwan, cautious comments from the few governments willing to speak out on the ongoing protests in Hong Kong fall far short of support for the demonstrators. They are so mild that even the word "protest" itself was left out of the joint EU-Canada statement that was the most recent to infuriate the Chinese government. And the vast majority of countries are unwilling to risk that fury at all.

China's weapon is also its greatest lure: a population of nearly 1.4 billion. Otherwise known as the world's largest market, to be opened or closed at will. China has also become a major builder of roads, ports, power plants and other infrastructure in developing countries.

"It's really an anodyne statement," Theresa Fallon, a researcher on EU-Asia relations, said of the one released by the EU and Canada. "Of course the Chinese knew that these statements would be made, but they cracked down right away. They have zero tolerance for that. ... Everyone is afraid to be punished by China."

UNITED STATES, CANADA and EUROPE

In the early days of the protests, Trump described them as an internal matter. Then he suggested that Chinese President Xi Jinping could resolve the situation by meeting with protest leaders.

On Sunday, he went a step further and said the use of Chinese troops to quell the demonstrations would worsen the current U.S.-China trade dispute, referring to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

"I mean if it's another Tiananmen Square, I think it's a very hard thing to do if there is violence," Trump told reporters in New Jersey.

He and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke about the protests last week, according to Trudeau's office. The Canadian leader has been among the most outspoken on the protest movement. He said the 300,000 Canadians in Hong Kong represent the region's largest contingent of foreigners.

"We are going to continue to call upon the Chinese government to respect the 'one country, two systems' agreement that they have long abided by," he said earlier this week.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang avoided commenting on Trump's remarks directly, but referred to the president's previous statements on the protests.

"We have noticed that President Trump has previously stated that Hong Kong is part of China, and that they must solve it themselves and do not need advice. We hope that the U.S. side can match its acts to its words," Geng told reporters.

The European Union joined with Canada in a statement Saturday.

"It is crucial that restraint be exercised, violence rejected and urgent steps taken to de-escalate the situation. Engagement in a process of broad-based and inclusive dialogue, involving all key stakeholders, is essential."

KOREAS: NORTH vs. SOUTH

South Korea has avoided criticizing China, its largest trading partner and a country believed to have significant leverage over rival North Korea.

"Our government is monitoring the latest moves in Hong Kong with interest and we hope this issue will be settled smoothly," the Foreign Ministry said in response to a question from The Associated Press.

South Korea is currently preoccupied with stalled negotiations on how to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons and trade disputes with Japan, and that could make Seoul even more reticent.

Choi Kang, vice president of Seoul's Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said even if there's a Chinese crackdown in Hong Kong, South Korea would likely end up expressing little more than "regrets" or "hopes for an early, peaceful resolution."

As for North Korea, the country's propaganda outlets have accused the United States and other Western countries of using the Hong Kong case as a chance to slander China and interfere in its domestic affairs.

"To take measure for internal affairs belongs to the sovereignty of relevant country," the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary last week. "But the Western forces are obtrusively interfering in China's internal affair to add fuel to the reckless moves of the dishonest elements, saying this or that."

It didn't directly refer to the United States but an earlier Rodong Sinmun commentary said that "the Western countries including the U.S. are using (the Hong Kong issue) as a golden opportunity to defame China while raising the level of threat and blackmail against China."

North Korea has long bristled at any outside criticism of its own human rights conditions as a U.S.-led attempt to bring down its political system.

A Foreign Ministry statement on Aug. 11 said that "we fully support the stand and measures of the Chinese party and government for defending the sovereignty, security and reunification of the country and safeguarding the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong."

SOUTHEAST ASIA

Southeast Asian countries generally have little need or desire to take a public stand on the Hong Kong protests.

Many try to strike a balance between Beijing and Washington, moving toward the Chinese end of the scale in recent years as China has projected its influence more vigorously. The poorer members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations — Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar —have become reliant on Beijing's economic largesse, and virtually all have embraced China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative to help expand their infrastructure, though often with reservations and in the case of the more developed nations, with some hard bargaining.

At the same time, several nations have publicly complained of China's efforts at expanding its influence, especially its ambitious territorial claims over the South China Sea at the expanse of Beijing's smaller neighbors.

AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND

The leaders of both Australia and New Zealand have been measured in their comments.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison disagreed last week that the protests were beginning to show the "sprouts of terrorism," as a Chinese official said, but he didn't criticize the statement directly.

"My view is one to seek to de-escalate things, to encourage the chief executive of Hong Kong to be listening carefully to what people are saying in Hong Kong and work toward a peaceful and calm resolution of what is a very serious issue," he said.

Australia warned China against interfering in related demonstrations in Australia after a Chinese diplomat praised Chinese students who clashed with supporters of the protests in Brisbane.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern denied she was constrained in what she could say about China, and said her country's stand on the protest movement has been consistent. China is a key export market for New Zealand and has overtaken Australia as New Zealand's largest trading partner. The agricultural-driven economy of New Zealand relies on selling billions of dollars' worth of milk powder to China, which is used in infant formula.

"De-escalation, peaceful dialogue on all sides, and, of course, a restoration of the 'One China but two systems' philosophy that has been in place for a significant period."

BRITAIN

Britain handed Hong Kong over to Chinese rule in 1997, but 156 years as a colony left a mark.

Its last governor, Chris Patten, called for the government to be "outspoken" in defending the city's freedom.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has previously described Britain as open for business from China and is now embroiled in Brexit, has been uncharacteristically silent on the protests. But his foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, "condemned violent acts by all sides but emphasized the right to peaceful protest, noting that hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong people had chosen this route to express their views."

China said Wednesday a staffer at the British Consulate in Hong Kong, who was earlier reported missing while on a trip to the mainland, has been given 15 days of administrative detention in the city of Shenzhen for violating a law on public order. The British Foreign Office has said it is "extremely concerned" about his situation.

TAIWAN

In Taiwan, support for the protests has been widespread, including among young Hong Kongers studying in the self-ruling democracy that China claims as its own territory.

On Saturday, a student group called "Hong Kong Outlanders" organized flash mobs, street film screenings and sit-ins in more than half a dozen cities, including in front of Taipei's famous Taipei 101 skyscraper that is a frequent destination for Chinese visitors. Support groups have also collected hardhats and set up public outdoor galleries of protest art known as Lennon Walls.

"We understand that the leaders cannot speak up for Hong Kong because of the financial situation. It's politics and money," said Dora, a Hong Kong native living in Taiwan, who only gave her first name for fear of reprisal. "But we're still reaching out for support and help from people of different countries to do whatever they can to help us."

Public opinion surveys show generally strong but not overwhelming public support for the government's backing of the protests, perhaps reflecting a general unwillingness for Taiwan to be identified with Hong Kong's situation.

Though Taiwan was a Japanese colony for 50 years until 1945, Taiwanese are swift to point out that they have been a de-facto independent state since Chiang Kai-shek relocated his Nationalist government there in 1949, rather than a British colony or a special administrative region governed by Beijing.

Perhaps more than anything, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen says and many believe the protests show China's "one country, two systems" framework that Beijing also proposes imposing on Taiwan simply cannot work.

Tsai has expressed her personal support for the protests and said the island would consider taking in Hong Kong residents seeking asylum, something that drew an angry rebuke from Beijing on Monday. Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Chinese Cabinet's Taiwan Affairs Office, said Taiwan's offer would "cover up the crimes of a small group of violent militants" and encourage their "audacity in harming Hong Kong and turn Taiwan into a "heaven for ducking the law."

Ma demanded that Taiwan's government "cease undermining the rule of law" in Hong Kong, cease interfering in its affairs and not "condone criminals."

Associated Press writers Jim Gomez and Kiko Rosario in Manila, Philippines, Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, Christopher Bodeen in Beijing, Nick Perry in Wellington, New Zealand, and Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report.

Hong Kong arrests men with gang links over mob attack

July 23, 2019

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police say they've arrested six men, some with links to triad gangs, following a violent attack on pro-democracy protesters at a subway station over the weekend that saw dozens injured.

Senior police official Chan Tin-chu said the men, aged 24-54, were held for "unlawful assembly" and are being investigated for taking part in the attack late Sunday night. Some of them are villagers, and their occupations range from drivers and hawkers to renovation workers, he said.

"Some of them have triad backgrounds," he said. "I believe that more ... will be detained soon. Police will not condone any form of violence." Police are still investigating the motive for the attack, Chan said, without providing further details on the alleged links to the triads, which refer to powerful organized crime syndicates in Hong Kong. The triads control certain neighborhoods in the city and are believed to have strong political influence.

A gang of white-clad men armed with metal rods and wooden poles beat up anti-government protesters and others inside a subway station in Hong Kong's Yuen Long neighborhood late Sunday, injuring 45 people, including a man who remained in critical condition.

More than 100,000 people took part in the latest rally in the city earlier that day to demand democracy and an investigation into the use of force by police to disperse crowds at the summer-long protests. Some protesters on Sunday directed their ire at China, pelting its office in Hong Kong with eggs, spray-painting a wall and defacing the Chinese national emblem.

As demonstrators made their way home, the white-clad men descended on a group of them at the subway station. Videos showed them charging into the trains and beating up people who tried to defend themselves with umbrellas.

Police have come under fire for being slow to respond to the violence against the protesters. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has said police were stretched thin due to the massive crowds and denied accusations that her government colluded with the assailants.

The assault escalated a crisis that had thrown the former British colony into turmoil after millions of people took to the streets in waves of protest against an extradition bill that would send suspects for trial in China. Critics see it as rising Chinese influence and fear it will chip away at Hong Kong's freedoms promised under a "one country, two system" formula since it returned to China in 1997.

More protests have been planned, but the latest violence has fueled fears that China's People's Liberation Army may intervene.

New UN warming report sees hungry future that can be avoided

August 08, 2019

WASHINGTON (AP) — On the ground, climate change is hitting us where it counts: the stomach — not to mention the forests, plants and animals. A new United Nations scientific report examines how global warming and land interact in a vicious cycle. Human-caused climate change is dramatically degrading the land, while the way people use the land is making global warming worse.

Thursday's science-laden report says the combination is already making food more expensive, scarcer and even less nutritious. "The cycle is accelerating," said NASA climate scientist Cynthia Rosenzweig, a report co-author. "The threat of climate change affecting people's food on their dinner table is increasing."

But if people change the way they eat, grow food and manage forests, it could help save the planet from a far warmer future, scientists said Earth's land masses, which are only 30% of the globe, are warming twice as fast as the planet as a whole. While heat-trapping gases are causing problems in the atmosphere, the land has been less talked about as part of climate change. A special report, written by more than 100 scientists and unanimously approved by diplomats from nations around the world at a meeting in Geneva, proposed possible fixes and made more dire warnings.

"The way we use land is both part of the problem and also part of the solution," said Valerie Masson-Delmotte, a French climate scientist who co-chairs one of the panel's working groups. "Sustainable land management can help secure a future that is comfortable."

Scientists in Thursday's press conference emphasized both the seriousness of the problem and the need to make societal changes soon. "We don't want a message of despair," said science panel official Jim Skea, a professor at Imperial College London. "We want to get across the message that every action makes a difference"

The report said climate change already has worsened land degradation, caused deserts to grow, permafrost to thaw and made forests more vulnerable to drought, fire, pests and disease. That's happened even as much of the globe has gotten greener because of extra carbon dioxide in the air. Climate change has also added to other forces that have reduced the number of species on Earth.

"Climate change is really slamming the land," said World Resources Institute researcher Kelly Levin, who wasn't part of the study but praised it. And the future could be worse. "The stability of food supply is projected to decrease as the magnitude and frequency of extreme weather events that disrupt food chains increases," the report said.

In the worst case scenario, food security problems change from moderate to high risk with just a few more tenths of a degree of warming from now. They go from high to "very high" risk with just another 1.8 degrees (1 degree Celsius) of warming from now.

Scientists had long thought one of the few benefits of higher levels of carbon dioxide, the major heat-trapping gas, was that it made plants grow more and the world greener, Rosenzweig said. But numerous studies show that the high levels of carbon dioxide reduce protein and nutrients in many crops.

For example, high levels of carbon in the air in experiments show wheat has 6 to 13% less protein, 4 to 7% less zinc and 5 to 8% less iron, she said. But better farming practices — such as no-till agricultural and better targeted fertilizer application — have the potential to fight global warming too, reducing carbon pollution up to 18% of current emissions levels by 2050, the report said.

If people change their diets, reducing red meat and increasing plant-based foods, such as fruits, vegetables and seeds, the world can save as much as another 15% of current emissions by mid-century. It would also make people more healthy, Rosenzweig said.

The science panel said they aren't telling people what to eat because that's a personal choice. Still, Hans-Otto Portner, a panel leader from Germany who said he lost weight and felt better after reducing his meat consumption, told a reporter that if she ate less ribs and more vegetables "that's a good decision and you will help the planet reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

Reducing food waste can fight climate change even more. The report said that between 2010 and 2016 global food waste accounted for 8 to 10% of heat-trapping emissions. "Currently 25-30% of total food produced is lost or wasted," the report said. Fixing that would free up millions of square miles of land.

With just another 0.9 degrees of warming (0.5 degrees Celsius), which could happen in the next 10 to 30 years, the risk of unstable food supplies, wildfire damage, thawing permafrost and water shortages in dry areas "are projected to be high," the report said.

At another 1.8 degrees of warming from now (1 degree Celsius), which could happen in about 50 years, it said those risks "are projected to be very high." Most scenarios predict the world's tropical regions will have "unprecedented climatic conditions by the mid to late 20th century," the report noted.

Agriculture and forestry together account for about 23% of the heat-trapping gases that are warming the Earth, slightly less than from cars, trucks, boats and planes. Add in transporting food, energy costs, packaging and that grows to 37%, the report said.

But the land is also a great carbon "sink," which sucks heat-trapping gases out of the air. From about 2007 to 2016, agriculture and forestry every year put 5.7 billion tons (5.2 billion metric tons) of carbon dioxide into the air, but pulled 12.3 billion tons (11.2 billion metric tons) of it out.

"This additional gift from nature is limited. It's not going to continue forever," said study co-author Luis Verchot , a scientist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia. "If we continue to degrade ecosystems, if we continue to convert natural ecosystems, we continue to deforest and we continued to destroy our soils, we're going to lose this natural subsidy."

Overall land emissions are increasing, especially because of cutting down forests in the Amazon in places such as Brazil, Colombia and Peru, Verchot said. Recent forest management changes in Brazil "contradicts all the messages that are coming out of the report," Portner said.

Stanford University environmental sciences chief Chris Field, who wasn't part of the report, said the bottom line is "we ought to recognize that we have profound limits on the amount of land available and we have to be careful about how we utilize it."

8 dead, 60 hurt as quakes shake northern Philippine isles

July 27, 2019

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Two strong earthquakes hours apart struck a group of sparsely populated islands in the Luzon Strait in the northern Philippines early Saturday, killing at least eight people, injuring about 60 and causing substantial damage.

The quakes collapsed houses built of stone and wood, arousing residents from sleep, said Roldan Esdicul, who heads the Batanes provincial disaster-response office. "Our bed and everything were swaying from side to side like a hammock," Esdicul told The Associated Press by cellphone from Basco town, the provincial capital. "We all ran out to safety."

More than 1,000 residents of hard-hit Itbayat island — nearly half of the island's population of mostly fishermen — were advised not to return to their homes and stay in the town plaza as successive aftershocks shook the region, he said.

"The wounded are still being brought in," Itbayat Mayor Raul de Sagon told a local radio station. He said more doctors may be needed if the number of injured from interior villages rises. The Philippine seismology agency said the quakes measured 5.4 and 5.9. A third quake magnitude 5.7 struck later Saturday.

Esdicul said he was already in his office with the provincial governor when the second and more powerful quake struck about three hours after the first shock. "We have to hold on because you can't stand or walk. It was that strong," he said.

The initial quake severely cracked the bell tower of the island's old limestone church, the 19th-century Santa Maria de Mayan, a popular tourist attraction. The tower collapsed when the second temblor hit the island, he said.

An Itbayat hospital was damaged but remained open. An air force helicopter and a plane were en route to Batanes to help ferry and provide aid to victims. Itbayat, part of the Batanes Islands, has a population of about 2,800 people and lies in the Luzon Strait that separates the Philippines and Taiwan. The islands are famous for their stone-built houses, coral walls and cogon grass roofs.

Thailand seeks deeper cooperation as ASEAN ministers meet

July 31, 2019

BANGKOK (AP) — Southeast Asian foreign ministers opened their annual meeting Wednesday with a call from host Thailand for deeper integration to expand trade and bolster prosperity in the region amid rising global challenges.

The meeting takes place in the shadows of rising security tension on the Korean Peninsula, China's aggressive territorial claims in the South China Sea and the U.S.-China trade war. ASEAN, seeking to boost its own voice as a global player, also plays host to a series of foreign ministers from key strategic and dialogue partners, including U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Thailand Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai told colleagues in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations they must be "more agile" amid increasing nationalism globally. "We must recognize that looking inward and being myopic is not our option and never will be," he said in his opening speech. "Amidst a great turmoil, we must be more outward and forward looking than ever before." He warned the road ahead "could be treacherous" but said greater cooperation among ASEAN members and outside partners could help sustain long-term growth.

"It is a difficult balancing act, but overcoming fear and distrust among ourselves, and between us and other powers will make ASEAN an integral part of sustainable global peace and prosperity that could lift all boats," he said.

The struggle for influence between the U.S. and China has put ASEAN in a tight spot. ASEAN leaders at their summit meeting in June adopted an Indo-Pacific engagement framework that sought to find a middle ground and keep on the good side of both Washington and Beijing.

Beijing's attempts to project its influence globally through its Belt and Road Initiative, an ambitious development program of major infrastructure projects, while Washington is promoting its own vision strategy for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific, which Beijing regards as directed against it.

ASEAN's concerns about China are sharpest in the South China Sea, where Beijing uses a projection of force to maintain a territorial claim over a huge area, with parts overlapping claims by ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

"Maritime cooperation" is one of the areas on which this year's meeting agreed to focus, but where that involves China, it is marking progress by touting completion of an early draft maritime Code of Conduct including all the group's concerns, but subject to revisions that are likely to drag on. Analysts suggest that even if the document is finally accepted by China, it will have no effective enforcement mechanism, and Beijing will act without any real restraints. Beijing can also count on its allies in ASEAN, such as Cambodia and Laos, blocking any consensus to confront China more boldly.

The prospect of economic cooperation seems brighter and there are hopes that most of the negotiating on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership can be completed by the end of this year. RCEP would include non-ASEAN members such as Australia, China, India, Japan, and South Korea.

Defusing tension on the Korean Peninsula was expected to be a big concern at the 27-member regional security forum ASEAN is also hosting this week. South Korea said the North fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast early Wednesday in its second weapons test in less than a week, seemingly raising the stakes for the security discussions.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, due to arrive late Wednesday, will be Washington's point man at the ASEAN meetings. But he will have no significant North Korean interlocutor to deal with on the issue of denuclearization. Thai officials say Pyongyang's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho is not coming, and North Korea will instead be represented by its ambassador to Thailand.

Pompeo remained optimistic. He said Wednesday he's very hopeful for a quick resumption in nuclear talks with North Korea despite the North's recent weapons tests that have clouded already uncertain prospects for a return to the table.

Pompeo told reporters accompanying him to Thailand that some preliminary work on a new round of talks has been done but no dates have been set. The State Department says the lead U.S. negotiator, Stephen Biegun, will be in Bangkok for North Korea-related discussions but has not released his schedule.

"We think they'll be started before too long," Pompeo said. "I'm very hopeful."

Associated Press Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee and Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this report.

New faces to watch in the pool on the road to Tokyo Olympics

July 28, 2019

GWANGJU, South Korea (AP) — An American named Michael. Teenage girls from three different countries. A Hungarian who took down Michael Phelps' favorite world record. New faces emerged in the pool at the world championships a year out from the Tokyo Olympics. They all have potential to make the podium in what would be the first games for each of them.

Here's a look at the talent pool:

MICHAEL ANDREW, United States

He has been generating attention since turning pro at 14 and skipping college swimming. Andrew is coached by his father using a method that emphasizes swimming at low volume all at race pace. The 20-year-old from Kansas reached his first worlds final in Gwangju and barely missed a medal in the 50 butterfly, finishing fourth with a personal-best time. Andrew has a win over Caeleb Dressel (50 fly, 2018 U.S. national championships) and remains poised to become a breakout star.

MAGGIE MACNEIL, Canada

She stunned four-time world and Olympic champion Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden to win the 100 butterfly in the biggest international meet of her career. The 19-year-old who swims at Michigan helped Canada to bronzes in the 4x100 free relay and 4x100 medley relay. She was a key part of the Canadian women's team earning eight medals.

KRISTOF MILAK, Hungary

He turned heads by breaking Michael Phelps' 10-year-old world record in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:50.37. That bettered Phelps' mark by 0.78 seconds in the American's favorite event and was more than three seconds faster than the other medalists. Milak was already the European champion and junior world record holder in the event, but the 19-year-old's fame shot through the roof after erasing Phelps' mark. No longer is Katinka Hosszu the most famous Hungarian swimmer. How Milak copes with the increased attention and his ability to follow up with a medal in Tokyo will prove whether he has staying power or is a one-hit wonder.

REGAN SMITH, United States

The 17-year-old from Minnesota introduced herself to the world in the 200 backstroke, lowering the world record in the semifinals before nearly doing it again in the final. Smith won gold in 2:03.35, beating her nearest rival by a whopping 2.57 seconds. Her 100 back split of 57.57 seconds in the 4x100 medley relay set a world record, too. She qualified for only one individual event in Gwangju but figures to add several more in the Olympics, including the 100 back.

ARIARNE TITMUS, Australia

Nicknamed "The Terminator," the 18-year-old from Tasmania upset Katie Ledecky to win the 400 freestyle, finishing a full second ahead of the American star. Turns out Ledecky was ailing throughout the world meet, but Titmus' presence makes things interesting for Ledecky, who has trounced the competition since the 2012 Olympics. Titmus earned silver in the 200 free, bronze in the 800 free and gold in the 4x200 free relay at worlds.

5 Russian nuclear engineers buried after rocket explosion

August 12, 2019

MOSCOW (AP) — Thousands of Russians attended the funerals Monday of five Russian nuclear engineers killed by an explosion as they tested a new rocket engine, a tragedy that fueled radiation fears and raised new questions about a secretive weapons program.

The engineers, who died Thursday, were laid to rest Monday in Sarov, which hosts Russia's main nuclear weapons research center, where they worked. Flags flew at half-staff in the city, located 370 kilometers (230 miles) east of Moscow, which has served as a base for Russia's nuclear weapons program since the late 1940s. The coffins were displayed at Sarov's main square before being driven to a cemetery.

The Defense Ministry initially reported that the explosion at the navy's testing range near the village of Nyonoksa in the northwestern Arkhangelsk region killed two people and injured six others. The state-controlled Rosatom nuclear corporation then said over the weekend that the blast also killed five of its workers and injured three others. It's not clear what the final toll is.

The company said the victims were on a sea platform testing a rocket engine and were thrown into the sea by explosion. Rosatom director Alexei Likhachev praised the victims as "true heroes" and "pride of our country."

"Our further work on new weapons that we will certainly complete will be the best tribute to them," Likhachev said during the funeral, according to Rosatom. "We will fulfill the Motherland's orders and fully protect its security."

Rosatom said the explosion occurred while the engineers were testing a "nuclear isotope power source" for a rocket engine. Local authorities in nearby Severodvinsk, a city of 183,000, reported a brief spike in radiation levels after the explosion, but said it didn't pose any health hazards.

Still, the statement from Severodvinsk's administration came just as the Defense Ministry insisted that no radiation had been released, a claim that drew comparisons to Soviet-era attempts to cover up catastrophes. Spooked residents rushed to buy iodide, which can help limit the damage from exposure to radiation.

Following the explosion, Russian authorities also closed part of Dvina Bay on the White Sea to shipping for a month, in what could be an attempt to prevent outsiders from seeing an operation to recover the missile debris.

The Severodvinsk city administration said the radiation level rose to 2 microsieverts per hour for about 30 minutes on Thursday before returning to the area's natural level of 0.1 microsieverts per hour. Emergency officials issued a warning to all workers to stay indoors and close the windows.

The radiation level of 2 microsieverts per hour is only slightly higher than the natural background radiation, which could vary between 0.1 and 0.4 microsieverts per hour. It's lower than the cosmic radiation that plane passengers are exposed to on longer haul flights.

Regional authorities haven't reported any radiation increases after Thursday's spike. Russian environmental groups have urged the government to release details of the radioactive leak, but officials offered no further details.

Neither the Defense Ministry nor Rosatom mentioned the type of rocket that exploded during the test, saying only that it had liquid propellant. But Rosatom's mention of a "nuclear isotope power source" led some Russian media to conclude it was the Burevestnik (Petrel), a nuclear-powered cruise missile first revealed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2018 during his state-of-the nation address along with other doomsday weapons.

The U.S. and the Soviet Union pondered nuclear-powered missiles in the 1960s, but they abandoned those projects as too unstable and dangerous. While presenting the new missile, Putin claimed it will have an unlimited range, allowing it to circle the globe unnoticed, bypassing the enemy's missile defense assets to strike undetected. The president claimed the missile had successfully undergone the first tests, but observers were skeptical, arguing that such a weapon could be very difficult to handle and harmful to the environment.

Some reports suggested that previous tests of the Burevestnik missile had been conducted on the barren Arctic archipelago of Novaya Zemlya and the Kapustin Yar testing range in southern Russia before they were moved to Nyonoksa. Moving the tests from unpopulated areas to a range close to a big city may be a reflection of the military's increased confidence in the new weapon.

The Sarov nuclear center director, Valentin Kostyukov, said that the victims tried but failed to prevent the explosion. "We saw that they were trying to regain control over the situation," he said. Sergei Kirienko, Putin's deputy chief of staff who previously led Rosatom, said at the funeral that the victims were aware of the danger, but "took the risk, realizing that no one else would do the job better than them." He said they would be posthumously awarded with top medals.

Water drops from military aircraft douse some Russia fires

August 04, 2019

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's military says its aircraft dropped more than 1,200 metric tons of water (1,300 short tons) in a single day on wildfires in Siberia and made some progress in extinguishing the vast blazes.

The Russian armed forces said the water from military planes and helicopters doused flames in about 1700 square kilometers (650 square miles) of the Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk regions on Sunday. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered military personnel last week to join the fight against forest fires in Siberia and the Far East that together involved territory about the size of Belgium.

Russia's aerial forest protection service said fire crews won't attempt to fight blazes in difficult to reach areas encompassing about 28,000 square kilometers (10,800 square miles.)

Wildfires spread in remote Siberia, Russian Far East

August 01, 2019

MOSCOW (AP) — Hundreds of Russian towns and cities are shrouded in heavy smoke from wildfires in Siberia and the Far East Thursday, and the blazes appear to be spreading in remote terrain. Avialesookhrana, Russia's aerial forest protection service, said more than 30,000 square kilometers (11,850 square miles) are on fire, with the vast majority in areas that are hard to reach and where potential damage is likely to be less than the cost of fighting them.

Although the fires have not hit populated areas, heavy smoke from them is affecting about 800 communities, officials said, including the large cities of Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk and Chita. Footage on Russian television showed planes dumping water on fires that were belching smoke amid vast stretches of trees. Firemen on the ground sprayed thin water streams on small fire remnants.

States of emergency have been declared in the regions of Irkutsk, Buryatia, Sakha and Krasnoyarsk. In the eastern Siberian city of Chita, 4,700 kilometers (2,900 miles) east of Moscow, the center of the city was cloaked in heavy gray as Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited. Medvedev called for effective use of local resources to fight the fires.

The Russian military has joined the firefighting efforts, sending transport planes and helicopters. But activists believe the government is not taking nearly enough action and several dozen protested at the Ministry of Natural Resources on Thursday.

Meteorologists say rain is expected in some of the burning areas, but not enough to put out the fires, state news agency Tass reported. Some of the fires are believed to have been started by lightning strikes. Russia's Investigative Committee, the country's main criminal investigative body, said Thursday it was sending representatives to the region to probe the causes.

Putin opponent sent back to jail after suspected poisoning

July 29, 2019

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was moved back to jail from a hospital Monday even though his physician raised suspicions of a possible poisoning after he suffered facial swelling and a rash while in custody.

Details about Navalny's condition were scarce after he was rushed to a hospital Sunday with what authorities said was a suspected allergy attack inside a detention facility where he was serving a 30-day sentence for calling an unsanctioned protest. The 43-year-old political foe of President Vladimir Putin was arrested several days before a major opposition rally Saturday that ended with nearly 1,400 people detained.

Tensions are running high in Moscow as dozens of protesters remain in custody and the opposition called for a new rally Aug. 3. In a blog post written in detention, Navalny said he may have been exposed to an unknown chemical agent while in custody. Navalny recalled how his face started to become swollen on Saturday and it worsened the next day: "I got up in the morning, and when my cellmate saw me, he said: 'You need to see a doctor now.'"

Dr. Anastasiya Vasilyeva, who has been Navalny's physician for several years, visited him Monday shortly before he was discharged from the hospital and sent back to the detention facility even before the necessary tests were run on him.

Doctors at the hospital initially said Navalny had a severe allergy attack, but Vasilyeva said that the swelling and the rash on his face could be consistent with chemical poisoning. She said the incarceration would jeopardize his health.

"He has not fully recovered. He should have been left under medical supervision," she told reporters outside the hospital, adding that the doctors didn't even try to determine what caused the swelling and rash. "Who is going to watch over him at the detention facility? They are not qualified to provide him with professional help."

Vasilyeva expressed concern that the chemical agent that caused the outbreak could still be in his prison cell. Navalny's attorney, Olga Mikhailova, told reporters earlier the outbreak was caused by "poisoning, by some kind of chemical substance" but that its source wasn't established. She said he has been given anti-inflammatory steroids and that the swelling subsided.

Navalny said Monday he felt and looked better now — "like someone who's been drinking for a week." His face is visibly swollen in the picture he attached to the blog post, with red circles around the eyes.

He said he would like to see CCTV footage to check if anyone entered the cell while he was away on a walk, saying that he had his own linen and toiletries and could not think of a possible cause unless someone left something near his bunk.

Although there has been no confirmation that Navalny was poisoned, suggestions by his doctor that he was exposed to some kind of toxic chemical in jail raised suspicions among his supporters of possible foul play. Some Kremlin political opponents have been poisoned or killed in recent years, although Russian officials denied any involvement.

"Are they such idiots to poison me in the place where they could be the only suspects?" Navalny wrote in the post, referring to the Russian government. "There's only one thing I can say with certainty: Power in Russia is in the hands of the guys who really are stupid."

Navalny, a lawyer and anti-corruption activist, has been the Kremlin's most formidable foe since 2011, when he led a massive wave of protests of Putin and his party. He has since been convicted on two sets of criminal charges, largely regarded as politically motivated, and spent numerous stints in jail for disturbing public order and leading unsanctioned protests.

He has been attacked several times. In 2017, an assailant doused him with a green antiseptic, and Navalny sustained a chemical burn in one of his eyes, which left to a partial loss of vision. Navalny was able to travel abroad for treatment.

On Saturday, baton-wielding police wrestled with protesters in what might have been the largest unsanctioned protest in Russia in a decade. Putin, who was out of town to lead a naval parade in St. Petersburg on Sunday, has not commented on the massive protests.

Opposition activists as well as ordinary Muscovites vented their anger over officials' decision to exclude a dozen independent candidates from the ballot for a Sept. 8 election of the Moscow city legislature, which is dominated by the ruling, pro-Kremlin party.

The candidates' supporters had earlier picketed the headquarters of the Moscow Election Commission and rallied on a central square for several days straight. After authorities claimed that some of the 5,500 signatures each candidate collected were forgeries, the candidates went to the local election commission to protest, some bringing the same people whose signatures were ruled invalid.

Among those taken into custody Saturday were several would-be candidates. One of them, Ilya Yashin, was sentenced Monday to 10 days in jail for calling the protest. Another, Dmitry Gudkov, is due to appear in court on Tuesday.

Andrei Pertsev of the Moscow Carnegie Center said in an opinion piece last week that the Kremlin was not going to allow opposition candidates on the ballot from the start, fearing their presence in the local council, however low-key, could give them a platform for campaigning for the next parliamentary election.

"It was a matter of principle for the Kremlin not to allow the opposition candidates on the ballot," he said, adding that a Moscow city lawmaker would be an "odds-on favorite" to win a seat at the 2021 parliamentary election.

Over the weekend, the European Union condemned what it called "the disproportionate use of force against peaceful protesters." The EU said the weekend actions already came in the wake of "the worrying series of arrests and police raids against opposition politicians" in recent days.

Associated Press writer Raf Casert in Brussels contributed.

Tent camp fire in Russia kills 4 children; owner detained

July 23, 2019

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities say four children have died in a fire at a tent camp in the country's Far East. The cause of the fire that broke out in the camp early Tuesday has not been determined. Russian media reported that the tents, located in a ski area in the Khabarovsk region about 6,000 kilometers (3.700 miles) east of Moscow, housed 189 people at the time of the fire and another 61 were inside buildings at the site.

The camp's owner and director were detained and the Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case that could result in negligence charges, committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said. Russian news agencies quoted the regional governor's spokeswoman, Nadezhda Tomchenko, as saying one child died at the scene and three more in a hospital.

The children were ages 11-13, with one set to observe her 11th birthday on Tuesday, the news reports said. Regional governor Sergei Furgal said official permission to open such a camp had not been given and "nobody knew there was a tent camp."

Furgal's statement was harshly criticized by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, saying it showed officials were not fulfilling their duties.

Toxic lake in Russia's Siberia becomes selfie sensation

July 13, 2019

MOSCOW (AP) — Residents of a city in Siberia don't need to fly off to tropical locales for picturesque selfies taken by pristine turquoise waters. Thousands of Novosibirsk residents — ranging from scantily clad women to newlyweds — have been busy instagramming near a bright blue lake nicknamed the "Siberian Maldives."

The lake is blue, however, due to a chemical reaction between toxic waste elements from a local power station. Environmentalists are warning people against coming into contact with the water. "We can compare it only with photos of the Maldives," said Sergey Griva, a local who visited the lake, adding he's never been to the Maldives and couldn't find it on a map.

Dmitry Shakhov, a Russian environmentalist, warned that the water in the lake can cause allergic reactions or even chemical burns if ingested or touched. "This water is saturated with heavy metals (and) harmful substances," he said.

The Siberian Generating Company said Friday it has deployed guards to keep trespassers at bay, but insists the lake presents no environmental danger.

Russia outraged by case of sisters who killed abusive father

July 05, 2019

MOSCOW (AP) — One evening last summer, Mikhail Khachaturyan decided that his living room wasn't tidy enough, so he summoned his three teenage daughters one by one and doused each with pepper spray. Such violence and abuse was not unusual in the Khachaturyan household, according to court records. But Maria, Angelina and Krestina Khachaturyan decided they couldn't take it anymore. They waited until their father fell asleep in his rocking chair and attacked him with a kitchen knife and a hammer. He put up a fight but died within minutes.

The sisters, now aged 18, 19 and 20, were charged last month with premeditated murder in a case that has drawn outrage and illustrated how the Russian justice system handles domestic violence and sexual abuse cases.

More than 200,000 people have signed an online petition urging prosecutors to drop the murder charges, which could land the sisters in prison for up to 20 years. Their supporters have protested outside Russian embassies in more than 20 locations abroad, and a theater has staged a show in solidarity. They had planned a major rally in central Moscow on Saturday, but said they had to cancel it, citing a refusal by city hall to provide security for the gathering.

"The Khachaturyan case is quite indicative of the general situation with domestic violence and how the Russian state responds to this problem," says Yulia Gorbunova, who wrote an extensive report on domestic violence for Human Rights Watch last year.

Pressured by conservative family groups, President Vladimir Putin in 2017 signed a law decriminalizing some forms of domestic violence, which has no fixed definition in Russian legislation. Police routinely turn a blind eye to cases of domestic abuse, while preventive measures, such as restraining orders, are either lacking or not in wide use.

Court filings showed that the Khachaturyan sisters were repeatedly beaten and sexually abused by their father, a war veteran. He had kept a stockpile of knives, guns and rifles at home despite having been diagnosed with a neurological disorder. He repeatedly threatened neighbors and family with violence.

Lawyers for the Khachaturyan sisters say their clients were driven to the edge. "The first day we met," Krestina's lawyer Alexei Liptser said, "she said she's better off here, in jail, than living at home the way she had been."

Going to the police was not an option because the sisters feared that things would only get worse. They had shared some of the horrors they had experienced with their friends but pleaded with them not to go to the police. In the year before the attack, the girls attended fewer than two months of classes in total, but the school administration did not interfere.

Prosecutors acknowledge the extraordinarily violent circumstances that pushed the teenagers to kill their father but insisted they should be tried for murder. The sisters' lawyers argue that they were acting in self-defense in circumstances of lasting abuse and life-threatening violence.

The sisters have been released on bail and are barred from seeing each other, meeting with witnesses in the case and talking to the media. They are reportedly in good spirits. "At least, no one is beating them up," Liptser says.

The case inspired 29-year-old Zarema Zaudinova to direct a show at the underground Theater Doc last week, combining the sisters' experiences with performers' own personal stories. Some members of the audience walked out after one of the more graphic accounts of abuse.

For Zaudinova, the Khachaturyan case was the last straw. "We have no protection," she says. "We will either get raped or we will get thrown into prison if we defend ourselves." Research on Russian criminal court cases compiled by the outlet Media Zona shows that of 2,500 women convicted of manslaughter or murder in 2016 to 2018, nearly 2,000 killed a family member in a domestic violence setting.

Human Rights Watch has documented cases where "a very clear case of self-defense" was not recognized as such by prosecutors and led to the victim's imprisonment, according to Gorbunova. "The choice is not whether you go to the police and get help," she says. "The choice for these women was either to die or they had to protect themselves to the best of their ability."

Almost 2,000 people have recently posted first-person accounts of abuse and victim-blaming to social media, after a young woman facing criminal charges for injuring her alleged rapist launched the hashtag #It'snotmyfault.

The bill to replace jail terms with fines in certain cases of domestic violence breezed through the Russian parliament in 2017 and was promptly signed by Putin. Despite its detrimental effect on domestic violence victims, the measure sparked a rare public debate on the issue in a country where a proverb goes: "If he beats you that means he loves you."

Gorbunova says that public perception of domestic violence has been changing, triggered by the highly publicized court cases like that of the Khachaturyans or the case of Margarita Gracheva, whose husband, previously reported to police for threatening violence, took her to a forest and chopped off her hands. Gracheva endured online bullying and accusations of "provoking" her spouse before he was sentenced to 14 years in prison last year, a rare victory for a domestic violence victim in Russia.

The women of Theater Doc say the outcome of the Khachaturyan case would send a strong message to Russian society. "We need to fight for it, and talk loud and clear about it," says Zaudinova, who herself told a story onstage of being molested by a male relative at the age of 12. "If the girls get sent to prison and the court doesn't acknowledge that that was self-defense, they will be putting more people in prison and you won't be able to do anything to the person who decided to rape you."

New Zealand gun owners turn over their weapons for money

July 13, 2019

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Dozens of Christchurch gun owners on Saturday handed over their weapons in exchange for money, in the first of more than 250 planned buyback events around New Zealand after the government outlawed many types of semi-automatics.

Police said they paid more than 430,000 New Zealand dollars ($288,000) to 169 gun owners during the event. The money was paid directly into the bank accounts of gun owners. New Zealand lawmakers in April rushed through new legislation to ban so-called military-style weapons after a lone gunman killed 51 people at two Christchurch mosques in March.

The government has set aside more than NZ$200 million to buy back weapons such as AR-15 style rifles, although many gun owners remain unhappy with the compensation on offer. Under an amnesty, gun owners have until December to turn over their now-banned weapons.

Police said at least 14,000 guns around the country are banned under the new legislation. There are an estimated 1 million to 1.5 million guns in New Zealand and 250,000 licensed gun owners. Under the buyback scheme, gun owners are compensated between 25% and 95% of the pre-tax price of a new gun, depending on the condition of their weapon.

People who own guns that are not banned under the new laws can also turn over their weapons during the amnesty, although they won't get any compensation. Police said a half-dozen such weapons were turned in during the Christchurch event.

Police are using hydraulic machines to crush the gun barrels and firing mechanisms of the weapons that are handed in, rendering them inoperable, before disposing of them. Mike Johnson, an acting district police commander, said the Christchurch buyback had been a success and the attitude of gun owners "outstanding."

Police Minister Stuart Nash said the results from the first collection were very encouraging. "Many of those who handed over firearms commented how easy the process is, how the prices are fair, and how police made the whole event go smoothly," Nash said in a statement.

But Nicole McKee, the secretary of the Council of Licensed Firearms Owners, said the government was shortchanging gun owners by trying to complete the buyback on the cheap. She said gun owners were forced to rely on police assessments of the condition of their guns and weren't getting paid anything for the thousands of dollars they had spent on tax as well as certain accessories and ammunition.

"They do want to abide by the new laws but they have no incentive and they're having fingers pointed at them and are being treated like criminals," McKee said. "They're angry at the way they're being treated."

The council has launched a crowd-funding campaign to raise money to fight against possible further government-imposed gun restrictions. McKee, who declined to say how much money they had raised, said they hadn't received any money from the U.S. National Rifle Association as far as she was aware.

She said the group wasn't in communication with the NRA, other than receiving a note of sympathy from the U.S. organization after the March attacks. Hera Cook, a public health researcher who co-founded the group Gun Control NZ after the March attacks, said that before the massacre, most New Zealanders had no clue how easy it was to get hold of weapons capable of being used for mass killings.

She said she hopes the government enacts further gun control measures, including creating a register of guns and introducing shorter license periods for gun owners. She said some of the gun owners complaints about getting short-changed or treated badly appeared to have some merit, and that "wasn't a good look" for the government.

Brenton Tarrant, a 28-year-old Australian white supremacist, has pleaded not guilty to terrorism, murder and attempted murder charges following the March attacks. He remains in jail ahead of his trial, which has been scheduled for next May.

Pentagon chief visits Mongolia to strengthen military bonds

August 08, 2019

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP) — With one hand resting on the mane of a sturdy Mongolian horse, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper invoked the name of one of America's great soldiers as he sought to strengthen the military bonds between the U.S. and this landlocked democracy sandwiched between Russia and China.

"I'd like to name this fine-looking horse Marshall, after Gen. George Marshall," Esper said Thursday as he was presented with a 7-year-old buckskin during a time-honored traditional ceremony at Mongolia's Ministry of Defense.

Esper's stop in Ulaanbaatar — the third U.S. engagement with Mongolia in recent weeks — underscored its key role in America's new defense strategy that lists China and Russia as priority competitors. With just over 3 million people spread over an area twice the size of Texas, Mongolia has worked to maintain its independence from Beijing and Moscow by increasing its ties to other world powers, including the U.S. It describes the U.S. as a "third neighbor."

Esper has made it clear throughout his weeklong travel across the Asia Pacific that countering China's aggressive and destabilizing activities in the region is a top administration priority. The activities, he said, include Beijing's militarization of manmade islands in the South China Sea, efforts to use predatory economics and debt for sovereignty deals, and a campaign to promote the state-sponsored theft of other nations' intellectual property.

"We've got to be conscious of the toeholds that they're trying to get into many of these countries," Esper told reporters traveling with him to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and Mongolia this week.

He said the U.S. is working to build relationships with key countries in the Indo-Pacific that share values and respect for each other's sovereignty, "whether it's Mongolia this trip, Vietnam, a future trip, Indonesia, other countries who I think are key."

His stop in Mongolia was less than 24 hours long, but Esper told his defense counterpart, Nyamaagiin Enkhbold, that it gives him the "opportunity to look at different ways we can further strengthen the ties" between the two nations.

As he stood outside the ministry, just steps away from a large statue of Mongolia's famed founder Genghis Khan, Esper recounted a story of Marshall disciplining one of his soldiers who had struck a Mongolian horse that was being stubborn. Marshall, said Esper, had a high regard for the horses.

As he spoke, the newly named Marshall yawned and stood patiently as Esper patted his neck. "He's happy," said Esper. "He likes his name." Esper also presented the horse's caretaker with a saddle blanket emblazoned with the name and insignia of the U.S. Army's Old Guard.

The horses, which are bred for endurance, always remain in Mongolia, and the tradition dictates that recipients name them after something they consider important. Just last week, the Mongolian government gave one of the horses to President Donald Trump's 13-year-old son, Barron, who named it Victory.

A previous Pentagon chief, Chuck Hagel, got a Mongolian horse when he visited in 2014, and then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld received one when he went in 2005. Hagel named his 9-year-old buckskin gelding Shamrock, after his high school mascot, and Rumsfeld named his Montana, because the arid, mountainous landscape around the Mongolian capital reminded him of that state.

Esper's trip is the first by a Pentagon chief since Hagel, and it comes on the heels of a visit to the White House last week by Mongolia's president, Khaltmaa Battulga, the first since 2011. In addition, national security adviser John Bolton went to Mongolia in June.

Esper said he had no specific goals for the visit involving how the Pentagon can expand its military cooperation with Mongolia. Instead, he said he wants to build stronger relationships at senior defense levels.

The State Department's 2019 budget for foreign operations was explicit in outlining Mongolia's importance, stating that the primary goals of U.S. assistance are to "ensure the United States remains a preferred partner over geographical neighbors Russia and China."

And while U.S. officials have insisted that America is not asking nations to choose between the United States and China, Esper said, "We've got to be able to compete with them." One senior U.S. official said the U.S. seeks to expand its defense and intelligence cooperation with Mongolia, noting that its location makes it ideal for listening posts and monitoring stations for peering into both U.S. adversaries. The official was not authorized to discuss details publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.

Throughout the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mongolian troops have consistently been a visible force, often providing security at U.S. facilities. The nation still has more than 200 troops in Afghanistan.

In addition, U.S. troops frequently conduct cold-weather training in Mongolia. And in June, U.S. and Mongolian forces participated in the annual Khaan Quest military exercise focusing on peacekeeping and other interoperability training.

More broadly, Mongolia wants to enhance its trade with the U.S., and that was a key topic when Battulga met with President Donald Trump last week. The country is looking to diversify its trade flows since China buys more than 85 percent of Mongolia's exports.

The U.S. is interested in Mongolia's economic resources, including rare earth metals and cashmere. Most of Mongolia's raw cashmere is finished in China, triggering interest in finding another market to bolster competition.

The U.S. is open to helping Mongolia expand its access to the trans-Siberian pipeline, thereby allowing a route for shipping goods to the West other than through China.

Associated Press writer Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

Giraffes move closer to endangered species protection

August 22, 2019

GENEVA (AP) — Nations around the world moved Thursday to protect giraffes as an endangered species for the first time, drawing praise from conservationists and scowls from some sub-Saharan African nations.

Thursday's vote by a key committee at the World Wildlife Conference known as CITES paves the way for the measure's likely approval by its plenary next week. The plan would regulate world trade in giraffe parts, including hides, bone carvings and meat, while stopping short of a full ban. It passed 106-21 with seven abstentions.

"So many people are so familiar with giraffes that they think they're abundant," said Susan Lieberman, vice president of international policy for the Wildlife Conservation Society. "And in Southern Africa, they may be doing OK, but giraffes are critically endangered."

Lieberman said giraffes were particularly at risk in parts of West, Central and East Africa. The Wildlife Conservation Society said it was concerned about the multiple threats to giraffes that have already resulted in population decline, citing habitat loss, droughts worsened by climate change and the illegal killings and trade in giraffe body parts.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group, hailed the move, noting that giraffes are a vulnerable species facing habitat loss and population decline. A key African conservationist said it could help reverse drops in giraffe populations, as the move would help better track numbers of giraffes.

"The giraffe has experienced over 40% decline in the last 30 years, said Maina Philip Muruthi of the African Wildlife Foundation. "If that trend continues, it means that we are headed toward extinction."

Still, not all African countries supported the move. "We see no reason as to why we should support this decision, because Tanzania has a stable and increasing population of giraffes," said Maurus Msuha, director of wildlife at the Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism. "Over 50% of our giraffe population is within the Serengeti ecosystem, which is well protected. Why should we then go for this?"

CITES says the population of wild giraffes is actually much smaller than that of wild African elephants. "We're talking about a few tens of thousands of giraffes and we're talking about a few hundreds of thousands of African elephants," said Tom De Meulenaar, chief of scientific services at CITES. He said the convention was intended to specifically address the international trade in giraffes and their parts.

"With fewer giraffes than elephants in Africa, it was a no-brainer to simply regulate giraffe exports," said Tanya Sanerib, international legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. The U.S. is the world's biggest consumer of giraffe products, conservationists said. Sanerib said it was important for the U.S. to act on its own as well.

"It's still urgent for the Trump administration to protect these imperiled animals under the U.S. Endangered Species Act," she said in a statement. The meeting in Geneva comes after President Donald Trump's administration last week announced plans to water down the U.S. Endangered Species Ac — a message that could echo among attendees at the CITES conference, even if the U.S. move is more about domestic policy than international trade.

Czech stud farm makes UNESCO's World Heritage list

July 16, 2019

KLADRUBY NAD LABEM, Czech Republic (AP) — A Czech stud farm founded 440 years ago to breed and train ceremonial horses to serve at the Habsburg emperor's court has been added to UNESCO's World Heritage list, acknowledging the significance of a tradition that has survived for centuries.

The National stud farm, located in the town of Kladruby nad Labem 90 kilometers (56 miles) east of Prague, is the first stud farm on the UNESCO's list.

Here's a look at it:

A ROYAL HISTORY

The farm officially started in 1579, when Emperor Rudolf II of the House of Habsburg gave an imperial status to an original stud established by his father, Emperor Maximilian II. The famed regular visitors to the site, which also has a small chateau and a church, included Emperor Franz Joseph I and his wife Elisabeth of Bavaria.

The stud farm survived wars and a devastating 18th-century fire until the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, when the newly established Czechoslovak state took over. That threatened its existence, since anything linked to the former empire was unpopular in Czechoslovakia. Yet somehow the horse breeding tradition weathered both that shift and 40 later years of communist rule.

In 2015, the whole site underwent a major renovation with European Union funds.

MAKING THE UNESCO LIST

The Kladruby site occupies 1,310 hectares (3,240 acres), about the same size since the 16th century. Located on flat, sandy land near the Elbe River, it contains fields and forests along with its classic stables, indoor and outdoor training grounds and a symmetrical network of roads.

UNESCO describes it as "one of Europe's leading horse-breeding institutions, developed at a time when horses played vital roles in transport, agriculture, military support and aristocratic representation."

Kladruby director Jiri Machek said UNESCO's recognition is the confirmation of "the global uniqueness of this place." "There are three unique aspects about it," Machek told The Associated Press. "It's not only about a tangible heritage, it is also the breeding of unique Kladruber horses, which means the landscape still serves its original purpose. And the third, unique thing — which is not mentioned so often — is the intangible heritage, the traditional way of doing things, that is we have been trying to operate the stud in a traditional way."

ONE OF THE OLDEST HORSE BREEDS IN THE WORLD

Kladruby is the home of the Kladruber horse, a rare breed that is one of the oldest in the world with a population of only 1,200. Kladrubers were bred to serve as ceremonial carriage horses at the Habsburg courts in Vienna and Prague. A warm-blooded breed based on Spanish and Italian horses, a convex head with a Roman nose is among their significant features.

Since the late 18th century, the Kladrubers have come in two colors, grey and black. The grey ones were used for royal ceremonies while the black ones served high-ranked clergy. Today, they still do the same at the Danish court, while others are used by the trumpeters from the Swedish Royal Mounted Guard. Some carry police officers in the Czech Republic and the Netherlands.

The breed's peaceful nature also makes them a popular riding horse among private owners around the globe, and some compete in international carriage driving events...